2024 Spielberg Formula 2 Round

The 2024 Spielberg Formula 2 round was a motor racing event held between 28 and 30 June 2024 at the Red Bull Ring. It was the seventh round of the 2024 Formula 2 Championship and was held in support of the 2024 Austrian Grand Prix.

Classification

Qualifying

While Isack Hadjar was on top for the early stages of the session, an issue with his car resulted in him only being able to complete 7 laps. MP Motorsport's Dennis Hauger secured his second pole of the season ahead of Joshua Dürksen by only 8 thousandths of a second.

Sprint race

Oliver Bearman took his first podium and win of the season at the Sprint Race, after having a better start than pole-sitter Kush Maini, who also lost a position to Pepe Martí during the first lap of the race after making a contact that broke the Spanish driver's front wing. During the first half of the race, Bearman built a strong advantage to Martí, who was then able to reduce the gap to less than a second.

Maini, who ran in third position for the majority of the race, started to struggle due to his defensive driving, eventually dropping to 7th place. Bearman was able to hold Martí off for the win, with championship leader Paul Aron completing the podium and taking an extra point for the fastest lap in the points-paying positions.

Feature race

At the beginning of the formation lap, pole-sitter Dennis Hauger, Kush Maini and Jak Crawford stalled, being pushed to the pit lane for the race start and leaving their grid positions vacant. Paraguayan driver Joshua Dürksen was left as the virtual leader, but was not credited with the pole position. He led Gabriel Bortoleto and Franco Colapinto for the first laps of the race, but was overtaken by the Brazilian driver on lap 4 and by Colapinto on lap 5.

A virtual safety car was deployed on lap 6 as Zane Maloney, who had stalled his car at the race start, had an engine failure and had to stop his car. Pepe Martí had been advised to pit, but was 2 meters away from crossing the Safety Car line before the VSC was deployed, which resulted in a post-race investigation and penalty for the Spaniard.

Bortoleto, Dürksen, Aron and Hadjar all subsequently pitted and came out behind Martí for the virtual lead of the race. They squabbled, with Bortoleto taking the virtual lead from Martí, who let his Campos Racing teammate, Hadjar, through to a virtual second place to try to attack Bortoleto. Hadjar had struggled to overtake Aron, who was given a five-second penalty for moving under braking while defending against the Frenchman.

Fittipaldi and Colapinto, who had started the race with the harder available compound, drove long initial stints, only pitting on the last 10 laps. They came out of their pit stop 6th and 8th, respectively, with Dürksen in between them. With fresher supersoft tyres, they were able to charge through the pack, eventually finishing 6th and 2nd on the road, with the Argentine driver securing the fastest lap of the race, but not able to catch eventual winner, Gabriel Bortoleto, who won for the first time in Formula 2.

After Colapinto's late charge, the Campos drivers argued over the radio due to team orders, with Hadjar finally crossing the finish line ahead in third position. Martí and Aron finished fourth and fifth on track, but their penalties dropped them to 15th and 5th, respectively, with Fittipaldi inheriting the fourth position.

Notes
* Paul Aron received a five-second time penalty for failing to leave enough space to Isack Hadjar.
* Juan Manuel Correa received a five-second time penalty for crossing the white line at pit entry.
* Pepe Martí finished fourth on track. He received a post-race ten-second stop and go penalty for pitting during a virtual safety car period. This was converted to a 30-second time penalty after the race which dropped him to 15th place.
* Dennis Hauger, Kush Maini and Jak Crawford all stalled at the beginning of the formation lap, being required to start from the pit lane. Their places on the grid (1st, 10th and 14th, respectively) were left vacant. Hauger was still credited with pole position and received two championship points.

Standings after the event

;Drivers' Championship standings

;Teams' Championship standings

* Note: Only the top five positions are included for both sets of standings.

See also

* 2024 Austrian Grand Prix
* 2024 Spielberg Formula 3 round

References

External links

Official website

{{Portal bar, Austria, Sports

Spielberg
Spielberg Formula 2 round
Spielberg Formula 2