Red Bull junior Hadjar wins at Spa and consolidates lead in title race

What they can do in Formula 3, we can do too. That initially seemed to be the adage of the drivers in Formula 2. Indeed, earlier in the morning, the F3 race required three safety car periods to clear all debris after several incidents. In the F2 main race, the opening laps were also quickly hit twice. Right after the start at the very first corner, Pepe Marti and Oliver Bearman collided and ended up in the wall, leaving race control with no option but to neutralise the race.

Martins and Villagomez in the wall

After the Red Bull and Ferrari junior's cars were recovered, the restart could take place with the two title contenders Paul Aron and Isack Hadjar at the head of the field. The Estonian managed to keep the French Algerian behind him, but this battle did not last long thereafter. Indeed, Villagomez - who had been pushed too wide by Barnard - lost control of his car, hitting the chance-less Victor Martins. Both drivers saw their race end with a hefty crash, after which the safety car had to go out again.

After the second restart, a great battle unfolded first between Aron and Hadjar, with the latter managing to overtake his rival on Kemmel Straight. Aron immediately decided to make a pit stop, which seemed the perfect strategy. Once outside - and helped a little by a slow stop from Hadjar - Aron had more grip and was able to take back the leader in the title race.

Hadjar, however, did not let himself off the hook. The Red Bull Junior Team youngster waited patiently, got back into Aron's DRS range and, with the speed difference on Kemmel, managed to blow past Aron again. Further down the field - although it was actually ahead of the Hadjar and Aron duo on track because of the pit stops - Richard Verschoor and Andrea Kimi Antonelli put up a nice fight. The Dutchman had the Mercedes talent in his gearbox for a long time but held on handsomely. Incidentally, a poor pit stop meant that Antonelli had no prospect of a podium finish.

Hadjar proudly in the lead, Aron fell silent

Hadjar and Aron no doubt thought they would decide together who would take the win. But suddenly there was Gabriel Bortoleto, who seemed to have grown wings after his pit stop. First, the McLaren junior passed Aron (who could not keep his tyres up), and not much later the Brazilian was also shortly behind Hadjar. That appeared to be the signal for the Red Bull talent to add some extra throttle, steadily keeping Bortoleto out of the DRS. In this way, Hadjar managed to drive fairly carefree to the win, with Bortoleto second. Aron seemed to be heading for third, but the Estonian saw his car stalled on the very last lap. Jak Crawford took advantage and still finished third. Richard Verschoor drove a fine race and concluded the last race before the summer break with fifth place. Kimi Antonelli finished ninth.

This article was written in collaboration with Olly Darcy