Formula 2

Lawson Monaco DQ hands Ticktum race victory after Monaco Sprint thriller

Motorsport Technology
22 May 2021
3 min read

HiTech GP’s Liam Lawson headed home Dan Ticktum and the Prema of Oscar Piastri to take the chequered flag after a thrilling weather affected Monaco F2 Saturday Sprint race.

It looked as if Lawson had sealed his second win of the season to narrow the gap to title rival Guanyu Zhou. But following the podium celebrations every driver dreams of, the New Zealander soon discovered that he was disqualified for a technical infringement that elevated Ticktum to race winner.

According to the official F2 website, ‘stewards found that Lawson used a different throttle map at the race start, a breach of Technical Regulations, Article 3.6.5.’

It would have been a bitter pill for Lawson and his team to swallow, after one of the more entertaining F2 races around Monaco’s tight confines.

An early rain shower at the Principality meant that Saturday’s reverse grid sprint would be started on the wet weather tyres. And it was Lawson who made the perfect start, overtaking Piastri for the lead of the race on lap 5 with a bold move at Rascasse.

“We just won Race 2 in Monaco, which is pretty awesome,” reflected Lawson afterward. “I didn’t have the greatest of starts, with wheelspin and then Oscar (Piastri) got through, but straight away the car was really fast. I could see that I had more grip early on and I was waiting for a decent opportunity around Monaco, but there are never really any decent opportunities for an overtake here, so I just had to find a gap and send it.”

As the circuit began to dry, it made for exciting racing as drivers had to manage their wet weather tyres from overheating. Lawson continued in a class of his own up front whilst behind him, Ticktum applied intense pressure on Australian Piastri. The pressure finally told when Ticktum swept past Piastri at the Nouvelle Chicane and the Englishman then set about Lawson.

Although the Williams junior driver was able to narrow the gap thanks to a late Safety Car with six laps remaining, he was able to maintain the gap whilst behind him Piastri held off a charging Juri Vips. Theo Pourchaire finished fifth ahead of Ralph Boschung and Richard Verschoor as Lirim Zendeli, Jehan Daruvala and Jack Aitken rounded out the top ten.

 

“It worked and the car was really fast from there,” added Lawson before the news of his disqualification. “Dan (Ticktum) got through from second and came at me really quickly, so I wanted to try and cool the tyres as much as possible when I had the chance and then at the end the car was still really fast, so I am really, really happy with that.”

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