Oscar Piastri wins final race of 2021 FIA Formula 2 championship season
Oscar Piastri has won the final race of his championship-winning FIA Formula 2 season, taking the record for most consecutive feature race victories in the series.
Oscar Piastri has added the final race of the 2021 FIA Formula 2 season to his championship-winning haul. (Formula 2/Twitter)
Piastri finished ahead of Guanyu Zhou and Felipe Drugovich, with Robert Shwartzman finishing fifth to secure second place in the drivers’ standings ahead of Zhou.
Polesitter Piastri lead away well from the start line, as second-place starter Jack Doohan struggled for pace on his medium tyres.
Race two winner Guanyu Zhou was hot on the heels of Doohan, with the Australian having to defend all the way down both rear straights of the Yas Marina circuit.
Doohan ran wide at the exit of the wide turn nine hairpin, followed by Liam Lawson who was battling for third against Robert Shwartzman.
As Doohan and Lawson came back onto the track, both drivers lost control and spun off, with Doohan finding the barriers.
Lawson was able to recover, dropping to seventh before the safety car emerged to neutralise the field so Doohan's MP Motorsport car could be recovered.
Piastri held his own at the restart ahead of Zhou and Shwartzman, the top three drivers in the championship holding the top three positions on track.
Lawson was the first to make the mandatory pit stop, coming into the pits at the end of lap six followed by Christian Lundgaard.
Shwartzman was into the pits at the end of lap eight, followed by the gaggle of lead cars including Piastri on to end lap nine.
As the rest of the field filtered through the pit routine, Piastri, Zhou, and Shwartzman emerged as the race leaders.
Shwartzman was unable to keep up with the lead pack, with the final podium position snapped up by Drugovich into the final laps just before the final virtual safety car.
“The final race of F2 for the year is done and we managed to win the race, which is fantastic,” said Piastri.
“It is a great way to end the year and a great way to end my junior career.”
“Thank you to everyone for your support and for all of your messages after winning the championship.”
“I have still got thousands unopened.”
“It was very good to end the season on a high, I’ll hopefully see you at some point on a grid in the future.”
Liam Lawson retired from the race with a mechanical issue, pulling to the side and causing a brief stoppage before the 2021 FIA Formula 2 season came to a close.
Lawson finished the season ninth in the standings, ahead of fellow kiwi Marcus Armstrong in thirteenth.
