Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar appears to have finally broken his run of misfortune in Formula 2 by winning the feature race in Melbourne.
After losing his sprint race victory from Saturday after a post-race penalty, Hadjar made his compulsory pit stop moments before a well-timed Virtual Safety Car to gain the net lead of the race.Hadjar eventually assumed the lead when the cars ahead made their stops late in the race, winning by four seconds ahead of Paul Aron and Zane Maloney.
Pole winner Dennis Hauger led early on but crashed out of the race on lap ten on his outlap following his pit stop, losing his car on the way into turn six and crashing into the outside barrier at turn seven. That triggered a Virtual Safety Car which allowed Hadjar to make his pit stop and rejoin the track ahead of all of his rivals who had pitted under green.
Aron took second place and the bonus point for fastest lap, but was fortunate that an incident where he appeared to move under braking while battling with Andrea Kimi Antonelli into turn 12 was considered not worthy of investigation by the stewards.
Championship leader Maloney took the final podiums position in third to extend his championship lead to 14 points, with Aron now in second place.
Mercedes junior Antonelli battled for the lead early with Hauger but fell to fourth by the finish, with Ritomo Miyata taking fifth. Richard Verschoor was sixth ahead of Williams junior Franco Colapinto and Rafael Villagomez. Victor Martins took ninth. Ferrari junior Oliver Bearman claimed the final point in tenth despite a spin at turn one, thanks to a ten second time penalty for Pepe Marti who was penalised for hitting the Prema driver at turn 12.
Williams junior driver Zak O’Sullivan pulled into the pits to retire after multiple incidents of contact with Roman Stanek and Joshua Duerksen, who he knocked off track at turn 13. Gabriel Bortoleto also retired after stopping his car in the pit lane.
Maloney leads the championship with 67 points ahead of Aron on 48, with Hauger third on 41. Hadjar moves up to fourth place on 34 points. Formula 2’s next round takes place at Imola alongside the Emilia-Romagna Grand Prix weekend.
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Formula 2 Australia race two results
| Position | Car | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 | Isack Hadjar | Campos |
| 2 | 17 | Paul Aron | Hitech |
| 3 | 5 | Zane Maloney | Rodin |
| 4 | 4 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Prema |
| 5 | 6 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin |
| 6 | 22 | Richard Verschoor | Trident |
| 7 | 12 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport |
| 8 | 15 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort |
| 9 | 1 | Victor Martins | ART |
| 10 | 3 | Ollie Bearman | Prema |
| 11 | 7 | Jak Crawford | DAMS |
| 12 | 16 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech |
| 13 | 9 | Kush Maini | Invicta |
| 14 | 21 | Josep Maria Marti | Campos |
| 15 | 8 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS |
| 16 | 23 | Roman Stanek | Trident |
| 17 | 25 | Taylor Barnard | PHM |
| 18 | 14 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Van Amersfoort |
| DNF | 11 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport |
| DNF | 10 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta |
| DNF | 24 | Joshua Duerksen | PHM |
| DNF | 2 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART |
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Formula 2
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- Prema announce move into IndyCar with new two-car team in 2025
- “In my mind I won twice this weekend” says Hadjar after penalty
- Bearman loses first F2 point of 2024 after penalty
- Hadjar loses sprint race win to Stanek after penalty for causing start crash
pcxmac (@pcxmac)
24th March 2024, 15:29
Guy looks like Vettel during his run of fortune. Just needs to keep his head down and not get full of himself, keep running straight up the order or nailing qualifying.