Gabriel Bortoleto, a driver from the McLaren Academy, achieved an impressive first victory in the FIA Formula 2 race in Austria. Racing for Invicta Racing, Bortoleto switched from super soft to soft tires and managed to overtake Pepe Marti from Campos to secure his maiden win in F2. Franco Colapinto from MP Motorsport finished four seconds behind Bortoleto, but set the fastest lap after a late surge through the pack on a different strategy. Prior to the race, Hitech’s Paul Aron extended his lead in the championship, while Oliver Bearman from Prema won his first race of the season. Aron and Hadjar started fifth and seventh respectively in the feature race, creating an intriguing battle for the title. Dennis Hauger started from pole position alongside Joshua Durksen, hoping for a successful 40-lap race after both drivers scored points in the previous sprint race. However, Hauger’s race encountered problems as he stalled on the formation lap, forcing him to start from the pit lane along with Kush Maini from Invicta and Jak Crawford from DAMS. Durksen took the lead at the start, with Bortoleto, Colapinto, and Aron close behind. Hadjar made a move to take fifth place from Marti. Colapinto was the only driver in the front pack using soft compound tires, while the others opted for super soft tires. Bortoleto challenged Durksen for the lead on lap 3 but couldn’t overtake. However, on lap 4, Bortoleto took the lead from Durksen. The top five drivers, including Bortoleto, Durksen, Colapinto, Aron, and Hadjar, started to pull away from the rest of the field. Marti, leading a group of cars in the midfield, was in sixth place, followed closely by Bearman. On lap 6, Colapinto overtook Durksen to secure second place. A Virtual Safety Car was deployed briefly when Zane Maloney stopped at Turn 4. Durksen took the opportunity to pit on lap 8, allowing Aron to move up to third place. Bortoleto and Hadjar also pitted on lap 9. However, Antonelli faced difficulties when exiting the pit box. Aron pitted on lap 10 and emerged behind Marti, who was in the net lead due to his earlier pit stop under the Virtual Safety Car. Marti had a significant advantage over the drivers on a different strategy, but his lead wasn’t large enough to pit and retain the top position. Marti had to manage his soft tires to stay ahead of the pack. By the halfway point of the race, Bortoleto overtook Marti for the virtual lead. Bearman, who had been running second, encountered technical issues and had to retire from the race. It became clear by lap 23 that without a Safety Car intervention, Colapinto and the other drivers on the alternate strategy wouldn’t finish in a favorable position. Bortoleto was over 20 seconds behind the overall race leader. Marti struggled on lap 24 and came under pressure from Hadjar. Hadjar eventually overtook Marti on lap 27. Bortoleto started to move through the traffic, overtaking Zak O’Sullivan for fourth place. Hadjar, who was in second place, complained about his tires being affected by his time behind Marti. Colapinto made his mandatory pit stop on lap 33, switching from soft to super soft tires. He rejoined the race in eighth place with only a few laps remaining. Colapinto’s charge continued as he overtook Durksen and Fittipaldi for sixth and fifth place respectively. Aron and Marti squabbled with their engineers, while Colapinto closed in on them. Colapinto overtook Aron and Marti on consecutive laps to secure third place and then second place on the final lap. However, he was too far behind Bortoleto to challenge for the win. Bortoleto crossed the finish line with a four-second lead to claim his first victory. Colapinto finished in second place, and Hadjar completed the podium in third. Marti finished fourth, followed by Fittipaldi in fifth. Aron received a penalty and finished in sixth place, ahead of Durksen, Cordeel, Barnard, and O’Sullivan, who completed the top ten.
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