Red Bull prospect Isack Hadjar secured his first Formula 2 feature race pole at Silverstone after championship leader Paul Aron spun out of a chance at pole.
Hadjar beat Alpine junior Victor Martins to take pole for Sunday’s feature race, with Dennis Hauger taking third on the grid.
After participating in the opening Formula 1 practice session following F2’s practice, Hadjar, Oliver Bearman and Franco Colapinto returned to their seats for qualifying. Following the rain-affected Formula 3 session, there was more precipitation in the air as the field filtered out of the pit lane for the start.
Bearman set the early benchmark with a 1’40.918 on his first effort, under a tenth faster than championship leader Paul Aron with Kush Maini in third. Aron improved with his next push lap to lower provisional pole by eight tenths to a 1’40.181, while Maini continued to sit close to him by also improving to second place.
The rain appeared content to stay away from the circuit, giving drivers plenty of opportunity to beat their earlier times over the final ten minutes of the session. However, as Aron began his first push lap of his final run, the Hitech driver lost control at the apex of the fast Abbey corner, performing two complete spins which ruined his tyres and ended his chances of improving.
The times continued to fall, with Hadjar displacing Aron at the top of the times with a 1’39.368 as Alpine junior Victor Martins moved up to second ahead of Colapinto and Berman. Hauger improved to third, while Aron gradually dropped out of the top ten with him unable to improve with his spin.
Despite two minutes remaining to set another lap time, Hadjar instead opted to return to the pit lane. Although he was sat in the pits, none of Hadjar’s rivals could beat his best time. When time expired, Hadjar was confirmed for pole position, his first in Formula 2.
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Martins will start alongside the Red Bull junior on the front row of Sunday’s feature race, with Hauger in third. Colapinto secured fourth ahead of Bearman, Gabriel Bortoleto, Jak Crawford, Maini and Zane Maloney.
Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli qualified in tenth, which means he will start from pole for Saturday’s sprint race – the first time he has started from pole this season. Championship leader Aron was left stranded in 12th place for both races, unable to improve on his time following his spin.
Formula 2 British qualifying…
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