F2 Saudi Arabia: Verschoor wins dramatic sprint race

Trident driver Verschoor put a scoreless Bahrain season-opening weekend behind him as he left all the action to those behind him on the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. It was his second win for current team Trident, with his first coming in the inaugural race of 2023.

Dennis Hauger was second for MP Motorsport while polesitter Paul Aron made it back-to-back podiums for Hitech.

Following Oliver Bearman’s unexpected Ferrari call-up to replace Carlos Sainz in Formula 1, the British driver was withdrawn from the F2 round. For the partially-reversed-grid sprint race, this had no effect on the front of the grid but promoted every driver from P11 back up one place.

It took no time at all for the drama to unfold as the lights went out, with Aron chopping across the nose of fellow front-row starter Verschoor off the line.

But the real action came behind the duo as, first, Williams Academy pairing Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) and Zak O’Sullivan (ART) failed to launch from the line and required to be pushed into the pits, before Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Prema) tagged Jak Crawford (DAMS) into a half-spin at Turn 2, with the former suffering front-wing damage.

Still in Turn 2, Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins continued his dreadful start to what he had hoped would be a championship-winning year, making contact with Dennis Hauger through the opening chicane before striking the concrete wall on the exit of Turn 2, causing the safety car to be called into action. After three races, the Frenchman’s points total remains nil.

Victor Martins, ART Grand Prix

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Verschoor made his move for the lead on lap eight of 20, using DRS to pull alongside Aron before outbraking the Estonian into Turn 1. The other podium positions changed in an identical fashion shortly after, with Isack Hadjar (Campos) taking Hauger for third.

As the race reached half-distance, the safety car was again required to allow for the recovery of Amaury Cordeel (Hitech), who spun at Turn 2 but stalled his engine when flick-spinning to face the correct direction.

Upon the next restart, Verschoor caught the field napping and was able to escape out of DRS range, leaving Aron to defend from the hard-charging Hauger. With three laps left, this defence was breached with Hauger making use of DRS into Turn 1.

With a two-second gap separating the podium combatants from the chasing pack, Enzo Fittipaldi, Jak Crawford and championship leader Zane Maloney, who had started in P15, went to battle, using the DRS zones to pass and re-pass in quick succession.

After Hadjar retired on the penultimate lap, Fittipaldi led home Maloney and Crawford, with Antonelli, who had escaped punishment for his early contact with Crawford, seventh.

Pepe Marti (Campos), feature race polesitter Kush Maini (Invicta) and Roman Staněk (Trident) rounded out the top 10.

Jeddah F2 sprint race

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	R. Verschoor Trident	22		20	-
2	D. Hauger MP Motorsport	11		20	+0.700 0.7	0.700
3	P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight	17		20	+1.500 1.5	0.800
4	E. Fittipaldi Van Amersfoort Racing	14		20	+4.700 4.7	3.200
5	Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport	5		20	+7.400 7.4	2.700
6	J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil	7		20	+9.100 9.1	1.700
7	A. Antonelli Prema Powerteam	4		20	+11.800 11.8	2.700
8	P. Martí Campos Racing	21		20	+14.300 14.3	2.500
9	K. Maini Invicta Racing	9		20	+14.700 14.7	0.400
10	R. Staněk Trident	23		20	+17.900 17.9	3.200
View full results