Austrian F2 qualifying: Track limits, anyone?

F2 practice in Austria was a disrupted affair. Would qualifying prove to be the same around the Red Bull Ring?

Two late red flags lay the way for a stop-start finish to the 45-minute weekend-opening session. Therefore, Rodin Carlin’s Enzo Fittipaldi was able to top the timing sheets with a 1:15.216 set in the first half of the session.

The man who loves a strong practice session more than anyone, Victor Martins, finished in P2, with championship leader Frederik Vesti in P3 for PREMA.

Two things are almost certain in every F2 qualifying session: traffic and red flags. Would both occur at Spielberg, which almost always throws track-limits controversy into the mix, too?

Lads, we gotta mind those track limits! ?#AustrianGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/4CDn73GVSs

— Formula 2 (@Formula2) June 30, 2023

If F3 qualifying was a preview of things to come for the more senior support category then F2 would have a crowded and chaotic 30 minutes in which to set the order for the weekend’s two races.

Fittipaldi was bested by only Oliver Bearman in F2’s last qualifying session, in Barcelona. Would Little Shark go one better in Austria, as he continues to pursue that elusive first win in F2?

Or, would last season’s F2 pole-sitter, Vesti, who hasn’t always been the strongest qualifier, go back-to-back and further strengthen his championship position?

First runs

As the green flag flew, the field hastily made its way onto the circuit. True to form, a number of warm-up laps followed for the opening five minutes, as the drivers prepared their tyres for their first push laps.

The Tridents of Roman Stanek and Clement Novalak were first across the line, quickly followed by Ayumu Iwasa, who was temporarily top. The DAMS driver beat out by Jack Doohan and then Vesti, before Victor Martins settled at the head of the timing board. Fittipaldi just one and a half tenths back, as the leading trio from practice continued their supremacy.

The queuing resumed soon after as the second push laps began to be set. A number of drivers found their times deleted for track limits, hardly a surprise given the high-speed nature of the final sector.

Martins still led, with a 1:14.926. Within two-tenths of the Frenchman was Fittipaldi, but his lap time was soon deleted. That promoted the Virtuosi pair of Doohan and Amaury Cordeel, who brought out one of the two red flags in practice.

Behind those three lay Vesti and his championship rival Theo Pourchaire – the man responsible for the first red flag earlier in the day.

Doohan’s best time was soon taken away, as he fell to P5. Delays in the cancellation of track limits affected lap times causing confusion and uncertainty over the true order of things.

As the cars returned to the pitlane after the opening 15 minutes, Isack Hadjar limped back to the pits in his ailing Hitech Pulse-Eight, the Red Bull livery-adorned car with smoke coming from the rear.

Second runs

As the pack readied themselves for their final half of the session, calm momentarily descended upon the Red Bull Ring. With less than 12 minutes left to run, the young hopefuls filtered out of the pits.

Fittipaldi, a casualty of a lap time deletion, sat at the tail of the standings. Work to do for the man who was quickest in practice. Joining him without a valid lap was PHM Racing by Charouz’s Brad Benavides and Hitech’s Jak Crawford.

Hauger, physically heading the field, opted to go via the pitlane in the hope that he’d manage to pick up a tow once the laps in anger began. The Norweigan remarking over the radio that they won’t be competitive without it, despite being P6 at the time.

Doohan came onto the radio to complain about erratic driving and heavy braking from the drivers ahead of him. Meanwhile, Fittipaldi recovered to P2 but soon slipped down as those behind him on track bettered his first applicable time.

With four minutes to go, Martins and Pourchaire had Vesti in an ART sandwich up top. The surprise package of 2023, Kush Maini, was just behind in P4. Doohan rounded out the top five.

The traffic-induced chaos provoked Alex Jacques to ponder whether a split-qualifying approach – as seen in Monaco – would be appropriate. Similar to F3, then.

As the clock wound down to zero, a mistake at turn 3 ended Fittipaldi’s hopes of improving his time. Hitech worked a quick miracle to get Hadjar back out. However, the Frenchman could only take P17.

The top of the order remained relatively unchanged as the final lap times came in. Martins couldn’t be bested en route to his second pole position of the season, in an ART that continues to look extremely quick over one lap.

Results to follow…

Featured Image Credit: @ARTGP on Twitter