Isack Hadjar made essentially the most of a disastrous Formula 2 race at Silverstone to permit Paul Aron to cement his position as the brand new championship leader along with his third win of the season.
The Campos driver needed to work hard for the victory, as he was behind Victor Martins (ART) and Oliver Bearman (Prema) firstly of the race.
Having regained the lead with a daring move over Martins at Abbey, the Frenchman dropped behind Jake Crawford but moved to the highest step of the rostrum when the ART driver was given a five-second penalty for an unsafe pit stop.
With the race happening in dry conditions, Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) was the one driver in the highest seven to start out an alternate strategy and have the hard tyres fitted.
But the race struggled to seek out its rhythm within the opening stages, with two safety automotive interventions disrupting the flow. The first got here when Kush Maini (Invicta) and sprint race winner Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Prema) clashed at Village on the opening lap, and the second got here on lap 4 when former championship leader Paul Aron (Hitech) clipped the nose of Joshua Durksen's AIX at Woodcote, leaving the latter stuck within the gravel.
For his mistake, Aron received a 10-second penalty, which he served by pitting on lap 27 of 29 after waiting for rain or one other safety automotive.
Colapinto led the pack of drivers starting on the hard tyres and was helped within the fight for the rostrum by rivals Hadjar, Crawford, Zane Maloney (Rodin) and Martins.
Things got here to a head when Hadjar, annoyed at being pushed off the track by Martins at Stowe, got his elbows out and located a strategy to get through at Abbey, forcing Martins to make use of up all of the available space and drop back to fourth.
During the pit stops, Crawford was released into Maloney’s path, leading to a five-second penalty – which he was unable to beat, ultimately losing 0.165 seconds to Maloney and compelled to take third place on the rostrum.
Colapinto was quick on the soft tyres within the closing stages of the race however the advantage proved too great and he eventually finished fourth.
Aron eventually took the flag in twelfth and dropped to second within the championship, 16 points behind Hadjar after a points-free weekend. Maloney returns to 3rd on 101 points, just seven behind Aron.
Silverstone – Main Race
