F2 Australia: Hadjar dominant in crash-strewn sprint race

Hadjar took the second victory of his F2 career with a dominant drive at Albert Park as he skilfully navigated two safety car restarts to win by over six seconds.

But the result carries a significant asterisk, with the stewards set to investigate a start-line incident that resulted in Pepe Marti and Gabriel Bortoleto retiring after only travelling a matter of metres.

Unaware of the fast-starting Marti to his right, Hadjar veered across the track and caused contact between the Campos driver and second-placed starter Bortoleto, with the pair making heavy contact with the wall.

For Marti, this was his second opening-lap retirement in succession following a collision in the Saudi Arabian feature race. This latest incident will be investigated after the race.

Having beaten polesitter Roman Staněk into Turn 1, Hadjar headed the field during the five-lap safety car period to allow for the clear-up operation.

Other early movers included championship leader Zane Maloney, who progressed from sixth to fourth as a result of the two retirements ahead, while Victor Martins - who caused a red flag in qualifying and failed to set a time - leapt from 21st to 13th.

Zane Maloney, Rodin Motorsport

Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images

For Maloney, this progress was undone on the restart as a snap of oversteer and an off-track moment at Turn 6 meant he was swamped on the back straight, dropping to 10th.

While Hadjar established a 6s lead, the battle for second reached boiling point on lap 10 as three drivers found themselves off in the gravel at Turn 12.

The catalyst was Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who lost the rear of his Prema-run car before Richard Verschoor spun in sympathy and made contact with Paul Aron. Only Hitech driver Aron was able to continue as the safety car again bunched the field.

After another four laps of neutralised running, the racing resumed with Hadjar again flying off into the distance as Aron fired himself across the Turn 1 gravel and the DAMS pair of Jak Crawford and Juan Manuel Correa got too close for comfort – Crawford reporting, “Juan went into the side of me.”

A third safety car period was narrowly avoided when Joshua Dürksen spun into the gravel after tangling with Oliver Bearman – this another incident that will be investigated after the chequered flag, putting at risk Bearman’s first point of the season.

With Hadjar cruising to a comfortable win, Staněk was able to cling onto second after facing pressure from Kush Maini and latterly, Dennis Hauger.

Ruing his qualifying error will be ART driver Martins, who finished seventh but will once again start from the back in Sunday’s feature race.

FIA F2 Australia - Sprint race results:

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	I. Hadjar Campos Racing	20		23	-
2	R. Staněk Trident	23		23	+6.800 6.8	6.800
3	D. Hauger MP Motorsport	11		23	+7.100 7.1	0.300
4	K. Maini Invicta Racing	9		23	+8.500 8.5	1.400
5	F. Colapinto MP Motorsport	12		23	+9.200 9.2	0.700
6	R. Miyata Rodin Motorsport	6		23	+9.800 9.8	0.600
7	V. Martins ART Grand Prix	1		23	+10.400 10.4	0.600
8	O. Bearman Prema Powerteam	3		23	+12.900 12.9	2.500
9	Z. O'Sullivan ART Grand Prix	2		23	+13.400 13.4	0.500
10	J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil	7		23	+14.100 14.1	0.700
11	Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport	5		23	+14.700 14.7	0.600
12	J. Correa DAMS Lucas Oil	8		23	+16.900 16.9	2.200
13	E. Fittipaldi Van Amersfoort Racing	14		23	+18.600 18.6	1.700
14	T. Barnard PHM AIX Racing	25		23	+22.400 22.4	3.800
15	R. Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing	15		23	+23.000 23.0	0.600
16	A. Cordeel Hitech Pulse-Eight	16		23	+42.300 42.3	19.300
17	J. Duerksen PHM AIX Racing	24		23	+51.200 51.2	8.900
18	P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight	17		23	+1'19.100 1'19.1	27.900
dnf	A. Antonelli Prema Powerteam	4		9	14 laps					Retirement
dnf	R. Verschoor Trident	22		9	14 laps					Retirement
dnf	G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing	10		22						Retirement
dnf	P. Martí Campos Racing	21		22						Retirement
View full results