In Barcelona it continued to drizzle, there was a lot of water on the track and the start of Saturday’s Formula 2 sprint was given behind the safety car.
According to the results of yesterday’s qualifying, taking into account the partially reversed grid, Amaury Kordil started from pole position and immediately tried to make a gap. But behind him, Frederick Vesti and Jack Crawford began a dispute for second position, and the Dane managed to get ahead of the American, although there was contact between the machines.
Vesti’s car destabilized, he had to stop and cut the corner, but he returned to the track anyway, while Crawford pulled slowly into the pits and retired due to a damaged suspension.
On the third lap, Vesti attacked Kordil and overtook him, although it was clear that the Dane’s car was literally dragging across the track. It was then that the stewards’ decision regarding his incident with Crawford became known: they decided to leave him without consequences.
Meanwhile, Victor Marten also overtook Kordil and pushed him to third position.
There was also a struggle in the depths of the peloton: Theo Purscher, fined after qualifying for interfering with Dennis Hauger and losing three positions at the start, successfully pushed his way to the front. He started the race in 9th, but by the fifth lap he was already running sixth and actively putting Jack Duane under pressure.
The rain didn’t stop, but that didn’t stop Frederick Vesti from extending the lead: by the ninth lap he had cut the lead to almost five seconds. Marten in turn also drove more than seven seconds from Kordil.
The rain tires started to wear out and Dennis Hauger, who finished fourth, radioed the team to complain that the rear tires were not holding the track at all and the car was skidding a lot.
On the 11th lap Purscher attacked Duane, their duel lasted several turns, but in the 12th turn the Frenchman still overtook the Australian, and even in the outer radius! Now Theo had already reached the top five and Hauger was his next target.
On lap 12, Kordil was unable to keep the car on the track, ended up on the side of the road and lost several positions. He managed to come back in sixth and Oliver Berman tried to take advantage of this, but the Belgian managed to fend off the attack.
On lap 14, Ayumu Iwasa made an attempt to get ahead of Richard Fershhor, and it was a battle for 8th position, but the Dutchman defended resolutely.
On lap 15, Roman Stanek acted less cautiously, trying to attack Juan Manuel Correa to take 15th position from him, but there was contact between the cars and the Czech flipped, ending up in the tail of the pack.
Meanwhile, the track dried up and some riders in the second ten, who had nothing to lose, were the first to dare to switch to slicks. But it was clear that it was very difficult for them to keep the cars on the track, which still had some water on it. Enzo Fittipaldi, who finished seventh, asked the team over the radio what pace the riders who had already switched to slicks showed. And I got the answer that while they don’t go faster than him.
But on lap 20, Correa, one of those already on slicks, went off the track and skidded into the gravel. A virtual safety car mode (VSC) has been introduced.
Now it was the top ten’s turn to change tyres, and it was an interesting situation. Vesti returned to the track as the leader and VSC mode turned into a proper safety car, but all the gaps were levelled, promising a fierce battle in the final laps. And there were very few of them left.
Track battles resumed three laps from the finish. On the restart, Vesti held onto first position, but Purscher first attacked Duane, got ahead of the Australian and then overtook Marten, and was already second just a second off the leader. Frederic Vesti got on and started the final lap 1.2 seconds ahead of his pursuer. Theo tried to do something and even drove the best lap of the race, but it was too late and the Dane took a second victory in a row.
Purscher finished second and also remained second in the drivers’ standings, but Frederic Vesti, a Prema driver and member of the Mercedes youth program, was able to extend his lead slightly to five points. Martin took third place and for the young Frenchman this was a consolation after a long string of unsuccessful performances.
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
