Fittipaldi tops red-flagged F2 practice at Red Bull Ring

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Rodin Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi was fastest in Formula 2 free practice at the Red Bull Ring, with running curtailed by two late red flag stoppages.

Roy Nissany set the early pace in the 45-minute session with a 1m16.539s, his lap 0.025 seconds quicker than that of Fittipaldi.

Theo Pourchaire momentarily moved to the top with a 1m16.124s before his ART Grand Prix team-mate Victor Martins lapped over 0.3s faster.

Fittipaldi then exchanged top spot with Martins, initially recording a 1m15.524s before improving to 1m15.216s to beat Martins’ new best by 0.184s.

Pourchaire, who had slipped back to 16th, spun to a halt with little more than 10 minutes remaining after dipping a wheel in the gravel exiting turn four.

That caused a brief red flag period, with the action resuming with five minutes left on the clock. But a spin for Amaury Cordeel at turn one brought the red flags out again before anyone could complete a flying lap, with the session not resuming.

Points leader Frederik Vesti was almost 0.4s shy of Fittipaldi’s pace in third, while Hitech GP driver Isack Hadjar was fourth.

Vesti’s Prema team-mate Ollie Bearman, winner last time out at Barcelona, was 11th. The top 21 drivers were separated by one second.

Free practice results