F2 | Australia: weekend full of episodes, Hadjar and Stanek win

Let's take a step back to previous appointments. It is not the first time this year that the outcome of a Formula 2 race has been decided after the checkered flag, due to penalties. In this case the post-race sanctions changed the standings of both events of the weekend.

In the sprint race he changed it significantly, because Hadjar had to give up the victory due to the penalty he received for a contact on the first lap, while in the Feature Race he only changed the order in the positions following the podium.

It was a weekend in the spirit of Hadjar who, after losing the victory in the sprint race, made up for it in the Feature Race, achieving a good success thanks also to a stop made at the most favorable moment under the Safety Car. Aron and Maloney also did well in the Feature Race, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli narrowly missing out on what would have been his first podium in the category.

Sprint race: Stanek wins by taking advantage of a penalty

Isack Hadjar lost victory in the sprint race after receiving a penalty from the stewards due to the collision generated by his movement between teammate Pepe Marti and Brazilian driver Gabriel Bortoleto. Both, precisely because of this contact which led them to end up against the barriers, were forced to retire. For Marti it was the second consecutive retirement on the first lap, after a collision in the race in Saudi Arabia.

On the contrary, Hadjar then won the race, at least before the penalty snatched the victory from his hands. Hadjar then finished in sixth place, while Roman Stanek took advantage of the situation and won his first race in Formula 2.

After overtaking polesitter Staněk in Turn 1 after the lights went out, Hadjar led the group during the five safety car laps to allow the removal of the cars. Taking advantage of the episodes, Zane Maloney also went from sixth to fourth position, while at the back of the group we should note the good comeback of Victor Martins, who went from twenty-first to thirteenth position.

The Aston Martin Vantage Safety Car Isack Hadjar, Campos Racing and Roman Stanek, Trident

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

For Maloney, this progress was ruined on the restart, when an off-track exit at Turn 6 sent him down to tenth place. While Hadjar built up a six-second lead, the battle for second place took a major jolt on lap 10, when three riders found themselves in the gravel at turn 12. Andrea Kimi Antonelli lost the rear of his Prema, before Richard Verschoor spun at almost the exact same time after making contact with Paul Aron. Only Aron was able to continue, with the introduction of the Safety Car which brought the group back together again.

After another four laps of neutralization, the race resumed with Hadjar immediately pulling ahead, while in the middle of the pack Aron ended up wide in turn 1, losing further positions. Another episode was the contact between Joshua Dürksen and Oliver Bearman, with the former ending up in the gravel.

Hadjar took a comfortable victory thanks to a large lead, while Staněk managed to maintain second place after resisting the pressure posed by Kush Maini and Dennis Hauger, even in the very last corners. A defense that then earned him the victory when Hadjar was penalized.

Dennis Hauger, MP Motorsport Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Prema Racing

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

Feature Race: Hadjar again

After losing victory in Saturday's race due to a post-race penalty, Hadjar redeemed himself in Sunday's 33-lap race, winning under the checkered flag with a lead of more than 4 seconds over Paul Aron.

At the start of the race, Hauger made a brilliant start from pole position and took the lead into Turn 1, with Antonelli and Zane Maloney holding second and third positions. The Italian immediately tried to overtake Hauger to take the lead, but the MP driver managed to overtake Antonelli, thus returning to the lead.

As the race progressed, Kush Maini began working his way up the grid on medium tyres, moving up to fifth when Pepe Martin ran wide on lap five, before overtaking both Richard Verschoor and Maloney on the following lap. The Invicta driver was also able to pass Antonelli for second position, before attacking Hauger at turn 13 of the ninth lap, thus gaining the lead of the race.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Prema Racing

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

This triggered the series of mandatory pit stops. But exiting the pits, Hauger lost control of his car, hitting the barriers and immediately exiting the race. This prompted race management to deploy the safety car to recover his car. Losing less time than his rivals who were progressing slowly, Hadjar made his stop and rejoined the track ahead of Antonelli in seventh position, effectively putting him in the lead.

On the restart, Hadjar not only held off Antonelli, but also managed to pass several cars in front of him who had yet to pit, before taking the win. Aron snatched second place from Antonelli on lap 20, while Maloney managed to overtake the Italian at turn 9, thus taking the final step of the podium.

Toyota's protégé, Ritomo Miyata, achieved a good fifth place, preceding Richard Verschoor of Trident and the only survivor of MP, Franco Colapinto, who was actually disqualified due to what was written by the commissioners. The report indicated that the Williams Academy driver had not activated the classic procedure for starting the race, which all drivers must do.