F1 News

Antonelli caught out in F2: Back in last position for strange reason

Disaster for F1 prospects in Austria: Antonelli in last place, Bearman DNF

30 June at 09:30
2
  • Kada Sarkozi
  • Editor

In Formula 2's feature race in Austria, a strange thing happened to multiple drivers: Their cars just stalled. A driver tipped to have a good future in Formula 1, Andrea Kimi Antonelli was caught out by this issue. Later, because of a technical issue, Oliver Bearman had to retire his car in the pit lane.

Early on in Formula 2, because of the heat, many drivers' cars just stalled completely. The same thing has happened to Kimi Antonelli. The Italian entered the pit lane early for his mandatory pit stop in the feature race, because the supersoft tyres were unable to hold on. Once the tyres were switched on Lap 8, Antonelli's car had stalled and he could not move, with the engineers trying to help restart the car. Antonelli suffered the most because of this issue out of the cars still running, as he is in last position and has quite a gap to Dennis Hauger in P20.

Beforehand, Dennis Hauger, Kush Maini and Zane Maloney all stalled too during the formation lap. Antonelli himself made a blistering start. By lap two, the Mercedes junior had made six places. But his work was undone in the pitlane as he stalled the car. He returned to the track in 21st place, a full 25 seconds behind the next placed driver. 

Bearman also out

On Lap 20, after his Sprint Race victory, Oliver Bearman also had to retire his car in the pit lane because of a technical failure, causing more problems for Prema. The Italians have struggled all season long in Formula 2.