Antonelli wins his first F2 feature race in Hungary, Bearman frustrated

F1 News

Antonelli wins F2 race in Hungary and Bearman finishes P15
21 July at 10:12
3
  • Sophia Crothall

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was victorious on Sunday as he won his first F2 feature race. The 37 laps included two safety cars, following crashes from Paul Aron, Zane Maloney, and Amaury Cordeel. Isack Hajdar also had a difficult start, as he began from the pit lane. Oliver Bearman finished P15. 

What happened in the Formula 2 race? 

As the Formula 2 race got underway, Victor Martins was able to get off to a great start, moving from P5 to first. Pole-sitter Paul Aron experienced a lock-up which moved him down to seventh. There was also trouble for championship leader Isack Hadjar, who started from the pit lane. Oliver Bearman started P14, with Kimi Antonelli P7. By lap 5, Bearman had moved into eighth, with Antonelli moing into fifth. However, in lap 6, the battle between Antonelli and Maloney heated up, as the two fought in the middle sector. The PREMA driver was able to move into P4. 

Aron and Maloney made contact on lap 7, which triggered a safety car to be deployed. The two made contact in Turn 2, leaving them both spinning and out of the race. Under the safety car conditions, Bearman swapped his soft tyres for hards. Antonelli also moved into first place as a number of drivers decided to pit. The PREMA driver was able to hold onto his first place position long after the restart. Bearman dropped back to P14 after his pit stop. By lap 20, Antonelli comfortably had the lead, creating a gap of 6.3 seconds between him and Martins - but he still needed to make a pit stop. 

How did Antonelli win in Hungary?

Lap 22 saw the second safety car of the session, after Amaury Cordeel hit the barriers out of Turn 4. This timing allowed Antonelli to make his pit stop, as he switched onto the soft tyres. He re-joined in fifth, as Martins took the lead. Bearman moved back up the grid to P8. With ten laps to go, the safety car ended. Antonelli straight away managed to pass the drivers ahead of him, working his way into P3, and then P2. The race, which became a timed race, had 10 minutes left on the clock. with DRS, the Mercedes Junior Team driver took the lead from Martins, and soon created a one second gap between the pair. As his teammate succeeded, Bearman struggled, moving further down the grid to P14, and being warned to try and keep as close as possible to those ahead of him. In the end, Antonelli was able to create over an 11 seconds gap between him and Martins as he took home the victory. Bearman finished in P15 after another frustrating weekend for the future Haas F1 driver.