2023 Melbourne Formula 2 round

The FIA Formula 2 championship made its debut in Australia alongside fellow feeder series, FIA Formula 3 Championship, supporting the Australian Grand Prix at the Albert Park Circuit.[1]

Going into the round, Ralph Boschung led the Driver's standings for the first time in his career with 33 points, just by a single point ahead of Théo Pourchaire, who failed to score any points during the previous round in Jeddah. However, Ayumu Iwasa elevated three places up to third, with a total of 31 points and just two points behind Boschung.[2]

Campos Racing retained its lead in the Teams' standings, having scored a total of 51 points, with ART Grand Prix just a further two points adrift in second place. DAMS climbed up to third with 44 points, just one point ahead of reigning Teams' Champion MP Motorsport, which improved from sixth to fourth.[3]

The F2 qualifying took part in tricky conditions and had to be red-flagged twice. Initially, Oliver Bearman and Jak Crawford caused the first red flag by damaging their cars in separate incidents, but both drivers were able to continue the session. However, Ayumu Iwasa set the first proper benchmark by setting a time within the 1:46-mark to have a comfortable gap to the rest of the field with the session halfway over. Even though several drivers went for improvements for their last run, Iwasa was unbeatable as he set a time of 1:45.116, more than six tenths clear of both ART drivers Théo Pourchaire and Victor Martins, with the latter crashing his car into the barrier on turn 8 to bring out the red flag with two minutes remaining, cementing the final classification and, ultimately, Iwasa's third pole position in his Formula 2 career.[4]

Drama already occurred before the race even started, when Ralph Boschung and Enzo Fittipaldi both gone off the track at turn 8, leaving both drivers being not able to start the Sprint Race. Polesitter Dennis Hauger got a great getaway at the start despite Jak Crawford trying to overtake the Norwegian driver around the outside of turn 11, but Hauger was able to defend. With increasing duration, Hauger and Crawford both were able to pull a gap from the remaining grid, whilst Arthur Leclerc and Kush Maini had a fierce battle for third place alongside a fierce midfield battle involving previous race winner, Frederik Vesti. On lap 14, the Safety Car came out as local hero Jack Doohan spun out of contention on the exit of turn 4. Due to slightly falling rain midway through the race, some drivers decided to gamble and used the SC period in order to pit for a new set of wet tyres, such as Roman Staněk and Théo Pourchaire, which eventually turned out to be a wrong decision. The race resumed with three laps to go, but the top 8 remained unchanged, meaning that Hauger took the checkered flag to win his third Formula 2 race ahead of Crawford and Maini (both drivers took their respective maiden F2 podium). The remaining points finishers were Leclerc, Maloney, Hadjar, Bearman and Vesti.[5]

Ayumu Iwasa, who took pole position earlier the weekend, managed to get a brilliant getaway from Théo Pourchaire and Victor Martins and was able to maintain the lead until at least the first Safety Car period occurring on lap 7, when Jak Crawford hit the barrier at turn 11 after a collision with Jack Doohan. Most of the drivers used the Safety Car being called out by pitting for fresher rubber. Notably, Oliver Bearman and Isack Hadjar collided on the pit lane after an unsafe release from the Prema team, giving Bearman a five-second time-penalty in the process. Over the course of the race, the top three were able to charge their way to the top again, whilst other drivers such as Frederik Vesti made the alternative strategy work by pitting under safety car conditions with seven laps remaining. Roy Nissany caused the second SC period by crashing into the wall out of turn 3. Just one lap later, Enzo Fittipaldi, who had pitted just a few moments earlier, crashed on the same spot as Nissany did after suffering a rear-left suspension failure. When the race resumed and the Safety Car went in, further drama took place on the front as Dennis Hauger (at the moment being in third place) had been hit by Victor Martins, for which the latter received a ten-second time-penalty after Hauger ultimately dropped out of contention. However, Vesti had a chance to challenge Arthur Leclerc for third place, but it was not enough as Leclerc's teammate Iwasa crossed the line to become the first repeat winner of the season, with Pourchaire and Leclerc completing the podium ahead of Vesti. The remaining points finishers were Maloney, Daruvala, Verschoor, Doohan, Maini and Correa finishing in tenth after Staněk received a time penalty. Not only Leclerc took his maiden podium in FIA F2, Iwasa also took the lead in the Drivers' Standings by winning the Feature Race, leading by eight points over Pourchaire.[6]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Entrant	Time/Gap	Grid SR	Grid FR
1	11	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	1:45.118	9	1
2	5	Théo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	+0.614	8	2
3	6	Victor Martins	ART Grand Prix	+0.618	7	3
4	10	Isack Hadjar	Hitech Pulse-Eight	+0.919	101	4
5	3	Zane Maloney	Rodin Carlin	+0.927	6	5
6	8	Oliver Bearman	Prema Racing	+0.940	5	6
7	12	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	+1.191	4	7
8	24	Kush Maini	Campos Racing	+1.412	3	8
9	9	Jak Crawford	Hitech Pulse-Eight	+1.569	2	9
10	1	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	+1.619	1	10
11	25	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	+1.741	11	11
12	2	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	+1.778	12	12
13	7	Frederik Vesti	Prema Racing	+1.781	13	13
14	16	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing by Charouz	+2.076	14	14
15	14	Jack Doohan	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	+2.148	15	15
16	4	Enzo Fittipaldi	Rodin Carlin	+2.149	16	16
17	20	Roman Staněk	Trident	+2.352	17	17
18	22	Richard Verschoor	Van Amersfoort Racing	+2.415	18	18
19	21	Clément Novalak	Trident	+2.460	19	19
20	23	Juan Manuel Correa	Van Amersfoort Racing	+2.871	20	20
21	15	Amaury Cordeel	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	+3.080	21	21
22	17	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing by Charouz	+5.004	22	22
107% time: 1:52.476 (+7.358)
Source:[7]

Notes:

• ^1 – Isack Hadjar received a three-place grid drop for Saturday's Sprint Race for impeding Roman Staněk during Qualifying.[8]

Pos.	No.	Driver	Entrant	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	1	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	22	40:03.429	1	10 (1)
2	9	Jak Crawford	Hitech Pulse-Eight	22	+1.120	2	8
3	24	Kush Maini	Campos Racing	22	+1.716	3	6
4	12	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	22	+2.064	4	5
5	3	Zane Maloney	Rodin Carlin	22	+2.447	6	4
6	10	Isack Hadjar	Hitech Pulse-Eight	22	+2.842	10	3
7	8	Oliver Bearman	Prema Racing	22	+4.858	5	2
8	7	Frederik Vesti	Prema Racing	22	+5.299	13	1
9	16	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing by Charouz	22	+5.591	14
10	22	Richard Verschoor	Van Amersfoort Racing	22	+5.759	18
11	21	Clément Novalak	Trident	22	+6.417	19
12	15	Amaury Cordeel	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	22	+11.851	21
13	11	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	22	+12.395	9
14	23	Juan Manuel Correa	Van Amersfoort Racing	22	+16.816	20
15	6	Victor Martins	ART Grand Prix	22	+36.640	7
16	20	Roman Staněk	Trident	22	+37.222	17
17	2	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	22	+41.076	12
181	5	Théo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	20	Retired	8
DNF	17	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing by Charouz	16	Crash	22
DNF	14	Jack Doohan	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	13	Spun off	15
DNS	25	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	–	Did not start2	11
DNS	4	Enzo Fittipaldi	Rodin Carlin	–	Did not start2	16
Fastest lap set by Dennis Hauger: 1:31.267 (lap 13)
Source:[7]

Notes:

• ^1 – Théo Pourchaire retired from the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
• ^2 – Ralph Boschung and Enzo Fittipaldi both had spun off on their way to the grid prior to the race. As a consequence, both were not able to take part in the Sprint Race.

Pos.	No.	Driver	Entrant	Laps	Time/Retired	Grid	Points
1	11	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	33	1:00:30.247	1	25 (2)
2	5	Théo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	33	+0.882	2	18
3	12	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	33	+1.484	7	15
4	7	Frederik Vesti	Prema Racing	33	+1.815	13	12 (1)
5	3	Zane Maloney	Rodin Carlin	33	+5.290	5	10
6	2	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	33	+6.779	12	8
7	22	Richard Verschoor	Van Amersfoort Racing	33	+7.107	18	6
8	14	Jack Doohan	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	33	+7.764	15	4
9	24	Kush Maini	Campos Racing	33	+8.294	8	2
10	23	Juan Manuel Correa	Van Amersfoort Racing	33	+11.126	20	1
11	21	Clément Novalak	Trident	33	+11.593	19
12	17	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing by Charouz	33	+13.902	22
13	15	Amaury Cordeel	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	33	+14.276	21
14	20	Roman Staněk	Trident	33	+15.8901	17
15	10	Isack Hadjar	Hitech Pulse-Eight	33	+17.437	4
16	25	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	33	+24.039	11
17	8	Oliver Bearman	Prema Racing	33	+26.7342	6
18	6	Victor Martins	ART Grand Prix	33	+27.2993	3
194	1	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	30	Collision damage	10
DNF	4	Enzo Fittipaldi	Rodin Carlin	26	Accident	16
DNF	16	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing by Charouz	25	Accident	14
DNF	9	Jak Crawford	Hitech Pulse-Eight	6	Collision damage	9
Fastest lap set by Frederik Vesti: 1:30.712 (lap 32)
Source:[7]

Notes:

• ^1 – Roman Staněk originally finished tenth, but was later given a five-second time-penalty for overtaking Kush Maini under Safety Car conditions, dropping him out of the points to fourteenth.[9]
• ^2 – Oliver Bearman received a ten-second time-penalty for failing to serve a five-second time-penalty correctly.[9]
• ^3 – Victor Martins received a ten-second time-penalty for causing a collision with Dennis Hauger.[9]
• ^4 – Dennis Hauger retired from the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.