Elimination race
The Melbourne Sprint Race is over, but still The name of the winner is not officially known. The one who climbed to the top step of the podium was Isack Hadjarwho could be be though penalized due to an accident that occurred immediately at the start with his teammate Josep Maria Martì. While waiting for the decision of the Race Direction, Roman Stanek and Dennis Hauger have meanwhile completed the top-3, in which he was also fighting Andrea Kimi Antonelliat least until his mistake which excluded him from the games.
Two Safety Cars
The first twist occurred practically a few meters after the start: author of an excellent sprint from fourth position, Martì tried to insert himself between Bortoleto and Hadjar, but was pushed outwards from his teammate. A maneuver that generated an inevitable contact between the Spaniard and Bortoleto, both of whom ended up against the pit lane wall. Shortly before the Safety Car intervened, Hadjar then took the lead, overtaking Stanek, with Aron taking advantage of the chaos to move up to third. Antonelli also did well, 6th after starting from ninth place. While waiting before the restart, the Race Direction announced that they had noticed the accidentwhich will come analyzed after the podium ceremony.
At the restart, which took place on lap 7, there were no changes at the top of the standings, with the exception of driver standings leader Zane Maloney, who was relegated from fourth to tenth position after going off the track. An episode that further favored Antonelli, who climbed back to 5th place and closed in on the riders behind Stanek, who was also good at defending himself while Hadjar progressively pulled ahead of the Czech driver from Trident. In this circumstance, the Bolognese has implemented a double overtaking at the entrance to curve 13, but losing control of his Prema on the outside of the next bend, ending up in the gravel. Furthermore, Verschoor also made a similar mistake at the same point, inadvertently hitting Aron in the spin. With the two cars stopped, the Safety Car entered the track for the second time.
On the 15th of the 23 overall laps, Hadjar again increased his lead over Stanek, winning the Melbourne Sprint while the latter maintained second place until the finish line. Behind him, furthermore, Hauger managed to overtake Maini right on the last lap, thus climbing to the third step of the podium. Victor Martins and Oliver Bearman close the points in seventh and eighth place respectively, both starting from the back after a bad qualifying. Only 11th Maloney.
F2 / Australia 2024, Sprint Race: order of arrival
| POS. | PILOT | TEAM | TIME/GAP |
| 1 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | 23 laps |
| 2 | Roman Stanek | Trident | +6.8 |
| 3 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | +7.1 |
| 4 | Kush Maini | Invicta | +8.5 |
| 5 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | +9.2 |
| 6 | Miyata returns | Rodin | +9.8 |
| 7 | Victor Martins | ART Grand Prix | +10.4 |
| 8 | Oliver Bearman | Press | +12.9 |
| 9 | Zak O'Sullivan | ART Grand Prix | +13.4 |
| 10 | Jack Crawford | DAMS | +14.1 |
| 11 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | +14.7 |
| 12 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | +16.9 |
| 13 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Van Amersfoort | +18.6 |
| 14 | Taylor Barnard | PHM AIX | +22.4 |
| 15 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort | +23.0 |
| 16 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech | +42.3 |
| 17 | Joshua Durksen | PHM AIX | +51.2 |
| 18 | Paul Aron | Hitech | +79.1 |
| 19 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Press | Withdraw |
| 20 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | Withdraw |
| 21 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | Withdraw |
| 22 | Josep Maria Martì | Campos | Withdraw |
Wake up early for the Feature
To watch it live Feature Race in this case we will have to wait for the appointment in the early hours of Sunday (unlike F3, which will start at 11.05pm today), and more precisely at1:35. The advantage is that the live broadcast, in addition to being guaranteed by Sky Sport F1, will also be available clear on Cielo.
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