Victor Martins overcame a late time penalty to win a frantic Formula 2 feature race at Silverstone for his debut victory in the series.
The F2 rookie was given a five-second penalty for going off-track and gaining an advantage while passing Ayumu Iwasa wide as the pair fought for the lead on the opening lap. However the ART driver crossed the finishing line 6.4 seconds ahead of second-placed Zane Maloney to clinch the win.Theo Pourchaire completed the podium after three Safety Car periods affected the race. That allowed the Sauber junior to slash his championship deficit to leader Frederik Vesti.
Martins started on pole for the second consecutive feature race with Kush Maini alongside him on the front row. Iwasa and Jack Doohan shared the second row on a dry track, despite late rain hitting the Formula 3 race which finished less than an hour beforehand.
Iwasa shot out of his third-place starting position and dived between the top two to take the lead as the field accelerated towards Abbey. Martins tried to pass Iwasa back around the outside of Village but ran outside of the track briefly before passing Iwasa into The Loop to regain the lead.
The racing remained calm for the subsequent laps, as the Alpine junior quickly extended his lead to four-seconds by lap five. Cars began to pit from lap seven, with Enzo Fittipaldi in fifth the highest-placed driver switching tyres first. But seconds later, a Safety Car period was called after Amaury Cordeel stopped following a collision with Dennis Hauger.
The Red Bull junior had attempted an overtake into Stowe but his rear-right tyre hit Cordeel’s front-left which caused the Virtuosi driver to spin.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Much of the grid used this period as an opportunity to pit, including Martins, who rejoined in third. Isack Hadjar inherited the lead but was yet to come in, as was Arthur Leclerc behind, while Iwasa held net second place in seventh.
The race restarted on lap 10 but the cars failed to complete an entire tour before another Safety Car period was called for. While approaching Vale prior to the restart, Hauger hit the rear of Vesti which sent the championship leader into Roman Stanek ahead. Stanek subsequently spun and ultimately retired from the race, while Vesti and Hauger returned to the pit lane. However on lap 12 following his pit-stop, the Mercedes junior came to a stop with suspension damage under the Safety Car and became the race’s third retiree.
A relatively calm restart on lap 14 saw most drivers keeping position, but Juan Manuel Correa overtook Clement Novalak for fourth. But again the racing was disrupted after another collision, between Campos team mates Ralph Boschung and Maini, who collided at Club.
The drivers who were yet to pit used this period as an opportunity to make their mandatory stop, and it caused a big reshuffle of the order. One driver to benefit was Leclerc, who rejoined in fourth, while Hadjar dropped to the back because traffic through the pit lane forced him to remain in his box.
At this point the stewards made an announcement which swung the fight for the lead. Martins was given a five-second penalty for having been off-track before passing Iwasa on the opening lap. Now Maloney had a chance to claim victory if he could stay within five seconds of his rival.
Martins’ cause was aided as a fierce scrap broke out behind him after the lap 19 restart. Pourchaire and Leclerc were disputing third place, which the DAMS driver temporarily claimed, while Martins was able to establish a 3.6-second advantage over Maloney by lap 24.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Pourchaire tried to reclaim his pass with an overtake on Leclerc around the outside of Stowe. Despite initially getting ahead, he went off-track in the process and was forced to give back the position. However, in the subsequent laps Pourchaire finally regained the final podium slot, while Leclerc dropped to sixth after locking up at Brooklands on lap 26.
By this point, though, Martins’ superior pace had made the difference. He extended his advantage over Maloney to five seconds by lap 26, which gave him back the race lead considering the forthcoming penalty.
Crossing his fingers that the Safety Car did not appear for a fourth time, Martins pressed on and crossed the line 6.4 seconds ahead of Maloney to take the race victory.
Pourchaire was a further 3.3 seconds behind in third, while Doohan finished fourth. Behind, Iwasa, Jehan Daruvala, Oliver Bearman, Fittipaldi, Leclerc and Jak Crawford rounded up the point positions correspondingly.
A poor day for Vesti means his lead in the championship has been cut to just six points over Pourchaire. Iwasa is 18 points behind the Sauber junior in third, Martins has climbed up to fifth in the standings, with Bearman in fourth.
Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and
Formula 2 Great Britain race two results
Results to follow
Formula 2
- Bearman wins as Vesti retirement leaves Pourchaire poised to clinch title
- Vesti out-runs Martins after two Safety Car periods for crucial sprint race win
- New, ‘more accessible’ F2 car for 2024 follows F1’s styling lead
- Novalak claims first F2 victory as championship leaders crash out at Zandvoort
- Formula 2 Zandvoort sprint race abandoned after pile-up and heavy rain
x303 (@x303)
9th July 2023, 12:38
Martins was unstoppable today. A truly impressive showing from a rookie.
Dex
9th July 2023, 14:05
He often is fast and seems like “the real deal”. And then (usually) something stupid or random happens and he’s gone. Perhaps he’s one of those big talents that need a second year to refine. To be honest, like last year, I don’t see anyone overly impressing and standing out., nor I see improvement in some talents from last year (like Iwasa or Doohan).
I don’t know why Pourchaire is considered a great talent by some. He’s stagnating as well, more inconsistent than before even, and he was convincingly beaten by Drugovic (albeit a more experienced driver, but the one who won the championship after better drivers than left for F1).
It’s hard to judge, especially to someone like me. But I’m pretty sure I’m not mistaken when I say there’s no next (older) Leclerc here, nor Russel or Norris, not even Albon. I can’t say I see another Mick Schumacher even (Martins perhaps?). All I see is Vesti as a future Magnussen level driver, Pourchaire as an 80% version of Gasly in terms of talent and Ocon in terms of having “moments”, Martins that could be a decent reserve driver in the future and a few drivers with T. Sato’s consistency, but without his speed.
Perhaps the next talent to come to F1 is currently driving in F3. But it’s not like they are letting them race anymore, from this weekend especially, so we’ll see. It’s not like drivers in F1 need to be replaced each year by a couple guys from junior categories, they careers can last much longer than that. Adding new Sargeants won’t feel that exciting.
Erkr
9th July 2023, 14:14
I think the field this year is much closer in ability. The competition is fierce. Hauger has been extremely disappointing lately too
RandomMallard
9th July 2023, 14:19
As @x303 mentions, very impressive from Martins. He’s shown this potential and speed all season, but seemed to be a little too enthusiastic at points costing him positions and points in Saudi Arabia, Melbourne, Baku and Monaco. He seems a little bit calmer and more comfortable now, and if he keeps this kind of fork up he’ll reap the rewards I’m sure.