Campos driver Isack Hadjar leapfrogged Paul Aron to lead the Formula 2 Championship Standings with victory in Sunday’s Feature race at Silverstone. Rodin’s Zane Maloney and DAMS’ Jak Crawford completed the podium.
There was drama right from the outset as Invicta’s Gabriele Bortoleto spun on the formation lap, struggling to get heat into his tyres en route to the grid.
Shortly after lights out the Safety Car was summoned as Saturday’s Sprint winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli spun around after being hit from behind by Kush Maini
ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins took the lead during the start, followed by Ollie Bearman, who went from fifth to second place in just a few corners.
Hadjar dropped to third ahead of Crawford and Bortoleto who went around the outside of Maloney at Maggotts and Becketts before the Safety Car was called into action.
The race was resumed one lap later with Martins successfully defending his lead. This didn’t last long, as the Safety Car went out again as Joshua Durksen was stuck into the gravel after contact with Aron.
Aron went into the pitlane for a tyre change to hards alongside Maini under the Safety Car, both potentially suffering damage to their cars as they were involved in different incidents during the early laps of the contest.
The race got green-flagged again at the end of Lap 6 for yet another restart led by Martins, who once again retained first place.
Meanwhile, Richard Verschoor and Enzo Fittipaldi went into the pitlane before the restart to switch to the hard compound rubber.
Bearman got under massive pressure from Hadjar in third, only a few tenths behind the Prema liveried car.
The upcoming Haas F1 driver was called to box alongside Hadjar to make their mandatory stops to switch from soft to hard tyres.
Campos had a better pitstop than the Prema crew, which gave Frenchman Hadjar a few car lengths advantage.
On Lap 9, everyone at the front of the pack was called to the box, including race leader Martins. Crawford, Maloney, and Bortoleto also made their pitstops.
Crawford jumped Maloney during the pitstop as Hauger was also called in for a tyre change.
Meanwhile, Franco Colapinto launched an attack on Juan Manuel Correa to take the lead, although both of them were still yet to pit on the alternate strategy.
Hadjar and Martins engaged in a fight for the net lead of the race, with Martins being able to defend from the first overtaking attempt around the outside of Stowe.
Pepe Marti completed a move around Roman Stanek to get into third place, but both were still yet to pit.
Meanwhile, Aron received a 10-second time penalty for his incident with Durksen early on in the race, heaping more misery on the Hitech runner.
By Lap 14, Hadjar dropped back from Martins with the gap increasing to over a second, preventing him from using DRS.
Nonetheless, as we approached Lap 18, Hadjar closed toward Martins again, getting only two-tenths behind the Alpine liveried car.
The pair were close to contact as Hadjar went wide into the last corner and pushed Martins out into Turn 1.
Hadjar took the lead briefly, but the battle enabled Crawford to close in and get into the lead of the group who already made their stop.
But alas, Crawford received a five-second penalty for an unsafe release with Maloney earlier on, denting his victory charge.
This hard fight helped the cars running with the alternative strategy, especially Colapinto, who was leading by five seconds.
Taylor Barnard and Ritomo Miyata were the first two cars from the alternative strategy runners to make their way into the pitlane by Lap 22, but it was of little consequence in the fight for victory.
One lap later, Colapinto, Correa, Marti, Stanek and Maini went in for their mandatory stops.
Colapinto rejoined the track ahead of Victor Martins, but the Frenchman made his way past due as the Argentine struggled to get his soft tyres up to temperature.
Amaury Cordeel also went to the pits one lap later, leaving only Rafael Villagomez yet to pit across the entire field.
Correa reported a puncture on Lap 24, having to stop once again.
Meanwhile, Bearman was coming under attack from Bortoleto, who completed the move at the outside of Stowe.
Colapinto, who was lapping more than one second quicker than the cars ahead on the hard tyres cleared Martins and set his sights on Maloney to keep climbing the order.
The Williams Academy driver kept setting purple laps after purple laps, giving his all to close the gap to the cars ahead.
As Aron pitted on Lap 28 to serve his penalty, Crawford inherited the race lead but his five-second penalty loomed over him.
Colapinto charge forward faltered behind Maloney as his tyres faded, making him vulnerable to Martins behind.
Crawford saw the chequered flag first on the road, but the penalty dropped him to third behind Hadjar and Maloney with the eventual victor taking the championship lead.
Colapinto was able to hold off Martins to keep fourth with Bortoleto, Bearman, Fittipaldi, Hauger and Marti completing the top 10 for the feature race in Silverstone.
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