Verschoor penalty gives Lindblad F2 Saudi Arabian GP sprint race - Motorsport

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Winning the F2 Saudi Arabian GP sprint race, Arvid Lindblad has become the youngest F2 driver to win a race at the age of 17.

Richard Verschoor crossed the line in P1, though lost his race win due to a time penalty for forcing another driver off the track.

Race start

Yesterday’s qualifying session for saw Jak Crawford steal the fastest lap in the last moments of the session from Victor Martins.

Following Formula 2’s reverse grid format for the sprint race, starting on the front row should have been Roman Stanek. However, the Invicta Racing driver was awarded a three place grid drop for the sprint race and feature race at the Saudi Arabian GP round for impeding during qualifying.

This promoted MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor to the front of the sprint race grid, followed by Gabriele Minì and Pepe Martí.

A good start for Verschoor at Jeddah meant that the MP Motorsport driver had a clear lead from the first lap. Slow off the line, Minì lost a place to Martí by the first corner.

Lindblad made up two places, while Fornaroli and Martins at Browning’s expense

Starting towards the back of the grid, Shields was caught up in a lap one incident, spinning out and was unable to get the car started again. He stopped in the run off area and the virtual safety car was deployed.

Fierce competition in the top 4

Upon the restart at the F2 Saudi Arabian GP round sprint, DRS was immediately enabled aiding overtaking.

Verschoor was keen to put his foot down and build up a gap to the field behind him. Lindblad was also quick on the restart, getting past Miní for third position.

Martí then went wheel to wheel with Verschoor, taking the lead by lap 4 by going around the outside. At the same corner, Minì tried to overtake Lindblad, though he had to run wide off the track to avoid contact.

Verschoor retook his lead by Lap 5. To avoid giving Martí the benefit of DRS, Verschoor put his foot down and created a gap of more than a second.

On pole for tomorrow’s feature race, Crawford was keen to overtake Martins for the final points position in the sprint race.

On Lap 8, Martí was under pressure from Lindblad following close behind. Martí went wide between turns 8 and 9, giving Minì DRS who was being followed by Stanek and Dunne.

Martí went wide once again later in the lap, giving Mini third place briefly. The Campos Racing driver quickly took back this place.

On Lap 10, Dunne gained two positions from Minì and Stanek.

Rest of the pack close together at Jeddah

From Minì in P5 to Maini in P11, a DRS train had formed by Lap 12.

Both Invicta drivers were under threat on Lap 13 of the F2 Saudi Arabian GP sprint race at the same corner. Fornaroli fended off Crawford for P7. Minì went wide once again at turn 2 as he did not manage to overtake Stanek.

Crawford eventually made his overtake stick into turn one of lap 15, claiming P7.

Minì was under threat from Crawford as he struggled to stay close to Stanek.

Trying to make a move on Minì for P6, Crawford locked up and collided with the PREMA Racing driver. Despite contact, Minì was able to continue. The DAMS Lucas Oil driver was unable to get started again, and the safety car was soon deployed.

All change after safety car restart

The safety car meant that the lead that Verschoor had built up was equalised. The MP Motorsport driver put his foot down on the safety car restart and soon was out of DRS from Lindblad behind him.

Fornaroli soon cleared Minì on the restart for the lower points positions. Martins then went side by side with Mini around the hairpin, though the ART Grand Prix driver stayed behind.

On Lap 19, Verschoor received a 5 second time penalty for pushing another driver off track earlier on in the race. Despite crossing the line in first position, Verschoor lost the F2 Saudi Arabian GP round sprint race win. He was pushed off the podium and claimed P4.

Lindblad, racing in P2, therefore received the win. The Red Bull Junior became the youngest winner in Formula 2 history. His Campos Racing teammate Marti followed across the line for P2.

As the rest of the pack crossed the line, Verschoor was also noted for a safety car infringement earlier in the race.