Williams junior Zak O’Sullivan claimed his first victory in Formula 2 thanks to a fortunately-timed Virtual Safety Car period at the end of the race.
O’Sullivan started down in 15th place and ran an extremely long opening stint, hoping to capitalise on a late Safety Car appearance.
After every other driver had pitted, a late Virtual Safety Car with three laps to go allowed him to pit and rejoin seconds ahead of Hadjar. The Red Bull junior driver had looked on course to win and was outraged by the turn of events. Paul Aron took the final podium place in third and moved into the championship lead.
Hadjar arrived in the lead through the misfortune of pole winner Richard Verschoor. The Trident driver held the lead off the line while Victor Martins alongside him made a very poor start and fell to 14th on the opening lap, allowing Hadjar into second.
Verschoor looked to be in control out front as he pulled a modest gap over Hadjar behind, until suddenly reporting a problem with his car exiting Portier on lap 19. Despite slowing out of the tunnel and missing the chicane, Verschoor suddenly appeared to get back up to speed.
That allowed Verschoor to continue in the lead heading into the pit stop cycle, with Hadjar the first of the leaders to pit. Verschoor came in soon after and rejoined ahead of the Campos driver. However, Verschoor’s problem appeared to resurface and was clearly affecting his top speed. He had no defence as Hadjar drove around him on the pit straight to take the net lead of the race.
Verschoor continued to slip down the order with Paul Aron and Oliver Bearman getting by. He was then hit with a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage for missing the chicane on lap 19, effectively ending his race. A disgusted Verschoor threw his steering wheel from the cockpit before he came to a stop in the pits, prompting another investigation by the stewards.
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Out front, Dennis Hauger led the race after being told by his team to extend his first stint as long as possible in hope of a Safety Car. However, none came and he eventually pitted, rejoining behind Juan Manuel Correa as the fifth-highest placed driver to have pitted.
Once Joshua Duerksen and Victor Martins pitted, O’Sullivan was the last driver still to come in. But Duerksen tangled with Zane Maloney as he rejoined and pulled off-track at Casino Square. That…
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