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F2 returned for the Sprint Race in Barcelona today and it was a session full of tyre management and track limit infringements.
Victor Martins on the grid prior to the F2 Sprint Race in Barcelona. (Credit: X @Formula2)Round 6 of the 2024 Formula 2 season saw Paul Aron, the championship leader going into the weekend, secure his maiden F2 pole position. Aron was joined by Jak Crawford and Franco Colapinto in the top three following Qualifying.
However, the second session of the weekend proved just how competitive this year’s F2 field is. Whilst Aron took pole position, Crawford was only 0.002 seconds behind and the rest of the grid wasn’t that far behind at all.
This meant that Kush Maini of Invicta Virtuosi Racing lined up on pole, joined by Victor Martins on the front row. Joshua Durksen unfortunately had a 10-place grid penalty for causing a collision in Monaco. As a result, he was bumped down to P14 for the starting grid.
The rest of the grid was as follows:
Ready for the Sprint ?
What are your predictions? ?#F2 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/GOibqz75wV
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) June 22, 2024
So, with the grid set, let’s get into what happened in the F2 Sprint that saw Victor Martins take his first victory of the year ahead of Kush Maini and Juan Manuel Correa.
Lights out
All drivers began the race on the hard-compound tyres. But when the lights went out, it was Martins in the lead as he snatched the lead from Maini.
Unfortunately for Invicta Virtuosi, Maini fell down the order whilst Miyata jumped up into P2. Maini was then battling Gabriel Bortoleto, his teammate, who eventually stayed ahead of the Sprint pole-sitter.
However, that didn’t last long as Maini got back ahead of Bortoleto and then overtook Correa to get back into the podium positions. Aron had a great start getting into sixth but Andrea Kimi Antonelli was not far behind, staying within the DRS range of the Hitech driver.
LAP 2 / 26
Kush is wasting no time getting the places back he lost on that opening lap! ?
He dives up the inside of Juan Manuel Correa going into T1 to take P3.
Gabriel Bortoleto also follows his teammate through, dropping Correa to 5th ⬇️#F2 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/VagiYj6QCI
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) June 22, 2024
Aron attempted an overtake on Correa, but couldn’t make it stick. However, he continued chasing the DAMS driver.
Isack Hadjar, who expressed disappointment after yesterday’s Qualifying, had a good launch off the line, but his attempt to take seventh from Antonelli didn’t provide the results he wanted.
After the first five laps, driver Martins and Miyata were building a small gap the 20 drivers behind. Meanwhile, a replay showed that Oliver Bearman, who was out of position on the starting grid, had a moment with Enzo Fittipaldi.
The two drivers went side by side and Bearman was forced onto the escape road at Turn 1. He was at that time P16 but had begun to fall back down the order further after Rafael Villagomez and Richard Verschoor overtook him.
Back up front, Martins had pulled away from Miyata to create a gap of 1.455 seconds.
Managing tyres and issues for Bearman
The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya is a rather abrasive circuit. Because of this, the drivers were managing their tyres to ensure that they last till the end of the race.
Whilst drivers, such as Aron, were managing their tyres, Bearman radioed that he couldn’t turn the car. This came after PREMA Racing warned him of track limits. The Ferrari Academy driver was given a black-and-white flag as he fell to the back of the flag.
Whilst Bearman was in P22, Antonelli’s battle with Hadjar continued. But it wasn’t long before Hadjar soon overtook the Italian driver on lap 12. Capitalising on the move, Crawford followed Hadjar through.
LAP 12 / 26
Hadjar finally gets the move done!
He grabs P7 from Antonelli with Jak Crawford also moving through to P8#F2 #SpanishGP pic.twitter.com/zTnMCCVBae
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) June 22, 2024
Bearman was then told to come into the pits by the team. A more serious potential issue, perhaps?
A lot of other drivers were also noted for track limits, including Zane Maloney and Miyata. Penalties were dished out for the track limit infringements.
Final 10 laps
In the final 10 minutes, Antonelli was forced to defend as Dennis Hauger was pressuring the PREMA driver to make a mistake. The MP Motorsport driver did eventually get past Antonelli.
Correa did a similar thing to Bortoleto, who appeared to be a bit all over the place as Aron joined the fight for the final podium position once penalties had been applied.
Miyata received another five-second penalty, meaning that his position of P2 would not be where he finished.
The final few laps saw a battle for P4 as Bortoleto continued to struggle with his tyres. Soon, on the penultimate lap, Correa went for the lunge and took P4 for himself. Bortoleto unfortunately fell back further with Aron and Crawford overtaking his Invicta Virtuosi car as well.
Results
The provisional results for the F2 Sprint Race were as follows:
1 – Victor Martins
2 – Kush Maini
3 – Juan Manuel Correa
4 – Paul Aron
5 – Jak Crawford
6 – Gabriel Bortoleto
7 – Isack Hadjar
8 – Ritomo Miyata (two five-second penalties)
9 – Dennis Hauger
10 – Kimi Antonelli
Headline image: X @Formula2