Isack Hadjar put the disappointment of the Melbourne Formula 2 sprint race behind him on Sunday by romping to an impressive feature race win. The Campos Racing driver started eighth and gained several places thanks to a well-timed virtual safety car.

By Steven Walton

Hadjar crossed the line first in the feature race on Sunday afternoon, and this time he kept the victory.

“My weekend is complete,” the first-time F2 feature race winner said afterwards.

On Saturday in Melbourne, Hadjar won the sprint race but was penalised hours later for causing a collision with Pepe Martí and Gabriel Bortoleto at the start. This dropped him down to sixth and handed the race win to Trident’s Roman Staněk.

On Sunday morning, the stewards confirmed Campos Racing wanted to appeal the penalty, and a hearing was set for 13:30 local, after the conclusion of the feature race.

Before the feature race, team principal Adrián Campos Jr explained to Feeder Series the rationale for the appeal. 

“We have the right of bringing new evidence and that’s what we did,” he said. “We think it’s not fair and there is more evidence that we can prove that it’s not fair. Probably nothing will happen as always, but we need to try. That’s all.

“There have been other precedents in the past with exactly the same, like Imola with [Jack] Doohan and [Dennis] Hauger,” he continued, referencing a startline incident in the 2022 F2 Imola feature race. “There was no further action and they say it’s a race incident, and we believe this was also a race incident.”

At 18:09 local, the stewards’ ruling dismissing the appeal was published.

‘I just lost a few points’

Hadjar told Feeder Series that he wasn’t too concerned about the sprint race penalty and the appeal outcome.

“If they manage to give us the win back, it’s great. If they don’t, it’s okay as well because as I said, I felt like I won both races and that’s the most important for me,” he said.

“Yesterday I felt like I just lost a few points. P6 or P1 in the sprint isn’t such a big deal. It still hurts, but in the end, I got to go on the podium and spray some champagne and I felt like I won [on Saturday],” he continued. … “To cap it off with a proper race win today in the feature race is great redemption.”

The sprint race penalty cost Hadjar seven points.

Still, the Red Bull junior picked up 25 points for winning the feature race, propelling him up the championship standings from 14th to fourth on 34 points. Ahead of him now are Zane Maloney on 62 points, Paul Aron on 48 and Dennis Hauger on 41.

VSC helps Hadjar

Hadjar was able to win the Melbourne feature race in part thanks to a virtual safety car.

Most frontrunning cars pitted on lap nine, but Hadjar did not join them as his Campos teammate Pepe Martí, ahead of him at the time, had priority for a pit stop.

A lap later, the VSC was deployed after polesitter Dennis Hauger hit the barriers at Turn 6. Hadjar was in the pits just before the VSC came out, which meant his stop was still counted as his mandatory pit stop.

In the pit stop cycle, Hadjar jumped both Aron and Maloney, the two drivers who eventually joined him on the podium.

Hadjar said when he saw the VSC, he knew the win was “pretty much in the bag.”

“I got super lucky with that, I have to admit,” he said. “It was the case this weekend that we got some luck. It made a big difference.”

Editor’s note, 8:20 CET: This article was updated after publication to include the stewards’ final decision on the right of review filed by Campos.

Header photo credit: Sebastiaan Rozendaal / Dutch Photo Agency