2019 Monza Feature Race

The 2019 Monza Feature Race, formally known as the 2019 Monza Formula 2 Race 1, was the eighteenth race of the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship, held at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Monza, Italy, on 7 September 2019. The race, held in support of the 2019 Italian Grand Prix, would see Nobuharu Matsushita sweep to victory, while title pretenders Luca Ghiotto and Nyck de Vries stormed through the field to finish on the podium.

There were numerous changes to the field after the tragic events of the 2019 Spa Feature Race, with BWT Arden only fielding one car as a mark of respect to the late Anthoine Hubert. The Sauber Junior Team by Charouz would also only field a single car for Callum Ilott, Juan Manuel Correa's car being left in the paddock as the American remained in a coma in hospital. Finally, Trident were forced into fielding a single car for Giuliano Alesi, as his original car had been impounded in Spa having been cited as the cause of the fatal accident.

Into the Monza weekend itself and Ilott was the man to claim pole position, which he later dedicated to his teammate, as rain and red flags disrupted the session. He was joined at the head of the field by fellow rookies Guanyu Zhou and Nikita Mazepin, as Championship leader de Vries was excluded for failing to supply a fuel sample.

The start of the race would see Ilott make a strong start to maintain the lead, fending off Zhou into the Rettifilo. Mazepin, meanwhile, made a poor getaway and was attacked into the first corner, resulting in him running wide and hence allowing Matsushita to move ahead.

Indeed, the Rettifilo chicane proved to be very treacherous in the early stages, as Zhou ran wide on the second lap, dropping to fifth, while Louis Delétraz spun a few moments later. That left Matsushita in second behind Ilott, with the Japanese racer subsequently hunting down and passing the Sauber-Charouz by dancing around the outside of Ilott at Curva Grande on lap five.

The Japanese racer's move came just as the first stops for those on soft Pirelli tyres began, with the Japanese racer among the last of those to stop. The mid-race shuffle hence promoted Ghiotto into the lead as the first of those on the alternate strategy, while de Vries moved into the top five as others stopped around him.

Ghiotto was the last of the lead drivers to stop, by which stage he had a twenty second lead over Matsushita in second. The Italian duly dropped fifth behind de Vries, just as the Dutchman pounced on Sérgio Sette Câmara for third. Two laps later and de Vries was ahead of Ilott for second, albeit with Ghiotto closing in having moved past Câmara with ease a few seconds behind.

A lap later and the #8 UNI-Virtuosi was past Ilott and attacking de Vries, who resisted for a couple of laps before Ghiotto squeezed past at Ascari. Yet, time was running out for Ghiotto to catch Matsushita up ahead, who was ten seconds clear with two laps to go.

Indeed, while Ghiotto set a pair of quick laps, it was Matsushita who swept across the line first to claim victory, a safe five seconds clear of the charging Italian. Behind, de Vries was a satisfied third to complete the podium, having seen main rival Nicholas Latifi clash with Zhou and fail to score, while Câmara passed Ilott for fourth late on, but was put back behind the Brit after serving a five second time penalty. Jordan King was next ahead of Alesi, while Jack Aitken, Sean Gelael and a shocked Mahaveer Raghunathan completed the scorers.

Background
Less than a week after the tragic events of the 2019 Spa Feature Race the FIA Formula 2 Championship arrived at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza in Italy for the final European round of the season. Racing for Anthoine was the theme of the weekend, with all seventeen cars running with tributes to the fallen Frenchman. Indeed, while the Monza circuit remained unchanged for F2's annual visit to support the 2019 Italian Grand Prix, there had been some major alterations to the entry list.

A Spa Legacy
Anthoine Hubert's death and the impounding of his car had meant that BWT Arden would only run one car for Tatiana Caldéron in Monza, having decided to race in spite of their great loss. The Sauber Junior Team by Charouz were also down to a single car for the weekend, with their driver Juan Manuel Correa having been transferred to a specialist ICU in London, UK to begin his recovery from the accident. Indeed, Charouz had managed to rebuild the American's car, but ran only Callum Ilott as a mark of respect to both Correa and Hubert.

There was to be one further alteration when the Belgian authorities announced that they were impounding Giuliano Alesi's car, for the Frenchman's accident had been the catalyst for the fatal accident in Spa. Trident were hence left with just Ralph Boschung for the race weekend, although with Alesi running as their lead driver and with backing from Ferrari, it was decided that the Frenchman would run in Boschung's car.

Elsewhere, Marino Sato would finally get to make his official F2 debut, having joined Campos Racing for the Spa round, but after the abandonment of the Feature Race had not officially started an F2 race.

An 18" Dream
Away from the past and the FIA Formula 2 Championship was to make an announcement about its future, with the Series' bosses unveiling an update to the base Dallara F2 2018 chassis. Indeed, at the behest of tyre suppliers Pirelli, the F2 2018 was to run with 18" rims for the 2020 FIA Formula 2 Championship, in preparation for F1's switch to the same rim size in 2021. The move was met with a favourable reaction by the F2 paddock, with Mick Schumacher claiming it would give F2's 2020 drivers an advantage to use the 18" wheels for a season if they moved into F1 in 2021.

Minor Modifications
After an awful weekend in Spa-Francorchamps only one driver had officially registered points, with Nyck de Vries having received four points for claiming pole position. That ensured that the Dutchman increased his points tally to 200 points, and moved 34 points clear of second placed Nicholas Latifi. Sérgio Sette Câmara was next ahead of Luca Ghiotto and Jack Aitken, while the late Anthoine Hubert remained in seventh.

In the Teams Championship it was, unsurprisingly, DAMS who led the charge after the difficult day in Spa, holding their lead with 307 points. UNI-Virtuosi were still in second, on 242 points, while ART Grand Prix had been the only scorers, moving onto 206 points. Campos Racing and Carlin then completed the top five, with no changes to the rest of the field.

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

Results
The final qualifying result for the are outlined below:
 * * de Vries was excluded from qualifying for failing to supply a fuel sample.
 * † Boschung was withdrawn from the race weekend after Alesi was nominated to drive his car.

Race
It was a warm, dry afternoon at the Autodromo Nazionale Monza ahead of FIA Formula 2 Feature Race, with no threat of rain for the 60 minute race. However, there would be a change to the grid after Nyck de Vries was excluded, the Dutchman having failed to provide a fuel sample after the session. He was hence relegated from fourth to the back of the reduced grid, although Callum Ilott would still start the race from pole as expected.

Report
Ilott made a strong getaway from pole to claim the lead, allowing him to sweep across to the inside line to cover a potential lunge into the Rettifilo Chicane. He was aided in this by a poor start for Guanyu Zhou, who was forced to engage Sérgio Sette Câmara and Nobuharu Matsushita on the brakes into the chicane to claim second. Zhou duly won the duel on the inside line to secure the position, while Matsushita went around the outside of Sette Câmara to claim third.

Behind, Nikita Mazepin had made a miserable getaway to slip into the middle of the pack, before being elbowed wide on the run to the Chicane. As a result the #3 ART Grand Prix would have to take to the escape road and rejoin at the back of the field. Elsewhere, fighting would continue throughout the field, with Sette Câmara trying to out-brake Matsushita into the second chicane, although that move only allowed his DAMS teammate Nicholas Latifi to challenge instead.

Come the end of the opening tour Ilott had established a small lead, while Zhou had Matsushita tucked right under his rear wing with the Japanese racer eyeing up a lunge into the Rettifilo. Matsushita would make a half-hearted look to the inside as they entered the braking zone, only for Zhou to go too deep on the brakes and run down the escape road. He rejoined just ahead of teammate Luca Ghiotto in sixth, as behind Louis Delétraz sent a lunge down the inside of Jordan King for ninth, only to tap the back of the #16 MP Motorsport and send himself into a spin onto the grass.

Nyck de Vries would also have a moment at the Rettifilo, after his attempt to run past a group of cars down the start/finish straight saw him get elbowed onto the grass in the braking zone. The #4 ART duly went scampering down the escape road to rejoin on the entry to the Curva Grande, and hence remained behind Mick Schumacher, Sean Gelael and Giuliano Alesi. He would atleast remain in contention, unlike Delétraz who stalled his car on the grass on the inside of the first corner after his contact induced pirouette.

Delétraz was dragged away under the protection of a yellow flag, meaning the early battles of the race would continue unimpeded. That hence allowed Matsushita to steadily reel in Ilott, while Latifi moved up to challenge teammate Sette Câmara. The Canadian's first attempt to claim third came on lap four, although his lunge to the outside of the chicane saw Sette Câmara just fend him off on the inside, and allow Zhou to close back onto their tail.

A lap later and Matsushita tried the same move on Ilott for the lead, with the Brit just managing to hold onto the lead on the inside. However, Matsushita's lunge would force Ilott to take an alternate line through the second part of the chicane, compromising his exit while Matsushita took a more normal line. That hence allowed Matsushita to run around the outside of the #11 Charouz-Sauber through Curva Grande, before easing down the inside of Ilott on the brakes for the second Chicane to secure the lead.

Behind, Latifi would also try the outside Rettifilo lunge again a few moments later but could not squeeze his way through, while Ghiotto and Zhou engaged in a similar fight immediately behind. Zhou then challenged compromised Latifi into the second chicane, only for teammate Ghiotto to storm past him out of the chicane with superior traction on the medium tyres. All of that would grant Sette Câmara some temporary respite in third, while King joined the squabble in seventh.

With that the pitstop window began, albeit not before Tatiana Caldéron spun herself out of the race at the second chicane after clipping the inside kerb on entry. Matsushita and Ilott would stop at the end of lap six, rejoining as they had entered, while Latifi and Zhou both jumped Sette Câmara after undercutting the Brazilian. That hence left Ghiotto in the lead as the lead driver on the alternate medium-soft tyre strategy, with King, Schumacher, Jack Aitken and Alesi completing the top five.

Zhou would pounce on Latifi shortly after their stops, lunging around the outside of the #6 DAMS into the second chicane after forcing the Canadian to defend through Curva Grande. Five laps later and Latifi tried to get revenge, using the same manoeuvre into the second chicane, albeit from further back than Zhou had been. Inevitably Zhou would move across to take the racing line as they hit the brakes, resulting in contact between Latifi's front wing and Zhou's right-rear.

That collision was disastrous for both, as it knocked the tyre off of Zhou's right rear wheel, while Latifi was left with heavy damage to his front wing. They duly went skating down the escape road to rejoin behind Sette Câmara and de Vries, before beginning a mutual slow crawl back to the pits. Latifi was quick to place the blame on Zhou, stating that the Chinese racer had moved under braking, while Zhou himself would retire in the pits due to the damage.

As the race reached half-distance de Vries would line-up a move on Sette Câmara into the Rettifilo for eighth, with the Brazilian racer weaving slightly down the start/finish straight to try and break the tow. Sette Câmara then committed to the inside line for the chicane, while de Vries fired his car around the outside of the #5 DAMS. Unfortunately for de Vries the lunge was too ambitious, resulting in him running wide mid-chicane and having to cut across the huge inside kerbs of turn two, seemingly damaging the floor of his car as he rejoined behind Sette Câmara.

A lap later and it was Sette Câmara who made the mistake, with a near identical run across the inside kerbs at turn two after braking too late for the entry to the chicane. However, unlike de Vries, Sette Câmara would manage to bounce across a smaller kerb, and more importantly would not lose time to the Dutchman, and hence held onto eight. That fact would subsequently earn Sette Câmara a five second time penalty, with the officials deciding a few laps later that Sette Câmara had left the track and gained an advantage.

With two thirds of the race completed and ten laps to go Ghiotto was finally called in from the lead, having maintained a healthy lead of 25 seconds over Matsushita and Ilott. Unfortunately for Ghiotto a significant amount of that margin would be lost due to an issue at the stop, resulting in him rejoining behind de Vries and Sette Câmara in a de facto fifth. King hence assumed the lead for two laps before making his stop, with the rest of the the non-stoppers also sweeping in.

With five laps to go Matsushita was hence back in the lead, although he would have a worrying moment as a piece of bodywork flew off of his car down the start/finish straight. Fortunately for him he had already built a small margin over Ilott, who would instead come under attack from de Vries as his tyres faded. With four laps to go de Vries threw a late lunge down the inside of Ilott into the Rettifilo chicane, and would duly emerge with second place with Ilott struggling for grip.

A lap later and Ghiotto would draft past Sette Câmara with ease down the start/finish straight, before immediately closing on Ilott through the rest of the first sector. Indeed, as they ran on to the Ascari chicane the #8 UNI-Virtuosi would be in position to attack the #11 Charouz-Sauber, with Ghiotto casually lunging past on the brakes into the complex. Another lap passed before the Italian racer pulled an identical move on de Vries through Ascari to secure second, although he was still eight seconds behind race leader Matsushita.

Indeed, time would be on Mastsushita's side in the closing stages, meaning the Japanese racer was able to nurse his tyres well to the chequered flag to secure victory. Ghiotto would still be a satisfied second, ahead of de Vries, while Ilott finished a lonely fourth ahead of Sette Câmara. King was next up ahead of Alesi, Aitken secured reverse-grid pole in eighth ahead of Gelael, while Mahaveer Raghunathan survived the race well to secure his maiden points finish in tenth.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Schumacher was unable to be classified as he failed to complete 90% of the race distance.
 * † Zhou was awarded a three place grid penalty for the 2019 Monza Sprint Race for causing a collision.

Milestones

 * Debut race for Marino Sato.
 * Fifth victory for Nobuharu Matsushita in the FIA Formula 2 Championship.
 * Carlin secured their third F2 win as an entrant.
 * Maiden (and only) points finish for Mahaveer Raghunathan.

Standings
Nyck de Vries continued to extend his Championship lead with his podium finish in the Monza Feature Race, moving onto 215 points for the campaign. Behind, the non-score for Nicholas Latifi may have been the end of his title bid, for he slipped 49 points behind the Dutchman, and instead sat just eleven ahead of Luca Ghiotto. Sérgio Sette Câmara had slipped to fourth in what was fast developing into a three-way fight for second, while Jack Aitken was in a lonely fifth.

DAMS continued to lead the way in the Teams Championship, although UNI-Virtuosi had closed the gap after Ghiotto's strong run in the Feature. Indeed, the British squad headed into the Sprint 55 points behind the French aces, and hence remained outside contenders for the crown. Behind, ART Grand Prix had slipped 41 points behind Virtuosi in third, while Carlin had moved ahead of Campos Racing to secure fourth.

Only point scoring drivers are shown.