Red Bull Racing junior Arvid Lindblad became the youngest winner in F2 history (at the age of 17 years, eight months and 11 days) after inheriting victory in the Saudi Arabian GP sprint race. MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor crossed the chequered flag first, but was handed a penalty for forcing Josep Maria Marti off the track.
Marti finished second behind his teammate Lindblad, handing Campos Racing its first 1-2 finish in the F2 championship. Rodin Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne completed the podium.
- Lindblad youngest F2 winner at 17 years, 8 months, 11 days
- Marti, Dunne complete sprint podium
- Verschoor penalised for forcing Marti off track
Lindblad wins F2 sprint after Verschoor penalty
Starting from sixth on the grid, Lindblad was already up to P4 at the end of the first lap. He then used DRS to get ahead of Gabriele Mini on Lap 3. Ahead of him, Marti passed polesitter Verschoor around the outside at Turn 1 to briefly take the race lead. Verschoor re-took the place on the next lap, but stewards eventually deemed that he had forced his rival off-track and handed Verschoor a five second penalty.
On Lap 8, Lindblad moved up to second place as Marti ran wide at Turn 8. He held on to the spot till the end of the race, and since Verschoor’s penalty was confirmed on the final lap, Lindblad inherited victory ahead of his teammate Marti.
“Really happy with the result today, youngest ever F2 race winner. A huge thank you to the team, a really good race coming from P6 to P1. A shame to Richard for the penalty, but super happy to win and looking forward to tomorrow now,” said Lindblad
The penalty dropped Verschoor to P4, followed by Roman Stanek. Mini overtook Leonardo Fornaroli on the final lap to take P6, while Victor Martins grabbed the final point with a P8 finish.
Maini misses out on points
Jeddah has usually been happy hunting grounds for Kush Maini, who was recently also announced as part of the Alpine F1 team’s roster of reserve and test drivers. The Indian racer started from pole here last year ended up second in the F2 feature race. More recently, he even set the fastest time in the Formula E rookie practice session with Mahindra Racing, albeit on a shortened version of the track.
However, this time around, his weekend has been hampered by what appears to be engine problems and he could only qualify P12. He ended up finishing P10 in the sprint race, just missing out on scoring points.
Speaking to Autocar India ahead of the sprint race, the Indian stressed that it’s still early in the championship though, and there are some positives to take away despite the setbacks faced early on at Jeddah.
“The way I felt in qualifying with car, I haven’t felt in a while. So. I’m positive for what’s to come. It was just a pleasure to drive and even though the result wasn’t there, that feeling in the car won’t go away and now we know what it is. We’ve figured it out as a team and we have a lot more of the championship for when the engine is falling into place all the other pieces come into place; we know we’ll be there,” he said.
Watch this space for more updates from the Saudi Arabian GP.
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India’s Dion Gowda on stepping up to Formula Regional European Championship, GB3
