Alpine junior driver Victor Martins ended a disappointing run of form by winning the Barcelona sprint race ahead of Kush Maini.
The two Alpine-backed drivers claimed the top two spots on the podium after second-place finisher Ritomo Miyata was hit with multiple penalties for track limits infringements.Juan Manuel Correa finished third to secure his first podium position in Formula 2 for five years. He returned to the rostrum for the first time since he suffered serious injuries in the accident that killed Anthoine Hubert in 2019.
Martins took the lead from reverse-grid pole-winner Maini with Ritomo Miyata moving up into second place with Maini falling to third ahead of Invicta team mate Gabriel Bortoleto. With no scheduled pit stops for the sprint race and concerns over the lifespan of the tyres, drivers quickly began pacing themselves to preserve their tyres.
Several drivers fell foul of the stewards for multiple track limits infringements during the race. Many received black-and-white warning flags for three infringements including Zane Maloney, Juan Manuel Correa and Oliver Bearman
With just under 10 laps remaining, second-placed Miyata was hit with a five-second time penalty for repeated track limits infringements, effectively dropping him out of contention for the podium despite running in second place. That opened the battle for the final podium places to a three-way fight between Maini, Bortoleto and Correa.
Correa managed to pull off a bold pass on Bortoleto on the penultimate lap into turn ten, moving him into fourth but effectively onto the podium. The championship leader then attacked Bortoleto and passed him into turn four to pick up another position.
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Martins remained untroubled out front and took the chequered flag to win by 2.6 seconds from Miyata, who was immediately demoted behind Maini and Correa. Paul Aron took fourth to retain his championship lead, with Jak Crawford in fifth and Bortoleto in sixth.
Red Bull junior Isack Hadjar finished one place ahead of Miyata, who was hit with a second five second penalty for another track limits violation. Dennis Hauger and Andrea Kimi Antonelli completed the top ten.
Formula 2 Spain race one results
| Position | Car | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 | Victor Martins | ART |
| 2 | 9 | Kush Maini | Invicta |
| 3 | 8 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS |
| 4 | 17 | Paul Aron | Hitech |
| 5 | 7 | Jak Crawford | DAMS |
| 6 | 10 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta |
| 7 | 20 | Isack Hadjar | Campos |
| 8 | 6 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin |
| 9 | 11 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport |
| 10 | 4 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Prema |
| 11 | 12 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport |
| 12 | 2 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART |
| 13 | 24 | Joshua Duerksen | AIX |
| 14 | 21 | Josep Maria Marti | Campos |
| 15 | 15 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort |
| 16 | 22 | Richard Verschoor | Trident |
| 17 | 16 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech |
| 18 | 14 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Van Amersfoort |
| 19 | 5 | Zane Maloney | Rodin |
| 20 | 25 | Taylor Barnard | AIX |
| 21 | 3 | Ollie Bearman | Prema |
| 22 | 23 | Roman Stanek | Trident |
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Formula 2
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- Bortoleto clinches F2 title as Hadjar stalls and Duerksen wins finale
- Aron hit with double penalty for team’s illegal DRS modification, Hadjar gains a point
Canderous (@yoshif8tures)
22nd June 2024, 14:41
Why hasn’t the golden boy Andrea Kimi Antonelli got a win yet?
uzsjgb (@uzsjgb)
22nd June 2024, 15:44
The Prema is a bad car. That is the more logical explanation, than that Antonelli and Bearman suddenly both forgot how to drive.
And what would a win change? A win would only change things for those people, who only look at the results, and those don’t matter. Prema making the car better, so that Antonelli and Bearman can win races would do no difference to their driving. As long as Antonelli is extracting the maximum of what the Prema can do, then that is all that can be asked of him, regardless if the maximum is a 10th place or a win.
Antonelli will not get the Mercedes race seat based on his F2 results, that decision will be based on his performance at the Mercedes test drives. F2 is only to gain more experience. And looking at Antonelli’s driving it could be debated if he needs that experience at all.
Alianora La Canta (@alianora-la-canta)
22nd June 2024, 18:27
The issue is that Ollie Bearman has already proven he is F1 standard. Logically, that means anyone above him in the F2 championship (which is quite a few people) would have reason to believe they are F1 standard, whether they are or not.
I’m not sure F2 tells us much about readiness for F1 any more.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
23rd June 2024, 1:23
Probably. But it should though, shouldn’t it?.
I guess I am just missing something. Of course the likes of Bearman having proven himself in F1 machinery is understandable. But have many of those that frequently finish ahead of him and Antonelli been given equal chance to prove their worth? Maybe they have, though there are several names I see there that I do not recall doing much F1 testing.