Liam Lawson set the fastest time during Formula 2’s split Monaco qualifying session but is under investigation for improving under yellow flags.
Lawson was quickest out of the two combined qualifying sessions, but Felipe Drugovich crashed out of the final Anthony Noghes corner, leading to many drivers, including Lawson, being under investigation for improving their times under yellow flags.
Group A
Instead of a single 30-minute session, drivers are split into two sixteen-minute group sessions for Monaco qualifying. One driver from each team is put in group A or group B, with track evolution occasionally resulting in more favourable conditions for one group or the other.
The first group of drivers consisted of Dennis Hauger, Jack Doohan, Liam Lawson, Marcus Armstrong, Frederick Vesti, Felipe Drugovich, Ralph Boschung, Ayumu Iwasa, Calan Williams, Cem Bolukbasi and Amaury Cordeel.
Track temperature was 41C at the start of Group A’s session, with drivers only going out for sighting laps in the first minutes. The fastest lap only a 1’23.693 from Cordeel, at the halfway point in the session.
Drivers went back out on track in the final seven minutes of the session, Drugovich setting a 1’21.795. Doohan and Lawson were unable to do better than 1’22 times but Armstrong and Boschung slotted in behind Drugovich’s times.
Drugovich’s second flying lap improved by four and a half tenths to a 1’21.348, with Lawson the closest to the MP driver’s time on a 1’21.499.
Boschung radioed the Campos pits to say “I’m sorry mate, I’ve hit the wall, my steering is bent” with a minute and a half remaining, effectively ending his session at sixth-fastest in the group and five tenths off Drugovich’s time.
At the chequered flag, Drugovich clipped the wall on the final corner and brought out a yellow flag in the final sector. Lawson set a faster time, beating Drugovich with a 1’21.299, as did Iwasa with a 1’21.288 but with yellow flags being waves, both times were…