Door slams shut, then ajar for hadjar

FORMULA 2

MELBOURNE (AUS)

23-24 MARCH

ROUND 3/14

Isack Hadjar took the chequered flag first in both Formula 2 races supporting the Australian Grand Prix, but what happened at the start of the first cost him one victory, and what occurred on the 10th lap of the second set up one that had looked unlikely.

The Red Bull Junior had qualified his Campos Racing car eighth for Sunday’s feature race, giving him third on the partially reversed grid for the sprint on Saturday. Hadjar made a good start, then veered right into the middle of the track to take the fight to polesitter Roman Stanek.

But Hadjar was unaware that Campos and Red Bull stablemate Pepe Marti had made an even better start from fourth on the grid. As he moved right, Hadjar made slight contact with Marti, forcing the Spaniard into the side of front-row starter Gabriel Bortoleto. Marti and Bortoleto made heavy contact with the wall, resulting in the retirement of both within 100 metres of the start.

Hadjar’s car was unscathed, and the Frenchman managed to execute his move on Stanek for the lead by the first corner. He maintained the advantage to the chequered flag, despite a pair of safety car interventions, the first for the start incident and the second after Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Richard Verschoor spun in unison at Turn 12 on lap 10. By the flag, the winning margin was over six seconds. But some hours later, Hadjar was handed a 10s sanction, which dropped him to sixth.

After a subsequent appeal was dismissed by the stewards, fortune smiled on Hadjar in the feature race when, having made little progress through the order, he was thrust into the net race lead after Dennis Hauger, who had initially controlled the race from pole in his MP Motorsport entry, crashed at the ‘George Russell’ Turn 6 after his pitstop.

When the virtual safety car, and eventually the full safety car, was deployed, Hadjar was already in the pits, meaning he lost significantly less time than those forced to creep around the track at low speed. Invicta Racing’s Kush Maini, on the alternate strate