2017 Monza Feature Race

The 2017 Monza Feature Race, otherwise known as the 2017 Monza Race 1, was the seventeenth race of the 2017 FIA Formula Two Championship, staged at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on the 2 September 2017. The race would see Luca Ghiotto claim victory on the track, only to retroactively lose his victory for exceeding track limits.

Qualifying had seen Nobuharu Matsushita claim a maiden pole position, sharing the front row with Nyck de Vries. Elsewhere Championship leader and quali-star Charles Leclerc was drastically off-form, only managing seventh, with the top seventeen drivers separated by less than a second.

The start of the race would be delayed for a long time, with heavy rain sweeping across the circuit during and after the Formula One qualifying session. Eventually it was decided that the F2 field should be allowed to start, with six laps behind the safety car enabling the drivers to familiarise themselves with the conditions.

A standing start was set to be made after the safety car disappeared, only for Santino Ferrucci to stall as the lights were switched on. Fortunately the field were able to reassemble on the grid after another "formation lap" to take the start, with no issues as the lights finally signalled the start of the race.

A sloppy start from Matsushita allowed de Vries to charge into the lead, only for the Dutchman to be clattered into by a fast starting Artem Markelov. The Russian duly barged through to claim a brief lead, while Ghiotto, Alexander Albon and Roberto Merhi came close to an accident as they hit the brakes three abreast.

The eschewing melee that was the opening tour would see Leclerc almost spin while attacking Matsushita, while Louis Delétraz moved well up the order. Fortunately the race would soon settle as the drivers got to grips with the miserable conditions at race speed, with Leclerc chasing hard after de Vries, with Markelov having dropped back down the order during the opening tour.

The order remained fairly stable until the stops, heralded by Antonio Fuoco on lap sixteen, just after he moved into the top six. In that strung-out melee de Vries would emerge with the lead ahead of Leclerc, while Rowland leapt into third, only for his left rear wheel to come off at the second chicane, bringing out the safety car.

The race resumed with two laps to go, with Leclerc lunging past de Vries into the first chicane, only to drift down the escape road. Ghiotto, meanwhile, sneaked inside the Dutchman as he was distracted by the Monegasque attacks, and duly claimed the lead, only for de Vries to reclaim it at the start of the final tour.

Leclerc rejoined the duo to make it a three way fight at the start of the final lap, although contact between himself and de Vries handed the victory to Ghiotto. The Italian duly swept home to claim the win, only for to be put under investigation for cutting the chicane during the Leclerc/de Vries incident.

The stewards ultimately decided that the Italian had cut the chicane, awarding him a five second time penalty. Fuoco was therefore handed a maiden victory having quietly climbed up the order late on, with Matsushita in second and Nicholas Latifi promoted onto the podium.

Background
Formula One and Formula Two headed to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza, which remained unchanged ahead of their mutual visit in 2017. Likewise, there were no changes to the F2 entry list, meaning all of the pre-weekend attention was on news of a new car for the series. Indeed, car manufacturers Dallara revealed their new F2 car, the F2 2018, which featured a new Mecachrome 3.4 litre V6t engine.

Into the Championship and rather miraculously, given his starting position, Charles Leclerc had managed to extend his Championship lead in the Spa Sprint, moving onto 218 points. Oliver Rowland had remained his closest "challenger", but with 59 points between them, and only 144 left to fight for, the Brit was realistically in a fight for second. In that fight Rowland had at least come out on top during the Spa weekend, moving nine points clear of Artem Markelov in third.

The Teams Championship, in contrast, looked set to go to the final day, with DAMS and Russian Time separated by just a single point at the end of the Belgian weekend. Indeed the French squad had just held onto their lead courtesy of Rowland's single point, keeping Russian Time in second, although the Russian squad had made huge gains across the weekend. Prema Racing were also in the fight, despite having lost ground across the two races, with just sixteen points separating them from the leaders.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Ghiotto was handed a five second time penalty for exceeding track limits.

Milestones

 * Maiden Formula Two pole position for Nobuharu Matsushita.
 * Also the first F2 pole for ART Grand Prix.
 * Antonio Fuoco secured his maiden F2 victory.
 * Prema Racing claimed their sixth F2 win.
 * The Italian team also registered their fifteenth victory at GP2/F2 level.

Standings
It was a case of status quo atop the Championship with both Charles Leclerc and Oliver Rowland failing to score, although the result benefited the Monegasque more, for it reduced the number of available points. As such, Leclerc still had more than a weekend's worth of points in hand, while Rowland was having to look over his shoulder as Artem Markelov gained ground. Elsewhere Luca Ghiotto had dragged himself into the runner-up fight, with Nicholas Latifi and Nobuharu Matsushita also in contention.

In the Teams' Championship it was all square between DAMS and Russian Time, equal on both points and wins. Indeed, only the former's greater number of second places kept them ahead, while Prema had closed the gap to just six points in third. Indeed, their truel for the title was still set to last until the season finale, with ART Grand Prix not making up enough ground in fourth.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.