Hitech GP’s Jak Crawford negotiated early damp conditions to score a maiden Formula 2 victory in the sprint race at the Red Bull Ring.
There was a somber mood on the grid before the start, with news filtering in from Spa-Francorchamps of the passing of 18-year-old Dutch driver Dilano van’t Hoff following a crash on Saturday morning in the Formula Regional European Championship. A moment of silence was held on the grid in his memory.
Track conditions resulted in multiple formation laps before a standing start, with half of the grid opting wet-weather tyres.
Front-row pair Jack Crawford and Jehan Daruvala both started on slicks but were quickly passed on the opening lap by Arthur Leclerc and Theo Pourchaire, who were on wets.
Jack Doohan slid off on his slick tyres from fourth, while Daruvala spun into the gravel and triggered a safety car period.
Richard Verschoor spun out of third at the restart, resulting in the immediate redeployment of the safety car. With conditions improving, several drivers on wet tyres pitted for slicks, including Leclerc, Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti.
Crawford regained the lead and pulled clear when racing resumed on lap 8, ahead of Campos Racing’s Juan Manuel Correa. ART’s Victor Martins capitalised on a three-way scrap in front to move from seventh to third as those still on wets started to struggle.
Martins eventually passed Correa for second, while Crawford built over a two-second lead. Clement Novalak, who started from 20th, and Isack Hadjar soon picked off Correa to run third and fourth, with a brief virtual safety car period on lap 19 of 27 when Enzo Fittipaldi spun into retirement after being squeezed onto the grass by Kush Maini.
Crawford maintained his advantage until the finish ahead of Martins, while Novalak came home third.
Hadjar took fourth, while Correa held off Roman Stanek for fifth. Dennis Hauger passed Doohan late on for seventh. Starting from 19th, Prema’s Ollie Bearman made early progress on wets before pitting for slicks and then climbed up the order to ninth ahead of team-mate Vesti.
Pourchaire was handed a 5s time penalty for an unsafe release in front of Bearman during his early pitstop and finished 16th.
Featured image credit: @formula2 official twitter
