Vesti takes advantage of Martins' mistake to win in Jeddah

Frederik Vesti the opportunist. The Dane won the Main Race in Saudi Arabia. Starting from 6th place on the grid, the Prema driver completed a perfect and clean race to win for the 2nd time in Formula 2, a year after his victory in the Sprint Race in Baku. Jack Doohan and Jehan Daruvala complete the podium in Jeddah.

A solid winner, Frederik Vesti also took advantage of an error by Victor Martins midway through the race. Virtually in the lead on the 18th lap, the Frenchman spun and was unable to restart. Forced to retire, the ART Grand Prix driver saw his first victory in Formula 2 slip from his hands. This is a second retirement in two Main Races for the Ile-de-France rider.

❌ It’s retirement for Victor Martins while he seemed on his way to victory… 🙁#SaudiArabianGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/rc7FYkhUTt

— CANAL+ F1® (@CanalplusF1) March 19, 2023

However, the protégé ofAlpine had done everything well. Starting from pole, he was trapped by Oliver Bearman at the start before virtually regaining the lead of the race after the first pit stop, with a muscular overtake on the 11th lap. The two Formula 2 rookies temporarily led the race among the drivers already stopped. In the space of two laps, both drivers made mistakes: a minor spin for Bearman on the 17th lap, at turn 20, then a fatal spin for Martins, one lap later , leaving the field open to Vesti.

Jack Doohan and Jehan Daruvala, very discreet during the race, were able to hold their tires and take advantage of the racing events to get on the podium, ahead of Ayumu Iwasa and Dennis Hauger. The only Frenchman in the points, Isack Hadjar finished in 9th place thanks to a reverse strategy from 19th place on the grid. A race to forget on the other hand for Theo Pourchaire. Weakened by his accident the day before and penalized on the grid, the native of Grasse was never on the pace and fell to 13th place.

In the championship, everything tightened up. Ralph Boschung (33 points) is still in the lead ahead of Théo Pourchaire (32 points), but Ayumu Iwasa is back in contact (31 points) as is Frederik Vesti (28 points). Next meeting in Australia, in two weeks (April 1 – 2)

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