Hauger unhappy, Lawson triumphs in the Sprint

He had been the lucky winner of numerous penalties inflicted on his counterparts after qualifying on Friday. Returned to 10^e rank, Dennis Hauger (Prema) then inherited pole position in the Sprint Race this Saturday. A great opportunity to score your first success in F2 after a mixed start in Bahrain 7 days ago.

Everything went smoothly for the Norwegian who managed his start perfectly, staying in the lead by resisting enemy attacks in the first turns. The race neutralized from the 2^e tour, the champion of F3 2021 ensured the relaunch but saw the Safety Car intervene once again immediately after the collision between Jack Doohan (Virtuosi) and Logan sargeant (Carlin) at the back of the pack. It was at this moment that his race took a completely different turn.

LAP 7 / 20

The Safety Car comes in, but Doohan and Sargeant make contact at the back, and they're both out of the race, and out of their cars

The Safety Car comes back out#SaudiArabianGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/OLjnnqTXYS

- Formula 2 (@ Formula2) March 26, 2022

While waiting for the two cars damaged and immobilized on the start/finish straight to be evacuated, the race management asked the drivers to follow the safety car through the pit lane. That's when Dennis Hauger dived into it but not the Safety Car or any of the other drivers. Result ? The pit lane was finally closed and the Prema representative emerged 12^e before receiving a 10-second Stop & Go, putting an end to his hopes of success.

Ringing Williams (Trident) then found himself in the lead but not for long since he was going to suffer the attacks of Jake Hughes (VAR) and Liam Lawson when restarting the race at 14^e round. The two-man duel began for victory on the Jeddah Corniche.

Well helped by the soft tires in the first moments following the restart, Jake Hughes saw Liam Lawson gradually close his gap before the latter cut him off on the start/finish straight at the start of the 18^e passage. The Virtual Safety Car caused by the retirement of Marcus Armstrong (Hitech GP) changed nothing and the New Zealander was able to claim his first triumph of the season. Hughes lost under the checkerboard against Jüri Vips (Hitech GP) who stole 2nd^e instead.

LAP 18 / 20

Lawson passes Hughes to take the race lead#SaudiArabianGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/Ii8FL1SNHS

- Formula 2 (@ Formula2) March 26, 2022

On the Tricolores side, this Sprint Race was very complicated. Starting in 18th position, Theo Pourchaire (ART Grand Prix), after a bad start, managed to climb up to 15th place. Clément Novalak (MP Motorsport) was also able to move up and gain a few places, going from 15th to 13th without making an impression.