Fittipaldi impresses with smart overtakes in Saudi Arabia
F1 News
- GPblog.com
Enzo Fittipaldi won the Formula 2 feature race in Saudi Arabia. Van Amersfoort Racing's Brazilian driver drove a strong race with some smart overtakes. Kush Maini finished second, and Dennis Hauger got third. Afterwards, Fittipaldi responded to the win with tears in his eyes: "A week and a half ago, uncle Wilson passed away. He was the heart of the family. I want to dedicate this victory to him."
Jeddah's street circuit regularly caused problems at the start, and it was no different in the Formula 2 feature race. Pepe Marti spun in the middle of the field and could not continue his race afterwards. Roman Stanek was the victim of that spin, considering he was right behind it.
Kush Maini had a good start from pole position. He started from pole position after finishing second in qualifying. Original pole sitter Oliver Bearman will later be in action for Ferrari in Formula 1. Maini got away well, but behind him, Victor Martins had problems. The Frenchman had a poor start and fell way back. Young Andrea Kimi Antonelli did have a good start and climbed to fourth place.
Who has the best race pace
Due to Marti and Stanek's crashes, a safety car immediately entered the track and lasted a few laps. This was followed by a short stint on the softest tyres, after which everyone went in early. DAMS tried an undercut with Jak Crawford, but it failed. On the medium tyre, Crawford lost ground.
On the medium tyre, Enzo Fittipaldi was especially fast. The Van Amersfoort Racing Brazilian passed Kush Maini for first place. For Antonelli, things did not go as well. He lost a place to Isack Hadjar. Martins was also dropping back.
There was another safety car. Franco Colapinto hit the wall in the last corner and spun in the first corner. Race over and another safety car on the track. A bad moment for drivers who had started on the medium tyre. Juan Manuel Correa was leading, but it was clearly too early to switch to the softest tyre. Cordeel and Barnard, however, dared to take that gamble.
On the restart, Fittipaldi again impressed most. He overtook one driver after another on the medium tyre, but his overtake for the lead was particularly impressive. On the outside of turn one, Fittipaldi passed Cordeel and Correa.