Roundup of the eighth round of 2023 F2 season at Silverstone, Great Britain.
PREMA’s Frederik Vesti entered this round with a 20-point lead over ART GP’s Theo Pourchaire but a dramatic weekend affected by weather conditions, pace and strategies saw that lead widen then close up in a thrilling round at Silverstone.
Ayumu Iwas and Oliver Bearman meanwhile sat on the fringes but mistakes and mixed fortune saw both drivers remain on the fringes, as Bearman endured a tough home round.
Now, here is all the action across the eighth round of 2023 F2 season.
Practice
PHM Racing’s Roy Nissany and Brad Benavides were first out on track but majority of drivers opted to pit at the end of installation laps, with Ayumu Iwasa eventually setting a benchmark time of 1m 43.213 in the 10th minute.
ART GP’s Victor Martins quickly lowered the benchmark time to 1m 42.690 which he lowered to 1m 42.067 four minutes later, as Virtuosi’s Jack Doohan went second-fastest but 0.077 seconds quicker.
Doohan went top in the 18th minute with 1m 41.776 and just 0.236s clear of Pourchaire who moved above Martins into second, although Martins was bumped down to fourth by Fittipaldi a minute later.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Juan Manuel Correa soon afterwards caused the first red flag of the weekend, as he spun out at Copse after losing the rear end in the middle of the corner.
The session resumed in the 30th minute with Nissany first out on track and Martins responded with 1m 41.883 to go second fastest, before he produced 1m 41.653 to go top in the 38th minute.
A Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed seconds later after Hauger spun out at Brooklands but was withdrawn two minutes later.
Iwasa left it until three minutes left before he posted 1m 41.593 to top the session from Martins and Doohan, whilst the red flag was back out a minute later to conclude the session as Clement Novalak spun out at Stowe into the gravel trap.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 1m 41.593 |
| 2 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.060 |
| 3 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | + 0.126 |
| 4 | Arthur Leclerc | DAMS | + 0.217 |
| 5 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin | + 0.256 |
| 6 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | + 0.266 |
| 7 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 0.409 |
| 8 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.419 |
| 9 | Richard Verschoor | VAR | + 0.421 |
| 10 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | + 0.619 |
| 11 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | + 0.692 |
| 12 | Zane Maloney | Carlin | + 0.698 |
| 13 | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi | + 0.801 |
| 14 | Frederik Vesti | PREMA | + 0.868 |
| 15 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.905 |
| 16 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport | + 0.923 |
| 17 | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing | + 0.967 |
| 18 | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing | + 1.055 |
| 19 | Kush Maini | Campos | + 1.077 |
| 20 | Clement Novalak | Tridemt | + 1.171 |
| 21 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 1.317 |
| 22 | Juan Manuel Corra | VAR | + 1.621 |
Qualifying
Nissany and Benavides were once again first out on track after a five minute delay but it was Iwasa who set the benchmark time of 1m 41.100 on soft tyres matched by Leclerc, but Bearman and Hauger briefly went faster only to be displaced by Martins who posted 1m 40.586 to go fastest.
Once opening laps were completed, Martins wasn’t displaced as he headed Verschoor and Pourchaire with Vesti sat 10th and on provisional reverse-pole for the Sprint Race.
The red flags however were out in the 11th minute after Cordeel ran wide through Copse and spun out into the barriers at high-speed, from which he walked away without injury as the session was delayed 12 minutes before resuming with many drivers venturing back out with 19 minutes 32s on the clock.
Stewards however waved the red flag four minutes later and reset the clock to 11m 22s due to running close to F1’s FP2 slot, before settling upon a nine minute shootout which commenced two minutes later.
Upon the second restart, Leclerc posted 1m 40.198 to go fastest but was displaced by Bearman and Martins who dipped into the 1m 39s range, with Doohan going second only to be displaced by Maini as Manuel Correa spun at Maggots.
Few drivers found improvement on their final runs as Martins lowered his pole time to 1m 39.382 ahead of Maini, Iwasa, Doohan, Bearman, Fittipaldi, Maloney, Pourchaire, Hadjar and Vesti, as the top-ten were split by just 0.220s.
Post-session, Maloney was found to had impeded Pourchaire and Doohan which meant he was hit with a six-place grid penalty in total after being handed two sets of three-place grid penalties., dropping him to tenth on the reverse grid.
Hauger meanwhile started the Sprint from 19th on the grid after he was handed a five-place grid penalty for failing to abort a push lap, due to double-waved yellow flags at Turn 4 after Vesti grinded to a halt in the final minute.
Maini meanwhile started 14th after he picked up a five-place grid penalty after the Austrian Feature Race.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 1m 39.382 |
| 2 | Kush Maini | Campos | + 0.113 |
| 3 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | + 0.120 |
| 4 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | + 0.125 |
| 5 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 0.157 |
| 6 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin | + 0.159 |
| 7 | Zane Maloney | Carlin | + 0.169 |
| 8 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | + 0.187 |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | + 0.194 |
| 10 | Frederik Vesti | PREMA | + 0.220 |
| 11 | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing | + 0.303 |
| 12 | Arthur Leclerc | DAMS | + 0.366 |
| 13 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport | + 0.482 |
| 14 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | + 0.536 |
| 15 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | + 0.558 |
| 16 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 0.694 |
| 17 | Richard Verschoor | VAR | + 0.729 |
| 18 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | + 0.983 |
| 19 | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing | + 1.118 |
| 20 | Clement Novalak | Trident | + 1.274 |
| 21 | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi | + 1.625 |
| 22 | Juan Manuel Correa | VAR | + 2.252 |
Sprint Race
Rainfall during the F1 FP3 session left the circuit wet which meant a Safety Car start for three laps before Vesti led the field racing, as Bearman rapidly reeled in and passed Fittipaldi, Pourchaire and Hadjar in the opening four laps to take second.
The Brit however spun upon the exit of Vale at the end of Lap 6 to gift victory to Vesti and soon lost positions to Hadjar and Pourchaire, as he regathered control of his wet tyres and set about defending from Doohan who had cleared Fittipaldi on Lap 7.
During their titanic tussle over fourth, Bearman nudged Doohan wide at Stowe on Lap 13 which left the Australian furious, whilst stewards deemed it a racing incident much to Doohan’s annoyance.
Pourchaire meanwhile cleared Hadjar out of Vale on Lap 11 for second and the Frenchman fell back into the grasp of Bearman, who overtook him on the inside of Copse on Lap 15 for third.
Doohan followed Bearman through a lap later as he passed Hadjar on the inside of Luffield which became third as Bearman locked up on entry to Vale and ran wide, which allowed Fittipaldi to leapfrog him and Hadjar to finish fourth as the Frenchman fought off Bearman for fifth.
Martins and Leclerc rounded out the top eight in seventh and eighth positions.
Post-race, Cordeel was handed a five-second time penalty for overtaking Novalak off track at Turn 15 which demoted him from 15th to 16th position, behind Stanek who benefitted from the Belgian’s penalty.
In the drivers’ standings, Vesti extended his title lead over Pourchaire to 21 points as Iwasa stayed third, whilst Bearman saw his title deficit increase to 51 points in fourth position.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Frederik Vesti | PREMA | 19 | 40m 16.405 |
| 2 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 19 | + 13.432 |
| 3 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 19 | + 19.422 |
| 4 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin | 19 | + 25.610 |
| 5 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | 19 | + 30.517 |
| 6 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 19 | + 30.863 |
| 7 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 19 | + 31,345 |
| 8 | Arthur Leclerc | DAMS | 19 | + 31.633 |
| 9 | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing | 19 | + 32.452 |
| 10 | Zane Maloney | Carlin | 19 | + 38.554 |
| 11 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport | 19 | + 39.880 |
| 12 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 19 | + 40.251 |
| 13 | Kush Maini | Campos | 19 | + 44.116 |
| 14 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | 19 | + 44.706 |
| 15 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 19 | + 48.241 |
| 16 | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi | 19 | + 50.269 |
| 17 | Clement Novalak | Trident | 19 | + 51.066 |
| 18 | Richard Verschoor | VAR | 19 | + 52.808 |
| 19 | Juan Manuel Correa | VAR | 19 | + 67.916 |
| 20 | Ralph Boschung | Campos | 19 | + 74.160 |
| 21 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 18 | + 1 Lap |
| RET | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing | 0 | Crash |
Feature Race
At lights out, Martins made a sluggish start as did Maini which allowed Iwasa to breeze through into the lead but Martins fought back into the Loop, albeit off-track which ultimately saw him get a five-second time penalty on Lap 16 for his antics.
Bearman meanwhile moved up to third as Maini fell to sixth behind Fittipaldi and Doohan who slotted in behind Bearman, whilst Vesti made a strong start to climb to seventh from tenth on the grid.
Doohan eventually demoted Fittipaldi to fifth with an outside move around Stowe on Lap 5, which led the Brazilian and Vesti to make a mistimed pit stop two laps later as the Safety Car was deployed after Cordeel spun out at Vale into Club.
The frontrunners subsequently pitted under the Safety Car for the hard tyre with Martins re-joining in third position whilst Iwasa and Bearman came out in seventh and eighth behind Novalak, Manuel Correa and Boschung.
Racing resumed at the end of Lap 10 with Hadjar leading Leclerc but further behind, Hauger punted Vesti into Stanek, who consequently spun out whilst Vesti retired on Lap 12 with too much damage from the collision.
The Safety Car consequently was deployed and upon the second restart on Lap 15, Bearman ran wide at Abbey and dropped to 12th, having been later passed by Daruvala through Luffield on that same lap.
Boschung meanwhile struggled on his hard tyre and fell down the order which eventually saw him and Campos teammate, Maini spin out at Vale a lap later as his teammate collected him whilst trying to pass Bearman.
The Safety Car was immediately redeployed during which those who started on the hard tyres pitted which gave Martins back the race lead.
Racing recommenced on Lap 20 with Correa on the soft tyre quickly passing Bearman for ninth on the restart.
Novalak meanwhile quickly began tumbling out of the top ten as he struggled on the soft tyres, whilst Leclerc passed Pourchaire with an inside lunge at the Loop on Lap 21.
Leclerc however was unable to pass Maloney in the following laps as Martins sprinted away to a maiden F2 win by 7.051s on the road from Maloney, which was reduced once his five-second time penalty was applied.
Pourchaire meanwhile repassed Leclerc for third into Stowe on Lap 25 with Doohan following through a lap later to finish fourth, having previously passed Novalak and Iwasa on the restart.
Iwasa settled for fifth ahead of Bearman, Daruvala and Fittipaldi who cleared Leclerc in the closing laps, as the Monegasque settled for ninth ahead of Crawford at the checkered flag.
Post-race, Bearman was handed a harsh five-second time penalty after stewards adjudged him at blame for Maini’s collision for Boschung, which dropped the Brit to eighth in the classification.
Nissany meanwhile was handed a 10s time penalty after he was found to be at fault for causing Hauger to punt Vesti into the rear end of Stanek’s Trident, which eliminated the latter two drivers whilst Nissany consequently dropped to 17th in the classification.
In the drivers’ standings, Vesti’s lead over Pourchaire was cut to just six point with Iwasa sat 24 points behind in third, whilst Bearman is 47 points off his teammate and the title lead.
PREMA’s lead in the teams’ standings meanwhile was trimmed to just 10 points as ART GP closed the gap down.
F2 now heads to Hungary on weekend of 21-23 July for the ninth round of the season.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 29 | 58m 54.389 |
| 2 | Zane Maloney | Carlin | 29 | + 2.051 |
| 3 | Theo Pourchaire | ART GP | 29 | + 4.749 |
| 4 | Jack Doohan | Virtuosi | 29 | + 6.637 |
| 5 | Ayumu Iwasa | DAMS | 29 | + 12.611 |
| 6 | Jehan Daruvala | MP Motorsport | 29 | + 18.933 |
| 7 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Carlin | 29 | + 18.963 |
| 8 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 29 | + 23.225 |
| 9 | Arthur Leclerc | DAMS | 29 | + 24.155 |
| 10 | Jak Crawford | Hitech GP | 29 | + 24.543 |
| 11 | Juan Manuel Correa | VAR | 29 | + 27.958 |
| 12 | Clement Novalak | Trident | 29 | + 30.610 |
| 13 | Brad Benavides | PHM Racing | 29 | + 30.973 |
| 14 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 29 | + 32.920 |
| 15 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | 29 | + 34.573 |
| 16 | Richard Verschoor | VAR | 29 | + 34.629 |
| 17 | Roy Nissany | PHM Racing | 29 | + 39.777 |
| RET | Ralph Boschung | Campos | 15 | Collision |
| RET | Kush Maini | Campos | 15 | Collision |
| RET | Frederik Vesti | PREMA | 11 | Damage |
| RET | Roman Stanek | Trident | 10 | Collision |
| RET | Amaury Cordeel | Virtuosi | 5 | Spin |