2023 F2 Roundup: Round 11 – Netherlands

Roundup of the 11th round of 2023 F2 season at Zandvoort, Netherlands.

A hectic weekend saw weather and crazy on-track play their part in a dramatic round which saw no points awarded for the Sprint, whilst a new race winner was crowned in a chaotic Feature Race.

Now, here is a full roundup of the F2 action at Zandvoort, Netherlands.

 

Practice

Practice commenced in damp conditions with Carlin’s Zane Maloney first out to explore the track conditions, but it was PHM Racing’s Joshua Mason who set the initial benchmrk of 1m 40.978 as everyone else sat in the pit lane.

Several cars eventually joined Mason on track in the 14th minute after the Brit had lowered the benchmark time to 1m 27.025 in the 12th minute.

Maloney beat Mason’s time in the 19th minute but the Barbados-born driver saw his lap time quickly bettered, with Oliver Bearman eventually emerging fastest with 1m 24.528 ahead of Victor Martins and Theo Pourchaire once opening laps were completed.

Jak Crawford found 0.514 seconds in the 22nd minute to go fastest but Bearman responded immediately with 1m 23.587, but got bumped down a minute later as Martins posted 1m 23.478 to go top from Ayumu Iwasa, Pourchaire and Jack Doohan.

Iwasa briefly went fastest in the 26th minute but was displaced by Dennis Hauger three minutes later with 1m 23.111 as the Norwegian looked to enjoy a strong weekend at MP Motorsport’s home race.

Bearman however topped the session for PREMA with 1m 22.715 in the 43rd minute as the session finished under red flags, after Campos’ Ralph Boschung spun backwards into the barriers at Turn 7 after he clipped the grass upon entry.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	1m 22.715
2	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	+ 0.396
3	Frederik Vesti	PREMA	+ 0.469
4	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	+ 0.640
5	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 0.763
6	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	+ 0.776
7	Zane Maloney	Carlin	+ 0.833
8	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	+ 0.854
9	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	+ 0.948
10	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	+ 0.963
11	Clement Novalak	Trident	+ 1.053
12	Ralph Boschung	Campos	+ 1.264
13	Jak Crawford	Hitech GP	+ 1.299
14	Kush Maini	Campos	+ 1.361
15	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing	+ 1.499
16	Richard Verschoor	VAR	+ 1.504
17	Amaury Cordeel	Virtuosi	+ 1.524
18	Enzo Fittipaldi	Carlin	+ 1.525
19	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	+ 1.586
20	Juan Manuel Correa	VAR	+ 1.59`
21	Roman Stanek	Trident	+ 1.830
22	Joshua Mason	PHM Racing	+ 3.586

 

Qualifying

Maloney and Fittipaldi were first out onto a dry track but there was early drama as drivers scrapped over track position ahead of their first fliers, as Martins almost punted Doohan into the pitwall at high speed in the sixth minute.

Out in front, Hadjar set the fastest lap of 1m 21.732 in the seventh minute ahead of Bearman as Novalak slotted into a surprise third position after the opening fliers were completed.

Doohan responded to Hadjar’s effort with 1m 21.377 on his next flying lap in the ninth minute but Crawford put himself on provisional pole a minute later, as he delivered 1m 21.210 to go top from Hauger and Vesti at the half-way mark of the session.

Maloney led everyone back out for their final runs in the 19th minute but Crawford suffered a right-rear puncture from Stanek as they exited the pit lane, which necessitated another stop for fresh tyres.

Daruvala meanwhile brought out the first of three red flags as he spun on the exit of Turn 3, which caused a seven-minute stoppage, before Correa spun out at Turn 10 in the 27th minute to cause a second stoppage in the session.

Novalak eventually prevented anyone from improving after he hit the barriers at Turn 3 in the final minute, causing debris to be strewn across the track which in-turn ensured a maiden Feature Race pole position for Crawford ahead of Hauger, Vesti, Maloney and Doohan.

Bearman, Manuel Correa, Martins, Hadjar and Pourchaire rounded out the top ten, with Pourchaire inheriting reverse-pole for the Sprint ahead of his French compatriot, Hadjar.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Jak Crawford	Hitech GP	1m 21.210
2	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	+ 0.034
3	Frederik Vesti	PREMA	+ 0.112
4	Zane Maloney	Carlin	+ 0.127
5	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	+ 0.148
6	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	+ 0.207
7	Juan Manuel Correa	VAR	+ 0.227
8	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 0.232
9	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	+ 0.249
10	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	+ 0.287
11	Kush Maini	Campos	+ 0.341
12	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	+ 0.388
13	Clement Novalak	Trident	+ 0.389
14	Richard Verschoor	VAR	+ 0.407
15	Ralph Boschung	Campos	+ 0.493
16	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	+ 0.515
17	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	+ 0.735
18	Amaury Cordeel	Virtuosi	+ 0.751
19	Enzo Fittipaldi	Carlin	+ 0.792
20	Roman Stanek	Trident	+ 0.800
21	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing	+ 1.563
22	Joshua Mason	PHM Racing	+ 2.553

 

Sprint Race

Heavy rain showers following F1’s FP3 session forced stewards to delay the start of the race by eight minutes, during which Pourchaire was forced into the pit lane due to a mechanical issue and handed Hadjar the race lead as the formation lap began under the Safety Car.

Once the Safety Car pitted, Hadjar led the field away on a rolling start due to track conditions with Bearman immediately clearing Manuel Correa for third into Turn 1 on the inside.

Crawford meanwhile lost control under a puddle at Turn 5 and made contact which sent both drivers sliding off track, but Maini was unable to avoid his teammate – Boschung who ended up with the Indian’s Campos on the top of his cockpit.

The Safety Car was immediately deployed but red flagged at the end of Lap 2 due to extensive barrier repairs, which took 27 minutes before the race restarted behind the Safety Car.

Track conditions however had worsened during the stoppage which led to awful visbility amidst the spray lit up by drivers, which forced the stewards to red flag the race once more and ultimately the sprint was abandoned.

Stewards ultimately awarded no points due to two laps of green flag racing not being completed as per regulations, although Hadjar was declared the winner from Martins and Bearman.

Pourchaire consequently retained his 12-point lead ahead of Vesti despite finding himself at the rear of the field.

 

Feature Race

A damp track meant that the race commenced with a rolling start at the end of the formation lap behind the Safety Car, but Crawford ran deep at Turn 1 whilst Vesti spun at the same corner which forced Bearman and Martins wide albeit after Manuel Correa slammed into Bearman under braking.

Stewards subsequently gave Manuel Correa a 10s time penalty for his reckless braking.

Doohan however failed to officially start the race after he spun out at the final corner on the formation lap, having hit a wet patch mid corner.

The Safety Car however was deployed due to Doohan’s incident and Crawford led everyone back racing at the end of Lap 3, with Iwasa outbraking himself at Turn 1 on the next lap and he clipped Maini’s front wing as both drivers ran wide.

Iwasa consequently received a 10s time penalty for causing the collision with Maini.

Leclerc meanwhile triggered a wave of pit stops after he, Boschung, Daruvala and Mason had started on the wet tyre unlike everyone else, which forced them to pit at the end of Lap 6 with Maloney following suit a lap later which forced Crawford and Hauger to stop on Lap 9.

Pourchaire meanwhile pitted at the end of Lap 9 and jumped Hadjar after minor contact upon pit entry but on his outlap on mediums, he lost control out of Turn 6 and slid into the barriers heavily at Turn 7, which caused the Safety Car to be deployed.

PREMA responded by pitting Bearman and Vesti but the latter spun out on his outlap, after his right-rear tyre wasn’t fitted correctly.

Racing resumed at the end of Lap 16 with Novalak heading Crawford who was demoted to third as Maloney completed an outside move into Turn 1 for second place.

Bearman meanwhile snuck up the inside of Martins through Turn 1 to take fifth but ran high up the Turn 3 banking, which led Martins to lash out and punt his rookie rival into the barriers which ended Bearman’s race.

Martins subsequently was handed a 10s time penalty for his irresponsible antics as he wrestled fifth back from Bearman.

Up front, Novalak built a solid lead over Maloney and Crawford who scrapped over second place and clung on to clinch his maiden F2 victory, plus first race win since June 2019 in British F3 en-route to that season’s title.

Maloney fought off Crawford to finishs second as Verschoor finished fourth at his home race ahead of Hauger, Hadjar, Fittipaldi and Cordeel, as Martins’ penalty dropped him to ninth at the checkered flag ahead of Manuel Correa who rounded out the top ten

Pourchaire continues to lead Vesti in the standings by 12 points ahead of Iwasa who is still 34 points behind in third, ahead of Doohan, Martins and Bearman.

F2 now heads to Monza, Italy for their penultimate round next weekend across 1-3 September.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Clement Novalak	Trident	38	1h 01m 36.125
2	Zane Maloney	Carlin	38	+ 2.183
3	Jak Crawford	Hitech GP	38	+ 2.525
4	Richard Verschoor	VAR	38	+ 3.197
5	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	38	+ 11.695
6	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	38	+ 13.706
7	Enzo Fittipaldi	Carlin	38	+ 17.646
8	Amaury Cordeel	Virtuosi	38	+ 20.586
9	Victor Martins	ART GP	38	+ 20.879
10	Juan Manuel Correa	VAR	38	+ 23.032
11	Roman Stanek	Trident	38	+ 33.147
12	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing	38	+ 34.673
13	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	38	+ 37.644
14	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	38	+ 39.464
15	Joshua Mason	PHM Racing	38	+ 45.146
16	Ralph Boschung	Campos	38	+ 45.548
17	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	38	+ 47.377
18	Kush Maini	Campos	38	+ 77.127
RET	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	17	Collision
RET	Frederik Vesti	PREMA	10	Tyre
RET	Theo Pourchaire	ART GP	9	Spin
DNS	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi	0	Crash