Hadjar penalty hands Stanek maiden F2 win in Melbourne sprint race

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Isack Hadjar has been given a 10-second penalty dropping him from first to sixth after the Melbourne Formula 2 sprint race and handing Trident’s Roman Stanek his maiden victory.

In a dramatic start Hadjar moved to the inside of Stanek off the grid just as his Campos Racing team-mate Pepe Marti was trying to squeeze through the gap between Hadjar and Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto.

The two Campos cars touched, pitching Marti into Bortoleto, ending both of their races immediately. Hadjar went on to take the lead into the first corner, which he held until the finish, taking the flag 6.8s ahead of Stanek.

After the race all three drivers were summoned to the stewards who listened to the drivers’ and respective teams’ testimonies as well as examining video evidence.

As a result, in addition to the time penalty, Hadjar was given two penalty points on his licence.

In explaining their decision the stewards noted that Bortoleto explained that both Campos cars had made “a better start than him and admitted seeing [Marti] moving to the left to try to overtake him.”

Bortoleto “kept steering straight to leave enough room for [Marti], when he suddenly felt a heavy hit on the left-hand side of his car.”

For his part, Marti told the stewards that “he had a good launch, saw a gap between [Bortoleto] and [Hadjar] and started the overtaking manoeuvre between both cars. He also explained that his front axle was alongside [Bortoleto], when the gap disappeared and he felt a big hit.”

Hadjar, on the other hand, felt that he had “barely moved from the left hand-side of the track when he made contact with [Marti]. He also admitted not seeing his teammate alongside him.”

After examining video footage the stewards concluded that Hadjar had “moved significantly to the right to get a run on the car in front of him [Stanek] without realizing that [Marti] had a significant portion of his car alongside him.

“This move caused [Marti] to move slightly to the right to take avoiding action,” resulting in contact between Marti’s car and Bortoleto, followed by a second contact with Hadjar.

In conclusion, the stewards determined that Hadjar had been “predominantly to blame for the collision.”

As a result of the penalty, Hadjar is demoted to sixth place, with Stanek inheriting the victory ahead of MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger and Invicta Racing’s Kush Maini.

Franco Colapinto and Ritomo Miyata each move up a position ahead of Hadjar, having finished within 10 seconds of the Red Bull junior.

Victor Martins remains seventh in the final classification but a separate penalty for Ollie Bearman for forcing Joshua Duerksen off the track at Turn 4 moves Zak O’Sullivan to eighth and the final point.

Final results (23 laps)