In the early afternoon, the tragic news of MP Motorsport FRECA driver Dilano van ‘t Hoff’s passing filtered through the paddock. The 18-year-old Dutchman succumbed to his injuries following an accident at Spa-Francorchamps.

At the same time, the Formula 2 grid was preparing for their opening race of the weekend in Austria – with Hitech’s Jak Crawford finding out moments prior to the start of the sprint race.

By Tyler Foster

The American driver would go on to take his maiden Formula 2 victory with a controlled drive throughout a hectic race in interchangeable conditions. This is also the fourth time this season that Crawford has achieved a podium finish, with them all coming from sprint events. As a result of this record, he now rises up to 14^th in the drivers’ standings, 11 points ahead of fellow rookie and Hitech teammate Isack Hadjar.

Afterwards, Crawford paid his tribute to the late Van ‘t Hoff, explaining how tough it was to go racing after learning the reality of what had transpired at Spa-Francorchamps.

“I was, I think, one of the only drivers who knew about it before the race. It was very difficult to suck it up and race today. Definitely a bitter win. My thoughts and prayers go out to his family.”

Joining Crawford on the podium was Trident’s Clément Novalak and ART’s Victor Martins. Unlike the race winner, both Novalak and Martins were unaware of the situation before the race – only finding out as they prepared to climb the rostrum.

“From my end, I didn’t really know until after the race,” Novalak said, “so it was particularly difficult to be on that podium to be honest.

“I’ve had a couple of really difficult years in F2, but it’s always nice to stand on the podium, but at the same time, in moments like this you reflect on other things and the most important stuff and unfortunately it’s a tough day.”

For Novalak, this is only his second time on the podium in F2 and his first with Trident since switching from MP Motorsport for the 2023 campaign. Having scored just two points prior to this weekend, the Frenchman was more than pleased with his performance.

Meanwhile for Victor Martins, he has the opportunity to take a massive point haul from this Austrian round. After taking a second pole of the year on Friday, the rookie took second place alongside the fastest lap in the sprint. This was his third consecutive podium visit, with the chance to make it four on Sunday. He now rises to 6^th in the championship standings and is finally taking the points he missed out on earlier in the season.

Just like his colleagues, Martins felt the pain of this recent loss to the motorsport community. As a driver who had previously raced for MP Motorsport, both in Formula Renault Eurocup and FIA Formula 3, he expressed his sympathies for the team’s welfare at all levels.

“As [Novalak] said, I didn’t know also before the race. So, of course knowing straight out of the car wasn’t an easy one.

“Obviously, in those situations the result doesn’t really matter honestly. The most important thing is our life, how we survive. It’s not good to understand it as soon as we go out of the car; but obviously we send our best thoughts to the family, the friends and also the MP [Motorsport] family because I know them really closely.”

Header photo credit: MP Motorsport