The Formula 2 Belgian Grand Prix will certainly not be the crossroads of the championship, but it represented an important and significant stage for the standings, especially for what happened on Sunday, with the victory of Isack Hadjar and the zero of his most fearsome rival for the title, namely Paul Aron, forced to retire due to a technical problem during the final lap.
Gabriel Bortoleto took advantage of this and now moved up to second place in the standings, albeit 36 points behind the Frenchman from the Red Bull Academy: the Brazilian had taken second place in the Feature Race, but had not scored points in a sprint race where only the top five riders made any difference in the standings, given the interruption caused by excessive rain.
Title hopes are fading for Zane Maloney, now more than 50 points behind the championship leader, although the championship still has four events with a long story to tell.
Paul Aron, Hitech Pulse-Eight), precede Gabriel Bortoleto, Invicta Racing,
Foto di: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Feature Race: O’Sullivan before the break
In Saturday’s rain-delayed sprint race, Williams junior Zak O’Sullivan took his second win of the Formula 2 season, prevailing in tricky conditions before the race was abandoned again.
Indeed, the Spa F2 sprint race was due to start at 2.15pm local time on Saturday, but was postponed due to heavy rain which had also affected Formula 1 previously, with the race starting at 6.25pm, with O’Sullivan in pole position.
After holding on to first place, O’Sullivan quickly pulled away, extending his lead until the Virtual Safety Car intervened on lap three to recover Pepe Marti’s Campos, which had stopped on the track in the Pouhon area.
However, after a brief Virtual Safety Car period, race control decided to call in the physical Safety Car, but worsening conditions meant the field remained single file before the red flags came out on lap seven and the race was not restarted.
Marshalls wave the red flag
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
The FIA explained the decision not to restart the race: “The decision not to restart the FIA Formula 2 sprint race was taken due to the lack of visibility caused by the level of rain we have experienced in the last few hours and the high-speed characteristics of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit. The safety of the drivers, team members, volunteers, officials and spectators is our main priority.”
That doesn’t mean there weren’t episodes worthy of mention, like the beautiful overtaking at Eau Rouge by Andrea Kimi Antonelli on Colapinto, which earned him sixth place. In the few laps available, Oliver Bearman also made a great comeback, climbing from fourteenth place to seventh place, overtaking Colapinto on the Kemmel straight.
Due to the short distance, points were awarded only to the top five, with O’Sullivan picking up five. Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport) and Richard Verschoor (Trident) joined the podium, while Zane Maloney (Rodin) and Jack Crawford (DAMS) completed the points. Antonelli was sixth, meaning he did not score any points. Paul Aron (Hitech) finished 18th after picking up a grid penalty for the sprint race, starting 20th.
Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Prema Racing, leads Zak O’Sullivan, ART Grand Prix
Foto di: Andy Hone / Motorsport Images
Feature Race: Hadjar wins and the rankings extend
While Saturday’s race offered little spectacle, being interrupted well in advance, the Feature Race provided a few more duels and, above all, some dramatic twists, with Red Bull Academy driver Isack Hadjar increasing his lead in the standings.
The race got off to a frenetic start when Oliver Bearman and Pepe Marti made contact early on the start-finish straight, with the Briton closing down the Spaniard and triggering the incident that sent them both into the wall. Before the safety car came out, Hadjar managed to pass Bortoleto for second, leaving him behind only polesitter Aron.
However, the Safety Car was deployed again on lap 4 after Victor Martins failed to avoid the Van Amersfoort Racing car of Rafael Villagómez spinning at Les Combes. The restart was crucial, with Hadjar overtaking straight away on the Kemmel Aron straight to take the lead.
Isack Hadjar, Campos Racing
Photo at: Red Bull Content Pool
With no further interruptions, the tyre strategy remained unchanged. Aron started the leading group’s pit stops just moments after being passed at Les Combes by Hadjar on lap eight, with the Frenchman then coming back in on the following lap, switching from soft to medium tyres.
Stopping after the leading pair, Bortoleto expected to have an advantage in the final laps, but after getting stuck in the dirty air of Hadjar’s Campos, the Brazilian was never able to exploit the advantage, despite actually being able to recover several seconds, demonstrating the good pace of the Invicta rider. After climbing the rankings, Hadjar took the lead again just ahead of Bortoleto who, after several overtakings, pulled away again finishing more than two seconds away from the top.
However, it was on the last lap that the big twist came, when Paul Aron began to slow down on the Kemmel straight while he was in the podium zone, thus having to say goodbye to the possibility of scoring points that would have kept the title chase alive. The one who benefited most was Jak Crawford, who took the podium ahead of Zak O’Sullivan, Richard Verschoor, Zane Maloney, an excellent Ritomo Miyata, Amaury Cordeel and Andrea Kimi Antonelli on the alternative strategy. Joshua Durksen in the AIX team car completed the top ten.
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