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Verschoor wins F2 sprint race in Hungary as Antonelli and Bearman struggle

Verschoor wins F2 sprint race as Antonelli suffers from tyre disadvantage

20 July at 14:00
  • Matt Gretton
  • Editor-in-Chief

Richard Verschoor has won the Formula 2 sprint race in Hungary after Kimi Antonelli featured at the front but lost out with a significant tyre disadvantage. Future Formula 1 driver Oliver Bearman impressed in the race as he made gains from P14 on the grid but dropped backwards in the closing stages. Kush Maini finished second and Victor Martins rounded out the podium. Championship leader Isack Hadjar also scored key points in P4.

How the Formula 2 sprint race happened in Hungary

Zane Maloney struggled to get it off the line for the formation lap from third place. In fact, he couldn't get going at all. He eventually got running but had to be at the back of the pack, meaning his push to try and stay in the Championship fight hit a significant setback.

After a bit of a battle on lap three, Antonelli overtook Verschoor for the lead on lap four of the race. He opened the gap to two seconds by lap five. The stewards wanted to investigate some moving under braking during the battle but they decided not to take any further action. The gap was reduced to less than a second on lap 13 as the Italian struggled with soft tyre graining. 

Verschoor, on hard tyres, started to battle hard again on lap 15 and made the move on lap 17. Antonelli's tyres faded, and several lock-ups didn't help his situation with the tyre disadvantage. He lost P2 in the same corner as Maini went through the open door as well. Eventually, Antonelli gave up with the soft tyres and pitted to gain experience on the hards for Sunday's Feature race. 

On lap 20, future Formula 1 driver Oliver Bearman moved into the points-paying positions. He started from 14th on the gid and made an impression in the race but dropped back to P11 towards the end. Isack Hadjar also made late moves through the field, giving him important points at the top of the championship. Rain on the last lap provided a lot of drama in the midfield.