F2 Monaco: Iwasa dominates for third win this season

The DAMS driver lined up second behind fellow Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar, holding his place off the line.

But on the safety car restart on lap six, Hitech driver Hadjar suddenly slowed, with a mechanical issue forcing him to drop down the order before retiring.

Iwasa inherited the lead and began building a substantial gap, up to 2.2s by lap 10, before racing was again neutralised on lap 22.

He led the restart before again increasing the gap to second-placed Jehan Daruvala (MP Motorsport), taking the win by 6.6s.

Jak Crawford finished third for Hitech, his third podium of his rookie F2 season.

The start went smoothly, with reverse-grid polesitter Hadjar leading from Iwasa and Daruvala off the line, while Victor Martins passed ART team-mate Theo Pourchaire at the hairpin for eighth.

But chaos erupted once the back of the field reached the Nouvelle Chicane, with a four-car incident prompting the first safety car.

Trident driver Clement Novalak made contact with Kush Maini (Campos) as the latter battled with Amaury Cordeel (Invicta Virtuosi).

DAMS' Arthur Leclerc, Dennis Hauger (MP), PHM Racing driver Roy Nissany and Ralph Boschung (Campos) were all caught up in the incident, with Leclerc, Hauger and Novalak all forced to pit while Boschung and Nissany's races were ended.

Novalak received a 10-second penalty for the incident, before receiving another five-second penalty for speeding in the pitlane.

Racing resumed on lap six, with Hadjar's issue arising almost immediately upon the restart, forcing him out of the lead and forcing him back to the pits to retire.

Iwasa was 2.2s clear of Daruvala by lap 10, who was in turn 5.8s ahead of third-placed Crawford, though the MP driver began to close the gap, cutting it to 1.4s by lap 16.

Enzo Fittipaldi (Rodin Carlin) passed Cordeel for 10th on lap 22 but moments later the Belgian ended up in the wall, having made contact with Juan Manuel Correa (VAR) at Turn 5, forcing another safety car.

The safety car ended on lap 25, with Prema rookie Oliver Bearman retiring with an unknown issue.

Iwasa immediately rebuilt the gap to Daruvala, and was five seconds clear by lap 27 before crossing the line 6.6s clear.

Richard Verschoor finished fourth for Van Amersfoort Racing, with Rodin Carlin's Zane Maloney in fifth and Jack Doohan (Invicta Virtuosi) in sixth.

The ART pair of Martins and Pourchaire were seventh and eighth, with Frederik Vesti in ninth for Prema and Fittipaldi rounding off the top 10.

Cla	Driver	Team	Gap
1	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS
2	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	6.678
3	Jak Crawford	Hitech Pulse-Eight	8.335
4	Richard Verschoor	Van Amersfoort Racing	8.820
5	Zane Maloney	Rodin Carlin	10.978
6	Jack Doohan	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	14.635
7	Victor Martins	ART Grand Prix	15.389
8	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	17.369
9	Frederik Vesti	Prema Powerteam	18.411
10	Enzo Fittipaldi	Rodin Carlin	18.801
11	Juan Manuel Correa	Van Amersfoort Racing	19.303
12	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing by Charouz	20.541
13	Roman Staněk	Trident	21.352
14	Kush Maini	Campos Racing	22.395
15	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	22.962
16	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	25.049
17	Clement Novalak	Trident	38.434
	Oliver Bearman	Prema Powerteam
	Amaury Cordeel	Invicta Virtuosi Racing
	Isack Hadjar	Hitech Pulse-Eight
	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing by Charouz
	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing
View full results