2017 Monza Sprint Race

The 2017 Monza Sprint Race, otherwise known as the 2017 Monza Race 2, was the eighteenth race of the 2017 FIA Formula Two Championship, staged at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza on the 3 September 2018. The race, staged in support of the 2017 Gran Premio d'Italia, would see Luca Ghiotto streak to victory on home soil having been denied in the Feature.

Gustav Malja would start the Sprint from pole, but a messy start from the Swede allowed Sean Gelael to lead a quintet of cars into the first chicane. Louis Delétraz was the main driving force in the quintet, twice diving past Gelael into both the first and second chicanes, only to have to hand back the lead twice after cutting said obstacles.

The Swiss racer stuck with it, however, and duly snatch the lead fairly on lap four, just as Ghiotto danced past Malja through the Parabolica to claim fourth and launch his bid for victory. The Swede subsequently fell back with a mistake at the Rettifilo chicane, while Ghiotto stormed past a sleeping Gelael through the Lesmo corners a lap later, moving into third.

Indeed, Gelael had just been passed by Sérgio Sette Câmara into the Rettifilo on the previous lap, and it was the Brazilian whom now settled in the sights of Ghiotto. However, the Italian racer did not need to launch an attack on the Brazilian, for Câmara cut the second chicane on the following lap, gifting second to Ghiotto.

It took until half-distance for Ghiotto to catch Delétraz, although he had to abort two attempted lunges before finally elbowing his way through at Lesmo. The Italian duly danced clear amid a wave of cheers from the home fans, leaving Delétraz to succumb to Câmara a lap later as the Brazilian tried to stick with the charging Ghiotto.

Unfortunately there would be no great fight for victory, for Ghiotto simply pulled away from Câmara and co. before the Brazilian could leap past Delétraz. That left the Italian to win at a canter from the Brazilian, while Antonio Fuoco completed the podium after a late charge from mid-pack.

Background
There were no modifications made to the Autodromo Nazionale Monza overnight, although there was a vast improvement in the conditions, with no threat of rain. There were also changes to the grid, however, with Luca Ghiotto's late demotion dropping the Italian to fourth in the Feature Race results. That left him starting fifth on the reversed Sprint race grid, with Gustav Malja starting from pole as expected.

Into the Championship and it was a case of status quo after the Feature, with both Charles Leclerc and Oliver Rowland failing to score, although the result had 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 had 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 after the Monza Feature. 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. 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.

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

Grid
The grid for the second F2 race of the Monza weekend was arranged according to the results of the Feature Race, with the top eight finishers reversed as per-FIA Formula Two rules:

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * King set the fastest lap of the race but was ineligible to claim the points as he finished outside of the top ten.

Milestones

 * Maiden Formula Two victory for Luca Ghiotto.
 * Also the Italian's second triumph at GP2/F2 level.
 * Russian Time secured their fourth victory as an entrant at F2.
 * The Russian squad also earned their fourteenth triumph at GP2/F2 level.
 * Maiden fastest lap recorded by Antonio Fuoco.

Standings
The biggest winner of the Monza weekend would be Championship leader Charles Leclerc, despite the fact that he had failed to register a single point in either race. Indeed, with neither of his immediate rivals managing to score, the Monegasque ace could wrap up the title in the Jerez Feature Race with a race victory, regardless of the efforts of Oliver Rowland and Artem Markelov. They were therefore set to fight for second, with Luca Ghiotto having moved level with his Russian teammate, and seven behind Rowland.

In the Teams' Championship it was Russian Time whom emerged on top, the Russian squad leaving Monza with a nine point lead. They were not, however, set to claim the title, for Prema Racing were the team in second, while DAMS had only slipped fifteen points behind in third having had only their second pointless race of the season. Behind, ART Grand Prix were set to claim fourth, ten shy of the 200 point mark, with Rapax their closest challengers in fifth.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.