Official F1 Journal Formula 2 Sprint Race Round Up- Australia

On the way to the grid Fittipaldi was told he needed to return to the pitlane after hitting the wall yesterday and causing a yellow Flag and impeding other drivers laps. 

Sprint Race 

As the lights went green with Stanek on pole and Mclaren's Bortoleto next to him, Stanek got away well but behind him a big incident between the 2nd 3rd and 4th place cars of Bortoleto, Hadjar and Marti caused carnage as the grid tried to get away, Marti got a great launch and was sandwiched between Bortoleto on his right and Hadjar to the left and the 2  team mates touched pushing Marti into Bortoleto's Invicta car causing them to cash across the pit exit while Hadjar continued and managed to take the lead into turn 1 with Stanek 2nd in his Trident car and Aron & Maloney side by side till Aron took 3rd at turn 5 before a Safety car was called and the racing was suspended. Fittipaldi who was forced to start from the pitlane was unable to start his race with the 2 cars crashing into the Armco in front of him at the end of the pitlane. 
Martins and Bearman had both made up places off the start and were 13th & 14th, Antonelli was up to 6th from 9th.   

Lap 6 we got going again after just 9 corners of racing so far. Hadjar lead the pack around to the line weaving to try and get some heat into the tyres, Martins passed Durksen for 12th almost followed by Bearman at turn 4 but he couldn't get round him,​ Maloney had a snap on the rear into turn 6 and went off onto the gravel dropping him down 10th and the investigation into the start line incident with leader Issac Hadjar was announced to be investigated after the race. 
Lap 8 the 2 Williams Academy drivers had a good battle with Colapinto taking 8th from Zak O'Sullivan. Maloney was desperately tying to recover from his mistake on lap 6 but was stuck behind his team mate Miyata. 
Hadjar had pulled out an almost 4 second lead over Stanek in 2nd who was under pressure from Aron, Maini and Antonelli in 3rd, 4th and 5th.  
Maini was done waiting for Aron to pass Stanek and made his move round the outside of turn 12 but Antonelli had seen a chance to jump them both and as they went almost 4 wide with Vershoor also seeing his chance to pass Aron as well. Maini, Antonelli & Vershoor all got the move done on Aron but came together as they all tried to make the next corner. Antonelli and Vershoor went into the corer side by side making the tiniest contact that sent Antonelli spinning off into the gravel trap, Aron was forced to the gravel to avoid being hit and Vershoor spinning the opposite way across the track and into the barrier. Aron continued but had damage to his car and fell back through the field, trying to get back to the pits 

Lap 11 and under yellow flags for the incident between Antonelli, Vershoor and Aron the action didn't stop with the battle for 9th, 10th and 11th was really heating up between Championship leader Zane Maloney, Victor Martins, who was having a great drive from the back of the grid and Bearman who had also done well to climb up the field after a tough qualifying. 
Maloney locked up making the move on Miyata but he made it up to 7th before Miyata came back at his Rodin team mate and reclaiming the place as Martins and Bearman were right on the back of Maloney, both passed him within corners of each other and were up to 8th & 9th when the 2nd Safety car was brought out for Antonelli's Prema to be recovered 

When the race resumed on lap 15 Hadjar was 1st, Stanek 2nd, Maini 3rd, Hauger & Colapinto were 4th & 5th and O'Sullivan, Miyata, Martins, Bearman and Maloney made up the rest of the top 10. 
This time Hadjar ran at turn 12 to try and make a gap back to Stanek and avoid a turn 1 move, Maini was straight on the back of Stanek but he couldnt make a move into turn 1, Aron was still going backward with debris stuck in his front wing before he pit to try and remove it. 
After just 1 lap Hadjar had a 1.8 second lead over Stanek. Martins, Bearman and Maloney still ran together on track with all needing a decent points haul after interesting beginnings to the season for all 3. 
​Lap 17 Maloney had a look at Bearman but couldn't get past in to turn 1. Maini was desperately trying to pass  Stanek but his attempts just allowed MP team mates Hauger and Colapinto to close in. Maini got lucky for a moment that 2 were fighting between themselves with Colapinto radioing to the team to say he was faster than Hauger. 
Lap 19 Martins passed O'Sullivan for 7th with Bearman close behind, he couldn't get passed on the first time of trying. Crawford had now joined the battle for 8th, 9t and 10th and was giving Maloney something to look for in his mirrors as he tried to keep the last point. 
Lap 22 Hauger went round the outside of Maini to take 3rd in a mega move! 
The final lap Bearman finally passed O'Sullivan and was up to 8th. Miyata was holding on to a strong finish in 6th and as Hadjar crossed the line he was 6 seconds ahead of Stanek who was chased to the line by Dennis Hauger. Maini came home 4th, Colapinto 5th, Miyata 6th and Martins, Bearman, O'Sullivan and Crawford completed the points scoring positions as Crawford passed Maloney at the end to take the last point available. 

Unfortunately for Hadjar after the race he was given a 10 second penalty for the incident at the start and he was dropped to 6th in the standings promoting Stanek to 1st, Hauger 2nd and Maini 3rd. Bearman was also given a 10 second penalty for pushing another driver off the track which dropped him to 14th after such a strong drive from 15th to 8th. 

Sprint Race Result

91 STA                  2 HAU +0.349
3 MAI +1.754      4 COL +2.393
5 MIY +2.984      6 HAD* +3.173
7 VMA +3.639     8 OSU +6.615
9 CRA +7.297    10 MAL +7.921
11 JCO +10.156  12 FIT +11.864
13 BAR +15.612  14 BEA *+16.095
15 VIL +16.269     16 ACO +35.554
17 DUR +44.447   18 ARO +72.351
19 ANT DNF
20 VER DNF
21 BOR DNF
22 JMA DNF

Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk