F2 Saudi Arabia: Fittipaldi dominates for maiden feature race win

Maini started the feature race from pole position and with two points in his pocket, by virtue of Oliver Bearman’s withdrawal from the weekend in order to replace Carlos Sainz at the Ferrari Formula 1 outfit with the Spaniard rendered unfit through appendicitis.

While the Invicta driver made a perfect start, things were wild behind with double-podium winner from Bahrain Pepe Marti losing the rear of his Campos entry on the exit of Turn 2 and spinning into the path of Trident driver Roman Staněk.

While Marti initially blamed the spin on contact from Franco Colapinto, the MP Motorsport driver picking up damage in the incident, replays cleared him of guilt.

Gabriel Bortoleto was another early retiree, pulling his Invicta entry off the track with a mechanical problem while the safety car allowed for the Turn 2 clear-up to be completed.

The race saw only four drivers – Staněk, Bortoleto, Juan Manuel Correa, Taylor Barnard and Amaury Cordeel – start on the medium tyre, with the remainder of the field using the supersoft option. On lap six, after completing the minimum distance on the softest rubber, the pack began to file into the pitlane to complete their mandated stops.

Fittipaldi (Van Amersfoort Racing) had started from fourth and, after dropping behind Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the opening exchanges, promoted himself to the net race lead on lap 13, using DRS to pass a defenceless Maini.

Jak Crawford, Dams, leads Roman Stanek, Trident, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Prema Racing, at the start (Photo by: Mark Sutton / Motorsport Images)

Bu on lap 15, Colapinto threw a curveball into the mix as a tap of the wall at the final corner caused him to lose the rear at Turn 1, causing another safety car interruption.

Despite the safety car taking the field through the pits, Correa elected not to take advantage of a cheap stop, Barnard and Cordeel both elected to take the chance that the supersoft rubber could last 13 laps – a distance which, by the time the race resumed, was down to 10.

The race-winning move came in breathtaking style at the start of lap 22, as Fittipaldi went three wide with Cordeel and Correa before making his way around the outside of both drivers.

While Maini also made light work of the supersoft-shod runners, Cordeel was relegated two further places on the line as Hauger and Jak Crawford both flew by on the exit of the final corner.

Hauger was placed under investigation for crossing the white line at the pit entry on the run to the chequered flag.

However, stewards later decided not to issue any penalty saying that neither driver involved in the squabble was wholly to blame for the incident.

F2 Saudi Arabia - Feature race results

Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info

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Main Information Additional Data 1  -  2
Cla	Driver	#		Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	E. Fittipaldi Van Amersfoort Racing	14		28	-
2	K. Maini Invicta Racing	9		28	+7.800 7.8	7.800
3	D. Hauger MP Motorsport	11		28	+9.300 9.3	1.500
4	J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil	7		28	+9.300 9.3	0.000
5	A. Cordeel Hitech Pulse-Eight	16		28	+9.500 9.5	0.200
6	A. Antonelli Prema Powerteam	4		28	+10.000 10.0	0.500
7	Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport	5		28	+10.400 10.4	0.400
8	R. Verschoor Trident	22		28	+11.800 11.8	1.400
9	R. Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing	15		28	+17.500 17.5	5.700
10	V. Martins ART Grand Prix	1		28	+20.600 20.6	3.100
11	P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight	17		28	+25.100 25.1	4.500
12	J. Duerksen PHM AIX Racing	24		28	+26.200 26.2	1.100
13	T. Barnard PHM AIX Racing	25		28	+30.400 30.4	4.200
14	J. Correa DAMS Lucas Oil	8		28	+38.400 38.4	8.000
15	R. Miyata Rodin Motorsport	6		28	+40.800 40.8	2.400
dnf	Z. O'Sullivan ART Grand Prix	2		23	5 laps					Retirement
dnf	I. Hadjar Campos Racing	20		20	8 laps					Retirement
dnf	F. Colapinto MP Motorsport	12		14	14 laps					Retirement
dnf	G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing	10		1	27 laps					Retirement
dnf	P. Martí Campos Racing	21		27						Retirement
dnf	R. Staněk Trident	23		27						Retirement
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