Hauger hangs onto opening F2 practice

Dennis Hauger has topped the one and only FIA Formula 2 practice by the barest of margins at the Australian Grand Prix.

MP Motorsport’s Hauger posted a 1:29.654 with 15 minutes to go and it remained unbeaten until the end despite Isack Hadjar coming as close as possible.

He came within 0.001s but had to settle for second due to the interrupted session ending early from a red flag caused by a Rafael Villagomez off.

They were the only two drivers in the 1m29s window with Mercedes junior Andrea Kimi Antonelli completing the top three a further four tenths away.

The interrupted session was an intriguing affair with a number of incidents and changes of the lead being the only chance the F2 drivers to steer the new generation cars around Albert Park prior to qualifying under sunny skies and a cool track temperature of 20 degrees.

Once the Virtual Safety Car was out of the way, the drivers put the foot down.

Gabriel Bortoleto posted the first time in anger eight minutes in but was immediately beaten by both Paul Aron and Hadjar.

Only 13 cars could record a lap before Amaury Cordeel locked up and got beached in the gravel at turn 1.

As a result the reds arrived but the clock continued counting down, losing valuable time as some drivers were not able to commence laps until the second half of the session.

Aron’s 1:46.987 was the benchmark, six tenths clear of Hadjar, but it was not until the session resumed that representative times were put on the board.

The pace was hot instantly with just 0.008s separating the leading pair and the top five spread across four tenths.

The best out of the gate was Victor Martins with a 1:32.359, but the lap times continued to drop as the session carried on.

Bortoleto went a further second faster, being the first into the 1m31s window before being joined by a host of drivers including Antonelli, who was just a tenth away.

Hauger then lowered the benchmark to 1m30s with 23m to go, but Bortoleto responded to go eight tenths faster.

The tussle carried on as Hauger edged out the #10 by a slim 0.070s while Martins was also within a tenth.

At one stage less than a tenth covered the entire top five before Hauger was the first to dip below the 1m30s benchmark with a 1:29.654.

Ollie Bearman threw the car into turn 6 but crossed up and found the grass, while both Josep Pepe Marti and 25 went off at turn 1.

Ritomo Miyata and Aron were the luckiest, having big offs at turns 12 and 1 respectively and were able to escape the sand pit.

No reds meant teams were able to go for it in the final 10 minutes.

Hadjar set the fastest final sector to go second, three tenths away from Hauger but came even closer on his second attempt with the Campos driver just 0.001s from the top.

Any further moves in their battle were debuted by Villagomez, who brought out the red flags with three minutes to go.

The Van Amersfoort Racing driver lost it on the exit of turn 1 before spinning through the grass and losing the engine.

The red flag saw the session finish early, setting up a fascinating fight for pole when qualifying takes place at 17.30 AEDT this evening.

Photo by Mark Sutton / Sutton Images/Motorsport Images

FIA Formula 2 Practice 1 results

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