Oscar Piastri ended his championship-winning FIA Formula 2 season in the best way possible as he took a dominant victory in the feature race at the Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi.
Despite breaking his front wing on the way to the grid that necessitated a change by his Prema Racing mechanics on the grid, Piastri was in sublime form to win from pole position, and having secured the title with a charging driver from tenth to third in the first of the sprint races on Saturday, he showed he could dominate from the front on Sunday.
Piastri was made to work for the win as he had to push to ensure he stayed ahead of those running the alternate tyre strategy, but ultimately, he had more than enough to claim the win ahead of UNI-Virtuosi Racing’s Guanyu Zhou.
Zhou had held off the challenge of Piastri’s team-mate Robert Shwartzman in the early laps, and he was far enough up the track to maintain second despite the charge from behind from those on the Supersoft Pirelli tyres, which was led by Zhou’s team-mate Felipe Drugovich.
Drugovich and Théo Pourchaire made the strategy work in their favour to finish third and fourth, although ART Grand Prix’s Pourchaire’s job was made a little harder as a slow stop put him behind the Brazilian, although they ran out of laps to challenge either Zhou for second or Piastri for the win.
Shwartzman ended his day, and possibly his Formula 2 career in fifth ahead of Carlin’s Dan Ticktum, who will leave the series to race in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship next year.
Marcus Armstrong ended the year seventh for DAMS, while Hitech Grand Prix’s Jüri Vips, Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung, and Charouz Racing System’s Richard Verschoor – racing in place of the injured Enzo Fittipaldi – completed the points scorers.
There was a brief virtual safety car late in the day when Liam Lawson retired his Hitech machine with another mechanical issue, something that has blighted the New Zealander throughout 2021.
However, there was no denying Piastri his sixth victory of an impressive season that took the rookie to his third title in as many years after winning FIA Formula 3 in 2020 and Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019.
