F2 sprint race: Victory for Kush Maini, Verschoor disqualified and double podium for the French
The sprint race at the Hungarian Grand Prix was won by Alpine Academy driver Kush Maini, just ahead of his colleague, French driver Victor Martins. Thanks to Richard Verschoor's disqualification, Isack Hadhar climbed onto the podium.
With cooler temperatures compared to qualifying, drivers did not put all their eggs in the same basket with a mix of soft and hard tires on the starting grid. The performance difference between the two tire compounds played a significant role in the spectacle of this sprint race where drivers are not supposed to pit due to the limited number of laps to be driven.
At the start, the drivers on soft tires were able to exploit the best performance immediately and Kimi Antonelli (P4) managed to overtake the two drivers in front of him after a few corners despite a big lock-up at the start and then put pressure on Vershoor on hard tires to finally overtake him on lap 4, taking advantage of the slipstream and DRS. The Mercedes academy driver, in negotiations for a race seat in F1 next year, unfortunately lacked consistency and suffered very high tire degradation. The Italian even had to pit to switch to hard tires, finishing far down the rankings.
In the end, Richard Verschoor reclaimed his first place but will be later disqualified by the FIA. He then hands the victory to Kush Maini. Victor Martins takes second place.
Kush Maini thus signs his first victory in Formula 2. Isack Hadjar is promoted to the third step of the podium and wins the point for the fastest lap. Juan Manuel Correa, DAMS driver, takes the eighth position, thus clinching the last point available in this sprint race.
First to finish disqualified by the FIA
Following the Sprint race of Formula 2 in Budapest, Richard Verschoor (Trident) was disqualified. A post-race report from the FIA Technical Delegate revealed that the plank had a maximum thickness of 3.7 mm at the rearmost control point, which is below the minimum thickness specified by the technical regulations.
« It was found that Verschoor’s car’s plank did not meet the minimum required thickness, thus contravening Article 3.4.3 of the technical regulations. Therefore, car No. 22 was disqualified from the Sprint race classification.
A beautiful three-way battle
Juan-Manuel Correa, Jack Crawford, and Ollie Bearman delivered us a very beautiful three-way battle in turns 4, 5, 6. Without any doubt, one of the most beautiful images of the weekend.
A @damsracing sandwich 🥪😋#F2 #HungarianGP pic.twitter.com/8EfiEHNFOn
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) July 20, 2024
Results of the F2 sprint race in Hungary:
| Driver | Team | Times | Gap | Laps | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | K. Maini #9 | Invicta Racing | 44:28.935 | 28 | |
| 2 | V. Martins #1 | ART Grand Prix | 44:38.499 | +9.564 | 28 |
| 3 | I. Hadjar #20 | Campos Racing | 44:43.940 | +15.005 | 28 |
| 4 | D. Hauger #11 | MP Motorsport | 44:53.578 | +24.643 | 28 |
| 5 | F. Colapinto #12 | MP Motorsport | 44:55.096 | +26.161 | 28 |
| 6 | P. Aron #17 | Hitech Pulse-Eight | 45:01.760 | +32.825 | 28 |
| 7 | T. Barnard #25 | AIX Racing | 45:06.386 | +37.451 | 28 |
| 8 | J. Correa #8 | DAMS Lucas Oil | 45:09.839 | +40.904 | 28 |
| 9 | J. Crawford #7 | DAMS Lucas Oil | 45:18.289 | +49.354 | 28 |
| 10 | O. Bearman #3 | PREMA Racing | 45:21.548 | +52.613 | 28 |
| 11 | R. Villagomez #15 | Van Amersfoort Racing | 45:22.956 | +54.021 | 28 |
| 12 | R. Miyata #6 | Rodin Motorsport | 45:23.600 | +54.665 | 28 |
| 13 | Z. Maloney #5 | Rodin Motorsport | 45:23.848 | +54.913 | 28 |
| 14 | A. Antonelli #4 | PREMA Racing | 45:24.043 | +55.108 | 28 |
| 15 | R. Stanek #23 | Trident | 45:24.237 | +55.302 | 28 |
| 16 | G. Bortoleto #10 | Invicta Racing | 45:25.008 | +56.073 | 28 |
| 17 | J. Marti #21 | Campos Racing | 45:26.372 | +57.437 | 28 |
| 18 | J. Durksen #24 | AIX Racing | 45:28.757 | +59.822 | 28 |
| 19 | Z. O’sullivan #2 | ART Grand Prix | 45:33.637 | +64.702 | 28 |
| 20 | A. Cordeel #16 | Hitech Pulse-Eight | 45:34.798 | +65.863 | 28 |
| 21 | E. Fittipaldi #14 | Van Amersfoort Racing | 45:39.680 | +1 lap | 27 |
| 22 | R. Verschoor #22 | Trident | +dq |
