Jehan Daruvala finishes 7th in F2 championship; equals his best-ever finish

Indian driver Jehan Daruvala, on Sunday, finished seventh in the 2022 F2 Driver's Championships with 126 points against his name. The 24-year-old failed to collect even a single point during the final race weekend of the year at the Yas Marina circuit in Abu Dhabi.

Going into the Abu Dhabi GP - a race which he won in 2021, Jehan Daruvala was placed fifth in the standings and was well in contention for a top-3 finish in the championship.

He, however, crashed out of the sprint race on Saturday before finishing 13th in the feature race on Sunday.

The 24-year-old shunted heavily into the barriers after contact with Enzo Fittipaldi on the opening lap of the shorter Saturday race. The Prema racer was taken to the medical center but was cleared to race on Sunday.

Jehan had, however, suffered a tendon injury in the crash and lined up for the feature race with his wrist strapped up to reduce the pain.

Formula 2 cars are not equipped with power steering, which puts a lot of demands on a driver's arms and wrists.

Still, despite the pain, Jehan battled through the pack, running as high as third after a long opening stint.

He had pulled out enough of a gap to come out of the pits comfortably within the top ten but a slow stop that cost him as many as five seconds cost him a points finish.

He finished 13th just over two seconds outside the points.

Jehan said, "We were hoping for more after our win and double podium in Monza but unfortunately this wasn't our weekend. Motor racing is full of ups and downs and while this season hasn't gone as we wanted, there are still highs that we can celebrate

Jehan Daruvala finishes his season with a solitary race win at Monza. He, however, equalled his best-ever finish in a season at seventh. He had finished 7th in 2021 as well with 113 points.

Daruvala's team Prema Racing finished fourth in the team standings with 241 points as his teammate Dennis Hauger pocketed 115 points during the course of the season.