F2 | Jeddah: Fittipaldi and Hauger win, double 6th for Antonelli

After the first round in Bahrain, while Formula 3 took a break leaving room for the F1 Academy, Formula 2 immediately returned to the track in Saudi Arabia with a weekend in which there was no shortage of twists and turns.

After taking pole on Thursday, the first big surprise was the retirement of Oliver Bearman, who received the call to Formula 1 to replace Carlos Sainz aboard the Ferrari SF-24, thus redesigning the starting grid.

The winner in the sprint race was Richard Verschoor with the Trident, at least before he was disqualified for a mapping defined as not compliant with the regulations. The beneficiary was Dennis Hauger, who thus won the success in the first race of the weekend ahead of the Estonian Paul Aron and the Brazilian Enzo Fittipaldi.

The VAR driver himself then achieved victory in Saturday's Feature Race with an advantage of almost eight seconds over Kush Maini. The fight for the podium was much more exciting, with a three-way challenge between Hauger, Crawford and Cordeel, won by the Norwegian from MP by just 31 thousandths.

Even if there is no comparison with teammate Bearman, it was an overall positive weekend for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, with a double sixth place which brings other useful points for the championship. Precisely on the subject of the standings, Zane Maloney remains in the lead with 15 points over Fittipaldi, author of a solid weekend after Bahrian's double zero. Hauger, Aron and Maini follow, with the Indian 20 points from the top.

Verschoor before disqualification, Hauger wins

The Trident Verschoor driver had won the first race in Jeddah, but at the end of the race he was disqualified for a technical infringement, thus leaving the victory to Dennis Hauger with MP ahead of Paul Aron, author of the pole, and Enzo Fittipaldi.

Following Oliver Bearman's unexpected call to Ferrari to replace Carlos Sainz in Formula 1, the British driver has been removed from the F2 qualifying results. For the partially reversed grid sprint race, this had no effect on the front of the grid, but moved all drivers up one place from eleventh position, thus occupying the slot vacated by the Briton.

Aron maintained the lead ahead of Verschoor, who started from the front row, while Isack Hadjar held off Hauger to remain in third place. However, the Safety Car was immediately called into action after Martins crashed into the wall at the exit of Turn 2. In reality, however, the race had already seen other episodes that could have led to the entry of the safety car, because both Franco Colapinto and Zak O'Sullivan remained stationary on the starting grid and had to return to the pits.

On lap four, the Safety Car came back and Zane Maloney, after an excellent start from fifteenth position, overtook Roman Stanek's other Trident for eighth place. On lap eight, Verschoor tried to lunge inside Aron in turn 1, taking the lead from the Estonian. Further back, Maloney also overtook Josep María Martí in the Campos at the same corner, moving up to seventh. A few moments later, however, another Safety Car intervention was necessary due to Amaury Cordeel spinning at the first chicane.

Richard Verschoor, Trident, Isack Hadjar, Campos Racing, Dennis Hauger, MP Motorsport

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

On lap twelve, the action restarted with Maloney diving inside Maini to
sixth place. Up front, Verschoor extended his lead over Aron beyond second, making it impossible to use DRS. The Virtual Safety Car made its appearance on lap seventeen after Juan Manuel Correa hit the inside wall at turn 22.

A piece of the front wing had to be removed from the track and the DAMS driver was forced to retire. Once the green flag was given, Hauger dived inside Aron for second position, completing a nice overtaking move into Turn 1. On the penultimate lap Hadjar suffered a technical problem, similar to the one he would later have in the Feature Race, with the Campos driver forced to retire. Up front, Verschoor maintained the lead until the finish line, at least before being disqualified at the end of the race.

In fact, he and teammate Roman Stanek were both disqualified for a technical infringement, giving the victory to Dennis Hauger. According to a statement released by the Federation, both Trident drivers “were found to be in possession of an incorrect accelerator pedal progressiveness map, installed before the race and not compliant with article 8.2.6 of the technical regulations”.

Dennis Hauger, MP Motorsport, 2nd position, lifts his trophy

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

A large group of riders benefited from this, with the classification redesigned: Enzo Fittipaldi took the podium, followed by Maloney, Crawford, Antonelli sixth, Martì and Maini to close the points zone.

Feature Race: Fittipaldi wins

The second race of the weekend ended with the success of Fittipaldi, able to establish himself with a lead of seven seconds over Kush Maini despite the introduction of the Safety Car towards the halfway point of the race which eliminated the gaps.

The Brazilian prevailed over Maini, who had actually started from pole following the withdrawal of Oliver Bearman to replace Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari Formula 1 team, with the Spaniard indisposed due to an operation to resolve a problem of appendicitis. While the Invicta driver made an excellent start, maintaining first position, there was no shortage of episodes behind him, with the Safety Car coming in after a few moments.

In fact, when exiting the first chicane, Pepe Martì lost the car during traction and ended up spinning right into the path of Roman Stanek, who tried everything to stop the car and avoid contact. However, the Trident driver was unable to restart, thus remaining stuck on the track just like the Spaniard from Campos, which is why the intervention of the safety car was necessary to move the cars. Gabriel Bortoleto was another of the riders forced into premature retirement: his Invicta went off the track due to a mechanical problem.

Pepe Marti's car, Campos Racing

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

The race saw only five drivers – Staněk, Bortoleto, Correa, Barnard and Cordeel – start with the alternative strategy and medium tyres, while the rest of the grid opted for the softer solution, thus having to stop rather early. On lap six, having completed the minimum distance on the softer tyre, the field began to enter the pitlane to complete the mandatory stops.

Fittipaldi, who had started from fourth position, after having overtaken Andrea Kimi Antonelli, then took the lead of the race during the thirteenth lap, using the mobile wing to overtake Maini, who up until then had been in command after starting from the pole. On the fifteenth lap, however, Colapinto gave a turning point to the race: a contact with the wall at the last corner punctured the right rear tire and in turn 1 the Williams academy driver ended up spinning, once again causing the entry of the safety car.

Although the safety car took the group to the pits, Correa chose not to stop like Barnard and Cordeel, who instead took advantage of the possibility of stopping in neutralized conditions in the hope that the supersoft could last about ten laps. Fittipaldi thus began the comeback on those who stopped after him, overtaking both Correa and Cordeel on the outside with a few laps to go.

Race winner Enzo Fittipaldi, Van Amersfoort Racing

Photo by: Shameem Fahath

However, a technical problem put Hadjar out of the points, forcing the Frenchman to retire in what was an unlucky weekend. The Virtual Safety Car intervened after Zak O'Sullivan spun at Turn 2 while attempting to resist an attack.

Correa stopped on lap 26 to complete his mandatory stop, leaving Maini, Cordeel, Crawford, Antonelli and Hauger to battle for the podium. Maini maintained second position for Invicta, but at the finish line a three-way sprint to contend for the podium was won by Hauger for just 31 thousandths of an advantage over Crawford, while Cordeel maintained fifth place.

Antonelli crossed the finish line in sixth position at the end of a good race, even if his inexperience with these cars emerged in some aspects, especially when braking, where on some occasions he ended up blocking. It is important to mention that this is only the second weekend for the Italian with these cars, which feature a significant increase in weight compared to the generation of F3 cars driven up until last season. Maloney was seventh, while Verschoor finished in eighth place. Rafael Villagómez and Aron then finished in the points. In reality, Martin had obtained tenth place, but was then penalized 5 seconds for a contact during the race, slipping to eleventh position.