Richard Verschoor chooses the right strategy to win sprint F2 race in Hungary, as Nikita Bedrin leads AIX 1-2 in F3.
F2:
Temperatures were much cooler for the Sprint compared to Friday’s Qualifying and there was a mix of tyres on the grid, with 12 cars fitted with the Softs, while the rest chose the Hards. Two of those drivers on the Hards were pole-sitter Verschoor and his fellow front row starter Maini, and while they made good starts, Andrea Kimi Antonelli had fired up his Soft tyres from P4 and went round the outside of the Invicta car at Turn 2, to take second.
His fellow drivers on the red-walled compounds were also flying as Gabriel Bortoleto and Enzo Fittipaldi moved up to P6 and P7 respectively by overtaking Hard tyre runner Isack Hadjar. The PREMA Racing rookie would not have to wait long to take the lead as he overcame Verschoor’s staunch defence to dive down his inside at Turn 1 at the start of Lap 4.
By the end of Lap 5, Antonelli was over two seconds clear out front, while Maini was beginning to close in on Verschoor for P2, with Martins just behind on his Softs. On to Lap 7, and Fittipaldi was showing strong pace in his Van Amersfoort Racing car and overtook his fellow Option tyre runner Bortoleto for P6, going round his compatriot’s outside at Turn 1.
But as the drivers set of on Lap 11, what had been a lead of over two seconds for Antonelli had now been closed to 1.6s, as the Hard tyre runners began to come into their own. Further back, Maini had also created a gap of over two seconds to Martins, who was now defending from Dennis Hauger in the battle for P4.
On Lap 13 of 28, Hadjar used DRS to get ahead of Bortoleto for P7, while Hauger had dropped back from Martins and had fallen to P6 behind Fittipaldi. Verschoor was now right on the back of Antonelli as they started Lap 16, but the PREMA driver was resisting each attack. However, he could not hold on much longer, running wide at the final corner before locking up into Turn 1, allowing both Verschoor and Maini through.
Unfortunately for Antonelli, his lock up had proven costly as he was falling through the field with Martins, Fittipaldi, Hauger and Hadjar all making their way past before PREMA made the call to pit him for a set of Hards. Bortoleto was also struggling on his Softs with Franco Colapinto and Oliver Bearman overtaking him and dropping him to P9 before Invicta also decided to pit him for the Hard tyres.
Back in the midfield, Paul Aron was looking to make up the positions he lost at the start as one of the Prime tyre runners and went round the outside of Jak Crawford at Turn 2 for P12, despite the American’s attempts to take back the position at T4. But as the Hitech Pulse-Eight driver was battling to get back into the points, his Championship rival Hadjar was up to fourth after overtaking Fittipaldi and Hauger on Lap 21.
Fittipaldi was also struggling on his Softs and after losing out to Hauger and Colapinto, he suffered a puncture on the left front tyre forcing him to pit. Bearman then lost places to Aron and Taylor Barnard to drop out of the points. He then went three-wide with the DAMS Lucas Oil cars of Crawford and Juan Manuel Correa at Turn 3, with the former emerging ahead in P9.
By the final lap, Verschoor had built a two-second gap out front and crossed the line to take his fourth Formula 2 victory ahead of Maini, with Martins taking the final spot on the podium. Hadjar ended up in P4 ahead of Hauger and Colapinto, with Aron making his way through to P7 as Barnard rounded out the points in P8.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1814647638500724785
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race in Budapest, Trident’s Richard Verschoor has been disqualified from the results. A post-race report by the FIA Technical Delegate indicated that the plank on Car #22 had a maximum thickness of 3.7mm at the most rearward scrutineering hole, below the minimum specified thickness in the 2024 FIA Formula 2 Technical Regulations.
It was determined that the plank fitted to Verschoor’s car was indeed below the minimum thickness required, therefore breaching Article 3.4.3 of the Technical Regulations, and Car 22 was thus disqualified from the Sprint Race classification. Invicta Racing’s Kush Maini inherits P1, marking the first time the Indian driver has won in Formula 2. Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar is also promoted to the final podium position and earns the point for fastest lap, while Juan Manuel Correa of DAMS Lucas Oil now takes the final point in eighth place.
Bearman, Crawford, Correa: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Budapest%20Event%20-%20DECISION%20-%20Car%203%20-%20alleged%20force%20off%20track%20at%20Turn%203%20in%20Race%201.pdf
F3:
Pole sitter Beganovic covered off Bedrin on the run to Turn 1 but the AIX driver was undeterred and rounded the Swede at Turn 2 to take the lead away. Inthraphuvasak followed in third position ahead of Callum Voisin and Christian Mansell. The ART Grand Prix driver was under attack though on Lap 2 from Tim Tramnitz, and his MP Motorsport rival repeated the move of Bedrin into Turn 3 to take P5 from the Australian.
The Virtual Safety Car was then deployed to neutralise the race in order to recover Matias Zagazeta’s Jenzer Motorsport car after contact on the opening lap left him on the sidelines. Back to racing conditions and the top four were covered by less than a second in the lead battle. As the quartet fought, Tramnitz and Mansell joined the train after the opening exchanges, getting to within DRS range by Lap 6.
Further back, Luke Browning was up to ninth with a switchback on Sami Meguetounif into Turn 2 as he recovered from P15 on the grid. Onto Lap 10 and Beganovic made a late move on Bedrin into Turn 2 but caught the grass on the inside of the corner in the process. It sent his PREMA car sideways and while he was able to catch the slide, his excursion off track dropped him to third behind Inthraphuvasak.
Into the Turn 6 and 7 chicane, Tramnitz squeezed his way alongside Voisin, who skipped across the chicane to keep hold of fourth. The Rodin Motorsport driver was told to concede the place to Tramnitz, seeing off any potential review from the Race Stewards. One lap later and Mansell was through on the Briton at Turn 1 for fifth position.
Out in front though, Bedrin was in full control after resisting the pressure of Beganovic and crossed the line to earn his first FIA F3 victory, leading home an AIX Racing 1-2 ahead of Inthraphuvasak, a result that means all teams have stood on the podium in 2024. Beganovic was third ahead of Tramnitz in P4 and Mansell in fifth.
Voisin was able to hold off Championship contenders Leonardo Fornaroli and Browning in sixth, seventh and eighth places respectively. ART’s Laurens van Hoepen was ninth and Meguetounif completed the points in P10 for Trident.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1814578120600527236
[Note: The story is as per press release]
