F2 Belgium: O’Sullivan wins delayed and red-flagged sprint race

O’Sullivan wins delayed, reduced-distance Belgium F2 sprint race

Williams junior driver Zak O'Sullivan took his second win of the Formula 2 season in treacherous conditions before the race was red-flagged, having previously been postponed earlier in the day.

The Spa F2 sprint race had been due to start at 2:15pm local time on Saturday but was postponed due to heavy rain.

The race was eventually started at 6:25pm, with O’Sullivan on pole making a strong start as the chasing pack were well-behaved in the wet conditions.

Pulling out a two-second lead with clear air ahead, O’Sullivan was unchallenged when the virtual safety car was deployed on the third lap to initially to cover the recovery of Pepe Marti’s Campos, which had stopped on the run to Pouhon.

This was soon upgraded to a full safety car on lap four, but worsening conditions meant the field remained in a single file train before the red flags flew on lap seven and the race was not resumed.

The FIA explained the call not to restart the race: “The decision not to resume the FIA Formula 2 sprint race was taken due to the lack of visibility caused by the level of rain we have experienced in the past few hours coupled with the high-speed characteristics of the Spa-Francorchamps circuit.

“The safety of drivers, team members, volunteers, officials and spectators is our main priority.”

In the limited racing, Oliver Bearman made significant early progress after firing up his wet tyres, climbing from 14th to seventh.

But the move of the race came from his Prema team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who ran side by side with Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) to Eau Rouge, before climbing the hill side by side. As Colapinto was forced to concede sixth, Bearman also squeezed past on the Kemmel Straight.

As a result of the reduced distance, points were awarded only to the top five, with O’Sullivan collecting five. He was joined on the podium by Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport) and Richard Verschoor (Trident), as Zane Maloney (Rodin) and Jack Crawford (DAMS) completed the points places.

Paul Aron (Hitech) finished 18th after taking a grid penalty for the sprint race, meaning he started from 20th. He will start Sunday’s feature race from pole position with championship rivals Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta) and Isack Hadjar (Campos) directly behind.

Spa-Francorchamps - Sprint race

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	Z. O'Sullivan ART Grand Prix	2	5	14'15.548		146.836		5
2	D. Hauger MP Motorsport	11	5	+0.849 14'16.397	0.849	146.690		4
3	R. Verschoor Trident	22	5	+1.122 14'16.670	0.273	146.644		3
4	Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport	5	5	+3.031 14'18.579	1.909	146.318		2
5	J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil	7	5	+4.051 14'19.599	1.020	146.144		1
6	A. Antonelli Prema Powerteam	4	5	+5.210 14'20.758	1.159	145.947
7	O. Bearman Prema Powerteam	3	5	+6.022 14'21.570	0.812	145.810
8	F. Colapinto MP Motorsport	12	5	+7.665 14'23.213	1.643	145.532
9	I. Hadjar Campos Racing	20	5	+8.907 14'24.455	1.242	145.323
10	G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing	10	5	+9.907 14'25.455	1.000	145.155
View full results