F2: Dams Desert Domination Ends Transitionary Year for the Series

Sergio Sette Camara and his Dams team ended the 2019 FIA Formula 2 Championship on a high, as the Brazilian’s win in the Feature race allowed the outfit to secure the Teams Title. For Camara, it was the second time he’d helped win the teams title after his year with Lando Norris at Carlin in 2018.

Luca Ghiotto’s win in the reverse race helped him beat Camara to third in the standings as Nicholas Latifi joined the pair on the podium to end the year with the championship challengers all on the podium. It was a year in which none of the top six were rookies and all of the top four had at least 3 years of experience, the champion was never going to matter, but for Dams, the title will be crucial in proving their capabilities ahead of the next generation.

An overly stacked F3 grid this year will mean that the likes of Shwartzman, Lundgaard and Vips should face minimal competition in 2020 as the top four all move on.

New graphics and gizmos were on display for the Sky Sports viewers, as Alex Jaques talked with the drivers during qualifying in their cars, as the feature race coverage included pre-recorded interviews, driver information graphics and pitlane reporting. A sign that the FOM are starting to invest the money into F2 as Liberty look to unify the coverage.

Wheelspin for Sette Camara meant the Brazilian could not convert his pole with Louis Deletraz taking advantage by sweeping between him and Callum Ilott. The Carlin hung on around the outside of turn one and took the lead, quickly breaking away from Ilott, Camara and Nobuharu Matsushita.

Very few had chosen the alternative strategy, but it only took four laps for eyes to turn to Matsushita and Guan Yu Zhou with the former taking the lead on lap five. Even those on the same tyres found themselves dropping at different rates. It would only take until lap seven when Deletraz took the pits followed by everyone else on the super-soft tyres.

This left just seven drivers on the alternative to set the pace, with all eyes on Matsushita, Zhou and now Guiliano Alesi and Luca Ghiotto who had fought through the traffic. The top two had the advantage of clear air, as attention turned back to Deletraz who was now forcing his way past the slower runners.

27-31 seconds seperated the Carlin’s for much of the affair, as Matsushita narrowly held onto the advantage needed to get out in front. Deletraz, Camara and Ilott had been forced to deal with the alt strategy traffic.

Lap 24 (of 31) is when we first heard complaints from the leaders over tyres with the Carlin engineers telling the Japanese driver to hold on another four laps. It proved to be catastrophic as he lost his gap to Zhou behind and crucially the gap he needed to Deletraz. A mistake for Zhou under the hotel abaited the pressure temporarily, as Zhou decided to run an extra lap, seemingly against team orders.

The pitstop finally came with just four laps to go (Zhou, 3 to go) but by then they’d lost so much time to Deletraz and Camara it wouldn’t matter and attention again turned to the Swiss driver.

It would not be a fairy tale maiden win for Deletraz though as Camara had closed up. Deletraz had panicked so much about the gap to his teammate he didn’t manage his own tyres and with 3 to go Camara outdragged him on the straight around the outside, flying away into the lead.

Going from bad to worse for the former Formula Renault 3.5 champion, the alternative strategy runners were up to 4 seconds a lap quicker over the final 3 laps and dropped to fourth with Matsushita and Zhou completing the podium. For Camara though, it would all but confirm fourth in the standings.

He wasn’t the only driver fighting for championship position this weekend as runner-up was still in sight for both Nicholas Latifi and Luca Ghiotto.

Trident Prove Inexperience on Sunday

Guiliano Alesi had fought his way up to eighth after the alternative strategy on Saturday and as a result got to start on pole for the finale. The Trident driver had not scored a podium all year and the team proved their inexperience in this position by making the Frenchman go hard in the opening laps, taking the best out of the tyres early.

Latifi had finished seventh the previous day and was favourite to cling on to runner-up, but Ghiotto, who’d beaten him to sixth, was soon past in the knowledge he had to hope for misfortune for his rival. Ghiotto was the first to pounce on Alesi when his tyres started to fade on lap 8, giving him the points needed.

Latifi though was not prepared to sit back, setting fastest lap and following the Italian past Alesi into the chicane at the end of the second sector. It would prove to be enough despite Ghiotto’s victory on the road.

Towards the end of the race, Sean Galael had interrupted proceedings as he pulled off on the run up to turn 11, bringing out the virtual safety car. The resultant four lap sprint livened up the end of the season, enacting the phrase, “safety cars breeds safety cars” as another VSC was called to clear Matevos Isaakyan who’d crashed with Nikita Mazepin.

Sette Camara would round out the podium places after a fantastic drive through the field, beating Callum Ilott, the Carlin’s and Alesi. His win on Saturday had helped secure the teams title and complete a front-runners podium, minus the series champion.

Does Latifi Deserve his F1 Seat?

For Canadian fans, the prospect of another driver in the sport is certainly a tantalising one and as the F2 runner-up (just) Latifi appears to have more than enough to have earned his space. However the 24-year-old’s career has been more than a little lop-sided.

His entire junior career saw him take only 7 wins, four of which were this season. and Six of the seven came in F2. He went four and half years without a race victory and while this certainly isn’t the longest it’s far from the norm for F1 drivers. Unlike the majority of his new compatriots Latifi does not bring a title with him. His greatest achievement being this year in the Dams.

Latifi’s sole other victory came in the final season of Italian Formula Three and since then, failed to threaten the leaders in British F3, European F3 and Formula Renault 3.5, despite progressing up the ladder. He joined Dams in 2016, for his first full GP2 campaign after two part season prior and in his four years since, never left the team.

Failing to beat your teammate in your rookie season is nothing to be ashamed of, but Latifi couldn’t even score a fifth of Alex Lynn’s total. From there, he failed to beat Oliver Rowland and Alexander Albon who both mounted title campaigns.

In fairness to the Canadian, he did improve though, fifth place in the standings in 2017 came with his first victory in a while, backing it up with another in 2018. It’s clear he’s mastered the Dallara-Mecachrome better than most, but does that experience translate over to the premier series?

Experienced he may be in F2, but F1 is no stranger to him, becoming a Renault Test driver in 2016, doing work for Force India/Racing Point in 2018 before his switch to Williams this season. Latifi is one of the most experienced test drivers on the grid with 11 free practice sessions under his belt. When getting to the top of the ladder there is no point perfecting every step only to fall at the end like Nyck de Vries.

Better to learn from your execution to perfect the landing. And landed he has, with one of F1’s most historic establishments.