F2 Bahrain: Maloney dominates sprint race as tyre drama sparks late thrill

Maloney came out on top for Rodin by over five seconds in a sprint race that came to life in the closing stages as the soft tyres dropped off a cliff, allowing those who had gambled on the hard compound into the mix.

It was Maloney's first win in F2, after he endured a dreadful end to his rookie campaign last year, scoring points only three times in the final 16 races.

Jak Crawford made a perfect start from pole position and left second-placed starter Taylor Barnard in his wake. Things continued to worsen for the PHM AIX driver, as Barnard dropped quickly to the fringes of the top 10.

But Barnard's loss was ART team-mates Victor Martins and Zak O'Sullivan's gain as the pair quickly set about attacking Crawford's DAMS.

While the majority of drivers elected to run the soft tyre to complete the 23-lap sprint race, O'Sullivan ran the hard compound, playing the long game.

Following a brief virtual safety car intervention on the second lap to allow for the recovery of Amaury Cordeel's Hitech, this strategy saw O'Sullivan drop backwards as his rivals made use of the early pace in their softer rubber.

Standing out from the pack was Maloney, who climbed from eighth on the grid to second by lap six, showcasing all the passing ability that took him close to the F3 title in 2022.

On lap eight, Maloney made his move, skillfully pulling off a textbook switchback move on Crawford at Turn four and cementing the position with better traction as the pair headed towards Turn 5-6-7 chicane.

Struggling for pace, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman both pitted to fit the soft tyre, gambling on a safety car intervention. Compounding their problems, Bearman locked his left front moments after exiting the pits.

Further back, Franco Colapinto was handed a 10-second stop-go penalty for starting out of position, something Richard Verschoor was also under investigation for. This error had been caused after Joshua Durksen stalled on the grid and had to be wheeled back into the pits.

On lap 14, O'Sullivan began to make his recovery as the soft tyres began to fade, with his first pass being made on Invicta Racing's Gabriel Bortoleto for eighth.

Barnard's day went from bad to worse on lap 16, as he pulled into the pits to retire his car.

As the laps ticked down, Isack Hadjar complained that his tyres were completely gone, something that his Campos team-mate Pepe Marti, who had started in P11, took full advantage of with three laps to go as he battled past at Turn 4.

As drivers on the soft rubber faded, O'Sullivan and fellow hard tyre-runner Bortoleto scythed through the order, with O'Sullivan besting team-mate Martins on the penultimate tour. On the last lap, O'Sullivan climbed one additional place to seventh, with Bortoleto sixth.

Joining the dominant Maloney on the podium were Crawford and Marti.

After being disqualified from qualifying, Kush Maini finished in P13.

Bortoleto will start Saturday's feature race on pole position from Hadjar. Sprint race winner Maloney will line up in third.

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport	5	23	-
2	J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil	7	23	+5.400 5.4	5.400
3	P. Martí Campos Racing	21	23	+7.000 7.0	1.600
4	I. Hadjar Campos Racing	20	23	+9.700 9.7	2.700
5	P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight	17	23	+18.100 18.1	8.400
6	G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing	10	23	+18.300 18.3	0.200
7	Z. O'Sullivan ART Grand Prix	2	23	+20.100 20.1	1.800
8	D. Hauger MP Motorsport	11	23	+21.000 21.0	0.900
9	R. Miyata Rodin Motorsport	6	23	+21.400 21.4	0.400
10	R. Verschoor Trident	22	23	+21.800 21.8	0.400
11	V. Martins ART Grand Prix	1	23	+23.800 23.8	2.000
12	J. Correa DAMS Lucas Oil	8	23	+26.800 26.8	3.000
13	K. Maini Invicta Racing	9	23	+27.200 27.2	0.400
14	A. Kimi Prema Powerteam	4	23	+30.200 30.2	3.000
15	J. Duerksen PHM AIX Racing	24	23	+35.200 35.2	5.000
16	O. Bearman Prema Powerteam	3	23	+36.200 36.2	1.000
17	E. Fittipaldi Van Amersfoort Racing	14	23	+56.100 56.1	19.900
18	F. Colapinto MP Motorsport	12	23	+1'04.800 1'04.8	8.700
19	R. Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing	15	23	+1'21.500 1'21.5	16.700
dnf	R. Staněk Trident	23	19	4 laps					Retirement
dnf	T. Barnard PHM AIX Racing	25	16	7 laps					Retirement
dnf	A. Cordeel Hitech Pulse-Eight	16	0						Retirement
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