F2 Saudi Arabia: Vesti takes victory as rivals spin out

The Prema driver lined up sixth, making up two places on the two laps before closing on the leading trio of Ollie Bearman, Victor Martins and Jack Doohan.

He pitted alongside Doohan, emerging in front of the Virtuosi driver to secure third.

Vesti waited patiently while Bearman and Martins tussled for first before both rookies spun out moments apart around the midway mark, allowing the Mercedes junior to take the lead.

He held on to cross the line 3.9s clear of Doohan, who claimed his first podium of the season, with Jehan Daruvala taking his second third-place finish of the weekend for MP Motorsport.

A poor start for Martins saw Bearman take the lead off the line, with Doohan looking to claim second before settling into third behind the ART driver.

There was a virtual safety car on lap two after Brad Benavides and Amaury Cordeel made contact, the PHM driver’s race ended with suspension damage while Cordeel pitted with front wing damage.

Bearman had built a good gap out front when the VSC ended the following lap, with Martins, Doohan and Vesti close behind him.

Vesti and Doohan were the first of the leading quartet to pit on lap six, with Vesti emerging in front into 12th position.

Bearman, Martins and Daruvala pitted the following tour, with the Briton pipping the reigning Formula 3 champion to the pit exit for eighth place.

Arthur Leclerc led those who were yet to pit for DAMS, with Enzo Fittipaldi (Rodin Carlin) and Hitech rookie Isack Hadjar in second and third.

By lap 10, Martins had caught Bearman, taking the lead of those who had stopped off the road before handing the position back.

He was not behind for long, though, snatching sixth on the start-finish straight with the help of DRS as Bearman was forced wide out of Turn 2, allowing Vesti through into seventh as Doohan closed in from behind.

Race winner Frederik Vesti, PREMA Racing

Photo by: Formula Motorsport Ltd

A chaotic lap 17 saw Bearman spin at Turn 22, dropping from eighth to 11th behind Ayumu Iwasa.

Moments later, Martins also spun at Turn 5, losing his engine and ending his race, prompting another VSC.

Vesti inherited the lead of those yet to stop from sixth position, ahead of Doohan, eventually moving into the lead on lap 24 as Leclerc, Hadjar and Trident’s Roman Stanek pitted.

Iwasa finished in fourth, with Dennis Hauger in fifth for MP Motorsport and Verschoor in sixth.

Fittipaldi took seventh, with Leclerc in eighth, Hadjar in ninth, and Bearman claiming the final points-paying position after his spin from what could have been a podium position.

2022 runner-up Theo Pourchaire, who was handed a five-place grid penalty after colliding with Bearman in Saturday’s sprint race, lined up eighth, but endured another difficult race to finish in 13th.

Saudi Arabia F2 feature race results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Gap
1	7	Frederik Vesti	Prema Powerteam
2	14	Jack Doohan	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	3.959
3	2	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	7.546
4	11	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	11.379
5	1	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	11.712
6	22	Richard Verschoor	Van Amersfoort Racing	14.014
7	4	Enzo Fittipaldi	Rodin Carlin	14.220
8	12	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	17.012
9	10	Isack Hadjar	Hitech Pulse-Eight	21.646
10	8	Oliver Bearman	Prema Powerteam	23.910
11	16	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing by Charouz	28.854
12	24	Kush Maini	Campos Racing	29.731
13	5	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	31.238
14	20	Roman Staněk	Trident	32.019
15	9	Jak Crawford	Hitech Pulse-Eight	32.973
16	21	Clement Novalak	Trident	36.131
17	3	Zane Maloney	Rodin Carlin	37.076
18	23	Juan Manuel Correa	Van Amersfoort Racing	40.339
19	25	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	47.097
20	15	Amaury Cordeel	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	1'31.499
	6	Victor Martins	ART Grand Prix
	17	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing by Charouz
View full results