Aron wins as Bortoleto penalised and Hadjar takes half-point lead · RaceFans

Paul Aron finally secured his first Formula 2 victory after Gabriel Bortoleto lost victory with a penalty in a dramatic Losail feature race.

Sauber-bound Bortoleto had been in position to win but was hit with a five-second time penalty for an infringement at the pit lane entrance earlier in the race.

Bortoleto finished first but fell to third behind Aron and Hadjar after his penalty was applied. Aron therefore picked up his first victory in the championship.

After the F1 Academy race was cancelled following damage to the barriers caused by the Porsche Carrera Cup race, the start of the F2 feature race was also delayed for more than 10 minutes while work continued on the barriers at the final corner.

When the race finally began, pole winner Aron made a sluggish start which allowed championship leader Bortoleto to take the lead into turn one. Aron held onto second place, with Ferrari junior driver Dino Beganovic moving to third in his first F2 feature race.

The top six drivers had started on medium compound tyres, with Kush Maini in seventh and Oliver Bearman in eighth the highest placed drivers on the hard tyres. Maini dropped down the order to 11th, putting sprint race winner Bearman in a strong position among a sea of medium-shod runners.

Sixth-placed Jak Crawford was the first driver called in to pit at the end of lap six, the earliest permitted lap by the regulations. Aron was running behind leader Bortoleto and pitted first of the pair. But when Andrea Kimi Antonelli pulled off track with damaged steering, after he was hit by Richard Verschoor in the pit lane, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Bortoleto attempted to enter the pit lane, but with mandatory pit stops not counting under VSC conditions, he was encouraged to stay out by Invicta. He abandoned his pit attempt, but had already passed the pit entry bollard on his left which committed him to coming in.

The VSC was upgraded to a full Safety Car, allowing Bortoleto to pit on the next lap and resume ahead of Aron in seventh as the highest-placed driver to have pitted. Bearman took over the lead of the race, ahead of Joshua Duerksen, Maini, Max Esterson, Luke Browning and Pepe Marti, who were all yet to stop on hard tyres.

The race resumed at the start of lap 13 with Bearman leading Duerksen, Maini and Esterson. Duerksen attempted to pass for the lead into turn one, but Bearman resisted, holding him off through the first…