Kush Maini won an unusual Formula 2 sprint race in Hungary, finishing ahead of Victor Martins. Richard Verschoor was disqualified following a post-race technical infringement, despite having crossed the line in first place. After a race involving split tyre choices across the grid, Feeder Series spoke to Maini and Verschoor alongside selected media at a press conference.

By Martin Lloyd

Verschoor started from pole position, but he faced a testing day – both on and off the track. The F2 veteran, starting on hard tyres, was passed immediately by the soft-shod Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The remainder of the hard-starting runners were overtaken similarly during the opening exchanges, aware that their tyres would become far superior later in the race.

In almost all F2 sprint races, the full grid chooses the soft tyre. However, the Hungaroring is famously hard on tyres, leading 10 cars to opt for the alternative option. This made for a chaotic race: many drivers who started on hards were passed early on but reclaimed their positions in the latter stages of the race as the soft tyres wilted.

With teammate Gabriel Bortoleto running softs in comparison to his own hards, Maini discussed Invicta’s split strategy with Feeder Series.

“It’s obviously a positive [that the team split their strategies]. We have a long evening ahead of us, looking into the data and the numbers. We had both compounds on the track, so we can understand how they both reacted and hopefully be a step ahead of everyone for tomorrow.”

Some drivers managed their tyres more successfully than others, and the first to falter was Antonelli. Having fought to keep Verschoor behind, he suffered from a series of lock-ups and lost the lead. His tyres were so worn that he fell out of the points-paying positions, eventually leading to his choosing to pit for fresh tyres. 

After the race, Verschoor discussed how he could learn from the race with Feeder Series.

“The main part is for the engineers to look at all the small data,” Verschoor said. “Of course as a driver, you always look at your driving, what you could’ve done better, where you can make time for tomorrow. 

“The engineers need to analyse deeply in terms of car balance, differential – all these kinds of things where, if everything was correct, then we can improve for tomorrow. Just a deep dive into the data, into the numbers, I think that’s the main thing we’ll try to do.”

There were no tyre issues for the hard-shod runners, including Maini who finished 1.5 seconds behind Verschoor. ART’s Martins managed his softs superbly to finish third on the road, before being promoted to second place.

Over three hours after the conclusion of the race, Verschoor was announced to have been disqualified as his rear plank was too thin. This is a cruel blow for the Trident driver, who has now been stripped of three wins in his F2 career after technical irregularities. He was also forced to retire from the feature race in Monaco while leading. 

The win for Maini is his first win in any category since his 2020 British F3 triumph at Snetterton. Since then, he has risen through the junior single-seater ranks superbly but without taking a victory. The Alpine Academy driver is now eighth in the championship, having scored five podiums so far in 2024. 

Behind Maini and Martins was championship leader Isack Hadjar in third place. Dennis Hauger was fourth ahead of Franco Colapinto and Paul Aron, with Taylor Barnard and Juan Manuel Correa the final points-scorers in seventh and eighth. 

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency