Oscar Piastri took victory in the heavily disrupted FIA Formula 2 feature race that saw a first lap red flag following a huge crash between Enzo Fittipaldi and Théo Pourchaire.
ART Grand Prix’s Pourchaire was unable to get away from the line and was hit from behind by Fittipaldi, with the Charouz Racing System driver then hitting the pit wall. Luckily, both drivers remained conscious but were taken to hospital, with the race being red flagged as a result.
The delays from the crash, and the earlier delay for barrier repairs after a crash in a support race meant there was very little time to get the race in before the Formula 1 race later in the evening, and as a result the race was reduced in laps and half points awarded.
A pit stop was still mandatory for all drivers, and Piastri led the field to the restart, which the stewards decided should be a rolling start after what happened earlier in the afternoon.
Piastri led from Prema Racing team-mate Robert Shwartzman, while Campos Racing’s Ralph Boschung ran third ahead of Guanyu Zhou of UNI-Virtuosi Racing.
Boschung defended well from Zhou to hold onto third, and pit stops began as soon as the pit window was open.
However, the race was soon suspended – this time for good – when Olli Caldwell and Guilherme Samaia crashed out. It was the third race across the weekend that Samaia was taken out through no fault of his own.
Initially the safety car was called upon, but with time running out and only half the field having pitted, the stewards opted to red flag the event and award half points.
Piastri was declared the winner on countback from Shwartzman, with Boschung securing his maiden Formula 2 podium in third ahead of Zhou, with Felipe Drugovich fifth.
Jüri Vips, Christian Lundgaard, Marcus Armstrong, Liam Lawson and Dan Ticktum rounded out the top ten and the points paying positions, but all concerns were about the welfare of Fittipaldi and Pourchaire following their first lap crash.
Unfortunately for Piastri, with half points being awarded, this denied him the chance of claiming the championship in Saudi Arabia.
