F2 Silverstone: Vesti wins as Doohan and Bearman clash in the rain

The Prema Racing driver crossed the line 13 seconds ahead of second-placed title rival Theo Pourchaire in a dominant performance.

The Dane endured an early safety car and was unchallenged thereafter to take his third win in four rounds.

Pourchaire lined up third for ART and though he briefly fell back to fourth, made it back to second to finish ahead of Jack Doohan (Virtuosi).

It was far from easy for the Australian, who endured a fierce battle with Ollie Bearman (Prema) which culminated in the Briton running off at Vale, with Doohan appearing to wave at his rival as he passed.

The race started behind the safety car amid wet conditions, with heavy rainfall having preceded the session.

Though the safety car did pull into the pits, it was deployed again soon after as PHM driver Brad Benavides was nudged into a spin by Clement Novalak, making contact with Ayumu Iwasa who had dropped down the order.

The Trident driver was handed a five-second penalty for the incident, while DAMS driver Iwasa pitted with an issue, though he later rejoined.

Racing resumed on lap four, with Bearman on the charge as he passed Pourchaire for third up the inside of Turn 3 before claiming second from Hadjar at Stowe.

It wasn’t to last though, as Hadjar retook second on lap seven after a spin from Bearman, with Pourchaire then taking back third at the exit of Club the following tour.

Jack Doohan completed the podium trio at Silverstone

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Out front, Vesti had built a seven-second lead, with Hadjar a second clear of Pourchaire, before the Sauber Academy member made it into second on lap 11.

A fiery battle between Bearman and Doohan then ensued as they tussled for fourth – Doohan was first to run wide, going off at the exit of Stowe and calling for Bearman to be penalised for pushing him off.

But the Ferrari junior pushed on, passing Hadjar up the inside of Copse before Doohan followed suit the following lap to reignite their battle.

By lap 17, the pair had gotten ever closer, with Bearman eventually running wide at Vale as Doohan went through for third, appearing to wave as he did so.

Bearman was then noted by the stewards for rejoining into the pack, which saw him fall to sixth as Enzo Fittipaldi (Hitech) and Hadjar claimed places.

Victor Martins finished seventh for ART, with Arthur Leclerc (DAMS), PHM’s Roy Nissany and the other Hitech of Zane Maloney rounding off the top 10.

F2 Sprint race: Complete results

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Laps	Time	Gap	Interval
1	7	Frederik Vesti	Prema Powerteam	19	-
2	5	Theo Pourchaire	ART Grand Prix	19	13.4	13.400	13.400
3	14	Jack Doohan	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	19	19.4	19.400	6.000
4	4	Enzo Fittipaldi	Rodin Carlin	19	25.6	25.600	6.200
5	10	Isack Hadjar	Hitech Pulse-Eight	19	30.5	30.500	4.900
6	8	Oliver Bearman	Prema Powerteam	19	30.8	30.800	0.300
7	6	Victor Martins	ART Grand Prix	19	31.3	31.300	0.500
8	12	Arthur Leclerc	DAMS	19	31.6	31.600	0.300
9	16	Roy Nissany	PHM Racing by Charouz	19	32.4	32.400	0.800
10	3	Zane Maloney	Rodin Carlin	19	38.5	38.500	6.100
11	2	Jehan Daruvala	MP Motorsport	19	39.8	39.800	1.300
12	1	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	19	40.2	40.200	0.400
13	24	Kush Maini	Campos Racing	19	44.1	44.100	3.900
14	9	Jak Crawford	Hitech Pulse-Eight	19	44.7	44.700	0.600
15	15	Amaury Cordeel	Invicta Virtuosi Racing	19	45.2	45.200	0.500
16	20	Roman Staněk	Trident	19	48.2	48.200	3.000
17	21	Clement Novalak	Trident	19	51.0	51.000	2.800
18	22	Richard Verschoor	Van Amersfoort Racing	19	52.8	52.800	1.800
19	23	Juan Manuel Correa	Van Amersfoort Racing	19	1'07.9	1'07.900	15.100
20	25	Ralph Boschung	Campos Racing	19	1'14.1	1'14.100	6.200
21	11	Ayumu Iwasa	DAMS	18	1 lap
	17	Brad Benavides	PHM Racing by Charouz	17
View full results