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Official F1 Journal FIA Formula 2 Sunday Round Up

30/7/2023

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.

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

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.

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

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

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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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

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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FORMULA 2

Official F1 Journal FIA Formula 2 Sunday Round Up

Saturday Catch Up

Sprint Race Result

Sunday Feature Race

Feature Race Result

Driver Championship Standing

Team Championship Standings

F1 Journal FIA Formula 2 Saturday Round Up

Friday Qualifying

Saturday Reverse Top 10 Sprint Race Round Up

Sprint Race Result

Official F1 Journal Formula 2 Mid Season Round Up

Current Team & Driver Standings

2023 Results So Far

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