Nico Varrone hit with harsh F2 penalty, finishes 20th in Monaco GP | OneFootball

The Formula 2 round on the streets of Monaco once again left a bitter taste for Nico Varrone. After an outstanding comeback in the Sprint, the Van Amersfoort Racing driver finished 20th in the Feature Race after receiving a penalty that compromised his chances from the start. Victory went to Bulgarian driver Nikola Tsolov.

Before the start, the Buenos Aires native was involved in a minor incident during the formation lap. In the swimming pool section, a sudden slowdown by Thailand’s Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak triggered a chain reaction. Sebastián Montoya braked to avoid a collision, and the Argentine lightly clipped him with the nose of his car. None of those involved suffered any consequences.

The key moment for the Ingeniero Maschwitz driver came just after the race began. After starting from 15th, he took an escape road at the first corner to avoid contact in the middle of the pack. Although he gained no positions, the stewards ruled that he had obtained a sporting advantage and handed him a 10-second penalty.

That penalty ended up shaping his entire strategy. The VAR driver spent much of the 42 laps in 16th place and chose to delay his pit stop as long as possible in the hope of a neutralization. However, the Safety Car never came out, and he had to serve both the mandatory stop and the penalty on the final lap, dropping him to 20th place.

The race was decided with seven laps to go. Rafael Câmara seemed to be on his way to victory after opening a seven-second gap over Tsolov following the pit stops, but pressure from the Campos Racing driver forced the Brazilian into a mistake, locking up his tires on the main straight and losing the lead.

From that point on, the Bulgarian controlled the race to the checkered flag. Câmara also recorded the only retirement after stopping his car at Sainte-Devote. “I don’t know what happened. It has no grip at all,” the Brazilian said over the radio. Alexander Dunne finished second, and Dino Beganovic completed the podium.

In the championship, Gabriele Minì remains in front with 63 points, although Tsolov is now just one point behind. Martinius Stenshorne and Dunne share third place with 48, while Noel León has 45. The Argentine, meanwhile, sits 14th with 14 points.

Despite the setback in Monaco, the season had been showing encouraging signs for the Argentine driver. After a difficult start in Australia, he scored his first points with a fourth-place finish in the Miami Sprint (followed by 13th in the main race), and later shone in Canada, where he finished sixth in the feature race and set the fastest lap. His next outing will be from June 12 to 14 in Barcelona for the fifth round of the calendar.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇪🇸 here.