2019 Le Castellet Sprint Race

The 2019 Le Castellet Sprint Race, otherwise officially known as the 2019 Circuit Paul Ricard Race 2, was the tenth race of the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship, staged at the Circuit Paul Ricard on the 23 June 2019. The race, held in support of the French Grand Prix, would see Anthoine Hubert secure victory on home soil, leading home an all rookie podium.

Hubert would start the race from pole position, and duly managed to fend off a hard charging Jack Aitken off the grid to hold the lead into turn one. Indeed, a barnstorming start from Aitken saw him streak from sixth on the grid to second, with the Brit only prevented from claiming the lead by Hubert's swift defence.

Jordan King had also briefly threatened Hubert into the first corner, although he slid wide to allow Aitken to claim second. He subsequently dropped down the order as Aitken plotted his next attack, waiting for DRS to be activated to aid his bid for the lead.

As they waited to fight Championship pretender Nicholas Latifi was to be mugged by Juan Manuel Correa for third, before a lock-up allowed Guanyu Zhou to also slip ahead. Latifi subsequently slipped back from the lead group with his damaged tyre as, up ahead, Aitken tried a lunge on Hubert that was swatted aside.

Ultimately Aitken's failed move proved costly, for he suddenly found himself having to defend from Correa and Zhou. Indeed, a strong move from Correa to grab second cost the Brit vital momentum heading onto the Mistral, and hence left him powerless to prevent Zhou cruising past a few moments later.

However, for Correa and Zhou there would be no catching Hubert, who opened out a two second lead en-route to an impressive home victory, the first for a French driver on home soil. Correa, meanwhile, just kept Zhou at bay for second, while Aitken was forced to fend off Sérgio Sette Câmara in the closing stages, the Brazilian having mugged teammate Latifi mid-race.

The results of the race had little effect on the Championship, with Nyck de Vries continuing to lead Latifi, despite the fact that he had failed to score. In the Teams Championship it had been another strong weekend for DAMS, with the French squad extending their advantage to 46 points.

Background
There were no changes made to the Circuit Paul Ricard ahead of the Sprint race, with the DRS zones unchanged. There would, however, be some changes to the grid, with penalties after the Feature seeing Sean Gelael forced to start from the pitlane. Regardless, it was Anthoine Hubert who would start from pole alongside Juan Manuel Correa, while new Championship leader Nyck de Vries would start from eighth.

Into the Championship and the aforementioned de Vries had claimed the lead in the Championship in the Feature race, moving sixteen clear of former leader Nicholas Latifi. Their closest challenger was Jack Aitken, up to third ahead of Sérgio Sette Câmara, while Luca Ghiotto had slipped to fifth. Guanyu Zhou, meanwhile, had remained the best rookie in the field in sixth, with Hubert also looking impressive in seventh.

In the Teams Championship it was still DAMS who led the charge, having opened out a 46 point lead over UNI-Virtuosi. Indeed, the British squad were looking increasingly likely to be be fighting for second, with ART Grand Prix having made ground in third, while Campos Racing had also closed up in fourth. Carlin, meanwhile, had lost ground in fifth, yet to break the 100 point barrier, with Arden International closing them down in sixth.

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

Race
Conditions were still good ahead of the Sprint Race on Sunday morning, with warm air and track temperatures and no threat of rain for the 120 km race. Likewise, there would be no revisions to the grid ahead of the race, with Anthoine Hubert set to start from pole position having finished eighth in the Feature Race.

Report
Hubert duly aced his start to storm into the first corner with an unopposed lead, as Juan Manuel Correa slipped straight into the middle of the pack after getting too much wheelspin. Jordan King and a fast starting Jack Aitken would blast either side of the Charouz-Sauber to battle for second, with Aitken sweeping across to the inside of King into the first corner. The Anglo-Korean driver's lunge would end up running King off the track, with King rejoining on the exit of turn two.

That off would ultimately end King's hopes of victory, for he was instantly swallowed by the pack, falling to Nicholas Latifi, Correa and Guanyu Zhou on the run to turn three. Behind, Luca Ghiotto went flying off track at turn three after trying to lunge around the outside of the pack, with Nikita Mazepin following him off. Fortunately the wide expanses of tarmac at the Circuit Paul Ricard meant they would rejoin without issue, although they had both been relegated to the back of the field.

The race soon settled, with Hubert escaping at the head of the field, while Aitken fended off the early attentions of Correa to hold second. Behind them, Latifi was struggling to match the pace of the leaders, and was hence came under attack from Zhou when DRS came on-line on lap three. Yet, the Chinese racer's move past the Canadian would come at turn five a lap later, with the #7 UNI-Virtuosi diving inside the #6 DAMS on the brakes for the deceptively tight right-hander.

After resisting Latifi's attempts to reclaim the position on the Mistral, Zhou would go off the catch Correa, who was now lining up a move on Aitken for second. On lap six the American racer managed to get a run on the Anglo-Korean racer down the Mistral, and duly sent his #12 Charouz lunging inside the #15 Campos at the chicane. Correa managed to get the car slowed and make the chicane, although Aitken was able to cut back and challenge on the exit.

Unfortunately for Aitken he would try and grab the inside line for Signes exiting the chicane, just as Correa began moving across to block such a move. Yet, Aitken was already alongside, and hence had to run off the track to try and avoid the strafing Charouz, before getting ahead shortly before the braking zone for the infamous right-hander. Ultimately, however, the tight entry for Aitken meant that he would have to back-off, and hence allow Correa to sweep back ahead on the racing line.

A lap later and Zhou relegated Aitken back down to fourth with a well timed lunge at turn three, resulting in the Campos team asking Aitken to improve his pace. Elsewhere, Nobuharu Matsushita tried to dive past Sérgio Sette Câmara at the Mistral Chicane but had to take to the escape road, dumping him down from sixth to tenth. A similar fate would befall Giuliano Alesi when he tried to lunge past Dorian Boccolacci a few moments later for thirteenth, before Louis Delétraz showed how it was done by claiming eighth from Jordan King a lap later.

Indeed, as the race wore on the Mistral chicane became the main centre for fights, with Mick Schumacher diving inside Alesi for fourteenth, with the Frenchman again having to take to the escape road. Latifi, meanwhile, would eye up a late move on Aitken as the race hit half-distance at the chicane, although the Anglo-Korean racer managed to cover the move. That duly allowed Sette Câmara to catch onto the back of his teammate at the exit, with the Brazilian going on to dive-bomb his teammate into turn three to secure fifth.

Latifi was not to be beaten by his teammate however, and would use DRS down the Mistral to line up a move on the sister DAMS into the chicane. Sette Câmara covered the inside line into the chicane to hold the position, although compromised his exit and allowed Latifi to draw alongside into Signes with the outside line. The pair duly went side-by-side through the right hand sweep, before Sette Câmara finally solidified his hold on the position on the brakes for turn eleven, having the superior inside line.

Behind there would be an equally intense duel, with Delétraz having drawn onto the back of de Vries as the race wore on. On lap sixteen the Swiss racer tried a lunge on the Dutchman into the chicane, although his late dive to the apex on the brakes saw the #1 Carlin saw him run wide and let de Vries back past. However, the fight was not over, and when de Vries made a mistake on the run to the final corner, Delétraz would manage to dive inside the #4 ART to claim seventh.

Into the closing stages and de Vries was about to be bumped out of the points, with Callum Ilott getting a stunning run exiting the chicane and through Signes to sweep inside de Vries through turn eleven for eighth. A lap later and Matsushita had the Dutchman in his sights down the Mistral, and duly went lunging past the Championship leader at the chicane to claim ninth on the penultimate tour. Other late changes saw Ghiotto dive past Boccolacci for twelfth, while Tatiana Caldéron spun out of the race at turn eleven.

Untroubled by all of that, however, was Hubert, who had controlled his pace and the race beautifully to claim an impressive second victory in three races. Correa was next up ahead of Zhou, forming an all rookie podium, while Sette Câmara beat Latifi to fourth. Delétraz and Ilott then completed the scorers, while Matsushita claimed the fastest lap points in ninth ahead of de Vries.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.

Milestones

 * 50th race for Dorian Boccolacci.
 * Tenth race for Nikita Mazepin; Guanyu Zhou; Mick Schumacher: Juan Manuel Correa; Mahaveer Raghunathan; Tatiana Caldéron; Anthoine Hubert; Giuliano Alesi.
 * Second and final career victory for Hubert.
 * Arden International claimed their fourth victory as an entrant in Formula 2.
 * Also their eighteenth win at GP2/F2 level.
 * Correa claimed his second and final podium finish.

Standings
Nyck de Vries saw his Championship lead reduced to twelve points at the end of the French weekend, ending the afternoon on 121 points. Nicholas Latifi had retained second after losing the lead to de Vries in the Le Castellet Feature, while Jack Aitken had retained third. Indeed, the Brit had done just enough to keep Sérgio Sette Câmara at bay, while Guanyu Zhou was up to fifth as the best placed rookie in the Championship.

DAMS had retained the lead in the Teams Championship as their home weekend came to a conclusion, remaining 46 points clear of UNI-Virtuosi in second. Indeed, both teams had scored ten points in the Le Castellet Sprint, and hence had inched further ahead of third placed ART Grand Prix. Behind Campos Racing had gained a little ground in fourth, while BWT Arden had closed to within a point of reigning Champions Carlin in fifth.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.