Formula 2: Hadjar won, to compensate for yesterday

The main race of the weekend in the Australian Formula 2 stage took place according to a scenario no less entertaining than the sprint on Saturday.

Dennis Hauger, second in the personal classification, started from pole on Sunday and had a theoretical chance of becoming leader, but only if luck was on his side. Looking ahead, let’s say that things turned out very differently.

At the same time, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, a Prema team rider considered one of the most promising newcomers, started the race from second position, but so far his talents have not been fully confirmed by the results. Except he had a very good qualifying time in Melbourne, and now it was important for him to end the weekend well.

Hauger got off to a great start, Antonelli chased him and already on the first lap he performed an excellent overtaking move, and in the same corner where yesterday he made a mistake and retired from the race. But today he started the race flawlessly. However, Dennis made up for this on the next lap and regained his position thanks to DRS.

It is also worth noting that Victor Martin, who has not had any luck since the beginning of the season and started today from the penultimate, 21st position, had already risen to 10th place in the third lap. was seriously planning to change his position in the championship.

Hauger started the fifth lap as the leader, but complained to the MP Motorsport team on the radio that the tires were gradually starting to wear out. But Antonelli, who chased him, also told his engineer that the grip of the rear wheels was getting worse.

Zane Maloney, the leader of the personal classification, started fifth according to the results of qualifying and had already regained a number of positions, but did not keep the car on track in Turn 10, ended up off the track, but was able to return , but Kush Maini took advantage of this and went ahead of him.

But then Maini also overtook Antonelli and took second place. This happened just before the race was canceled by yellow flags and a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) due to the retirement of Joshua Duerksen.

At the restart, the Indian Invicta Racing driver continued his successful progress and easily overtook Hauger to become the new race leader. It was clear that it was time for Dennis and Kimi Antonelli to change tires, which they did on lap 10.

But then the unexpected began: Hauger, who had not yet had time to warm up the tires, tried to quickly regain the positions lost during the pit stop, overestimated the grip or something else went wrong, as a result of which the car crashed quite seriously. in turn 6, when I was running 9th. With a falling voice, he informed the team that he himself was not injured and apologized for what had happened.

The safety car arrived and Australian marshals began to evacuate the destroyed equipment and clear the track. which contained debris and a lot of gravel that had flown off the side of the road during the accident.

Kush Maini was in the lead, although he still had to make a mandatory pit stop, just like the five other drivers behind him. In this situation, Isaac Hadjar, who was currently in 7th place, could become the leader of the race in the future.

Yesterday Hadjar crossed the finish line of Saturday’s sprint first, but was deprived of the victory because he was found guilty of a ridiculous incident at the start, and today the French racer from the Red Bull youth program naturally wanted to rehabilitate himself.

On lap 15, the safety car returned to the pit lane and the race resumed.

Maini retained the lead, followed by Juan Manuel Correa and Jake Crawford in third. But Roman Stancu, and then Hadjar, managed to stay ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi soon after the restart. The Frenchman had already reached the top five and rushed in pursuit of Stanek.

But Antonelli could not progress, although the team encouraged him on the radio and strongly recommended that he take offensive action. Taylor Barnard, another newcomer to the series, rode ahead of Kimi, but the Italian was chased by Paul Aaron, and it was he who was the first to perform an excellent maneuver, beating Antonelli as he braked at Turn 11 and pushed him back. to 8th position.

But even before that, Hadjar overtook Stanek and was already fourth.

Fittipaldi and Stanek started to fight for position, but it all ended when they both ended up off the track, allowing Aaron, Antonelli and Zane Maloney to move to the front, after which the Barbadian driver overtook Kimi and moved up to 6th place.

The tires of Maini’s car, which was in the lead, were already quite worn; he clearly lost speed, but was in no hurry to get to the pits. But Correa and Crawford also stayed on the track for the time being, although it is unclear what they were counting on, because after the mandatory pit stop everyone would inevitably lose many positions. Probably their teams’ strategists were hoping for the next appearance of a safety car, which could keep losses to a minimum.

But the race continued, there were only five laps to go until the finish, and only the top three drivers did not make a pit stop. They all only went for new tires on the 31st of the race’s 33 laps, with Maini not returning to the track until the 14th and Correa on the 15th.

Isaac Hajjar took the lead and crossed the finish line first again today, but unlike on Saturday his victory was not in danger this time. Paul Aaron took second place and Zane Malloney naturally climbed to the third step of the podium and remained in first place in the individual standings after three stages of the season.

Antonelli only finished fourth and we have to admit that his run of bad luck continues. However, his position is still better than that of Hauger, who did not finish the race at all.

The results are being prepared…