Just two weeks after the glory of Monza, Oscar Piastri was back this weekend for Round 6 of the FIA Formula 2 World Championship. Arriving to a very wet Sochi Autodrom, the drivers and teams were in for an eventful weekend with the track action being every bit as dramatic as the ever-changing weather conditions. But, despite everything that was thrown at them, it was the 20-year-old rookie from Melbourne who showed his maturity once again to take control of the weekend and the championship, leaving Russia with a commanding lead as the series heads into its final two rounds.

Arriving to a flooded paddock mid-week and reports of rain throughout the weekend, every indication pointed to it being an unpredictable weekend. But on the Friday the rain abated as the clouds rolled over the mountains surrounding the Russian track, leaving a warm and dry day for practice and qualifying. On his first visit to Sochi, practice proved a bit of a struggle and the Prema driver sat around the mid pack, finishing P10. However, Piastri was back to the front come qualifying where he initially set the fastest lap on his first run before being pipped by championship rival and fellow Alpine Academy driver Guanyo Zhou. The track got very busy as the pack came out for their second run, hustling to find the space they needed to put in their final laps. Again, it was Piastri who set the early benchmark with an improved time of 1:47.969 with a monster third sector. In the closing stages a flurry of fast times came in as others were improving, with the pole lap being traded between the drivers and Jehan Daruvla taking the top spot. That was until Piastri shot to the top of the times again having saved his best to last, pipping the Carlin man in the final moments with a 1:47.465. This gave the championship leader a further four points to add to his tally and his third pole in a row.

“Third pole in a row, very happy with this one as it was probably my best run of the year so far. We struggled a bit in practice this morning, so it was nice to be back at the front again. With the first set we were already there or thereabouts, and with the second one, the car felt really good. I also felt I was driving very well. Big thank you to the team again, we are starting the weekend off with the right foot.”

As Saturday dawned, the rain was back. Unrelenting thunderous storms settled over the Black Sea resort and although there seemed to be a small gap at one stage, the track was undrivable meaning the first sprint race was postponed. News came later that the race would take place in the scheduled time slot of sprint race two and that the second race had been cancelled altogether. By the time the grid assembled, the conditions were much improved, but the track remained wet leaving it treacherous off the drying racing line. Showing just how tricky it was both Uni-Virtuosi cars suffered incidents on the way to the grid, a spin for Zhou and a crash into the wall for Felipe Drugovich put them both out of the race before it had even started.

Piastri started ninth as the field got away behind the safety car ahead of a rolling start. All the drivers were very well behaved, all too aware of the track conditions and working out the limitations whilst tip-toeing their way around. This continued onto lap five when Bent Viscaal spun his Trident, tapping the wall at turn 14 bringing out the virtual safety car. As they returned to green flag conditions, Piastri was on the tail of Daruvala. Making a move on the Trident driver, Piastri ventured onto the wet section of track but was unable to make the move leaving the ART of Christian Lundgaard behind to grab the advantage and pass the Prema driver on turn seven. Compromised, the Australian went wide into turn eight, allowing Richard Verschoor and Marcus Armstrong through, dropping the Prema driver to 12th. Up ahead the track conditions claimed another casualty, this time Liam Lawson who hit the wall coming out of turn 13. This brought out the virtual safety car again as the Hitech came to a stop with broken suspension.

The virtual safety car ended on lap nine and Piastri was on the hunt for Armstrong ahead. Closing in on the Kiwi, he made the move and was up to P10. With clear air he showed the pace of the Prema by setting the fastest lap and went to close the gap to the pack ahead. On lap sixteen Daruvala spun after catching the kerb at turn 15 and went tumbling down the order. This gave Piastri P9 which is where he finished after finding it near impossible to mount a challenge on the cars ahead.

“It wasn’t a great race, and it was always going to be tricky given the conditions and starting from 10th. I think I made a few too many mistakes, which is unfortunate, and I could have got a couple of points, but it is what it is. We will be starting out front tomorrow, and I think the pace is quite good. We just got stuck behind slower cars. Tomorrow will be a different story, and I’m looking forward to the race.”

Normal service resumed on Sunday. Dry conditions had returned with the sun peeping through the clouds over the 2014 Winter Olympic Park. Putting behind any disappointment from the day before, the young Melburnian was on pole for the feature race and had his eyes on the prize, lining up alongside Daruvala with Theo Pourchaire just behind in P3. As the lights went out it was a storming start for Piastri who left his competitors behind to fight over second. Going three-abreast, it was the Carlin of Daruvala who lost out with Pourchaire now behind Piastri. But the Prema driver was already off into the distance with a 1.2 lead before a virtual safety car was called for the stricken Trident of Viscaal after a turn two incident with Roy Nissany. By lap two it was back to racing conditions and Piastri again pulled out a safe gap to Pourchaire behind who responded with fast lap times. But the Prema driver had this under control as he lit the time screens purple on lap four.

Lap eight and it was time to shed the super soft tyres for the mediums as Piastri came into the pits to be serviced by his Prema team. He came out P10 and knew he had to warm the tyres up quick as ART had kept their driver out to try the overcut. The following lap Pourchaire pitted and initially came out in front of Piastri. But Piastri had got his tyres up to temperature and had better grip, taking back the net lead on turn five and once again pulled out a lead to Pourchaire. Ahead were a number of drivers yet to pit with aging mediums and the Australian was on the hunt to get past them swiftly, first clearing Alessio Deledda on lap 11 and was soon gaining on Nissany, clearing the DAMS on lap 15. The Trident of Marino Sato was next and Piastri made a brave move down the inside of turn 13 to take third on lap 17. The following lap it was Guilherme Samaia who was caught by Piastri heading down the main straight and into turn one. Lawson up ahead pitted, placing Piastri back into the lead of the race and with both he and Pourchaire clearing the pack, the Prema was now 2.2 seconds ahead of the ART.

Lap times continued to trade between the F3 graduates for the remaining 10 laps but Piastri had things sewn up, managing the pace, the gap and his tyres nicely. The young Australian took the chequered flag almost two seconds ahead of Pourchaire to secure his second feature race victory in a row.

“I’m very happy with our second feature race win. It was a tough race, I had Pourchaire behind me for the whole time and really had to push the whole way to keep him there. It was fun even with a lot of pressure, but I’m very happy to have converted the pole into another win and added up to the championship lead which is even better.”

After a weekend of two halves, the Alpine Academy driver goes into the ten-week break with a very tidy 36-point lead, the F2 rookie continuing to impress the watching F1 community with his results and mature approach to the season. He will be looking to continue this strong form when Formula 2 returns to the new Jeddah track in Saudi Arabia on December 03-05.

Images © Prema Powerteam