F2 Spain: Double podium for French team DAMS, Jak Crawford wins

This Sunday morning in Barcelona, it is no longer raining for the start of the main Formula 2 race. The first event takes place even before the start with the issue encountered by Kimi Antonelli during the warm-up lap, who is unable to start. He will still join the grid but from the last position.

At the start, the first ones start well and smoothly in the first corners. Victor Martins and Dennis Hauger, in the top 10, have a very bad start. They find themselves at the back of the pack and collide.

The safety car is back on track after this incident. Hauger and Martins therefore abandon on the first lap. It is Dennis Hauger who came to hit the French driver from ART GP, Victor Martins, winner of his first race of the season yesterday. Hauger, with a right front wheel off the rim, cannot continue while Martins remains stuck in the gravel.

From the 10th lap, the first ones on soft tires start to pit. Maloney thus gains an advantage over Enzo Fittipaldi thanks to a better pit stop.

One of the turning points of this race takes place at Paul Aron’s exit from the pits, who switched from soft tires to hard ones. With cold tires, he couldn’t compete with Jak Crawford, who had pitted one lap earlier and was able to take the lead and virtually the first position of the race. Distracted, Paul Aron, who was leading the championship and having a great first season in F2, loses the front of his single-seater in the last corner. He manages to get back on track after losing 5 positions by going through the gravel.

On the 14th lap, it was Barnard who broke down at the entrance of the pit lane, causing a VSC. Durksen, his teammate leading the race without having changed tires yet, cannot take advantage of this to pit. The same goes for the other drivers who have not yet changed tires. Unfortunately, Durksen, the other car of Aix Racing, will also have to retire due to an electronic problem, causing a second virtual safety car.

On the 25th lap, out of the 37 of this long race, the hard tires start to lose their capacity. Drivers on a hard > soft strategy start to pit. Drivers on the opposite strategy then in the pack start moving up in the hierarchy. The fight for P1 seems to be shaping up between the two drivers of the French team, DAMS. Correa pits to switch to soft tires, but the pit stop is a bit slow. Eventually, his teammate Crawford takes the lead. Correa comes out only in 6th place. With 10 laps to go, the virtual podium is Crawford, Colapinto, Aron. Hadjar is 5th but in a battle with Correa on his new tires. The DAMS driver eventually takes the advantage with his soft tires. He moves up to 5th place, then almost immediately gains an advantage over Bortoleto for 4th place. A few laps later, he virtually secures a podium position by overtaking Paul Aron.

Five laps before the finish, Isack Hadjar made a move on Bortoleto, climbed up to 5th place, and closed in on his title rival in F2, Aron, just ahead in 4th position. The positions were shuffled in the last 5 laps, and it was the DAMS driver, Jak Crawford, who won the race, his second in 2024. DAMS placed both of its drivers on the podium thanks to Juan Manuel Correa, who managed to secure third place with a good strategy. Colapinto finished in second place.

French driver Isack Hadjar finishes 5th, just behind Paul Aron. The two drivers in the fight for the F2 championship title maintain their positions. Paul Aron remains in the lead.

Results of the long F2 race at the Spanish Grand Prix