Get all your news in one place.
100’s of premium titles.
One app.
Start reading
Autosport
Autosport
Sport

F2 Britain: Hadjar takes points lead, feature win after Crawford penalty

Isack Hadjar took advantage of a disastrous Silverstone Formula 2 feature race for Paul Aron to establish himself as the new championship leader with his third victory of the season.

Starting from pole, the Campos driver was forced to work for the win after dropping behind Victor Martins (ART) and Oliver Bearman (Prema) in the opening stages.

Recovering the lead with a bold move on Martins at Abbey, the Frenchman then dropped behind Jak Crawford, but was promoted to the top step of the podium once the DAMS driver had a five-second penalty applied for an unsafe pit release.

Taking place in dry conditions after showers had blighted the earlier Formula 3 race, Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) was the only driver in the top seven starting on the alternate strategy with hard tyres fitted.

But the race struggled to find a rhythm in the opening stages, with a pair of safety car interventions interrupting the flow.

The first came when Kush Maini (Invicta) and sprint race winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Prema) clashed at Village on the opening lap, with the second coming on lap four when pre-event championship leader Aron (Hitech) cut across the nose of Joshua Durksen’s AIX machine at Woodcote, causing the latter to spin and become stuck in the gravel.

Aron received a 10-second penalty for his trouble, a penalty he served when pitting on lap 27 of 29 having stayed out in the hope of late rain or a further safety car, and finished outside the points in 12th.

After passing and pulling clear from Juan Manuel Correa (DAMS) on a similar strategy, Colapinto led the charge of those starting on hard tyres and was aided in his push for a podium by the battling of Martins and Hadjar.

Isack Hadjar, Campos Racing (Photo by: Red Bull Content Pool)

This came to a head when Hadjar, feeling aggrieved at being forced off the track by Martins at Stowe, went side-by-side with his compatriot at Club. When Martins ran wide on the exit, Hadjar claimed the inside at Abbey, where Martins headed into the runoff and dropped back to fourth behind Crawford and Zane Maloney (Rodin).

Hadjar then lost out to Crawford, who had the benefit of DRS, but the positions changed again after the race as the American had been released into Maloney's path as they exited the pits, resulting in his penalty.

Crawford eventually fell 0.165s shy of recovering the margin to Maloney and had to accept the third step on the podium.

Colapinto was rapid on his soft tyres in the closing stages but the margin proved too great to recover, and he finished fourth, narrowly fending off Martins.

Hadjar's victory gives him a 16-point lead over Aron following the Estonian's scoreless weekend, while Maloney moves back up to third and just seven back from Aron.

F2 Britain Feature Race Results

   
1
 - 
4
   
   
1
 - 
2
   
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h Pits Points Retirement Bonus
1 France I. Hadjar Campos Racing 20 29

-

           
2 Barbados Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport 5 29

+1.600

1.6

1.600          
3 United States J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil 7 29

+1.800

1.8

0.200          
4 Argentina F. Colapinto MP Motorsport 12 29

+11.900

11.9

10.100          
5 France V. Martins ART Grand Prix 1 29

+12.200

12.2

0.300          
6
G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing
10 29

+14.500

14.5

2.300          
7 United Kingdom O. Bearman Prema Powerteam 3 29

+17.400

17.4

2.900          
8 Brazil E. Fittipaldi Van Amersfoort Racing 14 29

+17.900

17.9

0.500          
9 Norway D. Hauger MP Motorsport 11 29

+23.100

23.1

5.200          
10
P. Martí Campos Racing
21 29

+26.700

26.7

3.600          
11 United Kingdom Z. O'Sullivan ART Grand Prix 2 29

+32.600

32.6

5.900          
12
P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight
17 29

+33.200

33.2

0.600          
13 Netherlands R. Verschoor Trident 22 29

+34.900

34.9

1.700          
14
T. Barnard PHM AIX Racing
25 29

+37.200

37.2

2.300          
15 Belgium A. Cordeel Hitech Pulse-Eight 16 29

+42.300

42.3

5.100          
16 Mexico R. Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing 15 29

+45.600

45.6

3.300          
17 Japan R. Miyata Rodin Motorsport 6 29

+46.500

46.5

0.900          
18 Czech Republic R. Staněk Trident 23 29

+50.700

50.7

4.200          
19 India K. Maini Invicta Racing 9 29

+1'02.300

1'02.3

11.600          
20 United States J. Correa DAMS Lucas Oil 8 29

+1'32.400

1'32.4

30.100          
dnf
J. Duerksen PHM AIX Racing
24 2

27 laps

        Accident  
dnf Italy A. Antonelli Prema Powerteam 4 28

 

        Retirement  
Sign up to read this article
Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.
Already a member? Sign in here
Related Stories
Top stories on inkl right now
One subscription that gives you access to news from hundreds of sites
Already a member? Sign in here
Our Picks
Fourteen days free
Download the app
One app. One membership.
100+ trusted global sources.