F2 Austria: Bortoleto takes first victory in feature race

McLaren junior driver Gabriel Bortoleto took his first Formula 2 victory in the Austrian feature race

Formula 3 champion Gabriel Bortoleto opened his Formula 2 win account with a dominant drive in the Austrian feature race, as Franco Colapinto emerged in second on the alternate strategy.

Invicta driver Bortoleto had started from the third-place grid slot, but quickly established himself in the lead and secured himself the victory following his pitstop with a pass on Campos rival Pepe Marti, who became the net race leader courtesy of stopping during a brief virtual safety car period.

Four drivers stalled when the formation lap commenced, among them MP Motorsport’s pole-sitter Dennis Hauger, who was forced to start from the pits as a result.

This elevated Joshua Durksen (AIX) to a de facto pole position and the German led the early laps before Bortoleto made his move on lap four with a textbook move aided by DRS.

Early championship leader Zane Maloney (Rodin) has endured a torrid time of late and this continued in Austria, as the Sauber junior stalled at the start of the race before retiring on lap six, causing the virtual safety car to be deployed.

At the same time as the race was neutralised, Marti was entering the pits. The stop is subject to a post-race investigation as drivers cannot enter the pits for their mandatory stop under the VSC, but the stop can be completed if they are already in.

The subsequent investigation determined that although Marti had committed to pitting, he had not reached the first safety car line by the time that the VSC was deployed. Despite conceding Marti had been "incredibly close" to the marker, the stewards deemed this could not count as his mandatory stop, and awarded a 10s stop-and-go penalty, converted to a 30s time penalty.

Following Bortoleto’s stop, he rejoined 5s behind Red Bull junior Marti, but a show of pace to quickly close this gap ultimately proved decisive as the Brazilian pulled his race-winning move on lap 20 at Turn 3.

Running the alternative strategy by starting on the harder of the two tyre compounds, Colapinto (MP Motorsport) stayed out to lead sprint winner Oliver Bearman, but the Prema driver's hopes were dashed when a reliability issue forced him to retire at the lap 20 mid-point of the race.

Colapinto's exploits in playing the long game yielded rewards once he stopped with eight laps to go and switched to the super soft rubber. After rejoining eighth, the Argentine charged through to second with completing late moves on warring Campos duo Marti and Isack Hadjar.

Tensions had risen for Campos after Marti was slowed to allow championship-contending Hadjar through to chase Bortoleto.

But it was further ramped up when Hadjar, unable to demonstrate the pace he had claimed to have, failed to return the favour in the closing stages and instead kept the final podium position for himself.

Championship leader Paul Aron (Hitech) crossed the line in fifth, but dropped a place to Enzo Fittipaldi after he was handed a five-second penalty for moving under braking when battling with Hadjar early on.

Marti's penalty moves Aron back to his original finishing position, with the Camps driver dropping out of the points to 15th.

However, Aron remains at the top of the standings with a nine-point lead over Hadjar.

Bortoleto is boosted third, 10 points clear of Maloney, who has scored once in the last four races, while Colapinto is now tied with the Barbados driver, but remains fifth by virtue of having only one win to the Rodin driver’s two.

F2 Austria Feature Race Results

1 - 2
Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h	Pits	Points	Retirement	Bonus
1	G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing	10	40	-			1
2	F. Colapinto MP Motorsport	12	40	+4.200 4.2	4.200		1
3	I. Hadjar Campos Racing	20	40	+5.500 5.5	1.300		1
4	P. Martí Campos Racing	21	40	+6.000 6.0	0.500		1
5	E. Fittipaldi Van Amersfoort Racing	14	40	+11.300 11.3	5.300		1
6	P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight	17	40	+11.400 11.4	0.100		1
7	J. Duerksen PHM AIX Racing	24	40	+12.500 12.5	1.100		1
8	A. Cordeel Hitech Pulse-Eight	16	40	+22.500 22.5	10.000		1
9	T. Barnard PHM AIX Racing	25	40	+27.600 27.6	5.100		1
10	Z. O'Sullivan ART Grand Prix	2	40	+32.100 32.1	4.500		1
11	J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil	7	40	+32.200 32.2	0.100		1
12	V. Martins ART Grand Prix	1	40	+32.600 32.6	0.400		1
13	D. Hauger MP Motorsport	11	40	+33.400 33.4	0.800		1
14	A. Antonelli Prema Powerteam	4	40	+34.700 34.7	1.300		1
15	J. Correa DAMS Lucas Oil	8	40	+35.100 35.1	0.400		1
16	R. Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing	15	40	+49.700 49.7	14.600		1
17	K. Maini Invicta Racing	9	40	+51.400 51.4	1.700		1
18	R. Staněk Trident	23	40	+55.400 55.4	4.000		1
dnf	R. Miyata Rodin Motorsport	6	34	6 laps			2		Retirement
dnf	R. Verschoor Trident	22	21	19 laps			2		Retirement
dnf	O. Bearman Prema Powerteam	3	20	20 laps			1		Retirement
dnf	Z. Maloney Rodin Motorsport	5	4	36 laps					Retirement
View full results