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The F2 Sprint Race at the Autodromo Enzo e Dino saw chaos on the opening lap with a massive incident that set the precedent for the rest of the race.
Formula 2 racing at Imola for the Sprint Race behind the Safety Car on the opening laps. (Credit: X at Formula2)Formula 2 returned for Round Four of the season this weekend at Imola. Yesterday’s Qualifying session saw several lap times deleted, changing the order at the chequered flag. However, many were reinstated and so, it was Gabriel Bortoleto on pole position ahead of Oliver Bearman and Isack Hadjar in P2 and P3 respectively.
This is Bearman’s second highest qualifying result this season; he took pole in Jeddah, but was called up to Formula 1 for that weekend. His teammate, Kimi Antonelli, also had a strong qualifying performance this weekend with his reinstated lap putting him P4. Paul Aron, Franco Colapinto, Amaury Cordeel also had laps reinstated.
Therefore for the Sprint Race, it was Cordeel on pole ahead of Colapinto, Aron, Roman Stanek, Zane Maloney, Antonelli, Hadjar, Bearman, Joshua Durksen and Bortoleto. Durksen began in P9 due to a three-place grid penalty given last time out in Melbourne.
So with the reverse grid, let’s get into what happened during the F2 Sprint around Imola.
Opening lap chaos
The tyre that was used for the Sprint was the medium-compound tyre. Off the line, Cordeel and Aron both had good starts with the Mercedes junior driver getting ahead into P2. Unfortunately, several drivers crashed going into Tamburello. A Safety Car was brought out just as Aron took the lead.
Joshua Durksen, Enzo Fittipaldi, Stanek, Hadjar and Dennis Hauger were all victims of the opening lap crash.
LAP 1 / 25
? SAFETY CAR ?
Multiple cars come together on the run into Tamburello ?#F2 #ImolaGP pic.twitter.com/xbACz6Gxa1
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 18, 2024
The replays show that Stanek and Hadjar made contact with Stanek going off the track whilst Hadjar spun. Fittipaldi, who was hit from behind by Taylor Barnard, due to slowing down to avoid Hadjar, was also out of the race after collecting damage and losing his front wing. Durksen was a victim of the contact between Barnard and Hadjar and collected Hauger, who then hit Stanek as the two were on the grass.
Antonelli unfortunately had a slow start and dropped six places, whilst Zak O’Sullivan gained 11 positions. Under the Safety Car, the top 10 was Aron, Cordeel, Colapinto, Zane Maloney, Bearman, Bortoleto, Taylor Barnard, Richard Verschoor, Kush Maini and Pepe Martí.
On lap five, the Safety Car ended.
Safety Car Restart
Aron went incredibly early into Rivazza 1, pulling a steady gap ahead of his teammate in P2. Cordeel came under pressure though from Colapinto behind, who was also being chased by Maloney, the current championship leader.
The Williams Academy driver overtook Cordeel to get into third as the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver went wide out of the final corner and went through the gravel.
With Colapinto chasing Aron for the race lead, Bortoleto, who began the race in 10th, was chasing down Bearman. However, there was a DRS train from Cordeel in third all the way to Jak Crawford, who was last in P17.
Martí was noted for a starting procedure infringement and was given a 10-second penalty. The Spanish driver came into the pits to serve his penalty. Race Control then confirmed that Antonelli was noted for a Safety Car Infringement that is to be investigated after the race.
A battle for the podium positions
Meanwhile Aron’s lead of 1.7 seconds is reduced with only 1.119 seconds between himself and Colapinto and the Argentinian driver sets his sight on the race lead. Cordeel was 2.8 seconds behind the MP Motorsport driver and as a result, was under pressure from Maloney and those behind.
Colapinto managed to get within DRS of Aron and attempted an overtake into Tamburello, but couldn’t make it stick. Bortoleto was also struggling to get close enough to Bearman to try and overtake.
LAP 16 / 25
Within touching distance! ?
A series of fast laps from Franco Colapinto has brought him onto the gearbox of race leader Paul Aron ?#F2 #ImolaGP pic.twitter.com/5jgxoyzkxD
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 18, 2024
Further back, not much was happening in terms of drivers switching positions.
Final five laps
With five laps to go of the F2 Sprint, Cordeel was doing well to hold off Maloney, keeping the Bajan driver at bay with a 0.4 second gap. Colapinto had the fastest lap and was still within DRS of race leader, Aron.
But it was on lap 23 that Maloney was rewarded for his patience. He overtook Cordeel on the outside of Tamburello, going side by side and taking the final podium position.
After Maloney’s overtake, Bortoleto and Colapinto began pushing with two laps left. Colapinto closed the gap to Aron to only half a second and going into Turn 2, the two went side by side after Aron went wide out of the final corner. The Williams junior went around the outside and shovelled it wide into mid-corner and took the race lead.
Bearman then came under pressure from Bortoleto on the final lap, but the Brazilian driver was unable to get ahead of the Ferrari Junior before the end of the race.
The Results
For the first time in F2, an Argentinian driver stands on the top step with Colapinto taking the victory. The top 10 of the F2 Sprint were as follows:
1 – Franco Colapinto
2 – Paul Aron
3 – Zane Maloney
4 – Amaury Cordeel
5 – Oliver Bearman
6 – Gabriel Bortoleto
7 – Taylor Barnard
8 – Richard Verschoor
9 – Kush Maini
10 – Zak O’Sullivan
Headline image: X @Formula2