Trident’s Richard Verschoor prevails at the Hungarian F2 Sprint in a race that was marked by an overtake-bonanza due to an alternative strategy with drivers alternating between soft and hard tires.
Invicta’s Kush Maini and ART Grand Prix’ Victor Martins joined the Dutchman on the podium.
The surprising risk of rain and colder temperatures tempted the grid to split its strategy between soft and hard tires for the Hungarian F2 Sprint Race.
Prema’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli had a flying start which lifted him from 4th up to 1st in a span of 4 laps.
Pole-sitter for the Hungarian F2 Feature Race, Hitech’s Paul Aron had an underwhelming start into the race where he lost 8 positions.
Young Italian gained two from the get-go as third-placed Maloney was unable to start his engine, while Invicta’s Kush Maini had to accept defeat in a turn 2 battle.
Prema’s engineer realized the potential risk of two aforementioned factors and urged his driver to pass Verschoor immediately.
Really important to pass, pull away.
Prema’s engineer notifying Andrea Kimi Antonelli of team’s intentions into Hungarian F2 Sprint
Another factor that needs to be taken into consideration is the tight characteristic of Hungaroring which makes it one of the hardest tracks to overtake.
Drivers that could benefit in the later stage of the race are Richard Verschoor, Kush Maini and championship leader Isack Hadjar as the top 3 drivers on hard tires.
Where strategies meet in the middle point – Hungarian F2 Sprint
As the Hungarian F2 Sprint comes into the 2nd half of the race, race positions generally stabilized.
Hard tires-driven Verschoor and Maini await for Antonelli’s soft tires to drop down on a performance, however battle between Trident’s and Invicta’s drivers seems to boil in upcoming laps.
In the meantime, championship leader Isack Hadjar ‘pulls the trigger’ and overtakes Bortoleto for 7th meaning that hard tires are now certainly the right strategy to be onto.
Verschoor’s withstanding F2 experience tries to force Prema’s rookie into forced error fairly successfully. Antonelli locks his front tires consecutively which leaves him vulnerable whilst dropping 4 positions in a span of 2 laps.
Prema’s questionable strategy for a driver who had a fair share of substandard tire management in Formula 2 so far leaves him ‘dead last’ after switching to hard tires.
Invicta’s Gabriel Bortoleto is another driver to follow Antonelli’s steps and pits for hard tires.
The hard tires strategy finally prevails
With 5 laps to go, the podium has been certainly established with Richard Verschoor leading from Kush Maini and Victor Martins.
Drivers on Soft tires struggle, notably the spectacular lock-up of VAR’s Enzo Fittipaldi in turn 1 amid a battle with Hauger a couple of corners later caused a front left puncture.
Hungarian F2 Feature race pole-sitter Paul Aron’s heated-up hard tires set him in 7th place.
The final laps of the race were stricken by multiple drivers fighting out for positions outside of the points-paying positions due to different life-span of tires, luckily with no incidents that would cause any sort of a Safety Car.