Renault F1 junior Hubert takes a home victory in F2 sprint race
Arden's Anthoine Hubert scored a second successive Formula 2 sprint race victory, the Renault Formula 1 junior delivering a home win at Paul Ricard
Hubert came under intense pressure from Jack Aitken in the early stages, but reacted to evade his fellow Renault junior.
At the same time, Alfa Romeo junior Juan Manuel Correa pounced, demoting Aitken with force on lap six, which in turn allowed Hubert some breathing room to build a gap over two seconds.
On the same lap he had been passed by Correa, another of Aitken's fellow Renault affiliated drivers - rookie Guan Yu Zhou - made an opportunistic move at the final turn to steal a podium spot.
That sealed the top four positions, Hubert heading Correa, Zhou and Aitken. Hubert had struggled massively in practice and in qualifying, but his evergreen race pace payed once more with a second win in the GP3 champion's rookie F2 year.
A tense battle for fifth broke out between the DAMS drivers, which likely cost them any chance of advancing further forward as they battled each other.
McLaren junior Sergio Sette Camara looked quicker, and jumped Latifi on lap 14 of 21.
They then battled side by side for a lap and half which helped Aitken build a two second cushion. Sette Camara did close slightly, but not enough to challenge.
After a sensor issue the day before, Louis Deletraz showed searing pace to pass feature race winner Nyck de Vries for seventh, and honed in unsuccessfully on Latifi late in the race.
De Vries was passed by Callum Ilott and Nobuharu Matsushita in the closing laps, falling out of the points.
Ilott took the final point for eighth after crashing out of the feature race, ahead of Matsushita and de Vries.
Jordan King - who started third - went straight on at the first corner while defending second at the start from Aitken, and fell back through the field to take 11th.
Mick Schumacher's run of point-less finishes extended to six.
After being clipped into an airborne crash by Prema Racing team-mate Sean Gelael in Saturday's feature race, he got a puncture and then pulled up at the side of the track shortly after he had pitted for a tyre change.
Be part of the Autosport community
Join the conversationShare Or Save This Story
Williams reserve Aitken remains with Campos, targets F2 title
Rookie Tyler Reddick thinks he can make 2020 NASCAR Cup playoffs
The Daytona 500's greatest upset, 30 years on
WEC Imola: Ferrari remains on top in FP2 as Fuoco beats Porsche
WRC Croatia: Neuville, Evans tied for the lead after eight stages
WIN! A VIP Race Weekend Experience in Monaco
Lauda's 1976 German GP helmet to be auctioned at F1 Miami GP
Why Alpine’s rigorous training camp yields telling insights into its juniors
Can F2's relaxed title favourite prove a point to Alpine?
Why F1's junior logjam isn't entirely a product of current issues
Inside the racing university moulding F1 drivers and engineers alike
Subscribe and access Autosport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
Top Comments