Round Two – Saudi Arabia – Sport Grill

Roundup of second round of 2023 FIA F2 season around the Jeddah Corniche circuit in Saudi Arabia.

ART GP’s Theo Pourchaire entered this round sat top of the standings, yet a weekend full of surprises and close racing saw a new leader sit top upon completion of the round amidst a pair of maiden pole-sitters across both races.

Now, here is a full roundup of all the F2 action in Jeddah which saw a huge test of youth vs experience.

Practice

Trident’s Clement Novalak was first out on track as drivers opted largely for installation laps in the opening minutes, but it was PREMA’s Oliver Bearman who set the benchmark time of 1m 47.231 in the 10th minute.

Ayumu Iwasa and Jehan Daruvala briefly went top a minute later but ART GP’s Victor Martins produced 1m 46.611 to go fastest once everyone completed their first flying laps.

Bearman responded in the 14th minute with 1m 46.263 as the track quickly began to evolve with Boschung briefly displacing him a minute later, until Martins popped up with 1m 44.980 to set the pace once more.

Boschung in the 19th minute found 0.353 seconds to go fastest but Daruvala found a further 0.104s to better the Swiss driver’s lap time, yet Martins delivered 1m 43.976 to stay on top, which he soon lowered by 0.237s.

Bearman though emerged quickest overall after he posted 1m 43.501 in the 32nd minute to head Vesti in a PREMA one-two result, ahead of Martins.

The session however was red flagged five minutes early and not resumed after Virtuosi’s Amaury Cordeel spun at the end of Turn 13, ending up sideways which prevented further competitive running.

Qualifying

Trident’s Roman Stanek and Novalak were first out on track but it was Martins who emerged fastest from Maini and Bearman once everyone completed their opening laps, with the front trio split by just 0.151s.

DAMS’ Arthur Leclerc then produced 1m 42.629 in the 11th minute to go quickest which he held from Martins and Bearman a minute later as the red flags came out after Richard Verschoor spun and stalled his Van Amersfoort Racing (VAR) car at Turn 22,

The session resumed four miinutes later with some drivers opting to attempt another flying lap on their first set of super-soft tyres, yet they all aborted their laps to allow maximum time possible on their second set of tyres.

Martins though looked unstoppable as he posted 1m 41.326 in the 24th minute to secure a maiden pole position for the Feature Race ahead of Bearman, Pourchaire, Doohan and Daruvala.

Leclerc meanwhile had slipped down to 13th position as he brought out the red flag with just over two minutes left, having stopped on the exit of Turn 22 which led the session to not be resumed.

Jak Crawford claimed reverse pole after he qualified tenth but Vesti who would of lined up fourth on the reverse grid dropped to ninth for the Sprint, owing to a five-place penalty after an incident in Bahrain Feature Race.

Stanek and Novalak meanwhile were demoted to 21st and 16th respectively for the reverse-grid, after Trident failed to return both drivers’ set of tyres into Parc Ferme post-session.

Sprint Race

At lights out, Crawford made a clean start to retain the lead as Iwasa leapt from fourth to second by Turn 2, as he quickly cleared Maini and Boschung, before passing Crawford for the lead on Lap 2 which saw the Safety Car deployed after Zane Maloney spun and stalled at Turn 2.

Bearman meanwhile leapt from eighth to sixth at the start with Martins following through at Turn 4 after Pourchaire ran wide, which set up an exciting battle as the Feature Race’s front row pair looked to carve their way to podium finishes.

Once the Safety Car was withdrawn at the end of Lap 4, Iwasa made a clean restart as Boschung cleared Crawford for second, whilst Daruvala and Bearman demoteded Maini to sixth with Martins and Pourchaire soon following through.

Pourchaire though produced the race’s biggest moment on Lap 7 as after passing Maini a lap earlier with a late lunge into the first corner, he repeated that same trick but this time ran too deep as he passed Martins and wiped out a powerless Bearman to eliminate both drivers.

Stewards consequently handed Pourchaire a five-place grid penalty for the Sprint Race, due to having caused his collision with Bearman.

The Safety Car consequently was deployed for the second time and once racing resumed at end of Lap 9, a frantic contest unfolded as Martins quickly cleared Maini and caught up to Iwasa, Boschung and Daruvala which led to a tense race-long battle for victory.

Daruvala on Lap 11 passed Boschung at the final corner but was repassed for second at Turn 1 on the start of the next lap, yet the MP Motorsport driver eventually got past at Turn 2 on Lap 13 with Martins following through a lap later.

Iwasa meanwhile was unable to break the DRS range and momentarily lost the lead on Lap 15 as Daruvala cut the opening two corners, although he conceded the lead back to Iwasa quickly whilst retaking second position

Daruvala then ran deep at Turn 2 two laps later and conceded second to Martins who was unable to pass Iwasa for victory, as the DAMS driver clung on for his first win of the season.

Boschung and Maini rounded out the top five whilst Vesti, Doohan and Hauger cleared Crawford to snatch the final points-paying positions in sixth, seventh and eighth places respectively.

In the driver standings, Boschung benefitted from Pourchaire’s race-ending collision to leapfrog the Frenchman to the summit with an one-point lead, as Iwasa moved up to third ahead of Maini and Martins.

Feature Race

At lights out, Martins got a sluggish getaway from pole which allowed Bearman to breeze away into the lead ahead of the Frenchman and Doohan, whilst Vesti leapfrogged Daruvala and Iwasa up to fourth position.

There however was drama at the back as Cordeel and Brad Benavides collided on the main straight at the start of Lap 2, with Benavides’ front suspension suffering race-ending damage which caused the Virtual Safety Car to be deployed (VSC).

Cordeel later in the race was hit with a 5s time penalty for his collision with Benavides after he had pitted for a new front wing.

Once racing resumed a lap later, Bearman got a huge jump as Martins was caught napping and slipped into Doohan’s grasp but recovered his composure to retain second, as Doohan and Vesti pitted at end of Lap Six with Bearman and Martins following suit a lap later.

Bearman though struggled to adapt to the medium tyres after enjoying the super-soft tyres and Martins overtook him at Turn 2 on Lap 10, only to cut the corner which caused him to hand the net lead back to the Brit.

Martins though was able to get past at the start of Lap 11 but squeezed Bearman into the wall at Turn 2, which allowed Vesti to slip past his teammate and quickly reel in Martins.

Up front, Leclerc who had gone for the alternate strategy of starting on the medium tyres held the lead ahead of Isack Hadjar who lost second to Richard Verschoor on Lap 13.

The initial front-row drivers meanwhile suffered spins mid-race as Bearman spun at Turn 22 on Lap 16 but kept his engine running having lost three positions, unlike Martins a lap later who was forced to retire after stalling his engine having briefly got his ART GP car going again.

Martins’ spin consequently handed Vesti his first win of the season ahead of Doohan, Daruvala, Iwasa and Hauger, as the top five maintained order to the flag once those on the alternate strategy pitted.

Up front, Verschoor was the first of the few drivers on medium tyres to make the switch on Lap 22 and was able to eventually carve his way to a sixth-placed finish ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi, Leclerc, Hadjar and Bearman.

In the driver standings, Boschung retained his one-point lead as both drivers finished 19th and 13th respectively, whilst Iwasa cut his title deficit down to just two points in third place ahead of Vesti and Daruvala who rounded out the top five.

F2 now heads Down Under for their first visit to Melbourne, Australia across weekend of 31 March – 2 April for the third round of this season.