Isack Hadjar successfully held off Gabriel Bortoleto at Imola, winning his second consecutive Formula 2 feature race in the process. After the race, Hadjar spoke to Feeder Series and selected media at a press conference.

By Martin Lloyd

The Frenchman started the race from third on the grid, behind polesitter Bortoleto and Ollie Bearman. Bortoleto was swallowed up after a poor start, falling behind Hadjar and Bearman as well as AIX Racing’s Joshua Dürksen. Bearman settled into the lead for the opening stint, before the leading runners, all starting on the super-soft tyre, pitted at the end of Laps 6 and 7.  

After changing to medium tyres, Bearman stalled in his pit box multiple times, costing the Briton any chance of scoring points. Prema rushed to manually restart his car, but Bearman emerged in 21^st position. This allowed Hadjar, Dürksen and Bortoleto to gain a position.

Bortoleto, now ahead of Dürksen, valiantly chased down Hadjar but the Campos driver did not relinquish the lead. On a track with only one DRS zone and limited overtaking opportunities, Bortoleto could not force Hadjar into a mistake and was forced to settle for second. Hadjar was delighted with his victory and admitted to Feeder Series that he did not expect to have a consistently race-winning pace when he joined Campos.

“Honestly I didn’t expect [to have] such a good car, and having so much confidence every time I jump in. But I knew I was joining Campos, and I believe I made the right decision.”

Hadjar was eliminated from Saturday’s sprint race after colliding with Roman Staněk on the run to Turn 1 and was collected by other cars. Sunday was an altogether more successful affair. This was despite Bortoleto’s efforts, with the McLaren junior crossing the line just three-tenths behind his Red Bull-backed competitor. Despite his initial surprise at the performance level, Hadjar told Feeder Series that Campos’ standard merits the stunning form.

“Honestly, with the work we’re putting in, and the level I’m driving at, at the moment, I’m not surprised that we are ahead. I’m really happy with that choice [to join Campos] obviously!”

Hadjar and Bortoleto were unlikely to have been threatened by the six drivers on the alternate strategy. Any lingering worries evaporated when the two leading alternate runners, Amaury Cordeel and Hadjar’s Campos teammate Pepe Martí, were forced to retire with loose tyres after their pitstops. A loose tyre from Cordeel’s car hit Pepe Martí’s rear-left Campos mechanic, causing a delay in fitting the corresponding tyre to Martí’s car. When the Spaniard was released, that tyre was also not fully attached, causing a further retirement.

Dürksen finished third, 13 seconds behind the leading pair, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli a further four seconds adrift in fourth. The Italian rookie was followed closely by Saturday’s top two, with the fifth-placed Franco Colapinto again besting Paul Aron. Jak Crawford and Juan Manuel Correa both recovered from poor qualifying showings to secure seventh and eighth. Victor Martins and Richard Verschoor rounded out the points scorers, with the former scoring for just the third time this season. 

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency