Charles Leclerc has extended his championship lead with a sparkling win in muggy conditions in this afternoon’s FIA Formula 2 feature race at the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg, Austria, dictating the pace throughout the race to record a convincing victory ahead of Nicholas Latifi and PREMA teammate Antonio Fuoco.

The Monegasque driver controlled the race right from the start, when Fuoco made a better initial getaway from P2 but Leclerc was quicker in the second phase and into the corner, leading the race once again as the rest of the field shook out between the pair.

Championship contender Oliver Rowland made a poor getaway on the option tyres and was swamped into turn one, with the ART pair of Alexander Albon and Nobuharu Matsushita as well as DAMS teammate Latifi blasting past the British racer.

The PREMA pair swapped fastest laps as they pulled away from their pursuers, but Fuoco ultimately had no answer for his teammate’s pace as the gap grew between them.

Latifi was the first of the option-shod drivers to pit, on lap 7, with his teammate coming in one lap later but emerging behind the Canadian, who had driven a great first stint but had no response when Rowland blasted inside him at turn on lap 13 for P8 on track, and a net podium if his strategy worked.

Leclerc, however, was unruffled, maintaining the gap back to Rowland the leader of the option drivers and a solid hand on a net victory.

Rowland was doing what he could to make his strategy work, overtaking prime drivers and trying to close the gap, but it was to no avail: Fuoco pitted on lap 31 and emerged between the DAMS drivers, Leclerc came in a lap later and emerged ahead of Rowland, and when Matsushita pitted next time through the Ferrari Academy driver was back in P1.

Unfortunately the effort had taken a toll on Rowland’s tyres, allowing his rivals to regain a march on him: Fuoco got through the Briton on lap 33, Latifi dispatched his teammate 3 laps later and, remarkably given the age difference in their tyres, also pushed past Fuoco on lap 38 to form the podium: Leclerc slowed in the end but easily controlled the run to the line for a fine victory ahead of Latifi and Fuoco, with Rowland just unable to unseat the Italian for a podium.

Albon and Matsushita were next across the line, running as they had all weekend, with Ralph Boschung an impressive 7th from P11 on the grid and Artem Markelov on the reverse pole from P14, ahead of Jordan King and Sean Gelael, who mugged Robert Visiou for the final point on the final lap.

Feature Race Provisional Classification

 

 Pos

Driver

Team

 

 

 

1.

Charles Leclerc

PREMA Racing

 

 

 

2.

Nicholas Latifi

DAMS

 

 

 

3.

Antonio Fuoco

PREMA Racing

 

 

 

4.

Oliver Rowland

DAMS

 

 

 

5.

Alexander Albon

ART Grand Prix

 

 

 

6.

Nobuharu Matsushita

ART Grand Prix

 

 

 

7.

Ralph Boschung

Campos Racing

 

 

 

8.

Artem Markelov

RUSSIAN TIME

 

 

 

9.

Jordan King

MP Motorsport

 

 

 

10.

Sean Gelael

Pertamina Arden

 

 

 

11.

Robert Visoiu

Campos Racing

 

 

 

12.

Gustav Malja

Racing Engineering

 

 

 

13.

Nyck De Vries

Rapax

 

 

 

14.

Luca Ghiotto

RUSSIAN TIME

 

 

 

15.

Sergio Canamasas

Rapax

 

 

 

16.

Sergio Sette Camara

MP Motorsport

 

 

 

17.

Louis Delétraz

Racing Engineering

 

 

 

18.

Nabil Jeffri

Trident

 

 

 

19.

Raffaele Marciello

Trident

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

Not Classified

 

 

 

 

 

Norman Nato

Pertamina Arden

 

 

 

     

 

 

 

 

Fastest Lap

 

 

 

 

 

Nobuharu Matsushita

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