Crawford does not give in to Collet and wins his first victory

Despite the pressure put on by Caio Collet, Jak Crawford did not give in to take his first victory in F2 thanks to his success in the Sprint Race in Austria.

Published on 09/07/2022 à 11:17

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Sprint – Crawford does not give in to Collet and wins his first victory

First victory in F3 for Jak Crawford. ©Red Bull Content Pool

First^e mounted on the box was correct. After two 2^e places and a 3^e, Jak Crawford finally climbed to the top of the podium. Left since 2^e line on the grid, the Prema driver made a small but solid comeback to enter the winner's circle for this 2022 season.

On contact after an eventful start to the race where the safety car made its appearance on the first lap, Jak Crawford showed mischief to impose his law. Ambushing in 1rd position behind leader Juan Manuel Correa (ART Grand Prix) and Caio Collet (MP Motorsport), the American took advantage of the first city's abandonment to grab a place in the standings. Although close to Collet, Crawford preferred to wait a few laps while waiting for an opportunity to overtake to present itself to him.

Helped by the restart of the race on the 14th lap after another intervention by the Safety Car (Zane Maloney hit by Oliver Bearman and forced to retire), Jak Crawford immediately went on the attack on Caio Collet. A nice maneuver in the winding part between the 2nd and 3rd sectors of the Red Bull Ring, the member of the Red Bull Junior Team, took the lead for the first time in this Sprint Race but could not relax with 1 laps still to complete.

Despite the incessant pressure from Caio Collet still installed in the DRS zone, Jak Crawford was not going to give in. Although on the defensive to maintain his property, the Prema driver was going to keep the lead of the race until the checkerboard to join Isack Hadjar, Victor Martins or even Arthur Leclerc in the group of winners of this 2022 vintage. Franco Colapinto (VAR) completed the podium.

Leclerc returns to contact with Martins

In addition to the victory of Jak Crawford, the good performance of this Sprint Race was achieved by Arthur Leclerc (Prema). Starting from 9th place on the grid, the Monegasque took advantage of his very good pace to move up through the peloton. On his way, the little brother of Charles Leclerc took over Roman Stanek (Trident), Kaylen Frederik (Hitech GP) and Jonny Edgar (Trident). A daring maneuver but deemed legal (for the moment) by the stewards (double overtaking on Oliver Bearman and Zane Maloney) also allowed him to move up to 4th.

On his momentum, Arthur Leclerc tried everything to get rid of Franco Colapinto to gain 3rd place, in vain. Nothing too serious since this 4th place at the finish allowed him to come back into contact with championship leader Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix), 8th in the Sprint Race. While the Main Race remains to be contested this Sunday, a small point separates the two men. This Sunday, Leclerc will start 4th, 2 positions behind Martins.

Poleman the day before, Isack Hadjar (Hitech GP) experienced a little more difficulty in the middle of the peloton. If he fell back to 15th for a while after being trapped at the time of the first restart, the Ile-de-France native managed to move up to 1th, thus winning the last point at stake in this Sprint Race.