Official F1 Journal Formula 2 Sprint Race Round Up- Saudi Arabia

Before the action got going on track there where 2 headlines, 1/ The over night promotion of Bearman to F1 in the Ferrari, replacing Carlos Sainz who is in hospital with Appendicitis,, Prema will only run 1 car for the rest of the weekend. 2/ The delay to the formation lap for track repairs 

Sprint Race- Saudi Arabia 

Antonelli got a bad start that dropped him to 12th, Aron held onto 1st, but yellow flags came straight out with damage to Martins car visible before the Safety car was deployed. Martins was out of the race with damage to the front right corner of his car after contact with Hauger, Antonelli made contact with the rear of Crawford at the exit of turn 2, Cordeel and O'sullivan were both pushed back to the pit lane to be  restarted and rejoin the race from the back. Lots of debris on track that needed to be cleared.
Lap 5 Racing got going again with Aron running early at the front to try and build a gap to Vershoor before the 1st corner. Maloney and Fittipaldi had a look in to turn 1 but both thought better of a lunge off the restart. Aron held the lead round the first lap after the Safety car with Maloney beginning his push forward up to 8th as he passed Stanek. Vershoor wasn't letting Aron get away, keeping the gap under a second and in DRS range. Hadjar in 3rd was falling back from the leading pair, Hauger and Maini both hunting him down. 
Lap 8 turn 1 was a full of overtakes with Vershoor making a late lunge up the inside of Aron for the lead, Fittipaldi passing Maini into 5th, Maloney gaining another place to go 7th past Marti and Crawford passed Stanek. 

Lap 9 Vershoor had DRS on Aron who was over a second ahead of 3rd place Hadjar. But Hauger wasn't happy with 4th and passed Hadjar to try and chase down the top 2. 
Lap 10 another Safety car for Cordeel whos car had stopped on track and needed help to be recovered, thus negating Vershoors 1 second lead over Aron and putting the pack back together for a 2nd safety car restart.
Lap 12 and we were racing again, Vershoor got away well from Aron but Maini found himself with Maloney coming past him into turn 1. Crawford had a good look at Marti but couldn't get past and by the end of the lap Vershoor was back to over a second out in front. Hauger kept Hadjar behind in 4th off the restart but Fittipaldi had his 1 mirror(1 had fallen off) mirror full of Championship leader Zane Maloney. Crawford got past Marti on lap 13 while Durksen, Barnard and Bortoleto were having a great battle for 12th behind Antonelli. Crawford was on the move again on lap 14 passing Maini in the Invicta car at turn 27 as Fittipaldi stole 4th from Hadjar with  Maloney rapidly approaching followed by Crawford. 

5 laps to go Vershoor was 1.3 clear of Aron, Crawford and Maloney went wheel to wheel with Crawford winning the fight with a stella move through 22 & 23 but the fight continued all the way to turn 1 with Maloney taking back 6th down the start finish straight giving Hadjar some breathing space.  Lap 16 More yellow flags with debris on track in a poor visibility spot on track after Correa tagged the wall breaking his wing and causing his retirement and a Virtual Safety car was briefly brought out to retrieve the debris. Lap 17 Hauger had closed on Aron as the V/C ended and he passed him down to the first corner to take 2nd. 

Lap 19 Maloney had dropped Crawford but caught Hadjar and passed him with just 2 laps to catch Fittipaldi for 4th. Hadjar race was ended shortly after as he began to drop down the standings ending in the pits before the Chequered Flag fell. Aron found his speed at the end closing Hauger back down desperate to reclaim 2nd but it just wasn't possible and he stayed 3rd. Maloney went from 15th-5th in a very strong recovery drive and Antonelli got his first sprint race points in 7th.

Sprint Race Result 

1 VER
2 HAU +0.728
3 ARO +1.510
4FIT +4.712
5 MAL +7.493
6 CRA +9.127
7 ANT +11.868
8 JMA +14.391
9 MAI +14.744
10 STA +17.997
11 DUR +18.283
12 BOR +18.790
13 COL +19.195
14 MIY +25.737
15 BAR +25.760
16 VIL +27.373
17 HAD DNF
18 OSU DNF
19 JCO DNF
20 ACO DNF
21 VMA DNF
22 BEA(IN F1)

Joanna Blackmore 
​Writer @f1journal.co.uk