F2 star in strange Belgian GP incident as headrest flies off car during race
Jehan Daruvala was left cursing his luck after his headrest flew off his car while leading the Formula 2 Sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps.
As usual, F2 is a support event to the Formula 1 action taking place at this weekend's Belgian Grand Prix. Between the F1 Shootout and Sprint sessions on Saturday, the F2 cars took to the track for their own short-form race.
And it produced a moment that even this historic venue may never have seen before. Indian driver Daruvala, who had regained the lead after losing it early, suffered an unfortunate stroke of bad luck.
On the second lap, his headrest could be seen dislodged from its usual position on the MP Motorsport car. And, by the end of that lap, it had come out completely and skidded across the track.
Fully aware that he was going to be told to pit for safety concerns, Daruvala immediately dived into the pit lane. But there was no replacement headrest at his garage and so that was the end of his race.
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His chances of making up for that cruel blow in the Feature race will be slim. F2's reverse grid system means that, even though he started the Sprint on pole, he will be 10th on the grid for the main event.
Amaury Cordeel was also soon out of the race after spinning at the Stavelot corner and stalling his car, unable to get it restarted. That brought out the safety car, before the race resumed on lap five.
Enzo Fittipaldi took advantage of Daruvala's misfortune to win in F2 for the first time (Getty Images)Richard Verschoor had inherited the lead from Daruvala and looked to be stretching his advantage. But despite being two seconds ahead of the chasing Enzo Fittipaldi by lap 10, momentum began to turn in the Brazilian's favour.
The 22-year-old Rodin Carlin driver, grandson of double F1 world champion Emerson Fittipaldi, was pulling away from Theo Pourchaire behind him and closing in on the leader. And, on the penultimate lap, the lead was his with the help of DRS.
Fittipaldi was yet to win an F2 race despite eight podiums in 53 previous starts. But his 54th attempt at breaking his duck finally paid off as the Red Bull junior sped away from the Van Amersfoort Racing car behind him to win by 2.3 seconds.
Verschoor was second on the road while Alfa Romeo young driver Pourchaire took third place for ART Grand Prix. That result meant the Frenchman closed the gap to championship leader Frederik Vesti, of the Mercedes driver academy, with just seven points separating them at the top.
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