2017 Monaco Feature Race

The 2017 Monaco Feature Race, also known as the 2017 Monte Carlo Race 1, was the fifth race of the 2017 FIA Formula Two Championship, staged at the Circuit de Monaco on the 26 May 2017. The race would see home-hero and Championship leader Charles Leclerc lead early on, only for a mechanical drama to leave him on the sidelines.

Leclerc had started the weekend well, sweeping to pole ahead of Alexander Albon in the unique-to-Monte Carlo qualifying format. Both drivers had topped their respective groups, with Oliver Rowland and Artem Markelov sharing the second row.

The Monegasque racer duly swept into the lead at the start, swatting aside a challenge from Albon to lead into Sainte Devote. Rowland led the rest of the field through with Nobuharu Matsushita just behind, with no major incidents on the opening tour.

Leclerc and Albon set about building a gap early on, knowing that they needed an advantage over those on supersofts to avoid getting caught behind slower cars after their pitstops. However, their hops were dashed when Nicholas Latifi rolled to a stop in the tunnel, prompting a safety car to appear just as those on the supersoft Pirelli tyres were beginning to struggle.

Albon gambled on making a swap to supersofts during the safety car, hoping that he could keep the re-walled tyres alive for long enough. Leclerc, meanwhile, would ace the restart to begin rebuilding his lead, with Rowland also sprinting clear of the pack in second.

Indeed, they were soon to be gifted with a second safety car, thrown when Louis Delétraz and Robert Vișoiu clashed at Mirabeau. Those who had not stopped duly did so, with Leclerc emerging in fourth behind Rowland, Markelov, and Matsushita. However, his hopes of victory were to be ended within a lap of his stop, with the Prema limping back to the pits a lap later with a suspension failure.

With that the race was run, for Rowland duly sprinted clear at the restart to claim victory, despite a brief challenge from Markelov early on. Matsushita claimed third ahead of Albon, who had had Ghiotto glued to his tail for most of the race, while Gustav Malja claimed sixth.

Background
The FIA Formula Two Championship tour of 2017 arrived at the Circuit de Monaco for the fifth race of the season, again supporting Formula One. The circuit itself remained unchanged from 2016, with the DRS zone unchanged, and the barriers remaining perilously close to the circuit. Pirelli, meanwhile, had brought along the familiar soft and supersoft compounds, with three sets of the first compound and two of the second handed to each driver.

In terms of the Championship Charles Leclerc had seen his title lead slightly chipped away in the second Barcelona race, ending the afternoon with 26 points in hand over Oliver Rowland. The Brit himself had moved into second, overtaking Luca Ghiotto, while Artem Markelov had retained fourth. Victory, meanwhile, had put Nobuharu Matsushita into the top five, with no new scorers on the list.

In the Teams' Championship it was Prema Racing whom arrived in Monte Carlo in the lead, having finally overhauled Russian Time in Barcelona. Indeed, the Russian squad had slipped to third, albeit just three points off the lead, with DAMS level with Prema in second, but behind having failed to win a race. Elsewhere ART Grand Prix were a secure fourth ahead of MP Motorsport, while Campos Racing and Trident had failed to score once again.

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 indicate a driver who qualified in Group B.
 * * Grid positions were based off the best times from each group, with the odd numbered cars on one side of the grid, and even numbered cars on the other before penalties were applied.
 * † de Vries was handed two three place grid penalties, one for causing a collision in Barcelona, and another for impeding Fuoco.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Leclerc set the fastest lap but was ineligible to take the points as he did not finish in the top ten.

Milestones

 * Debut Formula Two race for Robert Vișoiu.
 * Maiden F2 victory for Oliver Rowland.
 * It was also Rowland's first fastest lap.
 * DAMS claimed their victory in F2.
 * Also the French squad's 26th triumph at GP2/F2 level.
 * Maiden points finishes for Johnny Cecotto, Jr. and Sergio Canamasas.

Standings
Victory, combined with Charles Leclerc failing to finish, meant that Oliver Rowland moved right onto the Monegasque's tail at the head of the field, heading into the second race of the weekend just three points behind. Artem Markelov was next, 22 points behind, with Luca Ghiotto slipping further back in fourth. Behind, Nobuharu Matsushita completed the top five, while Johnny Cecotto, Jr. and Sergio Canamasas had added their names to the scorers list.

There was another shuffle in the Teams' Championship after the Feature Race, with DAMS emerging at the head of the field, becoming one of two teams to break the 100 point barrier. The French squad ended the afternoon on 102 points, just two ahead of Russian Time, while Prema Racing had slipped to third with neither of their drivers taking major points. At the back, meanwhile, Trident had secured their first point, leaving Campos Racing as the only team yet to register a point.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.