Race victor Enzo Fittipaldi of the Van Amersfoort Racing team celebrates on the podium after the Feature Race at the FIA Formula 2 Championship in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia on March 9, 2024.
Fittipaldi secured his first-ever win in the Feature Race of the F2 series with an impressive double-overtake towards the end of the race. He comfortably cruised to victory with a lead of 7.8 seconds, dedicating his triumph to his late uncle, Wilson Fittipaldi.
Starting from pole position, Kush Maini initially had a strong start but lost his position after the first round of pit stops. He dropped down to the midfield but managed to fight his way back to second place through a remarkable recovery drive.
Norwegian driver Dennis Hauger put up a tough fight for third place, battling against Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli. In a thrilling final lap, Hauger successfully overtook two cars to secure the third position.
Maini inherited the pole position from Oliver Bearman, who was standing in for Carlos Sainz in the Ferrari team for this Formula 1 weekend due to Sainz’s recovery from appendicitis surgery.
Ritomo Miyata received a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for an unsafe release from the pitlane before the formation lap, while Taylor Barnard was forced to the pitlane after failing to leave his grid slot.
After losing his pole position in Bahrain due to a technical infringement, Maini made a perfect start from pole position, while chaos ensued behind him on the first lap.
Mercedes junior driver Kimi Antonelli and Van Amersfoort Racing driver Fittipaldi each gained a position in the opening lap. However, Gabriel Bortoleto, driving for Invicta, retired from the race due to a technical issue after a slow start.
Roman Stanek had an unlucky weekend, as the Trident driver was quickly caught up in an incident with Pepe Marti, causing both cars to retire and the deployment of the Safety Car.
On Lap 4, the Safety Car returned to the pits, and Maini maintained his lead. However, the super soft tires, which most of the grid started on, began to degrade due to the cooling temperature during the Safety Car period.
DRS (Drag Reduction System) was activated on Lap 5, with Jak Crawford closing in on Maini’s lead. The top four drivers started to create a gap from the rest of the pack.
Isack Hadjar of Campos Racing engaged in a battle for fourth position, successfully overtaking Victor Martins on Lap 7. Meanwhile, the race leader, mentored by two-time F1 World Champion Mika Hakkinen, made an early pit stop to undercut Crawford, who was in second place.
The top three runners made their way into the pit simultaneously, but Crawford fell behind Antonelli due to cooler tire temperatures. However, Crawford managed to overtake Antonelli at Turn 22 with the help of DRS. Antonelli briefly reclaimed the position, but Crawford snatched it back after Antonelli went wide in Turn 1 on Lap 8.
On Lap 10, Juan Manuel Correa took the lead, opting for a later pit stop. Meanwhile, the Mercedes junior driver climbed up to 7th place, overtaking Red Bull junior Hadjar at Turn 1. Miyata faced a delayed pit stop after serving a ten-second penalty, which pushed him further back in the race. On the other hand, Barnard chose the hard tire and aimed to complete the race without another pit stop after starting from the pitlane.
Fittipaldi made a daring move on Lap 13, diving down the inside of Maini to secure fourth place. Crawford followed closely behind in fifth and set the fastest lap. However, Franco Colapinto’s tap on the wall at Turn 27 caused him to spin into the wall at Turn 1 on Lap 16, resulting in a loss of power and the deployment of a Safety Car.
During the Safety Car period, a few drivers, including Amaury Cordeel and Barnard, decided to pit. However, race leader Correa entered and left the pits without changing tires, hoping to extend the life of his medium tires for the final three laps. Correa quickly pulled away from the safety car, while Crawford found himself off the road in a battle with Maini for fifth place.
Fittipaldi set the fastest lap on Lap 20, taking advantage of the DRS zone down towards the final corner. Correa faced pressure from Cordeel, who eventually overtook him, leaving Fittipaldi just half a second behind. In a bold move, Fittipaldi passed both Correa and Cordeel on the outside to snatch the lead on Lap 22 and create a gap from the DRS train behind.
The top six drivers formed a DRS train led by Cordeel, while a four-car battle unfolded on Lap 24 for the second podium position. A Virtual Safety Car was deployed on Lap 24 after Zak O’Sullivan spun and stopped in the middle of the track at Turn 2. Antonelli ran wide at Turn 2 to avoid a collision with Hauger, allowing the race leader to extend his lead to almost five seconds. Finally, Correa made a pit stop for soft tires with just three laps remaining.
Hauger overtook Antonelli for fifth place on the following lap, breaking the DRS train behind Crawford. Maini climbed up to second place, six seconds behind Fittipaldi, as he searched for his first Feature Race victory. In an exciting final lap, Hauger made a daring move around the outside of Cordeel on the last corner, securing the bottom step of the podium by a tenth of a second.
Crawford also managed to overtake Cordeel, taking fourth place and pushing the Hitech driver down to fifth. Antonelli’s strong performance earned him a sixth-place finish, while championship leader Zane Maloney settled for seventh place after a relatively uneventful race. Richard Verschoor, Rafael Villagomez, and Victor Martins completed the top-10 positions.