Around 20:45 in the afternoon in Spain, almost midnight in Abu Dhabi, and more than four hours after the conclusion of the main race of Formula 2 on Yas Marina, the stewards of the category have announced the disqualification of the winner of the test, Oliver Rowland, as well as the third-ranked, Antonio Fuoco, for two distinct infringements detected in the inspection post-race. These exclusions have been made to the Formula 2 declare to Artëm Markelov, second-ranked, as the winner of the race.
Rowland has been disqualified due to its flat bottom has been worn “beyond the thickness prescribed in the technical regulation”, a signal almost beyond doubt that the car of the british pilot was going too low during the race. Another failure, in this case, in a tire pressure “below the minimum specified”, has been the one that has given to the fret with the podium for Fuoco. Despite having been disqualified from the test, both riders will have the opportunity to compete in the Sunday race, by beginning the conversation from the bottom of the grill.
These two disqualifications in positions so high have led to a tidal wave in the final results. After Markelov, Charles Leclerc, who stopped on purpose on straight to let pass Fuoco, would get the second place, and Luca Ghiotto would be done with the third position. As the two of them, all the riders behind them to win two positions with respect to its original position: Nyck de Vries is fourth, Nicholas Latifi fifth, Nobuharu Matsushita sixth, Alexander Albon seventh and Jordan King eighth, which will allow him to start from the pole Sunday. For its part, Sérgio Sette Câmara and Louis Delétraz completed the points, while Alex Palou and Roberto Merhi are promoted to the 12th and 16th position, respectively.
The general also suffers from an important turning point in the decisive fight for the runner-up position, which totally changed hands. Before the ban, Rowland had it in the pot, with an advantage of 15 points on Markelov, leaving 17 to go, but the change of points implies that the Russian pilot is already mathematically runner-up before you even compete in the last race, to have exactly with an advantage of 17 points, and earn three victories more than britain’s (5 to 2).
The penalty also affects the decisive fight for the championship teams between DAMS, Prema and Russian Time, in which the latter have gone very benefit. A situation of total equality in which DAMS was leading with two points of advantage on the Italian team and 3 on Russian, it has become one in which Russian Time leads with 20 points ahead of Prema, and 30 on DAMS. A paradoxical situation, since the structure of Russian, managed by Motopark from a few years ago, is not registered to compete the next season. Both DAMS as Prema have not been pronounced yet on if they will come to some decisions that have left a view for sentencing a few championship fights that are promised exciting because of the Sunday.
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