Formula 2: Monza Sprint won by Oliver Berman

Following yesterday’s qualifying results, Enzo Fittipaldi started from pole for Saturday’s F2 Sprint at Monza, while the main title contenders were further back on the grid.

The representative of the famous racing dynasty had a great start, but could not hold on to the lead and was ahead of Pepe Marti after a few corners.

However, Spanish driver Campos was unable to build on his early success as a multi-car collision occurred at the start, causing debutant Oliver Goethe to retire and Kimi Antonelli to be forced to return to the pits to repair a nose cone and a punctured wheel.

Replay showed that Goethe was not responsible for the incident; he was knocked off the track by Zach O’Sullivan, who manoeuvred too aggressively on the track in the first seconds after the start.

Of course the safety car came out and the top five behind looked like this: Marty – Fittipaldi – Victor Martin – Amaury Cordil – Oliver Berman.

The leader of the individual classification, Isaac Hadjar, had not started so well before. At the restart I was only tenth.

On lap three the battle on track resumed; Fittipaldi was very keen to make amends at the restart, but he clearly overdid it, making a mistake under braking for Turn 1 and cutting the chicane, dropping back to 4th position.

Martin was now running second, but he had to fend off Berman, who attacked the Frenchman extremely aggressively and was able to move ahead on the fifth lap, which he did bravely and beautifully.

But Hajjar lost another position, staying ahead of Jack Crawford, an American rider from the French team DAMS, in 10th place.

Fittipaldi complained on the radio to his team, Van Amersfoort Racing, that the brakes on his car were not working properly – perhaps explaining that he had apparently braked too hard in an attempt to fend off Marty’s attack.

On the seventh lap there was a change of leadership: Marti made a mistake, cutting the first chicane and the race was led by Berman, the Prema driver and Antonelli’s teammate. At the beginning of the next lap Pepe could not resist Martin’s attack, losing the 2nd position to him, after which he tried to counterattack, but Victor fought back.

At the beginning of the 9th lap Marty tried to make another attack, which caused both of them to end up outside the track, as Martin would not give up the 2nd position, but returned to it in the same order. But Fittipaldi took advantage of the situation and pushed the Spaniard aside, regaining the third place.

With half the distance behind him, Gabriel Bortoleto made another successful overtaking move and climbed to 11th position, but this is worth mentioning because he started from 22nd. Then the Brazilian, second in the individual classification, passed his next opponent, who turned out to be his Invicta teammate Kush Maini, and was already tenth.

On lap 13, Joshua Duerksen overtook Fittipaldi to take third position, and at the second chicane Enzo could not keep the car on track and cut off at the side of the road, but remained in fourth. The footage from the on-board camera of his Dallara showed that it was literally being shaken by strong vibrations, which was a result of the wheels locking at the start of lap three.

Crawford tried to stay ahead of Paul Aron in the battle for 7th position, but the Estonian driver defended himself very firmly and resolutely “slammed the gate”, after which the American complained to the team on the radio about his opponent’s actions.

But Jack failed to hold on to eighth place; Dennis Hauger was ahead of him, and at the end of the sprint only the first eight receive points.

On lap 18, Marty Fittipaldi was ahead, but he was already under pressure from Zane Maloney, the winner of yesterday’s qualifying. The fight in this group of riders was very fierce, and Aron also took part in it, attacking Maloney, but without success. As a result, the Estonian damaged the front wing of his silver Dallara, after which he immediately dropped back to twentieth position.

Meanwhile, the race, full of overtaking and collisions of all kinds, was approaching the finish. Berman was ahead by more than two seconds, Martin claimed second place, Durksen was third, Marty was fourth, but Mallonee managed to get to fifth place on the last lap. On the last lap he was able to stay ahead of Fittipaldi by braking late at the second chicane.

When Oliver Berman saw the chequered flag for the first time, his Italian team Prema cheered as their driver achieved success on his home circuit! Oliver, for whom it was only the second victory of the season, was also happy. During the year, things apparently did not go well for Prema; it was not immediately possible to find an approach for the new generation car, but it seems that the situation is gradually improving.

Sprint results