British GP: Martins overcomes penalty to secure F2 Feature Race win

ART’s Victor Martins managed to convert his pole position into a Formula 2 win after he was slapped with a five-second time penalty for a first-lap incident with Dams’ Ayumu Iwasa.

How the race unfolded…

It was a great start from Martins who pulled away from Kush Maini, in second, but it was Dams’ Ayumu Iwasa who got the most impressive start. Despite a third start on the grid, Iwasa bolted past both Maini and Martins to take the race lead into the opening corners. 

Iwasa was immediately under threat by turn three, at Village, of which the Japanese driver closed the door on Martins who attempted a move around the outside. Despite this, Martins continued to fight and found a way past the Dams driver on the exit of turn four. 

After six laps, Martin’s had established a comfortable four-second gap over Iwasa but it came to nothing as Invicta Virtuosi Racing’s Amaury Cordeel spun out at Stowe corner, in the final sector. As race control considered their options, a couple of drivers pitted for their mandatory stop to exchange their softs for the hard tyres.

However, the rest of the soft tyre runners – including the race leader, Martins, and Iwasa – peeled into the pit lane as the safety car was deployed. In turn, this allowed Hitech’s Isack Hadjar to inherit the race lead ahead of Dams’ Arthur Leclerc, who were on the alternate strategy, and Martins who was second and third. 

The safety car was soon redeployed after a collision occurred at the restart, on lap 11. The drivers involved included; Trident’s Romain Stanek, MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger and Prema’s Frederik Vesti. 

As the drivers returned to racing speed, Vesti and Hauger were caught out by the slow-moving cars inside the braking zone at turn 16, at Vale. Vesti took evasive action to avoid Stanek but he was soon rear-ended by Hauger. Stanek spun out as a result of the contact and retired. 

Vesti and Hauger, on the other hand, were able to continue on slowly. Both drivers returned to the pit lane for inspections, repairs and a change of tyres. However, Vesti was forced to retire after he left the pit lane with significant suspension damage to his Prema machinery. 

Hauger was able to continue on without issue, quickly after. 

The race finally resumed, without issue, at the end of lap 14.

On lap 17, Martins was given a five-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage for the incident at the race start when he regained the race lead. 

At the same time, both Campos cars looked to be stranded on the entry to Club Corner (T17) after they were put into a spin. Maini attempted a move, down the inside, on Prema’s Oliver Bearman on entry to T16 but the Indian driver accidentally collected the rear of his teammate, Ralph Boschung. 

Due to the two stranded Campos cars, between Vale and Club corners, the safety car was redeployed for a third time on lap 17. 

As a result of the late safety car, those on the alternate strategy – going hard to soft tyres – were brought back into the fight for the win as a handful of drivers on that option found themselves inside the top 10. 

Of those drivers, Dams’ Arthur Leclerc was the highest ranked driver, on the alternate strategy, in fourth as the race resumed on lap 20. 

On lap 20, the top three were Martins, Zane Maloney (Carlin) and Theo Pourchaire (ART) in first, second and third respectively. This order quickly changed at The Loop (T4) as Pourchaire opened up the door for Leclerc to slip down the inside of turn four for third place. The ART driver attempted to fight back but it was for nothing. 

As Maloney and Leclerc continued to battle it out over second place, Martins was able to build up a three-second gap. Five more laps remained and Martins had to establish another two seconds to overcome his time penalty to win the race. 

However, as the field raced around the circuit for their 24th time, Leclerc had begun to peel back towards the grasp of Pourchaire down in fourth. The two drivers fought it out through Stowe and down into Vale but Leclerc was able to maintain his track position. 

A lap later, down the hangar straight, Pourchaire was able to slip by Leclerc to regain third place. 

As Martins completed lap 25, the French driver finally established a five-second gap over Maloney who was still in second place.

Podium: 

1. Victor Martins, ART
2. Zane Maloney, Rodin Carlin
3. Theo Pourchaire, ART

That’s it for the article: British GP: Martins overcomes penalty to secure F2 Feature Race win!

Read more Formula Two here:

• Spanish GP: Bearman cruises to feature race victory as Martins charged to third
• Monaco GP: Vesti secures F2 feature race win as Doohan brings out red flag
• Monaco GP: Iwasa secures sprint win after Hadjar suffers problems
• Azerbaijan GP: Bearman walks to F2 win after chaotic final restart
• F2 Saudi Arabia GP: Iwasa controls sprint race after early move
• F2 Bahrain Feature Race: Pourchaire dominates first feature race of 2023

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Kamron Kent

Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.

I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.

Kamron Kent

Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.