Dino Beganovic takes a dominant win in a chaotic and interrupted Spanish Grand Prix.
So Far This Weekend…
Earlier in the weekend we have seen that this track bites back. Between all categories small mistakes have been resulted in massive consequences. Drivers had to balance risk and reward to make any progress in this race.
This was proven true as we saw a frustrated Nikola Tsolov spin out of yesterday’s sprint race. As a result he leads the championship by only 8 points going into this feature race. With only 3 rounds remaining, every point counts as any mistake at this point could see a huge swing in the championship.
Lights Out
It was a good start for Dino Beganovic as he lead the first lap. Alex Dunne remained behind locking up into the first corner but surviving to remain P2. This marks the first time the pole sitter has kept the lead on the first lap this weekend between all categories.
Despite a clean first lap, the good behaviour was short-lived. After a collision between Cian Shields and Kush Maini, Maini found the wall at Turn 19. It’s been a weekend to forget for the Alpine junior after a grid penalty in qualifying and now crashing out of both races.
This incident resulted in a safety car which led to a strategy headache for the teams. However, as the safety car ended at the end of lap 6, most teams decided to extend on the soft tyre.
Divided Strategy
This was a race of very mixed strategy. Being a brand new track, teams have no historical data to reference, making strategy decisions difficult.
As the rules only allow drivers to pit after lap 6, the first safety car did little to affect it although some did take the pit stop at that point. Aston Martin junior Mari Boya took his pit stop at this point which proved rather effective. After pit stops Boya, who was previously P12 was fighting with Tsolov, who pitted from P5, on pit exit.
This could’ve been a podium strategy for the home hero as he fought with Tsolov, Goethe and Camara for P9. However, this battle resulted in another safety car which gave an advantage to the leaders that were yet to pit.
Disastrous Overtakes
Lap 17 brought disaster as Tsolov attempted an overtake on Boya at Turn 5 for P9. This set off a few corners of chaos as Tsolov had to jump over the chicane and ended up in front of both Boya and Oliver Goethe ahead.
In trying to let Goethe back through, Tsolov lost a position to Boya and Rafael Camara also took the chance to barge past. After barging his way past Tsolov and Boya, Camara went to the outside of Turn 1 against Goethe. It was a disastrously aggressive move as he shoved Goethe straight into the wall, ending his race.
It was a brave and clumsy move for a championship contender and he was lucky to continue the race himself. This incident brought out another safety car and gave Camara a 10 second time penalty for causing a collision.
Chequered Flag
Despite a chaotic race, it was all quiet for Beganovic who took a dominant win by seven seconds. The Ferrari junior led from lights to flag and was quick enough that Dunne couldn’t even put pressure on from behind. Alex Dunne came home P2 and Ritomo Miyata took P3 after starting P9.
It was a standout race for Joshua Durksen who finished P4 after starting P15. Although luck was on his side with the strategy, he pulled off some impressive overtakes to get that result.
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak had an even more impressive result after his practice crash left him out of qualifying. Despite setting no qualifying time and starting P20, Inthraphuvasak crossed the line in P5 also having benefitted from the second after car period.
Championship Standing
It was an aggressive race from our championship leaders as they found themselves together on track. Despite the penalty for Camara, he put in some quick final laps and finished in P10, scoring a single point.
Despite a strong and somewhat clean race for Tsolov, disaster struck in the final laps. He had picked up damage earlier in the race and fell to the back of the field as his car began to give up. His final lap was 11 seconds off the pace and he finished P18, scoring no points. A weekend to forget for the championship leader after also crashing out of yesterday’s sprint race.
This results in a one point gain for Camara. The championship leaders are now separated by just seven points going into the final three rounds.
Formula 2 will return on 24-26 September for the Azerbaijan Grand Prix.
Image Credit: Formula 2 on X