Latest Episode | Cut To The Race Podcast
Jak Crawford set the fastest lap and will start on pole position for the Dutch GP. Behind him, Hauger and Vesti round out the top three.
After a four-week interval of racing, F2 is back for its final few rounds. Heading into the final stint of the season, there is a new Championship leader and that is the ART of Theo Pourchaire.
A wet weekend at the Spa-Franchorchamps track switched the standings around after Vesti retired before the race began, this was the perfect opportunity for Pourchaire to gain crucial points in his pursuit of the title. The Frenchman finished 2nd overall in the feature race which gave him a 12-point advantage in the standings.
Jack Doohan has had an impressive comeback in the latter half of the season, a couple of months ago the Australian was outside the top 10 but since then he has had back-to-back wins in the last two races and now sits fourth in the standings.
During practice this morning it was the PREMA of Oliver Bearman who topped the sheets with Dennis Hauger and Frederik Vesti following behind. Ralph Boschung brought the red flag out after losing control of his Campos Racing car during the final seconds of the session.
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) August 25, 2023
With everything all rounded up and recapped let’s get into what happened during the Qualifying session.
Qualifying: As it happened
The 22 drivers all lined up raring to get back on the track after the summer break. The Zandvoort weather was dry and there was no chance of rain for the session.
It's elbows out between the @AlpineF1Team juniors ?
You'd think it was the opening lap of a race! #DutchGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/8yN0EVfUvE
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) August 25, 2023
Within the first couple of laps, tension was building between Jack Doohan and Victor Martins who made slight contact while doing a push lap. They were millimetres away from having a potentially session-ending incident together. Doohan expressed his frustration at the Frenchman over the radio after the pair kept running close to each other.
With 15 minutes left on the clock, all the drivers had put in a push lap and the current standings had Crawford, Hauger and Vesti at the top of the board. Down the standings, Pourchaire was sitting in 9th position only two-tenths away from the current pole position time.
"I think I have damage!" ?
Contact and a damaged wing for the provisional pole-sitter, Jak Crawford! ?
It's all going on as the cars leave the pits!#DutchGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/TYVbRVNA4d
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) August 25, 2023
The traffic made its way out of the pits for the second half of qualifying. The provisional pole leader, Crawford was exiting the pit and was suddenly hit by Clement Novalak who pulled out at the exact same time. Crawford had some damage to his front wing and had to come in to get it changed.
The red flag is shown
With less than 10 minutes left on the clock, drivers made their way out to the track to start putting in more laps. However, it wasn’t long before the first red flag came out. The orange MP Motorsports car of Jehan Daruvala went over a curb and spun out on turn 3. The damage he suffered meant he had to retire from the session and start in 16th place in both the Sprint and Feature races.
On the flip side, this was a sigh of relief for Crawford who was still sitting in provisional pole position and after his slight contact with Novalak it meant he wouldn’t be as disadvantaged as he thought he’d be.
The MP Motorsports car was moved off the track and with seven minutes left on the clock, the drivers made their way out once again to the track to try to better Crawford’s time.
Chaos continues
Juan Manuel Correa put in a tremendous time in the first sector, he was looking quicker than the drivers at the top of the board. As he continued flying into turn 10, he ended up going over the edge and spinning out onto the gravel. This caused another red flag and retirement for the session. A sad end to what would’ve been an incredible lap for Correra.
Bad luck continued for Hauger who was also affected by this red flag. Hauger had put in the best lap of the session but metres before crossing the line the red flag came out and the timing was deleted.
The green flag was shown once again and chaos was about to ensue on track. The clock was now counting down the final few minutes of the session.
Session ends under red! ?
Novalak has a small excursion and loses his front wing. Which means…#DutchGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/lo3o61r33j
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) August 25, 2023
With 49 seconds to go, a third red flag came out after Novalak found himself in the gravel. The session was not resumed which meant that Crawford earned his maiden pole position.
The celebrations started at the Hitech garage who earned their first pole of the season. However, it was a disappointing ending for Hauger who knew he had the pace to compete for the fastest time but bad luck was on his side today and meant he couldn’t show what he was capable of.
The top 10
1 – Crawford
2 – Hauger
3 – Vesti
4 – Maloney
5 – Doohan
6 – Bearman
7 – Correra
8 – Martins
9 – Hadjar
10 – Pourchaire
Full results can be found here.
Featured image credits: Joe Portlock via Getty Images