F2 sprint race | Vesti wins rain race in Spain ahead of Pourchaire
General
Frederik Vesti won the Formula 2 sprint race in Spain. The race started behind the safety car with all drivers on full-wets, but later switched to slicks.
The Formula 2 sprint race started under a rolling start, not a standing start, due to the heavy rain in Spain. A huge amount of water was coming from behind the cars, limiting the drivers' visibility considerably. Despite the limited visibility, the start went reasonably calm, with only Vesti and Jak Crawford making some contact. The latter had to abandon his race as a result due to the damage sustained. No penalty was handed out for the incident.
Fight for podium spots
Vesti soon overtook Amaury Cordeel for the race lead and did not relinquish it. The Mercedes junior then immediately showed his speed and quickly drove away from Cordeel, who was also soon overtaken by Victor Martins. Cordeel had a tough time in the rainy conditions and made a mistake halfway through the race, forcing the Belgian through the gravel for a while. As a result, Dennis Hauger took over the final podium position from Cordeel.
Drying track
In Formula 2, drivers do not have intermediate tyres at their disposal, but it soon got drier during the race which made it difficult for the drivers to keep the full-wet tyres in one piece. With ten laps to go, the first drivers came in to change to the slicks, but they were still not much faster than the rain tyres.
Juan Correa drove on the slicks and showed that the conditions were tricky, but then he lost control of his car at the first corner and got stuck in the gravel, prompting a safety car, offering the drivers that had not yet stopped an excellent option to stop for the dry-weather tyres, which were now faster.
Final sprint in sprint race
With three laps to go, the safety car went back in, making it a spectacular final sprint in the sprint race. Theo Pourchaire moved quickly from fourth to second place, but could not catch up with leader Vesti. Martins completed the podium.
Full results F2
1. Frederik Vesti
2. Theo Pourchaire
3. Victor Martins
4. Dennis Hauger
5. Jack Doohan
6. Richard Verschoor
7. Oliver Bearman
8. Ayumu Iwasa
9. Arthur Lecler
10. Enzo Fittipaldi
11. Clement Novalak
12. Isack Hadjar
13. Roman Stanek
14. Amaury Cordeel
15. Zane Maloney
16. Bred Benavides
17. Ralph Boschung
18. Kush Maini
19. Jehan Daruvala
20. Roy Nissany
21. Juan Correa
22. Jak Crawford