Official F1 Journal Formula 2 Feature Race Round Up

Before the race even started there was controversy with Maloney and O'Sullivan being investigated after the race for an unsafe release in the Pitlane and Barnard not making it off the line for the formation lap and had to be pushed back to the pits and would start from there. Along with the promotion of Maini to Pole after Bearman was called up to Ferrari to replace Sainz who was rushed to hospital on Thursday night with Appendicitis. 

Feature Race 

Most of the grid have chosen the faster soft tyre to start on, and as the lights went out Maini was away well while team mate Bortoleto got a terrible launch(retiring a few laps later), Antonelli got a great start as a Redbull livery car of Marti spun out of the race at turn 5 and Stanek was also out on the first lap after being caught by the spinning car of Marti, bringing out a Safety car on lap 1. 
The top 5 at the safety car were Maini 1st, Crawford 2nd, Fittipaldi 3rd, Antonelli 4th and Victor Martins down 2 places to 5th. Maloney only managed to gain 2 places off the start and as the Safety car continued to lead the pack around Hauger and Hadjar in 6th & 7th were in a great spot to push forwards on the restart

Lap 4 the track went green with Maini at the front, he held onto the lead into the 1st corner with no changes behind him on the road. Antonelli was straight onto the back of Fittipaldi for 3rd as DRS was enabled. 
Maini was putting as much space between himself and Crawford in 2nd, breaking the DRS after just 1 lap from the restart. Fittipaldi and Antonelli were closing on Crawford, dropping Martins who in 5th was defending from Hadjar who had passed Hauger the lap before. (Miyata was handed a 10 second stop go penalty for an  incorrect starting position.)
​Lap 7 Crawford and Hauger pit, with Vershoor Aron and Miyata also making their stops.
Correa caught Martins rapidly and passed him just before Martins pit on lap 8 with leader Maini and 2nd & 3rd place Fittipaldi and Antonelli, who  all passing Crawford dropping him to 4th after the stops. He rapidly caught the top 3 on cold tyres making an attempt to pass Antonelli who shut the door and kept him behind in turn 11, but Crawford made his way past at turn 13, dropping the Prema to 5th and into the path of Hadjar who briefly passed the Antonelli but couldn't keep the place and stayed 6th  

Lap 11 of 28 Hadjar got passed Antonelli for 5th with nothing the young Prema driver could do to keep him behind as Miyata pits again with car troubles and the team having to restart the car before he could rejoin. After passing Antonelli Hadjar was straight on the back of Crawford hunting down 3rd position after all the stops were complete.  
Lap 13 Maloney was inside the top 10 as Fittipaldi destroyed the gap to Maini in the middle sector and made a move for the net lead, with the Invicta driver having nothing to fight back with and being forced into 2nd with Crawford just 3 seconds down the road. 
Martins continued his drop down the standings to 12th with Colapinto to be the next man past him, the ART again struggling with tyre degradation over a race distance  
 

Lap 15 over half race distance gone and Colapinto spun into turn 1, losing the engine, angry at himself for tapping the wall at turn 27 causing a puncture and the spin into turn 1.
Safety car number 2 was brought out for the incident giving all those who had waited to pit like Cordeel a free stop, mixing up the standings for the rest of the race. Correa who was on the alternative tyre strategy to most(starting on Mediums not Softs), chose not to pit on his 1st trip through the pitlane before he was picked up by the safety car in the lead of the race but 2nd place man Cordeel did stop and would not need to pit again in the race unlike Correa who was banking on a late Safety car to make his strategy work.  
​

Lap 19 and Correa lead the pack round to restart the race. Fittipaldi was straight past Barnard at turn 1 for 3rd, Maini and Crawford went side by side into turn 3, Maini keeping 5th Hadjar was forced to pull off with an engine problem putting him out of the race and promoting Antonelli to 7th. 
Cordeel was catching Correa getting within DRS range on fresher rubber while Fittipaldi was gaining on them fast.
Lap 21 Cordeel takes the lead into turn 1 with Maini passing Barnard for 4th just behind, Fittipaldi was a man possessed, passing both Correa and Cordeel between turns 27 and 1, Antonelli went along side Crawford into turn 1 but was forced to the run off with Crawford doing the same, Barnard's day was getting worse as he was passed by Maloney and dropped to 9th. 
Lap 23 of 28 Maini & Crawford started to really catch Correa and Cordeel as the 2 swapped places and Cordeel lost out to Maini as well in his attempt to get soft tyres to the end of the race as a Virtual Safety car was called while the car of Zak O'Sullivan was recovered from the track after he spun at turn 2. 

Cordeel tried to come back at Maini but couldnt make it stick, Aron and Martins came together both spinning into the run off and being passed.   
Lap 26 Correa finally pit releasing Maini into 2nd Cordeel 3rd and Crawford and Antonelli 4th & 5th being chased by Hauger. Fittipaldi had an almost 6 second lead over Maini as the penultimate lap started, Hauger passed Antonelli in a last ditch push for a podium in the MP car.  Cordeel was hanging onto the DRS of Maini ahead to protect himself from a very aggressive Crawford behind trying to get on the podium. Hauger passed on Cordeel & Antonelli on the last lap after Crawford had passed Cordeel for 3rd. Managing to catch and pass Crawford as well literally over the finish line as the Chequered Flag was waved.
Fittipaldi won the Feature race after a brilliant drive winning his 1st F2 race of 2024. Hauger and Crawford crossed the line together, Hauger taking the last spot on the Podium by only 0.031 of a second showing how happy he was with his last 2 laps over the radio to the team. Maini who started on Pole brought it home in 2nd showing some great on track moves to get there.  Maloney was closing on Antonelli at the end going from 15th to 7th in the Feature race. 
Another absolutely brilliant F2 Feature Race!!! You couldn't look away for a second. 

1 FIT
2 MAI 7.895
​3 HAU +9.348
4 CRA +9.379
5 COR +9.506
6 ANT +10.044
7 MAL +10.442
8 VER +11.824
9 VIL +17.541
10 VMA +20.680
11 ARO +25.134
12DUR +26.269
13 BAR +30.424
14 COR +38.415
15 MIY +40.805
16 OSU DNF
17 HAD DNF
18 COL DNF
19 BOR DNF
20 MAR DNF
​21 STA DNF

Joanna Blackmore 
Writer @f1journal.co.uk