Race report
FIA F2 Hungaroring
Hungary F2: Latifi sees off de Vries to win feature race
Williams Formula 1 junior Nicholas Latifi prevailed in a tricky Hungaroring Formula 2 feature race to eat into the points advantage of championship leader Nyck de Vries.
Jack Benyon
Edited: Aug 3, 2019, 6:39 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
The key move of the race was done at the start, as polesitter de Vries locked up and ran wide, and Latifi was able to snatch the lead at the exit of the corner.
Latifi then showed incredible longevity on the red-walled soft Pirelli tyres, and even though de Vries attempted the undercut, the Canadian held onto the lead.
The DAMS driver then had a scare when de Vries closed in around 12 laps into the 34-lap race because of traffic. But Latifi passed Juan Manuel Correa at Turn 2, which provided welcome respite, and pulled three seconds clear in the following two laps.
Latifi retook the lead on lap 29 after those on the alternate strategy had pitted, and had nearly seven seconds in hand over de Vries as he held on for his fourth win of 2019.
ART driver de Vries limited the points loss to Latifi with his second-place finish, remaining 28 points clear.
Renault junior Jack Aitken had made a lightning start from seventh to fifth, and then jumped both Mick Schumacher and Luca Ghiotto during the pitstops to take a net third.
Ghiotto (Virtuosi) appeared to close in momentarily after the pitstops, and put the Briton under pressure once more at the end, but Aitken weathered the storm to take the final spot on the podium.
Ghiotto came under attack from charging Carlin driver Nobuharu Matsushita in the closing stages, and Latifi’s DAMS teammate Sergio Sette Camara also joined the train.
Sette Camara passed Matsushita in the final five laps, making the most of the Japanese driver's unsuccessful move on Ghiotto at Turn 1.
A late safety car for Ralph Boschung’s expiring Trident car then froze the order, so that Ghiotto took fourth and headed Sette Camara and Jordan King (MP Motorsport).
But then VSC infringement penalties changed the order as Ghiotto dropped from fourth to sixth, ahead of King, who was also penalised.
King had been charging through the order having run the slower medium tyre early on, and passed Matsushita for sixth just before the safety car.
With the penalties, Sette Camara took fourth ahead of Matsushita, Ghiotto and King.
Schumacher (Prema) had been with Ghiotto and in the battle for a podium mid-race, but slipped back three-quarters into the race seemingly struggling for tyre life.
He was caught napping at the virtual safety car restart on lap 22 of 37 by Matsushita, and finished eighth on the road behind the Japanese driver.
It does mean Ferrari junior Schumacher takes the reverse-grid pole for Sunday’s sprint race.
Rookies Guan Yu Zhou (Virtuosi) and Sauber Junior Team driver Callum Ilott took the final points for ninth and 10th respectively.
UPDATE: The penalties for Ghiotto and King were subsequently rescinded, reinstating the pair in fourth and sixth respectively.
A statement issued by Formula 2 read: “Two penalty decisions have been revised following today’s FIA Formula 2 feature race, with Luca Ghiotto and Jordan King now only receiving written reprimands, instead of time penalties.
“In a post-race hearing, the stewards discussed the incident in detail with the two drivers and examined footage from the MP Motorsport [King’s] car.
“They found the situation to be relatively unique, as four cars had been running in a tight pack in a high-speed area prior to the incident and there was oil on the track from the incident that brought out the safety car.
“The stewards found that it would have been quite difficult, if not almost impossible, to slow down quickly enough without potentially causing a major incident.
“As such, in the interest of fairness, the stewards found the normal five-second penalty to be inappropriate and have removed it.”
Race results:
Cla # Driver Team Laps Time 1 6 Nicholas Latifi DAMS 37 1:02'40.675 2 4
Nyck de Vries ART Grand Prix 37 1:02'41.427 3 15
Jack Aitken Campos Racing 37 1:02'41.720 4 8
Luca Ghiotto UNI-Virtuosi 37 1:02'43.670 5 5
Sergio Sette Camara DAMS 37 1:02'44.819 6 16
Jordan King MP Motorsport 37 1:02'45.723 7 2
Nobuharu Matsushita Carlin 37 1:02'45.957 8 9
Mick Schumacher Prema Powerteam 37 1:02'56.482 9 7
Guanyu Zhou UNI-Virtuosi 37 1:02'58.470 10 11
Callum Ilott Charouz Racing System 37 1:02'59.237 11 19
Anthoine Hubert Arden International 37 1:03'00.693 12 3
Nikita Mazepin ART Grand Prix 37 1:03'02.747 13 20
Giuliano Alesi Trident 37 1:03'03.429 14 12
Juan Manuel Correa Charouz Racing System 37 1:03'04.431 15 10
Sean Gelael Prema Powerteam 37 1:03'08.858 16 18
Tatiana Calderon Arden International 37 1:03'56.498 17 17
Mahaveer Raghunathan MP Motorsport 37 1:03'57.387 18 21
Ralph Boschung Trident 33 55'16.280 14
Arjun Maini Campos Racing 17 28'14.092 1
Louis Deletraz Carlin 3 4'52.271 View full results
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Hungary F2: De Vries sets pace in wet qualifying
Next article Hungary F2: Schumacher resists Matsushita for first win
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Jack Benyon
Aitken, Samaia make up Campos' F2 line-up
FIA F2
FIA F2 Feb 17, 2020
Aitken, Samaia make up Campos' F2 line-up
DiBenedetto intends to “turn heads” with Wood Brothers
NASCAR Cup
NASCAR Cup Feb 14, 2020
DiBenedetto intends to “turn heads” with Wood Brothers
Tanak "learned a very good lesson" from Monte crash
WRC
WRC Feb 10, 2020
Tanak "learned a very good lesson" from Monte crash
More from
Nicholas Latifi
Nicholas Latifi makes first public statement since retirement
Formula 1
Formula 1 Oct 14, 2025
Nicholas Latifi makes first public statement since retirement
Ex-Williams F1 driver Latifi quits racing for now to study for MBA
Formula 1
Formula 1 Jul 18, 2023
Ex-Williams F1 driver Latifi quits racing for now to study for MBA
Latifi: Having "nothing to lose" didn't ease late-season F1 frustration
Formula 1
Formula 1 Dec 1, 2022
Latifi: Having "nothing to lose" didn't ease late-season F1 frustration
More from
DAMS
Ferrari promotes F2 racer to F1 reserve driver role
Formula 1
Formula 1
Singapore GP
29 d
Ferrari promotes F2 racer to F1 reserve driver role
Correa: F2 podium return “surreal” on Hubert anniversary
FIA F2
FIA F2
Barcelona
Jun 24, 2024
Correa: F2 podium return “surreal” on Hubert anniversary
Crawford joins DAMS for 2024 F2 season after Red Bull split
FIA F2
FIA F2
Abu Dhabi
Nov 27, 2023
Crawford joins DAMS for 2024 F2 season after Red Bull split
Latest news
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup 11 h
The ten closest finishes from the 2026 NASCAR season
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 12 h
‘Lewis suspected a conspiracy’ – Nico Rosberg explains how Lewis Hamilton F1 rivalry went awry at Mercedes
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
WEC
WEC WEC
Monza
13 h
BMW "proud of what we achieved" after securing runner-up in 2026 WEC
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
MotoGP
MGP MotoGP
Qatar GP
15 h
The numbers that reveal how sprint races have turned the MotoGP title fight upside down
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe