Photo: Red Bull Content Pool
Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar and Prema’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli were both reprimanded for impeding drivers in a dangerous manner at the top of Eau Rouge in Formula 2 qualifying.
Points leader Hadjar was deemed by stewards to have been “on the racing line at the exit of turn 4 while on a slow lap” as Rodin Motorsport’s Ritomo Miyata rapidly approached him from behind while on a flying lap.
Miyata had to take evasive action as he encountered Hadjar’s car while going over the crest of Eau Rouge, with Campos having not informed their driver he was about to be passed. There were other cars in the vicinity which Miyata also had to navigate, and he said they were more impactful than the presence of a slow-moving Hadjar at one of the most dangerous corners.
Stewards still believed Hadjar, who went on to qualify third, “was positioned in a manner which was potentially dangerous” to Miyata.
Formula Scout informed Hadjar of his reprimand a minute after it was issued, and got his reaction to the punishment.
“For me, it [the incident] was nothing big,” he said. “There was no big impeding or anything. I think it’s mainly the fact that it’s on top of Eau Rouge in a really difficult place that you have to take even more safety. And I didn’t do. But in the end I got away with a reprimand, which I completely understand.”
Antonelli impeded Miyata’s team-mate Zane Maloney, who lifted between Raidillon and Eau Rouge because he saw the Prema driver ahead and therefore compromised his flying lap before even reaching Antonelli.
As Maloney got closer, Antonelli then moved out of the way but stewards deemed that as he was exiting Eau Rouge he was still in a “potentially dangerous” position with a car behind. Prema had not warned Antonelli that Maloney was approaching.
Antonelli qualified fifth, meaning he will start fifth on the reversed grid of Saturday’s sprint race.
“Overall we got two positive starting positions for tomorrow and Sunday,” the 17-year-old reflected. “The car was quite good today, I lost a couple of tenths around the lap as it was not a really clean one. We need to keep working to unlock even more performance and we’ll see what we can do [in the sprint race]. There might be rain coming, so there are good chances to take.”