Bearman makes late pass to win Formula 2’s Qatar sprint race

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Prema’s Ollie Bearman passed Isack Hadjar with three laps to go to win a dramatic Qatar sprint race that finished behind the safety car.

Bearman scored his third victory of the season ahead of DAMS driver Jak Crawford and MP Motorsport returnee Richard Verschoor, while a late spin cost Campos Racing’s Hadjar both second place and a chance to regain the championship lead.

Starting from the inside of the front row, Hadjar was one of five drivers in the field to opt for the medium compound tyre which he used to gain an early advantage.

Using the hard compound, Bearman converted pole into the lead at the start ahead of Hadjar while ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins, also on the medium tyres, vaulted from seventh on the grid to third. Bearman quickly came under pressure from Hadjar, who used the extra grip from his softer tyres to snatch the lead into turn 10 on the second lap.

Hadjar built a 3.5-second lead over the next two laps, but he was not able to pull away any further. The Red Bull junior then started to complain about his front left tyre just 8 laps into the 23-lap contest. It wasn’t until lap 10 that Bearman started to close back in, and by the race’s halfway stage he had cut the gap to 1.6s. The Ferrari Academy member moved to within DRS range with eight laps to go, but a few more laps passed until his opportunity arrived.

As the cars commenced the 21st lap, Bearman dived to the inside of Hadjar into turn one to snatch the lead. Hadjar tried to stay within Bearman’s slipstream but then spun at turn four and slipped to fourth.

Having been unable to keep pace with Bearman and Hadjar from the outset, Martins also started to struggle with his tyres at one-third’s distance. He put up a valiant defence from Crawford for several laps, much to his pursuer’s frustration. Martin’s lack of pace meant the number of cars bunched up behind him continued to grow, with the train eventually going all the way back to Prema’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli in 12th.

Crawford eventually swept past Martins into turn one with seven laps to go, by which time he was 6.5s behind the front two, but inherited second due to Hadjar’s late spin. With his resistance finally broken, Martins was shuffled back out of the points to 10th, but then was indirectly involved in the incident which caused the late safety car period which neutralised the race to its conclusion.

Antonelli dived to the inside of Invicta Racing’s Kush Maini for 11th into turn one, but then was caught out by the struggling Martins in front of him and ended up collecting Maini, with the pair both spinning and then pulling off the circuit with damage.

Verschoor resisted early pressure from Hitech GP’s Paul Aron for fifth before capitalising on Martins’ tyre issues and Hadjar’s error to finish on the podium in his first race since switching from Trident. Aron eventually fell back from Verschoor and, after holding off Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto and surviving a clash with Martins while making his way by, kept his title hopes alive by coming home fifth.

Bortoleto went off the road while trying to pass Aron at one stage, but he took the chequered flag in sixth to maintain the points lead. Rodin Motorsport duo Ritomo Miyata and Zane Maloney were the final two points-scorers in seventh and eighth. DAMS driver Dino Beganovic had ran ahead of the pair on his debut until being rear-ended by Miyata in the closing stages and spinning down the order to 11th.

MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe was also denied a chance to score points after retiring with a sizeable engine failure in the early stages, shortly after being passed by Bortoleto and Beganovic.

Van Amersfoort Racing’s John Bennett finished his first F2 race in 13th, one place ahead of fellow debutant and Trident driver Max Esterson. AIX Racing’s Cian Shields also made his debut and came home 18th.

Race results (23 laps)