F2 – Austrian Grand Prix: chaos in the Sprint race

It is on a much hotter track than the day before (43°) and under the sun, which has been rather discreet this weekend, that the F2 Sprint race started. As a reminder, Victor Martins will start from the 2nd position while the other Frenchman, Sami Meguetounif, will begin from the 13th place on the grid.

The departure

At the moment of starting the formation lap, Crowford stalls and remains stuck on the track. Unfortunately for him, his Sprint race ends even before the start is given. As the lights go out, the start is highly contested, it’s messy. Victor Martins gets boxed in, then runs wide, costing him a number of positions.

Accident on the climb to the third turn, the red flag is quickly waved. Sami Meguetounif is involved; he dove into the turn, but there was no more room to pass on the inside. He flies into a barrel roll over two cars and lands back on the track upside down. He picks up the radio to assure that he is fine. Three single-seaters are forced to retire. They are Lindblad, Meguetounif, and Crawford.

During the red flag, we learn that Alex Dunne is under investigation for a false start. After more than 20 minutes of interruption, the race resumes with a rolling start. The order is as follows: Dürksen, Marti, then Stanek. Victor Martins starts in 10th position. Kush Maini has a problem; he seems to have stalled and cannot follow the others to exit the pits. The restart is calm, but a few seconds later, Dino Beganovic and Oliver Goethe collide. The Hitech GP driver’s car is stuck in the middle of turn 3, and the safety car is deployed. At the same time, a penalty is issued to Dunne, receiving a 5-second penalty.

The restart

The safety car pulls away, Joshua Dürksen leads the pack and widens the gap over Pepe Marti and Roman Stanek. The gaps are small, a battle is brewing between Victor Martins and Alex Dunne. The McLaren driver completely misses his race. Starting 3rd, he is now out of the points and still has to serve his penalty. Poor performance also for Fornaroli, who started on pole and is now in 8th position.

Pepe Marti and Joshua Dürksen jostle in the final minutes. Marti takes the first place, but Dürksen remains in the DRS zone. The on-track activity doesn’t stop, and many battles are taking place.

In the last lap, Cordeel spins at turn 3. Fornaroli, Bennett, and Mini crash into the stopped car of Cordeel. Amid the chaos, Pepe Marti wins this Sprint race ahead of Dürksen and Stanek. Martins finishes 7th.