F2: Iwasa leads the championship after a dramatic feature race in Australia

The long-anticipated F2 feature race took place in Australia for the first time this weekend.

With the weather switching from sunshine to heavy rain all throughout the weekend, the drivers were pushed to their absolute limit during practice and qualifying. Drivers like Enzo Fittipaldi and Ralph Boschung had their sprint race cut short on the formation lap by spinning out due to the tricky conditions. Now with the weather meant to be clear with no signs of rain for the race, it is all to play for with Theo Pourchaire just one point behind the current championship leader.

The Starting grid

Iwasa started his weekend off well by going fastest in Albert Park and claiming pole position.  The two ARTs were not far behind, qualifying 2^nd and 3^rd. After a disappointing weekend for both ART drivers in Jeddah, they will be looking to gain back the points they lost and hopefully gain an advantage in the Constructors and Championship board. Jack Doohan who is starting down in 15^th will be hoping to make an impression on the crowd in his first home Grand Prix

Lights out

As the lights started going out in Albert Park, Iwasa got the dream start by shooting ahead from the rest of the pack. Theo Pourchaire had a slightly slower start and it meant Victor Martins was now wheel-to-wheel with him. Pourchaire managed to salvage it and stayed in second position but by only a margin. Isack Hadjar set the fastest lap on the fourth lap and started gaining on the three in front of them.

Juan Manuel Correra and Clement Novalak had some slight contact. It caused Correra to suffer as he received both a puncture and a broken front wing. This caused even more problems for him as when he came out of the pits on the 6^th lap he was a lap behind and had a lot of catching up to do.

The middle of the pack

Frederick Vesti provided some close wheel-to-wheel action against Crawford, he prevailed and came out ahead in 9^thplace.

Bearman was not having any luck during the race. He received a 5-second penalty after an incident involving Maloney and himself. When the pack went through the pit lane, Hadjar and Bearman had a slight bump which resulted in him having a puncture.

When Bearman headed in to get his puncture changed the pit stop was slow and this saw him drop all the way down to 20^th. But that was not all as after race control looked at the incident between Hadjar and Bearman they deemed that he would receive another 5-second penalty.

After fighting his way up to the 13th position he ran onto the gravel. This caused him to lose those positions he gained and dropped back down to 17th.

The drama continues

As Doohan continued to make his way up the pack, he went around the back of the Red Bull of Crawford. This sadly resulted in the first safety car. Crawford ended up not having enough space and it ultimately led to him to collide with the wall. Only a few laps in and his race was already over.

The safety car ended, and the cars were back to racing. The grid order was now changed with the Jeddah Feature Race winner, Vesti now leading the rest of the grid. Roy Nissany and Enzo Fittipaldi were having a scrap for a podium place. Nissany was left with no space which caused him to run onto the gravel and drop down several positions.

Isack Hadjar who looked like he would be challenging for a podium finish had slight contact with Cordeel. It caused him to slide onto the grass and dropped him all the way down to 16^th.  After a strong start from the rookie, he was pushed out of the top ten, finishing with no points.

A second safety car

Roy Nissany hit the wall and caused his race to end with only 7 laps remaining. The drama was not over as during the safety car Fittipaldis left suspension failed and caused him to hit the wall and end his race as well.

Iwasa continued to lead the rest of the pack. Victor Martins locked up after the safety car ended and it hit 3rd place runner Dennis Hauger. It caused significant damage and cost Hauger the podium.

The soft tires were now starting to warm up for Vesti and it meant he was now hunting down a podium position. However, he came in fourth as Leclerc fought him off until the final turn.

Iwasa became the first F2 winner in Australia and gained an advantage in the championship standings. Theo Pourchaire came in second and Arthur Leclerc got his first podium finish after putting on a spectacular race.

Iwasa now leads the standings with 58 points, this is 4 points more than Theo Pourchaire. After a disappointing race for Boschung he has been pushed down to 4th in the standings.

The full results can be found here.

Featured image credits: Bryn Lennon, Getty Images