F2 Sprint Race Results: Austria

The teams headed to Spielberg for round eight of the F2 season at the Austrian Grand Prix

Darius Needham 4 min read

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Jak Crawford took victory in Formula 2 for the first time in the Sprint race at the Red Bull Ring.

Jak Crawford
Jak Crawford claimed his first victory in Formula 2 in the Sprint race at Austria. Credit: Rudy Carezzevoli – Formula 1 via Getty Images

The American driver claimed victory in the Sprint race at Spielberg as Victor Martins took second place and Clement Novalak rounded out the podium in third.

A recap of the weekend so far

Rodin Carlin driver Enzo Fittipaldi topped the only practice session of the weekend with a 1:15.216. Last year’s F3 world champion Victor Martins finished behind the Brazilian driver in second. Fredrik Vesti of PREMA Racing and the current championship leader heading into Austria, rounded out the top three.

After the practice session, Campos Racing driver Ralph Boschung received a three-place grid penalty for the Sprint race after he failed to follow the Race Director’s instructions. This meant that he would start at the back of the grid on Saturday.

Qualifying saw Martins take pole position for the second time in 2023 at Spielberg with a 1:14.643. Vesti claimed second, finishing over a tenth of a second behind the Frenchman. Theo Pourchaire secured third place for the Feature race as both ART Grand Prix drivers would start in the top three on Sunday.

However, with a reverse grid for the Sprint race, Hitech Pulse-Eight driver Jak Crawford, who qualified in 10th, would start at the front of the grid on Saturday. MP Motorsport’s Jehan Daruvala and DAMS’ Arthur Leclerc made up the top three.

Crawford’s team-mate Isack Hadjar, on the other hand, was handed a three-place grid penalty after Qualifying for impeding Invicta Virtuosi Racing driver Jack Doohan at Turn nine. Despite this, Hadjar would remain in 21st for the Sprint race after Boschung’s earlier penalty in practice.

With this being an eventful weekend so far, everything was set up for a great Sprint race on Saturday.

A tribute to Dilano van ‘t Hoff

Before the Sprint race got underway, there was a minutes silence that took place on the grid after the motorsport world received the news of Dilano van ‘t Hoff’s passing at Spa-Francorchamps this morning.

A Safety car on the opening lap

Crawford got a great start of the line as he led into Turn one. Leclerc overtook Daruvala and moved up into second. Leclerc then made his way into the lead of the race after overtaking the pole sitter on the opening lap.

An early Safety car was brought out after Daruvala spun out and beached himself in the gravel. Doohan also went of track but managed to keep going.

Many drivers made pitstops under the safety car, changing from the wet tyres onto the softs. However, the top two in Leclerc and Richard Verschoor did not pit as they stayed out on the wet compound.

A second Safety car after the restart

The racing got going again on lap five as a yellow flag came out straight the way. Verschoor ran wide and hit the wall into Turn one, bringing his race to an end as the safety car was brought out once again. Leclerc pitted under the second Safety car as he moved down to P18. This meant that Crawford took the lead of the race once again as most of the drivers were now on slicks.

The racing got going for a second time on lap eight. Crawford continued to lead out in front as Juan Manuel Correa sat behind him in second and Sunday’s pole sitter in Martins rounded out the top three going into lap nine.

Pourchaire overtook Leclerc on lap 10 to move up to P16. Ayumu Iwasa then overtook his team-mate as Leclerc lost a couple of places and moved down to P18 going into lap 11.

After 12 laps, Crawford managed to keep his lead of the race by over a second to Correa as he continued to stay out of the DRS threat. Clement Novalak moved up into fourth heading into lap 14 as he was chasing his best result so far this season.

Martins moved ahead of Correa and up into second on lap 14 as he set his marks on chasing down the race leader who was two seconds up the road as we hit the halfway mark of the race.

On lap 18, Novalak made a move on Correa at Turn two as he moved up to the podium places. Hadjar then overtook Van Amersfoort driver as he moved up into fourth.

Virtual Safety car on lap 19

The Virtual Safety car was brought out on lap 19 after Fittipaldi had a spin going into turn three as he was now out of the race. The VSC ended towards the end of lap 20 as things got going again. Pourchaire was then given a five second time penalty from the stewards for an unsafe release in the pits earlier in the race.

The closing stages

As we approached the closing stages of the race, Roman Stanek continued to gain on Correa for fifth place. Correa managed to defend the place for the time being with only a few laps to go.

As we entered the final lap, Crawford had over a two second lead on Martins in second. The American driver came across the line to take his first victory in F2. Martins claimed second place as Novalak picked up his best result of the season as he rounded out the podium in third.

Sprint race final classification
  1. Jak Crawford
  2. Victor Martins
  3. Clement Novalak
  4. Isack Hadjar
  5. Juan Manuel Correa
  6. Roman Stanek
  7. Dennis Hauger
  8. Jack Doohan

Full race results can be found here.

Feature Image Credit: (Photo by Rudy Carezzevoli – Formula 1/Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images)

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