F2 | Silverstone: First triumph for Antonelli in the downpour

At Silverstone, Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s moment finally came, as he scored his first Formula 2 victory in a sprint race heavily affected by rain. The race in fact started not with a standing start, but with a rolling start due to the water on the track, which made it extremely difficult for the drivers not only to find their pace, but also to see in the slipstream of a rival.

The progressive increase in the intensity of the rain, as well as a number of spins and accidents, forced the race direction to suspend the race after just four laps, effectively cancelling out the advantage that Andrea Kimi Antonelli had been able to build up in the early stages after starting from pole thanks to the inverted grid rule.

A responsible choice by the race direction, especially due to the amount of water on the track which, in addition to making it extremely difficult for the drivers to find the limit, severely limited visibility.

After the neutralization that lasted about fifteen minutes, also taking advantage of the fact that he was in the lead, the race restarted, with the Italian driver who immediately began to impose his own pace again, reaching an advantage of about two seconds on the group behind him, more specifically on Zane Maloney, at that moment in second position.

However, just two laps later the race was neutralized again with the intervention of the Safety Car due to the two accidents involving some of the protagonists of the championship. In fact, exiting turn 5, Paul Aron was hit on the left rear by Pepe Marti, which definitively put an end to the race of the leader of the world championship.

Curiously, at the same time another incident also took out Aron’s most fearsome opponent in the standings, because Isack Hadjar was the author of a spin that made him end up in the gravel exiting Copse, also putting an end to his race. A wasted opportunity for the Frenchman, who in tomorrow’s long race will still start in pole position thanks to his good performance in qualifying.

On lap 13, with less than 15 minutes to go and potentially eight more laps to go, the race resumed once again. Antonelli immediately picked up where he left off, once again pulling away from the rest of the field, just as he had done before, enough to quickly build up a safety margin to fend off any attacks.

Joshua Durksen, AIX Racing (FIAFormula2.com)

In the midfield, Victor Martin had been steadily gaining positions with each restart, but with around five laps to go he collided with his ART teammate Zak O’Sullivan at turn four, forcing him to retire. At the same time, the other Prema, Oliver Bearman’s, was also forced to end its race prematurely due to a reliability issue. The Englishman, however, had not had a memorable race up to that point: before the red flag he had damaged his front wing in a collision, which was then replaced during the neutralisation, dropping to eighth place. He also subsequently made a mistake at Copse that dropped him to the back of the field before retiring, prompting the race management to call out the Virtual Safety Car.

Once the green flag was given again after the removal of Bearman’s car, Antonelli managed to further extend his lead to eight seconds over Maloney, thus taking his first victory in Formula 2. A triumph desired and deserved in difficult conditions, not only for the pace shown, but also for the ability to immediately make the difference at every restart, also taking advantage of the fact that he was not in the slipstream of another single-seater.

Completing the podium is the Invicta of Gabriel Bortoleto who, in the final laps, was the author of a duel with his teammate Kush Maini: the decisive maneuver came on the outside of the last curve and, having crossed the white lines to complete the overtaking on the Indian, the incident was promptly reported by the stewards.

Bortoleto rises to 91 points and Maloney to 83. The two are thus closing in on Aron and Hadjar who, despite today’s double retirement, remain at the top of the standings with 117 and 108 points respectively.