The experienced Kush Maini started the F2 sprint from pole position on Saturday and his first priority was to make a good start and try to keep the lead. But Oliver Berman, who was obviously in a fighting mood, started the race next to him – it was he who immediately made it clear to everyone that he was not going to miss his chance.
The Prema rider ruined Maini’s plans by taking the first position from him and began to increase his lead over the peloton – on the second lap Oliver had a lead of more than two seconds over his nearest rival. Moreover, this opponent was no longer the Indian Invicta racer, but Jose “Pepe” Marti, as Kush made a mistake on the first lap and also let the Spaniard pass.
Taylor Barnard also came close to Maini and tried to attack him, but he did not give up yet. In fifth place was Paul Aron, the leader of the personal competition, who started sixth, but Isaac Hadjar, his main rival, simply failed at the start of the race and rolled back from 4th to 9th place.
On the 7th lap Aron overtook Barnard, moved up to 4th place and immediately pulled away by almost a second, while the British AIX Racing driver was already under full pressure from Gabriele Bortloleto, Maini’s teammate, and was clearly making an attack was preparing.
On the 10th lap Marty managed to overtake Berman, the interval between the cars was clearly less than a second and the Spanish driver of Campos Racing could already use DRS, but was in no hurry to take more decisive action.
Meanwhile, further back in the peloton, overtaking followed overtaking after overtaking: Bortoleto and Colapinto were ahead of Barnard, while Dennis Hauger tried to attack Joshua Duerksen for 8th place, which would give the final sprint point.
But giving up his position was not in the plans of the Paraguayan Formula 2 rookie, so he stepped up and tried to stay ahead of Barnard, his teammate at AIX Racing. He succeeded on lap 14, so now Hauger has set his sights on Taylor. And after a few laps, the Norwegian, who will start from pole tomorrow, successfully overtook and climbed to 8th place.
Ten laps from the finish Berman remained in the lead, Marty followed, Maini was in third place, Aron was chasing him and the Estonian was actively pressured by Bortoleto, but since the intervals between the cars of the top five were less than a second everyone could use DRS, and overtaking was not.
Taylor Barnard continued to lose ground, passed by Zach O’Sullivan and Jack Crawford, and soon the DAMS driver overtook the ART team car and moved up to 9th position.
On the 21st lap, Paul Aron made a successful overtake and took 3rd place from Kush Maini, but then the Indian lost his position to Bortoleto, his teammate. Moreover, Gabriele immediately tried to put pressure on the Estonian, but he still repelled the attacks.
Hauger put Durksen under pressure, made several attempts to stay ahead of the Paraguayan, and on the 24th lap he succeeded. He wanted to take back the position immediately, but that did not work.
On lap 25, Marty was close to leader Berman, but the Briton still held the first position. The second pair of riders were in the same situation, although it seemed that Aron was finding it increasingly difficult to repel Bortoleto’s attacks.
On the penultimate lap, Berman managed to increase his speed and gain more than a second over Marty, causing the Spaniard to lose the opportunity to use DRS, and for Oliver this was an important moment that made his task somewhat easier.
Dennis Hauger overtook Kush Maini and then Jack Crawford on the same lap.
When Oliver Berman crossed the finish line first and took his first win of the season, it was clear that his car’s tires were extremely worn, but most importantly he managed their resources better than Jose “Pepe” Marti, because the Brit, who already has one stage in Formula 1, I was able to improve at the very end of the race.
They were joined on the podium by Paul Aron – he still managed to fend off all of Gabriele Bortoleto’s attacks and finish the race just 0.6 seconds ahead of the Brazilian.
On the replay shown by the broadcaster after the finish, it was clear that when Hauger overtook Crawford in the battle for 5th position, the American showed extreme tenacity and tried to push his opponent off the track.
There was contact between their cars, causing the American’s blue Dallara to make a U-turn, and the Norwegian’s orange car, after dusting off at the side of the road, to continue, almost without losing speed. Naturally, the stewards became interested in this episode.
A hard-fought third place allowed Paul Aron to strengthen his lead in the youth championship, while his closest rivals failed to score any points today.
By the way, Helmut Marko handed the winning trophy to Berman on the podium and said something to him – it can be assumed that it was something like parting words and wishes for a successful continuation of his career in Formula 1.
The results are being prepared…
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.
