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FORMULA 2

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Official F1 Journal Formula 2 Sunday Round Up- Monza

3/9/2023

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Its the penultimate feature race of the F2 season and the pressure was on for the top 2 in the standings to score as many points as possible. Current Championship leader Pourchaire couldn't win the championship at Monza this weekend but after a rivsl Vesti won the sprint race yestersay with Pourchaire 4th, the frenchman needed to arrive at Yas Marina with the biggest gap possible.  

F2 Feature Race 

Championship leader Pourchaire lined upon pole with Vesti's Prema team mate Bearan lining up next to him and he didnt waste anytime trying to get past Pourchaire and after not getting the move made in turn 1 went side by side with the ART driver into the 1st chicane and took the lead on the exit, mean while Vesti was battling with Stanek when he was spun by the other driver on the stright and just like that his race and any hope of further closing the championship battle were over. Vesti wasnt alone in his retirement as Novolak winner of the Zandvoort feature race was also out of the race and the safety car was called out to clean up both cars. 
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​3rd in the championship Victor Martins had made it upto 3rd before the safety car with a great around the 2nd Lesmo on Hauger, Doohan had made up 2 places to 12th.
​Lap 4 and they went racing again and Bearma showed he was the master of the restart at Monza as he made a sucessful run for it leaving Pourchaire unable to even consider a move into the first corner, infact there were no changes of position off the restart and after the first green flag lap of racing Bearman had an almost 1 second gap back to Pourchaire. Cordeal picked up a puncture and dropped to last as the DRS was enabled and with that Pourchaire started to set fastest laps but was still unable to get close to the rapid Prema before a huge crash for Leclerc brought out the safety car again.
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 Leclerc couldn't get the car stopped into turn 1 and had to take avoiding action to stop from hitting cars in front of him and threw out the anchors to stop before reentering the track into the path of other cars but that meant he could no continue and the run off at turn 1 needed some repairs.
​It was during this safety car that the team s chose to pit, with everyone coming in witht he exception of Doohan, Iwasa and Daruvela who started on the alternative strategy. It was very tight in the pits but Prema got Bearman back out into the lead, followed by Pourchire but 3rd place man Martins who had been double stack behind team mate Pourchaire had dropped to 11th. 
The race restarted on lap 12 with Daruvela in the lead, Doohan 2nd and Iwasa 3rd not of whom had made their mandatory pit stop yet, Bearman was 5th and Pourchaire 6th. the top 3 immediately went into a 3 way battle that saw the lead change 3 times in a matter of 30 meters but behind a very scary incident for Zane Maloney saw Roy Nissany clip his rear wheel at full racing speed on the start finish straight at the restart and the driver from Barbados took a huge hit into the wall that brought out the 4th of 7 safety cars of the day.  Daruvela dove into the pits to make his mandatory stop followed by Iwasa leaving doohan the only man not to have made his stop. ​
When the race restarted on lap 16/30 Bearman had the lead after getting Doohan just before the safety car was called for the Maloney crash, Doohan 2nd, Pourchaire 3rd, and Martin had made it back up to 7th.
Bearman went early again and like before he had a massive lead as he crossed the line stopping the cars behind from mounting any kind of move into turn 1, Pourchaire had a good look at Doohn but the move wasnt there and the frenchman was couldn't take any chances in the championship fight. Crawford and Martins passed the car of Vershoor off the restart before Martins then over took Crawford to go after the top 4 and again Pourchaire had a look to make a move on Doohan but still Doohan came out infront despite his old tyres.
Lap 17 and Bearman had a 2.6 second lead over Pouchaire and was running a brilliant race gaining another 3 tenths over the 2nd place man in the next 2 laps to bring the gap to almost 3 seconds. Mean while the DRS flap on the Alpine Academy liveried ART car of Martins wpouldn't close so Martins had DRS for the whole lapnand he was given the back and orange flag for it and was forced to retire from the race( great for Bearman and Prema in the championship)
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© Fia Formula 2
Lap 23 and Bearman's lead was stable at 2.5 seconds over Pourchaire when ANOTHER Safety car period was needed for the car of Maini who after a great scrap with Jak Crawford picked up a puncture and went into the wall at the Curva Grande. Doohan took this chance to make his stop, followed by Crawford who also picked up a puncture in the incident with Maini.  
Lap 27 /30 and again Bearman lead the grid around to restart the racing with a huge lead over Pourchaire behind but Iwasa was much closer to the ART and made a brilliant move on the outside of turn1 and then inside of turn 2 to take 2nd position leaving Pourchaire vulnerable to Vershoor behind him but could get the move done. 

3 to go and Bearman had a 1.6 second  lead again when for the last time of the day the Safety car joined the track so the car of Crawford who had crashed at the exit of the Ascari chicane and the race ended in formation behind the safety car that had seen so much action. 
Bearman wins, Iwasa 2nd, Pourchaire 3rd. 
A really brilliant race from Ollie Bearman at the home of the Ferrari driver Academy he drives for and the home race of his current team Prema made the victory extra special for the British driver.

Feature Race Result 

1 BEA     2 IWA
3 POU    4 FIT
5 HAU    6 DOO
7 DAR    8 ACO
9 BOS   10 STA
11HAD   12 MAS
13 VER   14 JCO
15 NIS     16 CRA
DNF's
MAI, MAR, MAL, LEC, VES, NOV
Joanna Blackmore 
​Writer @ F1 Journal 
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Official F1 Journal Formula 2 Saturday Round Up- Monza

3/9/2023

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Sprint Race Round Up

It was the Penultimate Sprint race of the season and the pressure was on Fredrik Vesti and his Prema car to reduce the gap to Championship leader Theo Pourchaire, and starting in 3rd with the reverse top 10 format meant he had a good shot at doing so with his rival starting in 10th but on pole for the Sunday Feature race. 
Lights out and Boschung locks up in to turn 1 destroying his tyres at the first corner in a sprint race were pit stops are race killers. Vesti over took Vershoor for the lead in an important move this early in the race and Victor Martins squeezed Bearman into turn 1, these 2 have a chequered past together in 2023. Championship leader Theo Pourchaire had contact  at turn 1 hitting Crawford after taking to much curb at the first corner. Bearman over took Fittipaldi into Ascari and Cordeal spins at the same place after contact with Maloney bringing out the Safety car with Vesti in the lead.
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When racing resumed, Mertins had made his way upto 4th, Pourchaire was in 6th with Bearma ahead in 5th. 
lap 12 and after a brilliant move by Victor Martins Virtuosi car on Vershoor for 2nd, Roy Nissany spun at the Ascari chicane bringing  out the 2nd Safety car of the day. 
Lap 16 the safety car was in and Vesti didnt have to defend into turn 1 as 2nd place man Martins was under pressure from Vershoor who just couldnt get the move done. Daruvela found the grael on the restart and Crawford gained a position on Pourchaire for 4th.  and by this time Martins was after Vesti at a rate of knots but time was running out for the frenchman to make his move.
hauger made a great save after gong onto the gravel and leclerc put a mighty move on Stanek around the Parabolic turn(not somewhere you see a lot of overtakes).
$ laps to go and the pressure was on Vesti to hold onto the lead with a rapid Martins never etting the gap get over 0.7 of a second right till the last lap, with the Prema team telling their man 'all out nothing on the table' to push him onto the win.Luckily for Vesti in the chase for 1st Martins had been caught by 3rd place man Richard Vershoor who had a good look at the Alpine Academy man but couldnt get the move done with the Trio finishing Vest i 1st, Martins 2nd Vershoor 3rd. Championship leader Pouchaire finished 4th retaining the championship lead and Jack Doohan who has just seemed nowwhere this Monza weekend finished 11th on the road but after hadjar and Crawford took time penalties ended up 9th.
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F2 Sprint Result

1 VES     2 MAR
3 VER     4 POU
5 MAI      6 BEA
7 LEC     8 STA
9 DOO    10 NOV
11 HAD   12 CRA
13 MAL    14 JCO
15 FIT      16 MAS
17 DAR    18 BOS 
DNF's
IWA, NIS, ACO
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Joanna Blackmore 
Writer @ F1Journal 
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Official F1 Journal Formula 2 Friday Round Up- Monza

1/9/2023

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Its the penultimate race of the season for the Formula 2 and the title fight is on between former team mates at ART Theo Pourchaire and Fredrik Vesti( now driving for Prema) and the battle behind threatening to make it a 3 or 4 car race to the final weekend of the season in Abu Dhabi. Every point counts at Monza 

Practice- Dry 

After the Chaos of Zandvoort, the beginning of practice at Monza was comparatively calm, with teams getting in consistent, calm running for their drivers and cars. Daruvela briefly found the gravel on track and with 33 minutes to go Maloney set the fastest time, but after that we started to see the times drop with Hauger, Daruvela and Bearman all moving into the top 10 while Championship contenders Pourchaire, Iwasa and Vesti were down in 16th, 18th & 20th. 
After everyone had set a fast lap it was Ollie Bearman that had topped the times, with Martins 2nd and Leclerc running in 3rd.
The Rodin-Carlin car of Fittipaldi was in the pits and out of the car with a possible problem but the team got him under way soon after. 
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11 minutes to go and drivers pushing start to make mistakes, the great talent of Zane Maloney was pushed  by the speed of Monza as he was forced to make a brilliant catch after almost losing the car on the exit of the 2nd Lesmo corners and Bearman was pushing hard enough to drop 2 tyres onto the dirt on a push lap. Mean while the 2 championship Rivals were playing mind games with each other when they met on track during an out lap, with Vesti running very slow to try and push Pourchaire past him, trying to win the mental war before the competitive sessions have even started. All of which was completely unnecessary as Hauger  had a massive spin at Turn 11 after putting 2 wheels on the grass strip on the edge of a track bringing out a red flag and ending the session prematurely.  

Qualifying- Dry

It was a slow start to qualifying with only Novalak going out for quite a while with 26 minutes to go there was no times on the board. 2 minutes later the cars filed out we almost got a full lap from one of them but 
again the filled back in to the pit lane and we had to wait till 18 minutes were left on the clock before Ralph Boschung set a lap and after that they came thick and fast Doohan, Iwasa started laps and next Bearman was on the move looking very fast. 
After the first round of laps it was Victor Martins top followed by Bearman & Pourchaire but the top time just kept tumbling and on the 2nd runs of qualifying it was Theo Pourchaire who took the top spot with championship rival Vesti in 6th. 
When it came time for the final run of the day unfortunately we didn't get to see everyone best. Jockeying for position on the out lap and the traffic that ensued after nobody wanted to lead the pack round and everyone wanted the precious Monza slipsteam meant that Doohan, Maini and Vershoor didnt make the line before the flag fell so didnt set a final time. Of those who did not many improved and at the end of the session Pourchaire took Pole and 2 additonal points to help is championship push,  a very fast and feisty looking Ollie Bearman took 2nd with Stanek in 3rd. Vesti finioshed in 8th and Doohan starts 14th. 
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Qualifying Result

1 POU    2 BEA 
3 STA      4 HAD 
5 MAR     6 MAI
7 CRA     8 VES
9 VER     10 BOS 
11 HAU    12 LEC 
13 FIT      14 DOO
15 IWA     16 DAR
17 NIS     18  JCO
19 ACO    20 MAL
21 NOV    22 MAS
Joanna Blackmore 
Writer @ F1 Journal 
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Official F1 Journal Formula 2 Sunday Round Up- Zandvoort

27/8/2023

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After a rained off Saturday Sprint race, that saw nobody score any points, all the drivers were pinning their chance for points on the feature race. Doohan was looking to continue his late season charge, Prema's Fredrik Vesti who started 3rd was looking to take the Championship lead back from former ART Racing team mate Theo Pourchaire plus Ollie Bearman & Victor Martins needed to score well to keep themselves in with a chance of the Championship. 
But Zandvoort had different ideas for all of them in what turned out to be an incredible race of 2 very different halves. 

Feature Race @ Zandvoort- Very Damp Track

The race was started with a rolling start due to very damp, challenging track conditions. The first driver to be caught out by these conditions was Jack Doohan who didn't even make the rolling start, spun at the last corner as Crawford lead the snake of cars around to start the race. Turn 1 was eventful for multiple drivers, Vesti lost the rear and spun mid turn 1 dropping him to last, Juan Manual Correa rear ended the Prema car of Bearman sending them both into the gravel and Bearman down to 14th( Correa later recieved a 10 second penalty for this incident)4 , with Martins going deep on the breaks and visiting the same gravel trap as the others and demoting himself to 15th and by turn 3 the Safety car was out for the stranded Virtuosi of Doohan to be recovered.  
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Pourchaire had made good in all the chaos of the rolling start and got himself up to 6th and when the safety car came in on lap 3 and the 2nd rolling start took place it was a much cleaner 1st lap with just Iwasa going for a big move on Maini finding himself off the track at turn 1. Lap 6 and the pitstops start, the 4 cars who gambled on rain and started on the full wets were the first cars in, quickly followed by the dry tyre runners with degradation higher than expected. 
As the dry tyre runners started to pit Pourchaire saw his chance to gain another position by leap frogging Hadjar in the pits, which he did, despite almost crashing into the Redbull Academy driver at the pit entry.    
But that was the end of Pourchaire's luck and after the team got him ahead of Hadjar in the pits, Pourchaire put the car in the wall with quite a large crash after losing the rear end and being in an uncatchable 'tank slapper' until hitting the wall bringing out the 2nd Safety car of the day. But just as things really started to look like they were going in the favor of Pouchaire's closest championship rival Fredrik Vesti, he to crashed out, behind the safety car after the Prema team double stacked their cars with Vesti being the 2nd car and just a few corners out of the pit both rear tyres came off the car, dangerously close to the drivers behind. So by lap 8 3 championship contenders are out of the race and the man in the lead is Frenchman Clemant Novalak, followed by pole position man Jak Crawford and Carlin man Zane Maloney in 3rd. 
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Racing resumed on lap 17 and a brilliant move around the outside of turn 1 by Maloney on Crawford put him up to 2nd, but it wouldn't be Formula 2 with out restart drama and after fighting from the restart Bearman & Martins came together at the exit of turn 3 were Martins ran Bearman off the road and into a wall, earning himself a 10 second grid penalty, the incident put Bearman out of the race while Martins continued in 5th.  
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After a very exciting but safety car riddled first 18 laps of the race the 2nd half was a much more measured, calm showing from the remaining drivers, Novalak lead a brilliant race, always managing the gap to Maloney despite Maloney mounting a cracking campaign to go for his maiden win, on tyres that at best could be described as used, at worst blistered and dying but he just couldn't get close enough, especially with Crawford having a good go at getting 2nd place back from him but never getting close enough to make a move Crawford came home in 3rd at the chequered flag. 
​Local man Vershoor had a strong finish to catch up with the front 3 and finish 4th, Martins brought the car home in 5th but after his penalty was applied he finished 9th. Iwasa didnt have such a strong finish almost crashing out at the last corner of the last lap, by tapping the wall with the finish line in sight.
So the only man in the top 6 of the Championship standing to score any points this weekend was Martins, and with the races left in 2023 rapidly running out the hunt for points at Monza will be a desperate one. Its not possible to predict the next 10 seconds in Formula 2 let alone 10 days but we look forward to a seriously close battle for the title in the driver and team standings. 

Sunday Feature Race Result 

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© FIA Formula 2
1 NOV
            2 MAL
3 CRA
            4 VER
5 HAU
             6 HAD
7 FIT
             8 ACO
9 MAR
            10 JCO
11 STA
            12 NIS
13 IWA
            14 LEC
15 MAS 
            16 BOS
17 DAR
            18 MAI
DNF'S- BEA 
             VES
             POU
​             DOO
Joanna Blackmore 
Writer @ F1 Journal
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Official F1 Journal Formula 2 Saturday Round Up- Zandvoort

26/8/2023

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Sprint Race- VERY VERY WET

There was plenty of drama before the race even started with Championship leader and sprint race pole man Theo Pourchaire's car developing a problem that required a substantial amount of work and despite the start being delayed the pit lane closed before the ART Racing guys could get him fixed and Pourchaire was forced to give up his number 1 grid slot and start from the pit lane, the second race in a row that the championship leader hasn't made it to his pole spot after Fredrik Vesti crashed on his lap to the grid in Spa and didn't start the race in Belgium.  

Sprint Start Grid

1 POU      2 HAD
3 MAR      4 JCO
5 BEA       6 DOO
7 MAL       8 VES
9 HAU      10 CRA
11 MAI      12 NOV
13 BOS     14 DAR
15 LEC      16 IWA
17 VER      18 ACO
19 FIT        20 STA
​21 NIS       22 MAS
The race started behind the safety car with a rolling start, Hadjar lead the field into turn 1 and despite going deep into the corner held on to 1st from a very fast Martins ready to take the position from him. Ollie Bearman made a great move on Juan Manual Correa for 3rd at the first corner while Hauger ended up very wide into the first corner putting 2 wheels on the grass. 
But the racing was short lived and after a big incident between Cush Maini, Jak Crawford and Ralph Boschung the race was Red flagged. While racing hard Maini hit a patch of deep watch on the apex of the corner and lost the rear, which tapped Jak Crawford taking them both out of the race and while both cars crossed the track and the path of other cars, Crawford narrowly avoided being him again but Boschung had no way of avoiding his Campos team mate Maini and both cars hit the wall, one on top of the other.
Boschung was the first man out of the car and went straight to check on both other drivers, despite clearly being in pain himself, both limping and holding his back. Thankfully all 3 drivers escaped the incident uninjured but it was a big scary accident for all 3 of them.
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© Autosport 
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© Autosport 
After a substantial wait for that incident to be cleared and the area repaired the rain started again. The track only got worse and despite the field following the safety car around the lap with the hope of restarting the race, the drivers and safety car driver Bernd Maylander were not happy with the conditions, so with the rain seeing no end soon and the opinions of the drivers and teams the Race Director  chose to not resume the race and end it there at just 4 laps in meaning that NO Championship points would be awarded for this event to any drivers as an insufficient amount of laps were completed without the safety car leading them, much to the benefit of Theo Pourchaire who has not lost any points to championship Rival Fredrik Vesti who was classified 7th. 
So on to the Feature Race tomorrow, with Crawford on Pole and fingers crossed better weather conditions.

Sprint Classification (no points)

1 HAD    
2 MAR
3 BEA
4 JCO
5 MAL
6 DOO
7 VES
8 NOV
9 HAU
10 DAR
11 LEC
12 VER
13 IWA
14 STA
15 FIT
16 ACO
17 NIS             DNF's
18 MAS           CRA
19 POU           MAI
​                        BOS
Joanna Blackmore 
Writer F1 Journal 
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Official F1 Journal Formula 2 Friday Round Up- Zandvoort

25/8/2023

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FIA Formula 2 returns after the summer break at the mighty Zandvoort, with only 3 events and 6 races to go in their season. Theo Pourchaire leads the championship by a small margin over former ART team mate and current Prema man Fredrik Vesti, after the Danish driver had a miserable Spa weekend. But the championship is far from over with drivers down to 5th in the championship fight such as Jack Doohan who has had a late season resurgence of form still in the fight. Martin, Iwasa & Hauger are also not drivers you can count out just yet. 

Practice- Dry

Practice started slowly with just one car lapping for the first 8 minutes, most of the field waiting while the only man to have never raced at Zandvoort before Joshua Mason in his PHM Racing car to clear some of the sand from the racing line. 
When the rest of the grid joined him on track names like Doohan and Bearman looked very fast, but mistakes were being made with Championship leader Theo Pourchaire having a moment at turn 3, Doohan having a similar scary moment in the same place and the session being ended by a red flag being brought out for Ralph Boschung after he touched a wheel onto the grass and went in to turn 7 backwards and was unable to continue.
 The session ended with Bearman topping the time tables, Hauger in second and Fredrik Vesti in third. ​
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© Prema Racing
Practice results 
1 BEA      2 HAU
3 VES      4 IWA
5 MAR     6 DAR
7 MAL      8 DOO
9 HAD     10 POU
11 NOV    12 BOS 
13 CRA    14 MAI
15 NIS     16 VER
17 COR    18 FIT
19 LEC     20 JCO
​21 STA     22 MAS 
              

Qualifying- Dry

Qualifying started with Jack Doohan making his feelings about fellow Apline Academy driver Victor Martins 'erratic' driving, very clear over the radio and to the FIA (after the session Martins received a reprimand for this) in the shuffle to get the best position for their flying lap. After the first round of times were set American HiTech driver and Redbull Academy Jak Crawford had set the fastest lap with Dennis Hauger not far behind. But in the mass exodus from the pit for all  the drivers to make their second run, Clemant Novalak hit Crawford while leaving his own Pit spot pushing Crawford in to the pit wall damaging  his front wing and meaning he had to pit on the next lap when his rivals for pole were starting their flying laps putting him drastically out of sequence.
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​Luck though was on Crawfords side and with 7 minutes to go Daruvela crashed and caused a Red flag before his closest rivals could complete a flying lap. With 7 minutes on the clock, running restarted and multiple drivers were on great laps Doohan was on a lap, Crawford, Hauger, Bearman and Vesti were all flying, when Juan Manuel Correa brought out another Red flag after being on 'full send' for his flying lap, pushed to hard and parked the car in the gravel, also on a more successful 'full send' lap Hauger was meters from the line when the Red flag was called meaning his lap wasn't classified and he lost a lap that would have beaten Crawford's for Pole. 
The final running began with just 3 minutes and 46 seconds on the clock and in a much more orderly manor than earlier in qualifying all the cars made their way onto the track and again there where purple sectors popping up all over the track and we were set for over 10 drivers that could have fought it out for pole but it wasn't meant to be and Novalak  brought out a 3rd and final Red flag and with 46 seconds on the clock, the Stewards called no more running and Jack Crawford's brilliant first run had got him pole, despite a very rapid Dennis Hauger always being close to taking it. 
Theo Pourchaire had a tough qualifying never really seeming comfortable with his ART Racing car , but will start on reverse grid pole for tomorrows Sprint race and 10th for the Sunday Feature race while his closest rival Vesti took 3rd in qualifying and will start 8th for the Sprint race.
A very exciting Sprint tomorrow that could have a decent effect on the both Championships.


Qualifying Result

1 CRA      2 HAU
3 VES      4 MAL
5 DOO     6 BEA
7 JCO      8 MAR
9 HAD     10 POU
11 MAI     12 IWA
13 NOV    14 BOS
15 DAR    16 LEC
17 VER     18 ACO
19 FIT       20 STA
​21 NIS      22 MAS

Sprint Race Grid 

1 POU      2 HAD
3 MAR      4 JCO
5 BEA       6 DOO
7 MAL       8 VES
9 HAG      10 CRA
11 MAI      12 IWA
13 NOV     14 BOS
15 DAR     16 LEC
17 VER     18 ACO
19 FIT        20 STA
​21 NIS       22 MAS
Joanna Blackmore
Writer @ F1 Journal
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Official F1 Journal FIA Formula 2 Sunday Round Up

30/7/2023

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Saturday Catch Up

The Saturday Sprint race started Dry with Daruvela on the top grid spot.
It was a clean start for the front of the field, Vesti got a great start but better still was the start of his former ART team mate Theo Pourchaire who by the time he was at La Source was in 2nd position. Bearman put a great move on Doohan for 10th.
Lap 2 the Safety car joined the race as Daruvela dived in to the pits minus his head rest which had worked it's self free and come out of the car on track at speed, while at the same time Cordeal spun and stalled his car. Racing was back underway on lap 5 and both the Alpine Academy liveried cars were on the move, with Hauger also hunting down Pourchaire in 3rd and Fittipaldi starting his push for the win chasing Vershoor.
The Penultimate lap began and Fittipaldi was on the back of Vershoor and with a brilliant move into Le Combes took the lead and went onto win his first FIA Formula 2 race. With a name like Fittipaldi you can only imagine its the first of many. The last lap also saw moves from Doohan on Vesti, Iwasa on Boschung and Crawford was given the Black and White flag for late track limits infringements. 
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Sprint Race Result

1-FIT      2-POU
3-HAU    3-MAR
5-DOO    6-VES
7-IWA      8-BOS
9-LEC     10-MAL
11-HAD   12-BEA
13-NIS     14-CRA
15-STA     16-JCO
17-NOV    18-MAI
19-MAS    20-DAR DNF
21-ACO    22-VER (disqualified)

Sunday Feature Race 

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Before the 25 lap F2 feature race could even start Vesti & Martins had incidents on their lap to the grid, Martins spinning but continuing to start the race but Championship leader Fredrik Vesti crashed heavily and was out of the race before it even started. The preferred strategy for the delayed start was to begin on the softest tyres, Iwasa and Doohan choosing to not go along with the rest of the field and started on the medium tyres. 
Bearman got away well off the start, with Pourchaire moving up to 2nd and Martin losing places off the start. Hauger and Iwasa came together on the first lap bringing out the Safety car. Iwasa took to much curb through the chicane and lost control as the wheels left the floor and hit Hauger, braking Iwasa's suspension and ending his race, Hauger got going again but only after a push start from the marshall's and on lap 6 he was given the Black flag(disqualification signal) as that is expressly against the rules. 
On the restart Bearman lead the way again followed by Pourchaire and the 2 Rodin Carlin, Redbull young drivers Maloney and Fittipaldi almost came together as they crested Radillion and again at le Combes. A dangerous move by Nissany on Leclerc sent the monagasque driver flying towards the barrier half way up Eau Rouge with a puncture, which later Nissany was awarded a 10 second penalty for.
Lap5 and the fight for first was on!! Pourchaire was right on the tail of Ollie Bearman and for the next  7 laps the Prema driver held him off but after both cars pit on lap 15 the ART Pit crew did their driver proud getting the Frenchman back out into the lead, jumping Bearman in the pitstops. The next lap it was Fittipadli's turn to pit and despite coming out into 1st, on cold tyres he was quickly passed by Pourchaire, Bearman and Martins. 
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Feature Race Result

1-DOO       2-POU
3-FIT          4-MAL
5-MAR        6-VER
7-BEA         8-MAI
9-STA         10-BOS
11-LEC       12-NIS
13-NOV       14-MAS
15-ACO       15-JCO
DNF'S
CRA 
DAR
HAD
HAU Disqualified
IWA
VES  
​Lap16 saw Martins get a penalty for speeding in the pitlane and the Safety car left the pits after an incident involving Crawford & Correa. 
Doohan pit under the safety car came out 2nd on track behind Pourchaire capitalizing on a shorter stop under the safety car.
On the restart Fittipaldi got Maloney into Le Combes and heading into lap 21 Doohan was on the back of Pourchaire. Mean while Victor martins was on the back of Ollie Bearman into la Combes and the 2 touched sending Martins to the run off and up to 3rd.
Lap 22 the DRS was enabled and Doohan was on the hunt  for his 2nd win in as many weeks. He couldn't get it done into Les Combes so instead followed Pourchaire closely through the rest of the lap and made the move up Eau Rouge and into the start of Radillion. It was a mighty move and Doohan was not chancing a come back from Pourchaire and by the end of the race had a 1.5 second lead over the ART driver. There was still a lot of action on the last lap Maloney & Fittipaldi over took Bearman, then Fittipadli got Maloney and then finally Bearman dropped another place to Vershoor before crossing the finish line. 
A really Brillant Race!!!! 

Driver Championship Standing 

Team Championship Standings
1st- Pourchaire        168
2nd Vesti                  156
3rd Iwasa                 134
4th Doohan              130
5th Martins               120
6th Bearman            102
7th Fittipaldi              98
8th Vershoor             84
9th Hauger               82
10th Maloney           78 
1st  ART Grand Prix         288
2nd Prema Racing           258
3rd Rodin Carlin              176
4th DAMS                        173
5th MP Motorsport           135
6th Virtuosi Racing         130
7th Van Amersfooort         96
8th Campos                      91
9th Hitech                         78
10th Trident                      15
​11th PHM Racing              0
Joanna Blackmore 
​Writer f1 Journal 
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F1 Journal FIA Formula 2 Saturday Round Up

29/7/2023

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Friday Qualifying

Qualifying started wet but with no rain falling, Mason who is only in his 2nd F2 race after joining half way through the season,  took a trip into the gravel at turn 6. With 27 minutes remaining the rain came and the 2 Prema drivers capitalized on running first  and second on the track as the rain really started to effect the running and both managed competitive laps on only half a wet lap when those behind had a whole wet lap to contend with. After the times set on that lap no further faster times where set and any further running was done under very wet conditions.  
Qualifying Result & Sunday Feature Race-
1- BEA         2-VES
3-MAR         4-MAL
5-POU         6-HAU
7-BOS         8- FIT
9-VER         10-DAR
11- DOO      12- CRA
13-HAD        14-NIS
15-LEC         16-IWA
17-NOV        18-STA
NOT CLASSIFIED(No time set but allowed to race)
19- MAI          20- COR
21- COR         22- MAS
Picture
Picture
Championship standings before sprint race
©FIA Formula 2

Saturday Reverse Top 10 Sprint Race Round Up

For the first time this weekend we started a session with a dry track, with dry tyres and dry weather. 
Josh Mason stalled pulling away for the formation lap, triggering a second lap to be completed before that start.
It was a clean start with all cars making it through the legendary but dangerous Eau Rouge, Radillion, Le Source section. Pourchaire gained 2 positions off the start, Vesti over took Hauger around the outside in a brillant move for 6th and the sister Prema of Ollie Bearman over took Doohan on the first lap to take 10th. Vershoor kept the lead from Fittipaldi and the 2 start to pull away.
Lap 2 started with another great move from championship leader Fredrik Vesti on Ralph Boschung just as a saftey car was brought out and leader Daruvela dived into the pits minus one head rest, that had come lose and flown out of the car in the middle of the lap ( never seen that before). The safety car then stayed out to also cover the recovery of  Cordeal's car that had spun after dropping a wheel onto curb and ultimately stalled the car and ended his race.
Lap 5 and the Safety car was in, both Alpine drivers where on the move charging forwards through the feild, Hauger got Vesti for 4th place and Vesti just coudnt fight back anymore. With some great racing between Bearman and Iwasa. Mason received a penalty for an infringement after he stalled on the grid.  
Reverse Top 10 Grid 
1-DAR       2-VER
3-FIT         4-BOS
5-HAU        6-POU
7-MAL        8-MAR
9-VES         10-BEA
Picture
Lap 9 saw Maini pit and Iwasa gain another 2 positions to 9th, as he started his push to the end of the race with Dennis Hauger also starting to push on after Pourchaire for 3rd. Zane Maloney was given a 5 sec penalty for exceeding track limits for a 4th time on lap 12 after being shown the black and white flag on lap 10 and while that was being announced Vesti and Martins  began a brilliant dog fight going back and forth and side by side around spa for half a lap and it was fantastic to watch. Fittipaldi was also hunting down a good battle and was gaining on leader Vershoor at a rapid rate.
With 2 laps to go Leclerc gave Bearman a cheeky punt on the rear sending him off into the gravel  trap, Bearman managed to escape the gravel run off but dropped the Brit down the order.  Martins finally over took Vesti on the penultimate lap, when Vesti's tyre were well past their prime.
Lap 16 and Fittipaldi was on the rear of Vershoor up the Kemmel Straight and took the lead with a brilliant move round the outside of Le Combes. But the racing wasn't done! Iwasa gained another place over taking Boschung and on the last lap Vesti lost P6 to Doohan and very nearly lost P7 in the closing meters from Iwasa but held on to finish ahead of the RedBull Academy driver. ​

Sprint Race Result

1-FIT         2-VER
3-POU      3-HAU
5-MAR      6 -DOO
7-VES       8-IWA
9-BOS      10-LEC
11-MAL     12-HAD
13-BEA      14-NIS
15-CRA      16-STA
17-JCO       18-NOV
19-MAI        20-MAS
DNF'S
DAR
​ACO

After such a great Sprint Race, we can only hope the Sunday's Feature Race is just as good.
ART now leads the F2 championship over Prema & Fredrik Vesti retains his lead in the Driver Standings. 

Joanna Blackmore 
Writer F1 Journal
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Official F1 Journal Formula 2 Mid Season Round Up

27/7/2023

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Picture
© FIA Formula 2
2023 has been no less than a brillaint FIA Formual 2 season. With 6 pole sitters & 10 winners. After 18 rounds have been completed it safe to say the championship is still a close fought battle between multiple drivers.
Fredrik Vesti currently leads the championship by 11 points over former ART Grand Prix team mate Theo Pourchaire.  In the Team standings Prema Racing and ART Grand Prix are currently level pegging with 247 each and their next closest rival in 3rd is DAMS with 170 championship points to their name. Despite the team championship being a 2 horse race with 8 rounds left to go there is still everything to play  for, for multiple drivers with just 59 points covering the top 6 in the standings. Drivers like Oliver Bearman and Ayumu Iwasa have shown real class and talent but have either been the victim of other drivers incidents or made driver mistakes that have lost them points they really needed  but both have the potential to really take the fight to Vesti & Pourchaire right upto the last race of the season in Abu Dhabi. Although in true Formula 2 style trying to make any kind of prediction this early in the season is fool hardy, so many drivers with more talent than this fan has ever seen on the F2 grid means that any of the top 10 could have a strong end of the season and steal the title from the current leaders.
This is the last year the FIA Formua 2 will run the Dallara F2 2018 Chassis & V6 single turbocharged engine with both being replaced for the 2024 season so the teams are maximizing the package in its 5th and final season but this does mean that any development steps forward are likely to be smaller than those of a newer package where the scope of improvements is much larger and less exploited. So if we see a charge towards the end of the season  it is more likely to be down to driver skill and development that that of car improvement.

Current Team & Driver  Standings 

© FIA Formula 2 

2023 Results So Far 

Bahrain-
Pole- Pourchaire                 
Sprint Winner-Boschung                     
Feature Winner- Pourchaire

Saudi Arabia-         
Pole- Martins                       
Sprint Winner-Iwasa                               
​Feature Winner- Vesti 

Australia                 
Pole-Iwasa                       
Sprint Winner- Hauger                             
Feature Winner- Iwasa

Azerbaijan           
Pole- Bearman                   
Sprint Winner- Bearman                         
Feature Winner- Bearman

Monaco-                   
Pole- Vesti                         
Sprint Winner- Iwasa                               
Feature Winner- Vesti

Spain-                   
Pole- Bearman                       
Sprint Winner- Vesti                             
Feature Winner- Bearman 

Austria-                   
Pole- Martins                       
Sprint Winner- Crawford                       
Feature Race- Verschoor
 
Britain-                   
Pole- Martins                         
Sprint Winner- Vesti                             
Feature Winner- Martins 

Hungary-               
Pole- Doohan                       
Sprit Winner- Hauger                           
Feature Winner- Doohan                        
               
Joanna Blackmore 
​Writer @ F1 Journal 
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