Formula 2’s sprint race on Saturday at Spa-Francorchamps was called off after seven laps because of bad weather, handing victory to Zak O’Sullivan. Afterwards, drivers told Feeder Series they agreed with the decision to bring out the red flag.

By Steven Walton

Wet weather initially saw the race start time delayed from 14:15 local time to 18:15. The race was later delayed by another 10 minutes but then got underway with a standing start.

On the third lap, the virtual safety car was deployed for Campos driver Pepe Martí, who stopped on track after Turn 9. 

The VSC was quickly upgraded to a full safety car, and on lap 7, the race was red-flagged. After the cars had returned to the pit lane, race control announced that the race would not resume.

Because of the limited number of laps completed, points were only awarded to the top five finishers.

Zak O’Sullivan – who started from reverse-grid pole – won the race, with Dennis Hauger and Richard Verschoor completing the podium.

Verschoor told Feeder Series in a press conference that the conditions started out “pretty okay” but “got progressively worse throughout the race”.

“To be honest I was just thinking about the red flag for I think 10 seconds and then it became red.”

“I couldn’t imagine the guys behind. They have so much more spray and already for me in third it was quite bad, so it did get worse during the race.”

Hauger said that although the conditions did not feel very wet, safety was the most important thing and the right call was made.

Race winner O’Sullivan said while at the front of the pack, he judged the track conditions by the amount of water on the track and whether there was any aquaplaning.

“But then of course if the red flag is visibility-based, then obviously it’s from cars further down the back, and I’ve been there and I know how bad the visibility can be,” he said.“Safety’s paramount, and again, that was the reason for the red flag.”

O’Sullivan told Feeder Series that a lack of grip was the biggest issue when driving in the rain.

“It’s really low grip, and I think in the wet especially, every lap you’re approaching a corner slightly differently,” he said.“The wet tyres overheat quite easily so you’ve got that going on. The track could be getting wetter; it could be drying.” 

The sprint race was the first wet weather F2 drivers had experienced this weekend.

“So our first laps were this morning when it was almost too wet to drive, so we didn’t learn too much. And then we have [the] installation lap, a formation lap and then we’re straight into the race and heading up towards Raidillon.”

Saturday’s victory at Spa was the second of 2024 for O’Sullivan, who also won the feature race in Monaco.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency