This Austrian feature race could be the chance for some drivers to show their worth, and for others to keep showing their form. After a chaotic sprint race yesterday, discover who made everything possible to take the big points.
If yesterday’s sprint race saw a change in the championship’s lead, with Richard Verschoor taking it for a single point ahead of Alexander Dunne, he managed to grow that lead into more points today. With a good strategy and a flawless drive, here’s how the Dutchman managed to win for the seventh time in Formula 2.
Mechanical issues
Two strategies were decided for the race with everyone on supersoft except for Montoya, Meguetounif, Maini, Esterson and Shield in soft. Victor Martins had a complicated start, but managed to defend his position against Gabriele Minì. Alexander Dunne was stuck between two drivers at Turn 1. They touched a bit with no damage, as the Irish driver lost his front rear and locked both of his tyres. Richard Verschoor tried to overtake Leonardo Fornaroli, but the yellow car kept the lead. Then the issues began on lap 2, with Minì and Miyata both retiring. The Prema driver with an engine issue, and the ART Grand Prix driver with a mechanical issue. On lap 4, Sebastián Montoya had a suspension damaged after a contact. However, he managed to keep going.
Alexander Dunne dived on the inside of Joseph Maria Martì’s car and took the fifth position. Five drivers went into the pit to change their supersoft tyres into soft. Victor Martins passed Richard Verschoor into the pit and was virtually the leader of the race. Fornaroli and Martì battled but gave the aspiration to Dunne, who was stuck behind them. However, he managed to overtake the Invicta and the Campos driver in the next corner. On lap 11, Amaury Cordeel also had an engine issue. Oliver Goethe took a 5-seconds penalty for speeding in the pitlane. The battle continued between Martì and Fornaroli for P9. In the meantime, Richard Verschoor came back on Victor Martins and they battled together. The Dutchman took the upper hand and was virtually the leader on lap 16.
Alternative strategy
Lap 18 was the moment where those who stopped began to come back on those who didn’t, with Verschoor overtaking Shields. Montoya overtook Maini for the lead of the race. Martins and Dunne touched slightly, but the McLaren driver managed to pass. Cian Shields retired on lap 27. Sami Meguetounif pitted for supersoft with ten laps to go, which could be tricky to go to the end. He was third and went out of the pit in P16, indicating that the alternative strategy was clearly not a good choice.
Passionated battles
With very used tyres, it was really tricky for Martins to keep his position on the podium. The three way battle with him, Fornaroli and Martì for the podium was on. The Frenchman was really aggressive on his defense and the Campos driver took the P4 away from the Invicta. Martì and Martins touched slightly and the ART Grand Prix driver lost two places and his podium. Luke Browning, with the help of the DRS, managed to overtake his fellow Williams academy driver. Kush Maini touched Sami Meguetounif which made the Trident driver go wide. The Dams driver also had to pit to change his front wing.
A three blue car battle was happening, with Martins managing to pass Browning again. However, Jak Crawford took the upper hand on the two other drivers. This battle gave the opportunity on the last lap for Sebastián Montoya and his supersoft tyres to come back and take P6. Joseph Maria Martì took a 10-seconds penalty for his contact with Victor Martins. A pretty severe one, that could be explained as he didn’t give the position back to the French driver, so it was to be sure he will be classified behind him.
Final moment and penalties
At the very last moment, Oliver Goethe and Arvid Lindblad touched, sending Goethe on the Turn 3 curb, which made his car fly and stuck him into the gravel, calling a yellow flag. Richard Verschoor wins once again and keeps the lead of the championship with a six points lead. Alexander Dunne finished second and Leonardo Fornaroli completed the podium.
However, that race was not over until later in the afternoon, after some penalties were applied. John Bennett received a 10-seconds penalty and two penalty points (totalling him to six points this season) for a contact with Sebastián Montoya. If the contact between Alexander Dunne and Victor Martins resulted in a no further action, the Rodin Motorsport driver was disqualified for failing to comply with the minimum thickness of his front plank. The gap in the championship is now 24 points, in favor of Richard Verschoor. Alexander Dunne will have to do a perfect weekend in Silverstone next week to try and reduce that gap.