Race report

F2 Hungary: Verschoor masters madness for sprint race win

Verschoor wins a chaotic Formula 2 sprint race in Hungary after starting on hard tyres

Formula 2 served up an Hungarian sprint race treat as drivers opted to use a mix of soft and hard tyres, but it was Richard Verschoor who mastered the madness.

Starting from pole, Trident driver Verschoor ran the harder compound, a decision that was mirrored by fellow front-row incumbent Kush Maini (Invicta).

Promoted to de facto third on the grid when Zane Maloney (Rodin) stalled ahead of the formation lap, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was the first driver on the soft rubber, a decision that enabled him to quickly assume the lead following an elbows-out battle with Verschoor.

But the Prema driver had gone too hard too soon, and paid the price on lap 17 of 28 when his tyres hit the cliff, he lost performance and dropped out of the top order with a whimper. A switch to hard tyres for the closing laps allowed him recover to 15th, but that was scant consolation.

Having been under pressure from Maini before passing Antonelli, Verschoor put any fear of defeat to rest by slowly pulling out a margin on his rival, moving clear of the DRS threat to allow a comfortable cruise to the flag.

The only driver who was able to truly make the soft tyre work was Victor Martins (ART), who finished third but with the canvas showing on his front right through the final corners.

The move of the race came late on as Oliver Bearman (Prema) battled to limp home on his softs, with the two DAMS cars of Juan Manuel Correa and Jak Crawford going either side of him around Turns 2 and 3, with the trio narrowly avoiding contact in the latter corner as they all ran wide.

On hard tyres, championship leader Isack Hadjar (Campos) climbed from eighth on the grid to take fourth, with his chief rival Paul Aron (Hitech) finishing seventh.

As rain began to fall on the final laps, the second half of the order was a battle royale with a combination of slowing drivers on old soft rubber, those who had stopped for fresh hards, and some who had started but struggled on hards.

With positions changing corner by corner, Ritomo Miyata (Rodin) put his car in all of the right places to finish 13th, ahead of a recovering Maloney in 14th. Gabriel Bortoleto’s championship hopes took a blow in 17th as, like Antonelli, he had been forced to stop having started on softs.

Hadjar now leads the standings by 27 points, extending his margin by three points.

Race result:

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	R. Verschoor Trident	22	28	-
2	K. Maini Invicta Racing	9	28	+1.500 1.5	1.500
3	V. Martins ART Grand Prix	1	28	+11.100 11.1	9.600
4	I. Hadjar Campos Racing	20	28	+16.500 16.5	5.400
5	D. Hauger MP Motorsport	11	28	+26.200 26.2	9.700
6	F. Colapinto MP Motorsport	12	28	+27.700 27.7	1.500
7	P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight	17	28	+34.400 34.4	6.700
8	T. Barnard PHM AIX Racing	25	28	+39.000 39.0	4.600
9	J. Correa DAMS Lucas Oil	8	28	+42.400 42.4	3.400
10	J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil	7	28	+50.900 50.9	8.500
11	O. Bearman Prema Powerteam	3	28	+54.100 54.1	3.200
12	R. Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing	15	28	+55.500 55.5	1.400
13	R. Miyata Rodin Motorsport	6	28	+56.200 56.2	0.700
14	Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport	5	28	+56.400 56.4	0.200
15	A. Antonelli Prema Powerteam	4	28	+56.600 56.6	0.200		1
16	R. Staněk Trident	23	28	+56.800 56.8	0.200
17	G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing	10	28	+57.600 57.6	0.800		1
18	P. Martí Campos Racing	21	28	+59.000 59.0	1.400
19	J. Duerksen PHM AIX Racing	24	28	+1'01.300 1'01.3	2.300		1
20	Z. O'Sullivan ART Grand Prix	2	28	+1'06.200 1'06.2	4.900		1
21	A. Cordeel Hitech Pulse-Eight	16	28	+1'07.400 1'07.4	1.200
22	E. Fittipaldi Van Amersfoort Racing	14	27	1 lap			2
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