FIA Formula 2

Vesti unchallenged in Formula 2 Sprint at Silverstone, Doohan returns to the podium

Andrew Rickert

Jul 9, 2023 — 2 min read

Championship leader Frederik Vesti went unchallenged in the FIA Formula 2 sprint race for the third win of the season ahead of Théo Pourchaire and Jack Doohan.

Frederik Vesti celebrates his third victory of the FIA Formula 2 season. *(Formula Motorsport Limited)*

Vesti was in control of the race after a rolling start in wet conditions, confidently maintaining the lead through a safety car restart and changing weather to take the chequered flag by 13 seconds ahead of rival Pourchaire.

"It’s a good recovery from P10 yesterday," said the PREMA Racing driver.

"Obviously, we started on pole today, so it was good to convert that pole into victory."

"It’s important points for the championship, it gives us a lot of confidence for tomorrow where hopefully we can fight through the field starting from P10.”

It was a cool drive for Vesti ahead of battles further down the field.

"It was quite calm," said the race winner.

"Obviously, at the beginning I had a bit of pressure."

"I wanted to pull a gap to be sure I could have a bit more of a calm race later. I think the way we expected and hoped the race to go, it was actually the way it went, which was really nice."

Vesti lead from Isack Hadjar and Théo Pourchaire at the start, with Oliver Bearman charging through the field and into fourth on the opening lap after a bold move around Enzo Fittipaldi.

With a spin in the rear of the field the safety car briefly neutralised the race, with Vesti leading away again at the restart as Bearman made another brave move, lunging down the inside past Pourchaire for third.

The Brit wasn't finished as he raced at home, charging up to the rear of Hadjar in second and passing him through Stowe. It was bittersweet for Bearman in the wet conditions, finding more grip than his rivals in the previous laps before spinning and dropping back down to third.

It was Vesti, Hadjar, Bearman at the front, with Pourchaire and Jack Doohan waiting in the wings with much better tyre life and eyeing off the podium positions.

With Bearman spinning out, Pourchaire chased down Hadjar and easily took second place, while Doohan went wheel-to-wheel over multiple laps in an intense battle with Bearman.

Attached at the hip, Bearman and Doohan went past Hadjar in tandem, before Bearman speared off the track once again, with the Australian up to the final podium position while Bearman could only manage sixth.

Vesti's race win extends his championship lead to 21 points over Théo Pourchaire, with the order of the top five unchanged behind them.

Victor Martins will line up on pole position for the Formula 2 feature race at Silverstone at 6.55pm Sunday (AEST).

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2023 FIA Formula 2 Championship - Round 9 Britain Sprint Race Result