Hadjar snatches F2 points lead with Silverstone feature race victory

Photo: Red Bull

Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar scored his third Formula 2 victory of the season at Silverstone as a penalty denied Jak Crawford.

Hadjar bogged down from pole when the lights went out and slipped to third, while Prema’s Ollie Bearman rocketed from fifth to second behind ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins.

Sprint race winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli was spun out by Virtuosi Racing’s Kush Maini at Village and retired, while Maini’s team-mate Gabriel Bortoleto survived a formation lap spin to pass Maloney for fourth.

The action resumed following a brief safety car period to retrieve Antonelli’s car, but an incident involving points leader Paul Aron led to the race being quickly neutralised once more.

AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen tried to pass Aron at Woodcote but was squeezed onto the grass and spun, collecting the Hitech GP driver and then retiring in the gravel. Aron was forced to pit with a right-rear puncture, and officials later handed him a 10-second penalty for the incident.

Martins immediately pulled clear at the restart while Bearman came under pressure from Hadjar. The battle for second continued on the next tour, with Hadjar eventually sailing past on the Hangar Straight before the pair headed for the pits. Bearman was hampered by a delayed right-rear tyre change, and despite a slow stop of his own on the next lap Martins maintained the net lead after rejoining.

Having fought his way back past Bortoleto, Maloney narrowly lost out to Crawford in the pitlane but the DAMS driver was eventually awarded a five-second penalty for an unsafe release.

Martins soon came under attack from Hadjar, who tried to drive around the outside at Stowe but ran wide and conceded. Hadjar dropped out of DRS range for a few laps before trying another move into Vale. The pair continued to go wheel-to-wheel until Abbey, where Martins went off the circuit and rejoined behind both Hadjar and Crawford.

Hadjar held the net-lead for only a few corners before Crawford moved past on the Wellington Straight, while Martins faded and lost a further place to Maloney.

MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto held first on the road until pitting with seven laps to go, and Aron led for the next five laps before making his mandatory stop.

Crawford moved into the lead with two laps to go, but he could not overcome his penalty and slipped to third at the chequered flag behind Hadjar and Maloney. Colapinto came home a further 10s behind the trio, having used his fresh tyres to pass Martins for fourth in the closing stages.

Bortoleto was further 2s adrift in sixth ahead of Bearman and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Enzo Fittipaldi. MP’s Dennis Hauger was ninth ahead of Campos driver Pepe Marti who climbed from 19th on the grid to score the final point. Aron lost the championship lead to Hadjar, having failed to score for the second race in a row by finishing 12th behind ART’s Zak O’Sullivan.

Race results (29 laps)