Andrea Kimi Antonelli takes feature race win in Budapest, with a brilliant drive! Hungary Formula 2 feature race report

A brilliant drive from Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli who managed to take feature race victory at the Hungaroring, on Sunday morning, in an action-packed race in Budapest.

In a great race, that saw huge drama and two safety cars, Antonelli favoured from the second of the safety cars to take victory in dominant fashion, by over 12 seconds.

Antonelli, 17, would take victory for Prema Racing in Budapest, ahead of the Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins of ART, who would come home to finish second on the road.

Richard Verschoor, after being disqualified for a technical infringement in the sprint race, would take third for Trident in some sort of redemption drive.

Huge drama on Sunday would see Isack Hadjar start from the pit lane and finish 18th and Paul Aron fail to finish as he collided with Rodin Motorsport's Zane Maloney. The top two coming into the championship, Hadjar and Aron, would fail to score in the feature race.

How the Formula 2 feature race in Budapest unfolded

​It would be time for the Formula 2 feature race at the Hungaroring in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, for round nine of the 2024 Formula 2 championship.

There would be drama already in the race weekend with Richard Verschoor the initial race winner of the sprint race was disqualified, giving Kush Maini his maiden Formula 2 victory in his second full season.

Huge drama would before the race as championship leader Hadjar would start from the pit lane due to him not leaving the pit lane in time. He would be frustrated but the Campos driver would be made to start from the pits. He would have started third on the grid.

It would be Paul Aron who would start on the front row of the grid and on pole position after taking pole on Friday, ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi who would start alongside him on the front row. Gabriel Bortoleto of Invicta Racing would start on his own on the second row, with Victor Martins of ART just behind.

The lights would go out and a lighting start from Victor Martins would see him go from fifth to first at the start of the race and he would take the lead into turn 1 as a tough start it progressed into for Paul Aron, who lost out to Fittipaldi as he locked up. Aron would drop all the way down to seventh behind Dennis Hauger.

DRS would be enabled at the end of lap one but would only come into effect at the end of lap 2 as Fittipaldi had closed up right behind race leader Victor Martins and would be in battle. Martins would be able to keep the place at the start of lap three, with Fittipaldi staying close behind.

Lap 5 and Spain feature race winner Jak Crawford would make a delightul move into turn 3 on the other Hitech of Amaury Cordeel. A delightful move from the driver part of the Aston Martin Driver Development programme.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was given the hurry up from his team to get ahead of Maloney and he would in an incredible tussle for the position and he would make a move around the turn 9, 10 and 11 complex with a delightful battle between the pair. Antonelli would make a place up, getting ahead of the Rodin Motorsport of Maloney.

On lap seven of the race, there would be huge drama as Aron and Maloney would collide. On the run down to turn 2, Aron would send a move down the inside of the MP Motorsport of Dennis Hauger but would misjudge his braking and tag the back of the car ahead - Zane Maloney.

Maloney's Rodin and Aron's Hitech would both spin round and neither driver could keep their car going and this would end the race. The safety car would be deployed and would neutralise the race.

This would give drivers the chance to pit for change of tyres and the drivers on softs could serve their mandatory pit stops, as they are allowed under a safety car, which is a contrast to the virtual safety car rules in the regulations.

Martins, Bortoleto, Fittipaldi, Hauger and Hadjar would be among the drivers who would ditch the soft red side-wall tyres. This would mean Antonelli, on the alternate strategy, would have the race lead from Richard Verschoor and Kush Maini. Victor Martins would restart the race.

The safety car would come in at the end of lap 10 and the start of lap 11 would be the first lap of green flag racing and it would be a good restart from Antonelli and he would use his pace to good advantage to pull clear of Verschoor.

Hauger would be a driver who was using his fresher hard compound of tyres that he had changed onto. He would make a place on Rafael Villagomez of Van Amersfoort Racing for 10th. The Norwegian driver was showing great pace.

Lap 14 and a pass from the Rodin Motorsport of Ritomo Miyata as the Japanese driver would get ahead of Amaury Cordeel, who had no grip left on his tyres. Miyata also had worn tyres, but his tyres would be able to get ahead of the Hitech.

At the start of lap 15, it would be another place lost for Cordeel as Bortoleto would sail through, around the outside of turn 1 and the Brazilian would then set his sights after Miyata. Fittipaldi would also find his way ahead of Cordeel later on through the lap.

Towards the front and Victor Martins and had been pressuring his fellow Alpine Academy driver Kush Maini for third. Martins on the fresher tyres would make a comfortable pass on the Invicta and he put his ART Grand Prix car up into third. The Frenchman would be driving a great race.

Martins would not take long to catch up to Verschoor, who was in second, and would overtake the Trident driver to take the position. Martins would be up into second place and was flying. The French driver had the fastest lap of the race.

Bortoleto would be right on the tail of Miyata and like Martins was having great fun on the hard compound of tyres. He on lap 19 would get ahead of the Rodin driver and the Invicta Racing driver would be up to fifth.

Joshua Durksen would find himself in trouble with the Stewards. The AIX Racing driver who was down in 19th and had stopped twice, had been handed a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

A huge moment would appear on lap 22 for Cordeel who would use too much curb on the exit of turn 4 and would spin and crash into the barrier, causing huge damage to the car and shattering debris all over the circuit.

Thankfully Cordeel was okay but his Hitech was far from that. Unsurprisingly, the safety car would be deployed, which could give a huge chance for the drivers who had yet to serve their mandatory pit stop and that would be leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Antonelli would pit to change onto the soft compound of tyres and this would bring him right into contention for victory should he maximise the soft tyres well enough in the early stages of the restart.

Martins would regain the lead of the race that he took initially at the very start of the race but something he would concede the race lead to serve the mandatory stop in the first safety car.

Lap 26 would be when the safety car would enter the pit lane which meant that the first green flag condition lap at the restart with lap 27. Victor Martins would have the lead at the restart, but what could Antonelli do from fifth.

Martins would get a good restart and streak clear from Bortoleto and would maintain the lead as Antonelli would already make the move for fourth after passing Hauger and would then take third in a stunning pass on Fittipaldi. Antonelli would overtake Hauger into turn 1 and the best move would be into turn 3 on Fittipaldi for third.

Antonelli would be flying as would the other soft tyre drivers were making moves for fun around the Hungaroring and would take second from Bortoleto on the following lap. A stunning amount of pace for Antonelli and he would then be chasing after Martins.

Richard Verschoor and Kush Maini would also be making moves, the front row for the start of the sprint race on Saturday.

Antonelli on the following lap would have the DRS on Martins onto the next lap. The Mercedes junior would be right on the back of Martins and would not need the full straight to get ahead of the ART of Martins. Antonelli would sail past Martins and would retake the lead.

A stunning drive from Antonelli, who within two laps of taking the lead would pull over a four second gap to Martins, who would then be under pressure from the McLaren junior Gabriel Bortoleto. What could have easily been a win for Martins could be third.

Verschoor was flying too on the softs and the tyre and DRS advantage would elevate the Trident driver to fifth, after the Dutchman passed Hauger into turn 2. Antonelli out front was flying and would unsurprisingly take the fastest lap of the race.

The Trident of Verschoor was on a charge and on the following lap into turn 1, he would take fourth from the Van Amersfoort of Brazilian Enzo Fittipaldi. Verschoor's pace could lead to a podium as the timer would determine the end of the race and it would go to two minutes remaining.

Verschoor was able to catch right up to Bortoleto as the time would reach zero with an extra lap to come. The Trident driver was hounding the yellow Invicta. Bortoleto's teammate Maini would be pressuring Hauger for sixth.

Bortoleto would be unable to defend onto the final lap as around the outside into turn 1, Verschoor would get onto the podium after the disqualification from the sprint race. Great redemption from Richard Verschoor.

Out in front though, Antonelli had stretched over 12 seconds worthy of a lead on the soft compound of tyres and the Italian driver would have excellent pace and had benefited from his great pace on the hard tyre and also the second safety car, which was an outside element that he could not have controlled.

Antonelli could control his rapid speed though and he used it to shine once again in Formula 2, and although there have been certain people questioning whether he was struggling in the category or not. He would take the victory in an outstanding drive, for his first feature race win and his second win in the category, in his rookie season.

The 17-year old would take the first feature race win of the year for Prema with a shining and dazzling performance from Antonelli. Victor Martins would have to settle for second place, which could have been victory had he had a bit more luck but it was not to be.

Martins would finish second ahead of Richard Verschoor, who still felt sore after disqualification but would get some sort of redemption of a result and Verschoor would take third place to complete the podium positions.

Gabriel Bortoleto would have to settle for fourth place with Van Amersfoort's Enzo Fittipaldi completing the top five. Important points gained in the championship for Bortoleto, who would have been probably hoping for better.

Dennis Hauger would finish sixth for MP Motorsport, just ahead of the charging Kush Maini in seventh. Maini had great pace towards the end. Ritomo Miyata, Taylor Barnard and Rafael Villagomez would complete the top 10 and points scoring positions.

Rodin Motorsport's Zane Maloney and the Hitech pair, Paul Aron and Amaury Cordeel, would be the three drivers that failed to finish.

A stunning weekend of action in Formula 2, and a drama-filled feature race to complete the weekend with the young sensational talent of Andrea Kimi Antonelli reigning supreme in Budapest in what could be pivotal win in his attempts to find his way onto the Formula 1 grid for 2025.

​Antonelli, winning in the feature race, would make it two victories in two rounds.

How the Championship picture looks after Round 9

​Huge drama in the championship fight in Budapest, the top two in the championship failing to score, with Aron retiring early on. Zane Maloney would be another championship contender who would retire. Championship leader Isack Hadjar after starting from the pit lane would just fail to score.

At the end of round nine, it would be an 18-point lead in the drivers championship, in Isack Hadjar's favour. The Campos driver has the lead over Paul Aron who stays in second position despite failing to score in the feature race.

Gabriel Bortoleto of Invicta Racing would move up to third overall, going ahead of Zane Maloney. 30 points are the gap between Bortoleto and championship leader Isack Hadjar.

A fantastic round for Invicta Racing and it would see them lead the Teams standings after the ninth round of the championship. Six points Invicta's advantage is in the championship, over Campos Racing. MP Motorsport are just three points further back from Campos.

​Formula 2 would not have to wait too long to go back to racing action, as round 10 of the 2024 championship will be next weekend at the iconic Belgium circuit, Spa-Francorchamps. Action will begin for round 10 this coming Friday with free practice and qualifying taking place that day.

2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship: Round 9 - Hungary feature race provisional result

1. Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Italy, Prema Racing)
2. Victor Martins (France, ART Grand Prix)
3. Richard Verschoor (Netherlands, Trident)
4. Gabriel Bortoleto (Brazil, Invicta Racing)
5. Enzo Fittipaldi (Brazil, Van Amersfoort Racing)
6. Dennis Hauger (Norway, MP Motorsport)
7. Kush Maini (India, Invicta Racing)
8. Ritomo Miyata (Japan, Rodin Motorsport)
9. Taylor Barnard (Great Britain, AIX Racing)
10. Rafael Villagomez (Mexico, Van Amersfoort Racing)
11. Roman Stanek (Czech Republic, Trident)
12. Josep 'Pepe' Maria Marti (Spain, Campos Racing)
13. Franco Colapinto (Argentina, MP Motorsport)
14. Zak O'Sullivan (Great Britain, ART Grand Prix)
15. Oliver Bearman (Great Britain, Prema Racing)
16. Juan Manuel Correa (United States, DAMS Lucas Oil)
17. Jak Crawford (United States, DAMS Lucas Oil)
18. Isack Hadjar (France, Campos Racing)
19. Joshua Durksen (Paraguay, AIX Racing)
20. Amaury Cordeel (Belgium, Hitech Pulse-Eight) DNF
21. Zane Maloney (Barbados, Rodin Motorsport) DNF
22. Paul Aron (Estonia, Hitech Pulse-Eight) DNF

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal