FORMULA 2
 Richard Verschoor taking victory in Formula 2 last time the series visited Austria. Credit: Joe Portlock via Getty Images FIA Formula 2 is back in action this coming weekend as the championship heads to the Red Bull Ring in Austria for round seven of 14 in 2024. This will be the midway point of the season with still many points up for grabs in a title race that is definitely hotting up. It was delight for DAMS last time out with a double podium in the Barcelona feature race with Jak Crawford taking victory. Paul Aron has the lead in the championship coming into the event with 100 points to his name after the first six rounds. Aron has a nine point lead over Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar. A look at the track - Red Bull Ring, SpielbergFormula 2 heads to the Red Bull Ring this coming weekend in Austria, a venue that has been a staple to the Formula 2 calendar since the championship had its first year in 2017 - after re-branding from GP2. Situated close to the Styrian hills in Spielberg, the Red Bull Ring has hosted a round of the FIA Formula 2 championship apart from the 2021 season with lots of memorable moments being produced including Artem Markelov passing four cars on the final lap to take reverse grid pole for the sprint race. Three of the four overtakes he made at turn 3. Last year there was a lot of action that was produced at this iconic European circuit. In the Friday qualifying session, it would be the ART rookie Victor Martins to take pole position for the Sunday feature race. He beat Frederik Vesti by 0.139s who was second for Prema, while eventual champion Theo Pourchaire would qualify third. In Saturday's sprint race, it would be a maiden Formula 2 win for Hitech's Jak Crawford. Crawford would take victory by over two seconds to Martins, who finished second in a brilliant drive. Isack Hadjar ended third completing the podium places - making it a double podium for the Hitech team. However, in Sunday's feature race Van Amersfoort Racing would take their first win in Formula 2. The Dutch team celebrated their first win with their Dutch driver, Richard Verschoor taking victory. It would have been a really emotional win for Verschoor as the day prior, his friend Dilano Van 't Hoff was tragically killed at Spa Francorchamps in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine Verschoor delivered the win as he beat Ayumu Iwasa and Frederik Vesti who completed the podium places. A fantastic achievement for the Dutchman, who has been strong around the Red Bull Ring in previous seasons. The current Trident driver crossed the line first in 2022 but was disqualified after the race for a technical infringement. The Red Bull Ring itself is what the drivers will go racing on and is one of 4.318km with 10 corners making up the circuit. The 10 corners make it the circuit with the least corners on the Formula 2 calendar. Three DRS zones are around the Red Bull Ring and are into turns 1,3 and 4. The lap record in Formula 2 was set by Charles Leclerc in the inaugural F2 season of 2017. His time of 1:13.396 is the lap record that has withstood all the following years that Formula 2 has visited this venue. In terms of racing action, there will be 28 sprint race laps on Saturday while 40 feature race laps will come on Sunday morning. Last time out: Round 6 - Barcelona, SpainLast time Formula 2 went racing in the 2024 championship, was the previous weekend as the teams and drivers went racing around Circuit Barcelona-Catalunya in Spain for round six It would be the start of a triple header and the first of five rounds in six weeks This would be an important weekend to go well in as it could help build confidence ahead of the congested period. One driver who would have been hoping for a better start to the season in the first five rounds would have been 2023 rookie of the year Victor Martins. Martins was yet to pick up a podium in 2024 and had been having rough run of results. However, he looked to have put that behind him as he had a fantastic sprint race and took victory for the first time in 2024. He finished in a comfy first ahead of Kush Maini and Juan Manuel Correa who would initially join him on the podium. Maini and Correa would be initially promoted to second and third respectively after Ritomo Miyata had time penalties for track limits. Correa himself would lose third not long after the race due to his penalty. This would promote Paul Aron up to third to clinch his sixth podium in the sixth round of the season. As for Aron, he would take pole position in a superbly close qualifying session on Friday. He put in an almighty lap to take pole by just two thousandths of a second. Jak Crawford, Correa's DAMS teammate was second, while Franco Colapinto was third and only six thousandths behind Aron. An amazing session that priduced great drama. Aron would start on pole for the feature race but he would fail to win. It was Crawford who took a brilliant victory that was very well controlled. He maximised the pace and tyre life to perfection and saw off the competition to win. He managed to have enough to be clear of Colapinto, who was making a late charge for victory. In third place an emotional podium awaited Juan Manuel Correa, who took his first F2 podium since 2019 at Circuit Paul Ricard in France. The ultimate comeback from Correa who had to make such a big recovery to get back to racing nevermind back to Formula 2 - after his horror crash at Spa that year with Anthoine Hubert. A brilliant story and an even greater moment for sport in 2024. The 'never give up' energy clear to see from how much Correa would have had to work. Awesome Austria Awaits!A lot of excitement will be built for fans of FIA Formula 2 as the series will go racing for the seventh round of the season.A track that always produces great overtaking and wheel-to-wheel action. This is not one to be missed. Paul Aron holds the championship lead but the chasing pack are ready to pounce should a mistake be made from the Estonian rookie. Free Practice gets underway on Friday morning. 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship: Round 7 - Austria session timesTrack Times:
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 Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal
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