Indian racer Jehan Daruvala had a forgettable weekend with an underwhelming finish in the second round of the 2021 Formula 2 Championship. The Carlin Motorsport driver managed to bag points in the sprint races, but the feature race ended up with a DNF. The second round held in Monaco meant the narrow track made it a tricky affair providing drivers limited opportunities to overtake.
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In the first sprint race of the weekend, Daruvala was on the reverse grid pole until the final lap where he got hit on two. Despite the same, the Red Bull Racing junior driver kept the pressure on. But he had to settle for P11 after a last-lap overtake by DAMS driver Marcus Armstrong saw him secure 10th place, which put him in pole position for the second sprint race. Jehan's Carlin teammate Dan Ticktum had a cracker of a race though and finished at P2, while Guanyu Zhou of UNI-Virtuosi won the race after leading from the green lights to the finish line.
undefinedP11 today. I was on for reverse grid pole until the final lap where I got hit twice, getting barged out of the way & lost out on it. Very disappointed and I feel the move was not fair... Anyway I can't do anything about it now but to accept it & try my best for the next 2 races pic.twitter.com/SwAo8wXpA2
— Jehan Daruvala (@DaruvalaJehan) May 21, 2021
In the second sprint race, Daruvala finished at P8 to gain some crucial points but dropped from P3 to P5 in the drivers' standings. Meanwhile, Ticktum won the race followed by Oscar Piastri of Prema Racing Juri Vips of the Hitech Grand Prix team.
On Saturday, Daruvala was looking to redeem himself after the disappointing performances in the sprint races. The driver started 11th on the grid and was immediately on the wrong foot. He dropped to 12th as soon as the lights turned green and then damaged his front wing prompting an early pitstop than scheduled. He rejoined at the end of the grid and was hit by a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pitlane. And just when things started to look up, Daruvala made contact with Gianluca Petecof ending his run prematurely. Sadly, for Ticktum, it was a DNF as well with the driver retiring while fighting for a spot on the podium.
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Jehan Daruvala dropped to P8 in the 2021 championship drivers' standings at the end of Round 2
As things stand at the end of the Monaco GP, Jehan Daruvala has dropped to P8 in the drivers' standings with Guanyu Zhou on the top, while Dan Ticktum moves down to P4 behind Piastri and Theo Pourchaire. Nevertheless, Jehan will now be looking to give his best shot in Round 3 of the championship that will be held in Baku, Azerbaijan, between June 4-6, 2021.
