Vesti extends Formula 2 championship lead with dominant win at wet Silverstone

Frederik Vesti took his fourth victory of the season in Formula 2’s sprint race in Silverstone to extend his championship lead.

Advert | Become a Supporter & go ad-free

The Mercedes junior never lost position in a dominant performance, and crossed the line 13.7 seconds ahead of his nearest championship rival Theo Pourchaire.

Jack Doohan joined the pair on the podium, after spending most of his race fighting with Oliver Bearman while complaining about many of his rival’s manoeuvres.

The formation lap took place behind the Safety Car due to very wet conditions with standing water at various points of the circuit. Behind it, Vesti had pole position on the partially-reversed grid, with Isack Hadjar closest. Pourchaire and Enzo Fittipaldi lined up directly behind.

Race control decided to commence proceedings using a rolling start. The drivers got underway cautiously at first, but it didn’t take long for the race to claim its first retiree.

Having rapidly dropped down the order, Ayumu Iwasa then collided with Brad Benavides at turn four, which caused the PHM driver to spin off. As the race continued, Bearman overtook Fittipaldi for fourth with a daring move on the outside into Maggotts and Becketts. Just moments afterwards the safety car was deployed.

At the restart on lap four, Bearman continued his fine overtaking form. At turn three, he put his Prema car down the inside of Pourchaire to take third in front of his home crowd. Before the lap’s end, he had pulled off another audacious move. Bearman found a gap down the inside of Stowe to take second from Hadjar.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Knowing his team mate was closing, leader Vesti, 1.9 seconds down the road, responded by setting the fastest time on lap six. However, Bearman dropped back to third on the following tour, after he spun out of the final corner. From there his race began to unravel.

Pourchaire retook third from Bearman on lap eight with the Ferrari junior falling back in the subsequent laps. Then Doohan began applying pressure to the Prema driver from on lap 11.

Doohan put his front wheels ahead around the outside of turn three, but could not make the move stick as Bearman got back in front down the inside of the following corner. That prompted an angry reaction from Doohan, who believed Bearman was too aggressive in his defence.

Another battle for second developed on lap 12. After Pourchaire applied pressure on Hadjar for several laps, the Sauber junior completed his attack with a move down the inside of the final corner. While all of that was happening, Vesti extended his lead, which was now over eight seconds.

Pourchaire soon pulled ahead of Hadjar, and led him by 8.2 seconds on lap 15. But behind Bearman the pressure from Doohan was immense.

On lap 13 Doohan attempted to take fourth down Hangar Straight before pulling alongside into Stowe. However, the Alpine driver went off at the corner’s exit, leading to more criticism on Doohan’s radio from the increasingly unimpressed driver.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

The two drivers were soon fighting for the final podium position. Hadjar fell into their clutches and on lap 15 Bearman overtook the Red Bull junior for third on the inside of Copse. Hadjar lost another position the following lap, as Doohan overtake him for fourth on the inside of Luffield.

Doohan soon resumed his attempts to displace Bearman. On lap 17 he moved down the inside at Brooklands before trying to complete his overtake on the outside of Luffield, which Bearman again thwarted. The Virtousi driver complained once more, but was finally rewarded for his attempts on the penultimate lap.

Bearman locked up into the Vale chicane which allowed Doohan to go through into third, giving his rival a sarcastic wave as he passed. The Prema driver rejoined in sixth, though the stewards announced they would look into the manner in which he came back onto the track, as well as the various incidents with Doohan.

Vesti crossed the line to take the race victory by a comfortable 13.7 seconds after 19 laps. Pourchaire finished second with Doohan completing the podium. Fittipaldi came home in fourth ahead of Hadjar, with Bearman, Victor Martins and Arthur Leclerc rounding up the point positions correspondingly.

It leaves Vesti leading the championship by 23 points ahead of Pourchaire, with Iwasa a further 12 behind in third.

Advert | Become a RaceFans supporter and go ad-free

Formula 2 Great Britain race one results

Position	Car	Driver	Team
1	7	Frederik Vesti	Prema
2	5	Theo Pourchaire	ART
3	14	Jack Doohan	Virtuosi
4	4	Enzo Fittipaldi	Rodin Carlin
5	10	Isack Hadjar	Hitech
6	8	Ollie Bearman	Prema
7	6	Victor Martins	ART
8	12	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS
9	16	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing by Charouz
10	3	Zane Maloney	Rodin Carlin
11	2	Jehan Daruvala	MP
12	1	Dennis Hauger	MP
13	24	Kush Maini	Campos
14	9	Jak Crawford	Hitech
15	15	Amaury Cordeel	Virtuosi
16	20	Roman Staněk	Trident
17	21	Clement Novalak	Trident
18	22	Richard Verschoor	Van Amersfoort
19	23	Juan Manuel Correa	Van Amersfoort
20	25	Ralph Boschung	Campos
21	11	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS
DNF	17	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing by Charouz