O’Sullivan wins as more rain cuts postponed sprint race to seven laps

Williams junior driver Zak O’Sullivan was declared the winner of the Formula 2 sprint race at Spa-Francorchamps which was cut short due to a lack of visibility.

The race ran just seven of the 18 scheduled laps before the race was declared over by race control because of the excessively wet conditions and low evening light making it unsafe to continue.

Due to heavy rain in early afternoon at Spa-Francorchamps, the conditions were deemed too dangerous to start the race, resulting in the race being postponed until after the F1 qualifying session. While still wet, the conditions were deemed safe enough to start the race at 6:30pm local time, with rain expected to continue throughout the 18 laps.

When the race finally began, reverse grid pole sitter Zak O’Sullivan held onto the lead with Dennis Hauger second, Richard Verschoor third and Zane Maloney passing Franco Colapinto to take fourth.

The Safety Car was deployed on the third lap when Pepe Marti’s Campos ground to a halt on the way to Pouhon, requiring a recovery vehicle to clear. But the rain increased as Marti’s car, which was seemingly stuck in gear, took several laps to be cleared.

Once the track was clear, race control continued to let the Safety Car lead the field, seemingly concerned about the increased water level on the circuit. After another lap under Safety Car, the race was suspended with a red flag and cars returned to the pit lane.

After a few minutes of waiting, race control announced that the race would not resume, ending the sprint race after just seven completed laps. As a result, only the top five drivers would be awarded points as more than a quarter but less than half of the scheduled race distance had been completed.

O’Sullivan therefore was declared the winner, with Hauger and Verschoor completing the podium. O’Sullivan was awarded five points, with four for Hauger and three to Verschoor. Maloney took fourth and two points, with Jak Crawford claimed the final point in fifth, ahead of Prema drivers Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman who both missed out on points in sixth and seventh.

As none of the top three drivers in the championship scored points, Isack Hadjar continues to lead the championship ahead of Paul Aron, who will start Sunday’s feature race from pole position.

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Formula 2 Belgium race one results

Position	Car	Driver	Team
1	2	Zak O’Sullivan	ART
2	11	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport
3	22	Richard Verschoor	Trident
4	5	Zane Maloney	Rodin
5	7	Jak Crawford	DAMS
6	4	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Prema
7	3	Ollie Bearman	Prema
8	12	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport
9	20	Isack Hadjar	Campos
10	10	Gabriel Bortoleto	Invicta
11	16	Amaury Cordeel	Hitech
12	1	Victor Martins	ART
13	9	Kush Maini	Invicta
14	14	Enzo Fittipaldi	Van Amersfoort
15	6	Ritomo Miyata	Rodin
16	25	Taylor Barnard	AIX
17	8	Juan Manuel Correa	DAMS
18	17	Paul Aron	Hitech
19	24	Joshua Duerksen	AIX
20	23	Roman Stanek	Trident
21	15	Rafael Villagomez	Van Amersfoort
DNF	21	Josep Maria Marti	Campos

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