Who is in the wall?
It’s time for F2 in Saudi Arabia, on a track that’s either really fun or really terrifying, depending on whether you’re a racing driver or not…
Practice: Villagómez in the wall
With only 45 minutes to master this extra fun and/or extra scary track, all the drivers were out. No hanging about in the pits today. At least until Rafael Villagómez smashed into the wall after only 15 minutes. His car trashed and everyone else’s practice session on pause, as the red flagged waved and the marshalls struggled to clear up the mess.
It took almost another 15 minutes to get going again but the rest of the session ran relatively smoothly, despite Ollie Bearman’s best attempts to wreck his car by clattering over every curb he could find. This apparently wasn’t the fastest route around the track as Bearman ended up fourth, behind fastest man Dennis Hauger, second fastest Kush Maini and third fastest Victor Martins.
Qualifying: Colapinto in the wall
As Qualifying got underway, Villagómez watched from the sidelines while his team continued work on his massively damaged car. Hauger and Bearman had no such problems, with very well functioning fast cars, setting fastest laps. Franco Colapinto was also fast but he hit the wall, “ahh I hit the wall,” he complained. He obviously didn’t remember Bearman in Baku last year? Just because you’ve hit a wall doesn’t mean you can’t be on pole.
A few minutes later and it emerged that hitting a wall does prevent you from setting fast laps. Colapinto sat in the garage having his car fixed while the FIA man, who wanders the pit lane, kept a watchful eye and carried out important manual testing of suspension bounce. Zane Maloney was also having work done on his car, or maybe he just enjoyed sitting there with no engine cover.
Meanwhile everyone else was busy trying to be fastest. Maini and Paul Aron threw their names into the ring alongside Hauger and Bearman. As Aron and Hauger dropped out of the “race”, it was Bearman who was fastest. Maini was on a fast lap. Would he get redemption for last week’s pole disappointment? No. Maini could only make second place, leaving Bearman on pole, while third place went to Jak Crawford.
In between Qualifying and the Sprint Race: Bearman not in the wall or the race
The period in between Qualifying and the Sprint Race shall henceforth be known as [insert something profound and dramatic]. What drama!? What excitement!? Ferrari reserve driver Ollie Bearman got the big F1 call up to sub for Carlos Sainz and his exploding appendix (get well soon Carlos). Great news for his F1 career! (Bearman’s, not Sainz’s). Bad news for his F2 career, as you’re not allowed to be an F1 and an F2 driver at the same time, thus forcing Bearman to withdraw from the F2 weekend. Those are the rules.
Sprint Race: Martins in the wall
Because the electronic system that facilitates the race start process was so excited about the dramatic Bearman news, the race was delayed while it got itself together (probably was the reason for the delay). That gave reverse-grid pole sitter Aron, second place Richard Verschoor and third place Isack Hadjar more time to prep their starting approach. Hadjar said he thought that a “podium should be a minimum,” while Verschoor felt he might have some success “maybe, with a bit of strategy,” and Aron said, “I just have to stay open minded.” Such overwhelming positivity.
Aron perhaps should have been more optimistic as he held the lead into the first corner, with Verschoor and Hadjar also keeping in order behind. Meanwhile, further back, a massive bit of Kimi Antonelli’s car was flying across the track, Zak O’Sullivan and Colapinto didn’t even manage to start and were pushed back to the pits, and Enzo Fittipaldi was notifying his team that, “one of my wing mirrors is completely gone.” A close-up confirmed that it had indeed completely gone. The absolute worst off, however, was Martins who crashed into a wall and stopped. The Safety Car was deployed.
After some inexplicable messing about under the Safety Car between Antonelli, Joshua Dürksen and Taylor Barnard, the race was back underway, and very much underway for Verschoor who took only a few laps before he overtook Aron for the lead. Also doing overtaking was Hauger, who soon DRS’d past Hadjar and into third. Doing less overtaking was Amaury Cordeel who spun and lost the engine, bringing out the Safety Car once more.
After the Safety Car period, Hadjar’s vision of a podium got even further away as Fittipaldi overtook him. Maloney then tried to do the same, but enough was enough for Hadjar and he defended to keep his fifth place. A few laps later and there was once more a random giant piece of car on the track, resulting in a short Virtual Safety Car period. At the same time, which may or may not have been connected to the random car debris, JM Correa radioed his team to inform them that he had hit the wall and his car was now done, as he headed to the pits to retire.
Another race restart, another opportunity for Aron to be overtaken and this time Hauger got him, taking second place. Also being overtaken was Hadjar, just in case you thought he might have been attempting a podium comeback. By the final lap Hadjar was eleventh and dropping, all the way back into the pits to retire what was obviously a broken car.
Up front, there was nothing wrong with winner Vershoor’s car. Oh wait there was, because both he and teammate Roman Staněk were found to have incorrect throttle pedal progressivity maps installed. Obviously. So they were both disqualified and it was actually Hauger who won the race, several hours later. Aron was second and Fittipaldi, sans wing mirror, third.
Feature Race: Colapinto in the wall (again)
Because F2 is all just swings and roundabouts, Maini, who lost his pole position last week, inherited pole this week from MEGA BIG HYPE F1 Bearman. Crawford was second and Martins third. “It’s F2, anything could happen,” a wise Maini cautiously stated before the race. F2 newcomer Barnard might like to think that anything could happen, but all that’s happened to him so far is bad things, which solidly continued as he stalled on the formation lap and got wheeled away to the pit lane. Bad things also happened to Gabriel Bortoleto who retired after some issue at the start, and Pepe Martí, who spun at the start, collecting Staněk on route. “He just crashed into me this guy!” complained Martí. Who is “this guy”? Marcus Ericsson? The Safety Car was deployed and we got time to have a look at who was actually leading the race (it was Maini, Crawford and Fittipaldi, as Martins had slipped to fifth behind Antonelli).
With racing back underway, Ritomo Miyata headed to the pits to complete a ten-second stop/go penalty for something to do with starting in the wrong place, while the others headed to the pits to do pit stops, until it was Correa (on the alternative tyre strategy) in the lead, making everyone (except the other 20 drivers) pleased. Barnard, having a momentary good time, was second and Cordeel, also having a momentary good time, was third (also both on the alternative strategy). A momentary good time was not had during Miyata’s second trip into the pits, this time for an actual pit stop, as his car stopped, requiring the mechanics’ ceremonial bringing out of the starty stick to get going again.
Out on track things were getting serious. Cordeel passed Barnard for second place (apparently, but presumably that happened while I was too busy crying over Miyata to notice), while Fittipaldi charged by Maini for fourth place (who even knows where Crawford went), behind only Correa, Cordeel and Barnard who all still had pit stops to make. It was looking good for the top three who had pulled a gap from the rest of the field, that is until Colapinto hit a wall, got a puncture and spun out the race. The Safety Car was deployed. Correa, Cordeel and Barnard had a choice to make. Pit now and struggle to the end of the race on tyres not designed to go that far, or wait and hope that another Safety Car might come. Correa’s proximity to the pit lane when the Safety Car was called meant that he had little time to think. He made a quick decision to carry on and hope for the best. Cordeel and Barnard, however, took their pitstops while maintaining their second and third positions, as the location of Colapinto’s car meant that the Safety Car was leading everyone through the pit lane anyway.
A few laps later and racing resumed. Who knows what happened. Lots of overtaking, including reverse overtaking from Hadjar who proclaimed, “I have the same problem as yesterday!” He did indeed and he soon dropped out of the race. Up front, Cordeel and his new super-fast tyres passed Correa for the lead, while Fittipaldi and his not-new super-fast tyres passed Barnard for third. Doing one at a time then seemed to be insufficient for Fittipaldi, however, and he just went round the outside of both Correa and Cordeel at the same time to take the lead of the race. Dürksen must have tried a similar but more dodgy move at the restart because he was handed a ten-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.
A lap later and Fittipaldi was somehow over two seconds in the lead, while Correa and Cordeel were fighting it out behind him, with Correa getting ahead of Cordeel once more. Absorbed with their battle, it allowed Maini to catch up and soon overtake Cordeel for third place. A quick Virtual Safety Car pause in proceedings, caused by O’Sullivan spinning and stopping, gave everyone a break for a minute, before intense battling resumed: Cordeel and Maini over third and Hauger and Antonelli over sixth, with poor fifth-placed Crawford (there he is!) in between.
As the final laps approached, Correa jumped into the pits to finally take his mandatory pit stop, giving Maini second place and Cordeel third. As the camera cut away to show a victorious Fittipaldi flying by the chequered flag, Hauger made a Fittipaldi-esque lunge a flew by both Crawford and Cordeel on the finishing straight, securing the final podium place, with only milliseconds to spare. Cordeel somehow completely lost out and ended up fifth behind Crawford.
Hauger’s justified screams of “Wow, wow, wow, wow, wow!” and Fittipaldi’s touching dedication of his race win to his recently deceased uncle Wilson Fittipaldi made a lovely end to the race. I’m sure Maini had something poignant to say as well.
Championship Standings in the wall (???)
After two rounds, Maloney is still comfortably in the lead with 47 points. Fittipaldi, however, has now launched into second place (32 points), with Hauger (31 points), Aron (29 points), Maini (27 points), Martí (26 points) and Crawford (24 points) all close behind. Someone who isn’t close behind is BIG MEGA HYPE Mr F1 Bearman who is 22nd and last, with zero points. Your big F1 points don’t mean anything here I’m afraid Ollie. Let’s hope for his sake that Ferrari aren’t holding that Ferrari Academy promotion dependent on how his F2 season goes…