2019 Monaco Feature Race

The 2019 Circuit de Monaco Race One, otherwise known as the 2019 Monaco Feature Race, was the seventh race of the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco, on the 24 May 2019. The race would see Nyck de Vries claim victory in a controversial race, which saw more than half the field lose a lap due to an error by the officials.

The Dutchman would ace two-group qualifying for the Feature, claiming a dominant pole position over Callum Ilott, with whom he would share the front row. Indeed, due to the unique qualifying procedure in Monte Carlo both Luca Ghiotto and Nicholas Latifi would start behind the Brit, with the latter also receiving a grid penalty for an incident in practice.

de Vries would get away cleanly at the start, benefiting from the fact that Ilott would suffer a terminal issue on the grid that caused the original start to be aborted. Luca Ghiotto hence dart into second, while a poor start for Mick Schumacher saw the German slip behind Anthoine Hubert to fifth.

Schumacher subsequently became the centre of attention as de Vries eased clear at the head of the field, with the German diving past Hubert to re-claim fourth before leading the charge into the pits for fresh tyres. He duly fended off a lunge from Latifi after rejoining, an attempt that left the Championship leader with a broken nose, before making an ill-judged move on Tatiana Caldéron for ninth.

Indeed, Schumacher would try an overly ambitious lunge at Caldéron through La Rascasse for eighth, but only managed to tip the Colombian into a spin. Caldéron came to rest with her and Schumacher's cars blocking the circuit, resulting the in the race being brought to a temporary halt under red flags.

Their cars were quickly dragged clear, although in the confusion the top seven drivers gained a lap on the rest of the field, the result of the officials trying to get the field in order ahead of the restart. When the restart did occur the "lapped" drivers were not allowed to un-lap themselves, meaning the top seven, who all had to stop, were a lap clear.

As such the race became a duel between de Vries and Ghiotto, with the Italian the first of the duo to stop. Ghiotto's plan backfired, however, when he was mugged on his out-lap by Nobuharu Matsushita on warmer tyres, meaning de Vries stayed ahead when he stopped a lap later.

With that the race was effectively over, barring a late safety car to clear Mahaveer Raghunathan, Jack Aitken and Juan Manuel Correa from the circuit after they had simultaneous accidents. de Vries duly survived the one-lap sprint to the flag after the race restarted, claiming victory ahead of Ghiotto and Matsushita.

Ghiotto would, however, be disqualified from the results of the race after his car was deemed illegal in parc ferme.

Background
The FIA Formula One World Championship made its annual trip to the Principality of Monaco in May 2019, and duly took the Formula 2 Championship with them. As such, F2 would get to play on the Circuit de Monaco once again, with no changes made to the legendary city circuit for the 2019 season. There would, however, be a change to the entry list, with a familiar face returning to the series for a one-off weekend.

There and Back Again
It was former F2 runner-up Artem Markelov that would get the chance to return to the series, with the Russian joining MP Motorsport for the trip to Monaco. His chance came at the expense of Jordan King, who would miss F2's weekend on the Mediterranean coast having qualified for the Indianapolis 500. Markelov would make his intentions clear upon returning, aiming to claim victory, having left the series at the end of 2018 to race in the Super Formula Championship.

Catalan Corrections
Nicholas Latifi had extended his lead in the Championship after claiming a handful of points in the Sprint, ending the weekend on 93 points. Luca Ghiotto, meanwhile, had climbed back into second after his podium charge, leaving Barcelona 26 points off of the Canadian out front. Nyck de Vries, meanwhile, had settled into third after his first win of the campaign, while Jack Aitken slipped to fourth.

DAMS had seen their lead reduced in the Teams Championship, having only claimed six points to leave them on 126 points after six rounds. That had allowed UNI-Virtuosi to close the gap to 25 points leaving Spain, while also moving past the 100 point barrier. Elsewhere, Campos Racing had lost more ground in third, slipping 27 behind the British squad, while ART Grand Prix and the Sauber Junior Team completed the top five.

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

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:
 * Positions highlighted in blue denotes the driver qualified in Group B.
 * * The grid order was based on the results of each group separately, with the odd numbered cars on one side, and even numbered drivers starting on the opposite side.
 * † Latifi was handed a three place grid penalty for leaving the pitlane while the pit exit light was red.

Race
It was a dry afternoon at the Circuit de Monaco for the F2 Feature Race, with no threat of rain to affect the proceedings. There had, however, been a major changes to the grid, with a three place grid penalty for Nicholas Latifi dumping the Championship leader down to eighth. Regardless, it was Nyck de Vries who would lead the field away from pole position for the formation lap, with Callum Ilott lining up alongside.

Report
However, as the field took their grid positions Ilott would suddenly begin waving from his cockpit, signalling that he had an issue. That caused the start to be aborted, with the rest of the field pulling away to complete another formation lap, with Ilott stranded on the grid. The Brit was duly pushed into the pitlane so that the race could be started after the second preparation tour, with Ilott claiming that the engine had shut itself off without his intervention.

Once Ilott was dragged clear the race could finally start, with de Vries making an excellent start to claim the lead unopposed into Sainte Devote. Behind, an awful start for fourth placed Mick Schumacher allowed Luca Ghiotto to streak into second without trouble, with Sérgio Sette Câmara following the Italian through. Schumacher was hence left to brave it out around the outside of Anthoine Hubert into the legendary right-hander to hold fourth, as behind several drivers cut across the pit-exit to minimise their chances of tangling.

The Schumacher/Hubert duel would run through to Massenet, with the Frenchman ultimately squeezing the German racer out to secure the position. Further around the opening tour Latifi tried an audacious lunge inside Sean Gelael into the former Loews hairpin for seventh, although the narrow exit ensured that Gelael emerged ahead. Behind there was a seemingly innocuous collision of tyres between Jack Aitken and Guanyu Zhou, although as the Anglo-Korean racer exited the tunnel he found that his steering was no longer as it should have been.

Out front, meanwhile, de Vries would begin to establish a small lead at the head of the field, while Ghiotto was hounded by Sette Câmara in the early stages. Behind them, Hubert found himself putting up a ferocious rear-guard action to hold fourth from Schumacher, although he was powerless to prevent the German racer from throwing the #9 Prema down the inside of Mirabeau on lap three. Schumacher duly scrambled out of the corner with the position, as fellow Ferrari Driver Academy member Ilott was officially retired having failed to get back out of the pits.

With that the race began to settle down into a steady rhythm, with de Vries continuing to escape from Ghiotto, with the Italian managed to keep out of Sette Câmara's clutches. Artem Markelov hence became the centre of attention at the back of the field, with the Russian racer sending an impressive lunge inside of Louis Delétraz at Anthony Noghes for eleventh. He duly went chasing off after Dorian Boccolacci, passing him exiting Portier when the Swiss racer got out of shape on the throttle, while Schumacher triggered the pit-window on lap eight, with Hubert following him in.

Schumacher rejoined outside of the top ten, although quick fire stops saw him move back up to tenth, ten seconds behind Tatiana Caldéron. Latifi, meanwhile, would stop on the following tour and emerge between Schumacher and Hubert, with Delétraz and Gelael also getting ahead of the Frenchman. Yet, despite having fresh tyres none of the early pit-callers could match the pace of the leaders, for de Vries and Ghiotto would exchange fastest laps on their starting set of softs.

Elsewhere, Aitken had found himself stuck behind Mahaveer Raghunathan after his early clash with Zhou, and was desperately trying to find a way past the off-pace Indian/Dutch driver as the race wore on. Indeed, the Anglo-Korean racer was crawling all over the back of the #17 MP Motorsport car, even weaving around through the exit of Loews to try and find a gap. His frustrations would only grow on lap thirteen when he forced Raghunathan to defend into the Nouvelle Chicane, only for Raghunathan to cut across and hold the position.

Back with the lead group of stopped driver and Latifi had moved onto the back of Schumacher, with the German racer himself closing onto the back of Caldéron. Latifi subsequently tried to take tenth place with a lunge at the Loews Hairpin on lap, although Schumacher would move to block the move, forcing Latifi to climb up the inside kerb. Inevitably the two made contact, with Latifi pushing Schumacher into a brief half-spin, while simultaneously breaking his front wing.

Latifi was left to limp back to the pits for repairs and a fresh set of tyres, while Schumacher was now stalked by Delétraz as he caught Caldéron. Yet, as the race ticked towards half-distance Schumacher tried a very ambitious lunge inside the Colombian racer at La Rascasse, only to spin the #18 BWT Arden around. Caldéron would up facing the inside wall on the exit of the corner with Schumacher stuck alongside, blocking the circuit.

That incident triggered a red flag, with everyone down between Caldéron in ninth and Raghunathan in nineteenth stuck behind the incident. That meant that the entire top eight gained a lap on the rest of the field, although they would all have to serve their mandatory stop after the race restarted. However, that was overshadowed by a bizarre decision by the officials not to let those stuck behind the Caldéron/Schumacher incident to un-lap themselves, meaning over half the field was out of contention for victory.

The race resumed on lap 21 behind the Safety Car after a half-hour interruption, with de Vries duly acing his getaway to escape from Ghiotto once again. Behind them came Sette Câmara and Nobuharu Matsushita, with Markelov, Boccolacci, Zhou and Juan Manuel Correa the rest of the drivers still on the lead lap. Behind, Schumacher led the lapped contingent from ninth, Caldéron having pitted at the end of the restart lap, before serving a penalty for causing the collision with the Colombian racer.

Elsewhere, Latifi was in the wars once again at Loews, this time throwing a lunge at Hubert into the hairpin that ended with the Canadian running wide having crawled all over the inside kerb. Hubert then had a huge moment through Massenet, sliding perilously close to the outside wall as he got out of shape, allowing Latifi to catch back onto his tail. The Canadian racer would finally make a move stick on the Frenchman into the Nouvelle Chicane a few moments later, with another late lunge getting him through.

A couple of laps later and there was almost another circuit blocking incident at Rascasse, with Latifi trying yet another ambitious lunge to try and climb up the order. Fortunately the #6 DAMS' touch on the back of Gelael's car would not result in the #10 car blocking the circuit, although it did allow Hubert to jump both of them as Gelael came to a near stop on the outside of the corner with Latifi right behind him. Ultimately both would continue, although Latifi would have to take a trip through the pitlane to serve a penalty for causing a clumsy collision.

In the midst of that incident the lead octet would all serve their stop, with Ghiotto stopping first to try and undercut de Vries. That plan back-fired, however as the Italian racer was released into traffic, meaning the Dutchman was able to comfortably rejoin ahead of the #8 UNI-Virtuosi. Behind, Matsushita was able to jump Sette Câmara to secure third, while Correa jumped Boccolacci, Zhou and Markelov to claim sixth.

There would be more drama in the closing stages, as a heavily delayed Aitken was finally put out of his misery at the back of the field, being punted into the outside wall at Loews by Raghunathan. However, that would not be the only accident to affect the field, for almost simultaneously Correa threw away an almost guaranteed points finish by smashing into the wall exiting the Piscine complex. Indeed, having elbowed his way up to sixth the American racer would hit the kerb on the final left hander of the complex, which lifted the front of his car off the ground momentarily and sent him straight into the outside wall.

Fortunately the well trained Monegasque marshals would clear the circuit before the final lap, meaning there would be one more dash to the finish once the safety car came in, with the field yet to be lined-up properly. That ultimately ensured that there would be no late changes to the order, with de Vries holding a comfortable margin over Ghiotto to claim an impressive victory. Behind them came Matsushita and Sette Câmara, with Boccolacci, Zhou, Markelov, Delétraz, Hubert and Ralph Boschung securing the remaining points.

Post Race
After the race, however, it was announced that Ghiotto had been excluded from the race, after his car had failed post-race scrutineering. That hence elevated Matsushita into second and Sette Câmara onto the podium, Hubert onto reverse grid pole, and Nikita Mazepin into the points.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Correa and Aitken were both still classified despite retiring as they had completed 90% of the race distance.
 * † Ghiotto was disqualified as his car failed post-race scrutineering.
 * ‡ Ilott was unable to start the race after an engine issue on the formation lap.

Milestones

 * Third pole position for Nyck de Vries.
 * Sixth win for de Vries.
 * ART Grand Prix recorded their 12th F2 win as an entrant.
 * Also the 60th win for ART at GP2/F2 level.

Standings
Nicholas Latifi had seen his lead all but destroyed after the Feature Race, with Nyck de Vries moving just a point behind of the Canadian after claiming pole and victory. Luca Ghiotto, meanwhile, had dropped to third after being disqualified from the results, leaving him five ahead of Jack Aitken. Elsewhere, Sérgio Sette Câmara completed the top five ahead of best rookie Guanyu Zhou, while Artem Markelov moved into sixteenth after getting points on his return.

DAMS extended their lead in the Teams Championship after the opening race of the Monte Carlo weekend, moving onto 141 points after seven races. UNI-Virtuosi were next, 30 off the leaders, while ART Grand Prix had made a lot of ground as they climbed to third on 97 points. Campos Racing, meanwhile, had increased their tally in-spite of slipping to fourth, while Carlin had leapt from ninth to fifth.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.