Jak Crawford wins the F2 Silverstone Feature Race, ahead of Alex Dunne and Luke Browning rounding out the top three podium places.

The race start was delayed due to rain and started under wet conditions with all the drivers starting on wet tyres. During the race at the mandatory pit stop it was all about whether to change to slick tyres or another set of wet tyres. Some drivers pitted for slick tyres and immediately got caught out on track.

The race start was delayed until 11:17am local time, due to wet conditions, which meant the Formula 3 race was stopped and didn't restart.

Drivers went out on the lap to the grid as the rain stopped, but the track was very wet, with all the drivers out on fully wet tyres.

​Victor Martins started on pole position for the 6th time at the F2 Silverstone 29-lap Feature Race. Martin had a terrible launch off the start line and only managed to stay in fourth place around the first few corners. Jak Crawford took the race lead off the line, with Alex Dunne keeping close behind him.

As the first lap came to a close, Crawford was leading, followed by Dunne, Martins, Stanek, Durksen, Montoya, ​Verschoor, Lindblad, Browning and Beganovic, completing the top ten.

Brownings and Lindblad were side by side for several corners, with Browning managing to get through on the final corner of the lap.

Crawford had built a gap of over 1.9s to Dunne by the start of the fourth lap as Browning tried to make his way through the field, trying to overtake Verschoor and getting past on lap four at Turn 9 to move into sixth place.

Beganovic was next to get past Verschoor, as he complained that his tyres were losing grip. As he does this, Beganovic gets past Montoya for seventh place.

Lindblad and Fornaroli continued to battle for tenth place on lap seven as more rain threatened the race.

Tyre management was a factor after eight racing laps as rain threatened, but the track wasn't dry enough for slick tyres.

Stanek, Durksen, and Browning were all battling for fourth place on lap nine, with a three-way side-by-side, with Durksen getting ahead, as did Browning, leaving Stanek to settle for sixth place. Beganovic almost immediately overtook him. Stanek lost four places and ended up in seventh in only a few corners.

Browning and Durksen continued to battle for fourth place, with BrowningBrowning going deep into the corner, but Durksen held onto the position for the time being.

​Browning was noted for a previous incident with Lindblad for leaving the track and gaining an advantage, but it was ruled that no further investigation was necessary.

After battling for multiple laps, Browning got the overtake on Durksen completed and moved into fourth place on lap 12 down the start/finish straight. But ended up over 3 seconds behind Alex Dunne in second place.

Further back, Verschoor was under pressure from Fornaroli and Lindblad for ninth, tenth and eleventh place.

As a dry line started to appear on the racing line, the conversation centred on whether to pit for slick tires during the mandatory pit stop or not.

Stanek and Montoya battled and switched positions for seventh and eighth place at half race distance.

Crawford continued his race lead out front by over two seconds, after gaining the race lead at the start of the race from third on the grid. Alex Dunne was in second with Martins over six seconds behind him in third place, with Browning chasing him.

​Verschoor had a DRS train forming behind him in ninth place.

Browning and Martins battled through laps 16, 17 and 18, with Browning getting the overtake done around the outside of Luffield, moving into third place, with Browning making up nine places in the race so far.

On lap 19, Dunne started to put pressure on Crawford for the race lead, closing the gap down to 1.2s. Browning was setting the fastest lap times, trying to close the gap between himself and Dunne, who was in second place.

​During lap 21, cars began to pit onto new, wet compound tyres for the mandatory pit stops, having very depleted wet tyres. Mini pitted for a set of slick, soft-compound tyres, as did Lind, but Mini immediately spun into Goethe.

Browning pitted from third on lap 23 onto wet compound tyres, coming back out into tenth. Crawford pitted from the lead onto wet tyres at the very start of the virtual safety car, making it close between him crossing the time and the VSC being thrown. Crawford came back out onto the track in fifth place, leaving Dunne to take the race lead.

Stanek pitted for slick tyres but was stopped on the track, which brought out the virtual safety car. In F2, cars cannot pit under these VSC conditions.

The VSC was upgraded to a full safety car on lap 25, with the pit lane open. Dunne pitted from the lead as did all the rest of the top six cars, with new wet tyres going on the majority of the field. Crawford benefited from pitting under the VSC, as Dunne came back out ahead of Browning in second, with Crawford retaking the lead.

Under the safety car, Crawford was leading, with Dunne, Browning, Durksen, Beganovic, Martins, Montoya, Lindbald, Verschoor and Fornaroli rounding out the top ten.

​The safety car ended with two laps left in the race just as the rain started falling once again. Crawford held onto the race lead at the restart, with the rain falling heavier once again. Dursken spun, bringing out the yellow flags, as Martins picked up some damage under the safety car and fell to the back of the field, having to pit for a new front wing.

A full safety car was thrown once again, with Durksen stopped on the start/finish straight after sliding and losing control of his car from fourth.

The race finished under safety car conditions, with Crawford taking the win, followed by Dunne in second and Browning in third.

Mini picked up a ten-second time penalty for causing a collision with Goethe. Crawford moved up into second place in the championship with the valuable points from the feature race.​

1) Jak Crawford
2) Alex Dunne                      +0.227
3) Luke Browning                 +0.838
4) Dino Beganovic                +1.369
5) Sebastian Montoya          +1.753
6) Leonardo Fornaroli           +2.215
7) Richard Verschoor            +3.035
8) Arvid Lindblad                   +3.779
9) Josep Maria Marti             +4.186
​10) Rafael Villagomez           +4.467
11) Oliver Goethe                  +4.905
12) John Bennett                   +5.333
13) Max Esterson                   +6.284
14) Cian Shields                    +6.502
15) Ritomo Miyata                  +8.929
16) Kush Maini                       +11.348
17) Amaury Cordeel               +24.874
​18) Sami Meguetounif            +75.614
19) Victor Martins                   DNF
20) ​Joshua Dürksen               DNF

Written by Anny Wooldridge

After 1,491 days, Leonardo Fornaroli is a F2 race winner, in the Formula 2 Silverstone Sprint race. Leonardo was joined on the podium by ​Sebastián Montoya and Roman Stanek.

Last year's F3 champion took the win and stood on the top step of the podium despite never having never stood on the top step in F3.

Fornaroli started the Sprint race from pole position with Kush Maini joining him on the front row.

In a dramatic start, Dino Beganovic failed to get away in the formation lap after lining up in third place; his car was rolled back into the pits by marshals for a pit lane start.

With the third-place grid box empty, at the race start, Maini surged into the lead, overtaking Fornaroli. The battle continued side by side into Brooklands, with a close call out of Luffield, before Fornaroli reclaimed the lead into Copse.

Verschoor didn't have such a good start, dropping six positions to tenth at the race start, with Dunne also losing places, falling to 11th. Montoya made a good start, gaining two places, and Stanek moved up into fourth place.

Fornaroli sprinted ahead after retaking the lead, as Montoya put pressure on Maini in second place. Lindblad and Browning moved up quickly into eighth and ninth, making up for the places they lost at the race start.

Browning and Lindblad put extreme pressure on each other into Vale, with Browning moving into eighth. Lindblad was quickly put under pressure from Verschoor for ninth place.

Dunne and Gabriele Mini collided exiting Turn 2, fighting for eleventh, after the Irishman locked up and ran wide into the first corner. The Rodin Motorsport driver picked up a puncture and Mini damaged his front wing. Bringing out the yellow flags. Mini later received a ten-second time penalty for the incident.

Up front, Maini led a closely packed train with Montoya, Stanek, Duerksen, Crawford, Martins, Browning and Verschoor all behind him.

Montoya passed Maini to take the place, with Satnek also attempting an overtake, but Maini wasn't having it, after the pair went wheel-to-wheel.

By lap 18, Montoya chipped away at Fornaroli's lead, cutting the gap down to one and a half seconds. Maini held firm against Stanek's pressure, with Lindblad and Mini joining the fight on the penultimate lap.

Martins and Browning made contact with Luffield, and Martins dropped to ninth with Verschoor inheriting eighth place.

​Fornaroli claimed his first F2 victory with Montoya and Stanek joining him on the podium.

1) Leonardo Fornaroli
2) Sebastián Montoya         +1:404
3) Roman Stanek                +9.395
4) Arjun Maini                      +11.188
5) Joshua Dürksen              +11.866
6) Jak Crawford                   +11.867
7) Luke Browning                 +12.810
8) Richard Verschoor           +13.534
9) Victor Martins                   +14.826
​10) Arvid Lindblad                +14.962

Written by Anny Wooldridge

Victor Martins of ART Grand Prix took both the Aramco Pole Position Award and the fastest lap in Free Practice, in what was a great day for the Frenchman at Silverstone.

Martins beat Rodin Motorsport's Alexander Dunne by 0.065s with DAMS Lucas Oil's Jak Crawford rounding out the top three.

Leonardo Fornaroli rounded out the top ten in the 30-minute qualifying session and will start the Saturday's Silverstone Sprint Race in pole position.

Top 10 Results
1) Victor Martins            1:41.699
2) Luke Browning             +0.051
3) Jak Crawford                +0.163
4) Dino Beganovic            +0.224
5) Sebastián Montoya      +0.236
6) Oliver Goethe               +0.471
7) Arjun Maini                    +0.522
8) Richard Verschoor        +0.548
9) Ritomo Miyata               +0.582
10) ​Roman Stanek             +0.610

Victor Martins of ART Grand Prix topped the only practice session of the weekend on Friday morning with a lap time of 1:41.699s, which he set at the very end of the 45-minute session. He beat Luke Browning of Hitech TGR by 0.051s as Jak Crawford of DAMS Lucas Oil rounded out the top three.

Sebastián Montoya was the first driver out on the track on the hard compound tyres. He set an early benchmark time of 1:43.160s.

​However, Victor Martins was close on his tail, just 0.145s behind him. Montoya improved slightly on his second push lap, but it didn't last for long as Martins took the top spot with a lap time of 1:42.393.

Sami Meguetounif took his turn at the top spot with a lap time of 1:42.369s.

A red flag was shown with just under 26 minutes left in the session following a spin in the gravel at Turn 16 by Rafael Villagómez. The action resumed with 17 minutes left to go in the session after the Van Amersfoort Racing car was cleared.

Browning was the first to take the top spot after the red flag was cleared, with a lap time of 1:42.324s, just 0.006s ahead of Alexander Dunne. However, it didn't last long, as Martins retook the top spot.

The track was improving quickly as Montoya, Browning and Martins switched positions in the next set of lap times.

During the final few minutes of the session, Martins was sitting in second place, just shy of Browning in the top spot, but a very late lap from Martins jumped him above Browning in the last few seconds. Crawford was close, though, on his final lap as he went the fastest in the first two sectors, but a late lock-up at the final chicane left him with a lap time only good enough for third place.

Victor Martins continued his momentum into Qualifying by taking the Aramco Pole Position Award in a tightly fought qualifying session.

After early installation laps, it was PREMA Racing's Sebastián Montoya that set the pace on a 1:41.225, but it was quickly beaten by Luke Browning, Richard Verschoor and Victor Martins after the first set of times.

Montoya could only manage fourth on his first series of laps after losing a lap time due to track limits early in the session, with Browning only managing a lap time good enough for sixth.

The second red flag of the day was brought out after Rodin's Amaury Cordeel spun to a stop at the final corner. With 18 minutes left, the session was resumed, but most of the cars stayed in the pit lane, except several drivers outside the top ten. Dunne was one of the cars on track and set a lap time 0.098s off Martins time, only good enough for P3.

The majority of the drivers returned to the track on brand new soft compound tyres, which brought improvements throughout the field.

Jak Crawford, Martins and Dunne all took a turn at the top of the timesheet, with Martins ultimately laying down the benchmark lap time with a 1:39.731s lap time.

Dunne ended up in P2, Crawford in P3, Roman Stanek in fourth, Montoya in fifth and Joshua Duerksen in sixth. Verschoor in seventh, Beganovic in eighth, Maini in ninth and Fornaroli rounding out the top ten. Meaning Fornaroli will start the Silverstone Sprint Race from pole position.

Qualifying Top Ten
1) Victor Martins          1:39.731
2) Alex Dunne                 +0.065
3) Jak Crawford              +0.240
4) Roman Stanek           +0.334
5) Sebastián Montoya    +0.407
6) Joshua Duerksen       +0.438
7) Richard Verschoor      +0.595
8) Dino Beganovic          +0.606
9) Arjun Maini                 +0.649
10) Leonardo Fornaroli   +0.697

Written by Anny Wooldridge

Isack Hadjar secured his fourth win in the feature race around Spa-Francorchamps.

The Red Bull junior driver passed both his Championship rivals Gabriel Bortoleto and Jak Crawford on track who went on to finish in P2 and P3.​

Paul Aron, who started on pole, managed to hold the lead into the first corner, while further back, Hadjar overtook Bortoleto at the race start to get into second place.

Maloney had a terrible start and ended up between Oliver Bearman and Josep Maria Marti. But into Turn 1, Oliver Bearman and Maloney collided and spun into Josep Maria Marti, bringing out the safety car.

During the safety car, Colapinto's car also stopped at Malmedy, and the safety car picked up Colapinto, Bearman, and Maria Marti.

On lap four, the safety car comes in, and Aron retains the lap at the safety car restart. Hadjar is in second place, followed by Bortoleto, Crawford, Verschoor, Antonelli, and O'Sullivan.

But the racing doesn't last long, with the safety car being returned after a crash between Victor Martins and Rafael Villagomez in Malmedy.

Racing conditions continue on lap seven, with another safety car restart. Hadjar got a slipstream on lap eight and overtook Aron to lead the race along the Kemmel Straight.

Aron boxes while Hadjar continues. Verschoor overtakes Crawford for P3 on track, while Hadjar pits on lap nine. Hadjar comes back out behind Bortoleto but in front of Aron.

On lap 12, Aron overtakes Hadjar for the lead, but by lap 13, Hadjar takes back the lead. On lap 16, Antonelli pits, while Verschoor responds and returns in P9.

Hadjar was caught behind the yet-to-pit Barnard, with Bortoleto and Aron 1.2s behind him. On lap 22, Verschoor had a late dive to overtake Maloney for P6. Meanwhile, there is heartbreak for Aron on the final lap as his car comes to a stop on the Kemmel Straight, and his chances of a podium are dashed.

​Hadjar wins the Spa-Francorchamps feature race over two seconds clear of Bortoleto and Crawford, who round off the podium.​

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer F1 Journal

The Sprint race was meant to start at 14:15 local time, but heavy rain delayed the start and racing got underway at the rescheduled time of 18:15 local time but the formation lap didn't start until 18:25 local time.

ART Grand Prix driver Zak O'Sullivan started on reverse grid pole joined on the front row by MP Motorsport's Dennis Hauger.

ART Grand Prix driver Zak O'Sullivan started on reverse grid pole joined on the front row by MP Motorsport's Dennis Hauger.

O'Sullivan made a strong start staying ahead of Hauger and Verschoor. While further back Maloney took a dive inside and overtook Colapinto for P4.

On lap two and three Crawford, Antonelli and Bearman all also overtake Colapinto, for P5, P6 and P7. But running didn't last for very long after a safety car was brought out after Josep María Martí's Campos Racing car stopped on track.

Josep María Martí had already had issues earlier in the race and had to pit early. The safety car was still out on track on lap seven. During the safety car the rain started falling heavier and a decision was made it bring out a red flag.

The race was not resumed and O'Sullivan was announced as the winner ahead of Hauger, Verschoor, Maloney and Crawford.

1) Zak O'Sullivan                  2:19.889
2) Dennis Hauger                   +0.8
3) Richard Verschoor              +1.1
4) Zane Maloney                    +3.0
5) Jak Crawford                      +4.0​
6) Kimi Antonelli                      +5.2
7) Oliver Bearman                   +6.0
8) Franco Colapinto                +7.6
9) Isack Hadjar                       +8.9
10) ​Gabriel Bortoleto              +9.9
11) A Cordeel                         +11.1
12) V Martins                         +12.6
13) K Maini                            +14.0
14) E Fittipaldi                       +15.6
15) R Miyata                          +16.6
16) T Barnard                        +17.0
17) J Correa                          +17.8
18) Paul Aron                        +18.7
19) J Durksen                       +19.2
20) R Stanek                         +20.1
21) R Villagomez                   +21.2
22) J Marti                              +4 Laps

Anny Wooldridge
Writer at F1 Journal

Formula 2 returns this weekend for Round 10 at Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps for the last round before the summer break.

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium is a 7.004km track with 18 corners. Soft and medium tyres are used for F2, with last years feature winning strategy being 16 laps on medium tyres and 9 on soft tyres. Last year Doohan won the race after starting in P11.

The lap record for this circuit is 1:56.054 (De Vries, 2018). This years sprint race will consist of 18 laps and the feature race will consist of 25 laps.

Top Ten Results
1) Isack Hadjar                 1:58.730
2) Victor Martins                  +0.010
3) Kimi Antonelli                  +0.447
4) Paul Aron                        +0.584
5) Amaury Cordeel              +0.638
6) Dennis Hauger                +0.661
7) Zak O'Sullivan                 +0.808
8) Franco Colapinto            +0.865
9) Jak Crawford                   +0.901
10) Gabriel Bortoleto           +0.971

Isack Hadjar continued his domination in the practice session of the Spa-Francorchamps weekend. However Campos Racing still say there was still room for improvement before qualifying.

At the start of the session the track was damp and all the drivers staying in the pits until the track was fully dry, leaving little time at the end for drivers to do minimal laps.

There was a brief red flag with just 23 minutes to go as Rafael Villagomez hit the barriers out of Turn 9. With 14 minutes left in the session the green flag came out and there was a rush to get running underway again.

All drivers started the session on their soft tyres, but running didn't last long as Victor Martins stopped on the track, and the red flag came out briefly while Martins car was removed.

The red flag was terrible news for all the drivers already on flying laps when the red flag was brought out. Duerksen was one of those drivers, and once the red flag was cleared, his tyres had very little life left, and he went slower in the first sector than on his previous lap.

Hadjar was the first to top the leaderboard with a time of 1:56.803, ahead of Aron by one-tenth, Bortoleto, Antonelli and Maloney.

As Hadjar pits, Aron, Bearman, and Fittipaldi head back out for another flying lap. Bearman and Fittipaldi both improve, but Aron aborts his lap and heads into the pits.

With seven minutes to go the drivers headed back out, with Aron going fastest ahead of Crawford, Maloney and Hadjar. O'Sullivan can only manage 10th place and put himself on pole for the reverse grid.

Aron takes pole for Sunday's feature race for the second consecutive weekend, ahead of Bortoleto, Hadjar, Crawford, Antonelli, Maloney, Colapinto, Verschoor, Hauger and O'Sullivan.

1) Paul Aron                    1:56.959
2) Gabriel Bortoleto           +0.168
3) Isack Hadjar                  +0.282
4) Jak Crawford                 +0.423
5) Kimi Antonelli                +0.438
6) Zane Maloney                +0.547
7) Franco Colapinto           +0.724
8) Richard Verschoor         +0.789
9) Dennis Hauger              +0.815
10) Zak O'Sullivan             +0.823
11) A Cordeel                     +0.842
12) K Maini                         +0.845
13) E Fittipaldi                    +0.862
14) J Correa                       +0.954
15) O Bearman                  +1.020
16) R Miyata                      +1.104
17) J Marti                         +1.161
18) R Villagomez              +1.230
19) T Barnard                    +1.829
20) J Durksen                   +2.113
21) R Stanek                    +2.500

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal