The New Zealander took advantage of a strong front row start to overtake pole sitter Liam Lawson and take an easy win.
Lawson couldn’t really threaten Armstrong until the final lap and settled into second place while Juri Vips took last place on the podium.
While there wasn’t much in the battle for victory, there were many overtaking maneuvers, with Jehan Daruvala playing the lead role after climbing from 11th to fifth.
Title contender Guanyu Zhou was fortunate enough not to lose any further ground in the championship when championship leaders Oscar Piastri finished ninth and was unable to use an early spin that lost the Chinese on the finish line in 17th place.
Armstrong had the best front row start pulling alongside fellow compatriot and polesitter Lawson, who moved over to stop Armstrong’s progress.
Lawson’s defense was inadequate when Armstrong took the lead after the pair squeezed through the first two corners, Lawson running far and being forced to hand over the lead to Armstrong.
The field managed to get through the first two corners unscathed, but the flawless run only lasted until turn 4 when debutant Olli Caldwell showed up to contact Guilherme Samaia and fired the Charouz into the inside wall. The runaway Samaia then spun his innocent teammate Marino Sato, putting both cars out of the running.
The incident, which was investigated by the stewards, triggered a safety car so that the marshals could clear the route.
The race resumed on lap four, but it wasn’t long before the race had its second incident. Title contender and 2022 Alfa Romeo F1 driver Zhou attempted to overtake Christian Lundgaard in turn 1 in sixth place, but the pair made contact. As a result, Zhou spun while suffering a broken front wing that required a trip to the pits.
When the race resumed for the second time, this time after a virtual safety car, Armstrong Lawson and Boschung were in third place. Vips took fourth place ahead of Felipe Drugovich.
Lundgaard fell back to eighth place after the collision with Zhou, so that Theo Pourchaire and Robert Shwartzman landed in sixth and seventh places respectively. Piastri fell behind Daruvala but stayed in 10th place after Zhou’s death.
Shwartzman then managed to overtake Theo Pourchaire, but ran off the track and gained an advantage that ultimately resulted in a five-second penalty.
Guanyu Zhou, Uni-Virtuosi Racing
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
By the time the race reached halfway, Vips managed to push himself to third place on Boschung and it wasn’t long before Drugovich caught up with the Swiss and overtook fourth place.
Boschung was still fighting for the pace when he fell into the clutches of Shwartzman, who made it easy to overtake the Campos driver and take fifth place. Boschung fought his way back and regained the position, but Shwartzman dived at the hairpin below to retake the position.
With Armstrong Lawson in the lead, Vips and Drugovich in fourth place, there was plenty of action behind as a five-car battle for eighth place developed. The hectic action that resulted in Piastri finishing eighth when Boschung tumbled down the order.
The race was neutralized for the second time by the safety car when the seventh Pourchaire hit the bar at Turn 22 after losing control of his ART.
Armstrong was put under pressure by Lawson in the end but was able to hold onto the win.
Daruvala managed to secure fifth place after benefiting from a penalty for Shwartzman and a stunning two-for-one pass against Lundgaard and Piastri.
Shwartzman eventually finished sixth ahead of Lundgaard, an attacking Dan Ticktum and Piastri.
Bent Viscaal completed the top 10 and starts from pole position for the second sprint race, which is scheduled to start at 2140 local time (1840 GMT).
F2 Jeddah – Race Results:
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