Guanyu Zhou secured victory in the final sprint race of the 2021 FIA Formula 2 season at the Yas Marina Circuit on Saturday, with the Formula 1-bound Chinese driver inheriting the win after Marcus Armstrong was forced to retire from the lead on lap eleven.
UNI-Virtuosi Racing’s Zhou, who will race for Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN alongside Valtteri Bottas in Formula 1 next season, jumped from third on the grid to run second early on, and was in the right place to take over at the front when Armstrong retired his DAMS machine with a mechanical issue.
Zhou ran third in the early laps before passing Ralph Boschung for second, with the race then being interrupted by a virtual safety car – which soon became a full safety car – after Olli Caldwell and Alessio Deledda made contact at turn nine.
Campos Racing’s Caldwell was able to continue but HWA Racelab’s Deledda was forced to retire on the spot, with racing resuming again on lap seven.
However, it was not long before the safety car was needed again after an incident that involved Jüri Vips, Roy Nissany and 2021 series champion Oscar Piastri.
Piastri had passed both Vips and Nissany heading into the chicane on the back straight, only to come under immediate attack from both drivers heading towards the hairpin. It appeared Piastri was surprised by Nissany diving up the inside, with contact being made between Vips and Piastri that put both out of the race.
On the restart, Armstrong looked comfortable out front and was on course for his second victory in as many weekends, only for his car to fail on him on lap eleven. This allowed Zhou to take over at the front and close out the win, his fourth of the season and the first since his feature race win at Silverstone in July.
Robert Shwartzman got the jump on Boschung to claim second place for Prema Racing, although the Swiss driver was able to maintain third for his second podium finish in as many weekends.
Dan Ticktum missed out on the podium in fourth for Carlin ahead of Felipe Drugovich of UNI-Virtuosi Racing, while Liam Lawson survived a moment involving Piastri to finish sixth ahead of Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala and MP Motorsport’s Jack Doohan, who claimed the final point for MP Motorsport.
The final Feature race will take place on Sunday, with Piastri on pole position once more after a fifth consecutive Qualifying session where he came out on top.
