Round three of Formula 2 took place in Jeddah, and the Feature Race delivered 28 action-packed laps, where the alternative strategy paid off. Drivers who started on the medium compounds stayed out longer and capitalized on the advantage of the super soft tyres at the end.
With Jak Crawford securing his first pole position since 2023, he had a strong launch, leading the pack as yesterday’s winner, Arvid Lindblad, lost a place after going wide and dropping to P6.
The super soft tyres warmed up quickly, and with DRS enabled on lap 2, Pepe Martí took P6 from his teammate at Turn 2. As Gabriele Miní began closing in on the Campos drivers, staying close behind Lindblad, most of the field remained within the one-second window, forming a DRS train.
By lap four, Crawford broke the DRS window to Victor Martins, which was crucial for the American driver. Chasing third was Luke Browning, who stayed close behind Leonardo Fornaroli and took the spot at the start of lap six, using DRS to make the overtake.
The first pit stops for drivers on the super soft compounds began on lap six, with Campos experiencing a slow tyre change for Martí.
On lap eight, Crawford pitted as well, meaning the race had a new leader: Martins, who came in on the following lap. Martins rejoined the track ahead of Crawford, just as a Virtual Safety Car was deployed due to debris on the main straight. This gave Martí the opportunity to build up tyre temperature.
In the middle of the field, Luke Browning and Alexander Dunne battled for P11, but Leonardo Fornaroli took the opportunity and overtook them both. The battle between Browning and Dunne led to an incident, which was noted by the stewards for forcing another driver off track – Dunne received a 5-second penalty.
The green flag got waved and action resumed on lap ten, as Crawford and Martins went wheel-to-wheel. Martins held on to P8 initially, but Crawford reclaimed the position on the following lap.
Browning, Dunne, and Mini were joined by a confident Martí. The Spanish driver battled with Browning for a few laps before overtaking him on lap 16.
With eight laps to go, the top seven drivers had yet to make a pit stop, as Verschoor set another impressive fastest lap of the race, extending his gap to 7.6 seconds over Kush Maini in P2.
On lap 21, Goethe was the first of the medium-tyre runners to make a pit stop, but the others weren’t rushing to follow.
Another round of pit stops occurred on lap 23, with Maini and Roman Stanek coming in. Verschoor pitted on lap 24 with a solid stop, rejoining in a good position between Crawford and Martins.
Verschoor benefited from a late pit stop onto the super soft compounds and immediately started closing the gap to Crawford. By lap 27, he was within the DRS window, and the battle for the lead was on as the Dutch driver starting in P9 took the lead and victory as the chequered flag got waved.