Door slams shut, then ajar for Hadjar
Isack Hadjar took the chequered flag first in both Formula 2 races supporting the Australian Grand Prix, but what happened at the start of the first cost him one victory, and what occurred on the 10th lap of the second set up one that had looked unlikely.
The Red Bull Junior had qualified his Campos Racing car eighth for Sunday’s feature race, giving him third on the partially reversed grid for the sprint on Saturday. Hadjar made a good start, then veered right into the middle of the track to take the fight to polesitter Roman Stanek.
But Hadjar was unaware that Campos and Red Bull stablemate Pepe Marti had made an even better start from fourth on the grid. As he moved right, Hadjar made slight contact with Marti, forcing the Spaniard into the side of front-row starter Gabriel Bortoleto. Marti and
Bortoleto made heavy contact with the wall, resulting in the retirement of both within 100 metres of the start.
Hadjar’s car was unscathed, and the Frenchman managed to execute his move on Stanek for the lead by the first corner. He maintained the advantage to the chequered flag, despite a pair of safety car interventions, the first for the start incident and the second after Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Richard Verschoor spun in unison at Turn 12 on lap 10. By the flag, the winning margin was over six seconds. But some hours later, Hadjar was handed a 10s sanction, which dropped him to sixth.
After a subsequent appeal was dismissed by the stewards, fortune smiled on Hadjar in the feature race when, having made little progress through the order, he was thrust into the net race lead after Dennis Hauger, who had initially controlled the race from pole in his MP Motorsport entry, crashed at the ‘George Russell’ Turn 6 after his pitstop.
When the virtual safety car, and eventually the full safety car, was deployed,
Hadjar was already in the pits, meaning he lost significantly less time than those forced to creep around the track at low speed. Invicta Racing’s Kush Maini, on the alternate strategy of starting on medium tyres, had worked through to pass Antonelli for second. But the caution came too early to pit for supersofts. The Indian continued to lead on the restart, and had just lost the advantage to Jak Crawford (DAMS) when they both pitted with two laps remaining.
Hadjar’s quick work in passing the slower alternate-strategy runners gave him enough of a buffer to be clear of second-placed Paul Aron (Hitech GP), while Rodin Motorsport pair Zane
Maloney and Ritomo Miyata sandwiched Antonelli (Prema) in third and fifth.
Hadjar’s loss on Saturday had been Stanek’s gain. The Trident-run Czech just held off Hauger, who had passed Maini on the penultimate lap, and his first F2 podium was eventually converted into a maiden win. Close behind Maini were Franco Colapinto and Miyata, while an off for series leader Maloney cost him fourth.
It was a weekend to forget for Ferrari supersub Ollie Bearman. After an engine problem on his Prema car in qualifying, (a fact revealed by Ferrari F1 boss Fred Vasseur), the Briton was left to start both races from 16th. Only in the feature race was Bearman able to make significant progress, finishing ninth to score his first F2 points of the season.
It was a slightly brighter story for pre-season favourite Victor Martins. After crashing out of qualifying, the ART driver climbed from the back of the pack to record seventh and eighth-place finishes, banking his first points of the year.