Roman Stanek, from the Czech Republic, celebrated his second-place finish on the podium at the FIA Formula 2 Championship in Melbourne, Australia on March 23, 2024. In the Formula 2 Sprint race, Stanek emerged as the winner after Isack Hadjar, who initially crossed the finish line first, received a 10-second penalty for causing a collision at the start. As a result, Dennis Hauger was promoted to second place, while Kush Maini also secured a podium finish due to Hadjar’s penalty.
The race began with immediate drama as Gabriel Bortoleto and Pepe Martí made contact and ended up out of the race at the pit lane exit. Hadjar, who had a strong start, was responsible for triggering the chain reaction when he attempted to move ahead of Stanek. This incident led to the deployment of the Safety Car, with Hadjar leading the race followed by Stanek, Paul Aron, and Victor Martins, who had made an impressive climb from the back of the grid.
While changing tires is not mandatory in shorter races, Hitech Pulse-Eight decided to take a gamble and pit Amuary Cordeel for a set of Soft tires. Racing resumed on Lap 6, and the battle for positions intensified. Championship leader Zane Maloney found himself in the gravel at Turn 7, dropping down to 10th place.
At the front of the field, Hadjar built a significant lead over his competitors and seemed poised for a comfortable victory to turn around his challenging season. However, on Lap 11, the second Safety Car was deployed as Prema driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli lost control of his car and spun alongside Richard Verschoor in their battle for third place. In the midst of this, Paul Aron collided with Verschoor’s car, damaging his front wing. Aron’s race worsened when he went off into the gravel on the restart with his damaged car.
Shortly after the race restarted, however, the caution flags were displayed as Durksen went off-track. Nevertheless, he managed to get back on the racing line without any damage.
Hadjar set the fastest lap on Lap 17 to increase his lead once again. Meanwhile, both MP Motorsport cars were closing in on Maini for third place.
While Hauger was trying to keep his teammate Franco Colapinto behind him, the Norwegian driver overtook Maini on Lap 22, putting himself in a position to finish on the podium in Melbourne.
In the midfield, Martins successfully overtook his teammate Zak O’Sullivan, moving up to seventh place as he continued his impressive climb through the field.
Oliver Bearman, who had a low starting position, was also aiming to score points. The British driver, who made his Formula 1 debut in Saudi Arabia, moved up to eighth place.
However, Bearman was later given a 10-second time penalty for forcing Durksen off the track at Turn 4. This dropped the Prema driver down to 14th place with no points.
Despite crossing the finish line in first place, Hadjar was later demoted to sixth due to the FIA Stewards attributing the majority of the blame for the Lap 1 collision to him.
As a result, Stanek was awarded his first F2 victory with Trident, with Hauger finishing second and Maini in third. Colapinto secured fourth place, earning MP Motorsport valuable points.
Ritomo Miyata achieved a top-five finish in his debut F2 season, ahead of the penalized Hadjar, the recovering Martins, and his teammate O’Sullivan, who completed the top eight.