Prema’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli took a masterful maiden win in the FIA Formula 2 championship, commanding proceedings in a Silverstone-based Sprint plagued by rain.
Antonelli led Rodin’s Zane Maloney by 8.6s by the time the chequered flag fell in what was a mature display beyond his young years.
Rain wreaked havoc with the FIA Formula 3 Sprint, delaying it to Saturday evening, meanwhile, Formula 1’s final practice session was run through intermittent showers.
That set the stage for a wet Formula 2 Sprint with all 22 cars starting proceedings on wet tyres, with a heavy shower predicted to come into play shortly after lights out.
Rain indeed started to trickle from Silverstone’s gloomy skies as the F2 field waited on the grid.
The pressure of leading the field to green lay at Antonelli’s door as the much-talked-about Italian teenager inherited the reverse grid pole after qualifying 10th on Friday.
Antonelli struggled with getaways last time out at the Red Bull Ring and the addition of rain meant his task would be harder, but a rolling start allowed him to lead the field without a fuss at lights out.
Any pressure that could be levied at the Italian wasn’t apparent as he drove a composed first lap to eke out an early 2.5s lead over Maloney.
Invicta’s Kush Maini ran in third after the first of 21 laps and he was followed by his team-mate Gabriele Bortoleto, who managed to make his way past DAMS’ Jak Crawford in the opening exchanges.
As Antonelli remained composed out in front, his Prema team-mate Oliver Bearman was involved in an almighty scrap on Lap 2, getting hung out to dry at Village and falling from sixth to ninth.
The rain then decided to lash down in spades, prompting a Virtual Safety Car deployment.
Racing went to green on Lap 3 but the conditions were treacherous and following cars were cloaked in mountains of spray from those ahead.
The green flag running didn’t last long however and the Safety Car was called into action on Lap 4, set to erode Antonelli’s three-second advantage out in front, but granting MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto a reprieve, given the Williams Academy Driver was being hounded to relent sixth place form the likes of his team-mate Dennis Hauger.
Just like the green flag period, the Safety Car didn’t last long and the Red Flag was waived on Lap 5 of 21.
An impromptu 14-minute interval followed as race control waited for the rain to subside, but conditions remained difficult to navigate when cars returned to the track behind the Safety Car.
Antonelli backed up the field through Stowe ahead of a rolling restart before pulling the trigger at Vale, leading the field to start Lap 7.
Maloney took to a comfortable second as Maini squeezed his Invicta team-mate Bortoleto down the Wellington straight, inviting Crawford to close in on the pair of them.
On Lap 8 there was disaster for championship leader Paul Aron, who ground to a halt on the Wellington straight.
The Hitech driver was caught in the rear by Campos’ Pepe Marti who was unsighted in the spray coming out of Village.
Aron’s misery would be spared somewhat with championship rival Isack Hadjar also coming to a halt at Turn 9 and the Safety Car was deployed once again.
The second of Campos’ two drivers lost control of his F2 machine and spun into the gravel, confirming a double DNF for him and fellow Red Bull-backed driver Marti.
19 cars remained at this stage and they were forced to complete several laps behind the Safety Car as the marshalls removed Aron’s Hitech car from the circuit with the help of a recovery vehicle.
Lap 13 paved the way for the F2 challengers to get back to racing and by this point, the rain relented somewhat.
Once again it was a tale of two halves for Prema’s two drivers.
Antonelli led the way with apparent ease as Bearman tumbled down the order as he skated through the gravel at Copse, luckily being able to continue, albeit in 18th.
The Italian teenage sensation, touted for a Formula 1 drive with Mercedes in the future, was looking calm and collected out in front, eking out a three-second advantage by Lap 15.
Zak O’Sullivan was looking less composed, however, tagging Martins into Village on Lap 16, dropping his ART team-mate out of the race.
On the same lap, Bearman’s race was over and the Englishman was pictured climbing out of his car on the Hangar straight, leading to another Virtual Safety Car.
As 16 drivers toured slowly around the track, O’Sullivan retreated to the pits dropping a lap down as the VSC ended before retiring altogether.
The remaining laps were an Antonelli masterclass as he stretched his advantage over Maloney to well over seven seconds, signing off on an incredible drive to take his first win in F2.
Maloney finished just over two seconds in front of the squabbling Invicta duo who traded positions on several occasions on the final lap with the advantage falling to Bortoleto.
Maini was resigned to fourth behind his team-mate with Colapinto completing the top five after passing Crawford on the final tour of the Silverstone circuit.
Hauger took seventh ahead of Trident’s Roman Stanek, with AIX Racing’s Taylor Barnard and Rodin’s Ritomo Miyata rounding out the top-10.
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