Hauger secures maiden Feature pole in chaotic F2 Qualifying

Dennis Hauger has secured his first-ever F2 Feature Race pole position, coming out on top of Antonelli and Verschoor in a chaotic and red flag-prone qualifying session at Albert Park. 

In the hunt for Feature and Sprint race glory, the first step is a solid qualifying position. 

The Formula 2 grid set out to achieve just that, with Jak Crawford leading the field out onto the Albert Park Circuit. 

The American was the first to start his qualifying campaign, taking a trip across the grass and narrowly avoiding the wildlife at Turn 1.

His run, albeit unrepresentative, was short-lived when Victor Martins brought out an early red flag.

The Frenchmen almost recreated Alex Albon’s costly FP1 incident, losing his ART car into Turn 7, wrestling and skidding to avoid the unforgiving walls.

He successfully did so, however, was unable to bring the car back to the pitlane, leading to the delay.

The session restarted with 24 minutes on the clock.

With only eight drivers having set times, although slow, Kush Maini led the field out for the second time.

His opening flying lap time temporarily situated him at the top of the order.

It was Kimi Antonelli who claimed the fastest Sector 1, crossing the line to relegate the Virtuosi driver, however, as the times rolled in, that all changed.

Once all opening flying laps had been completed, it was Paul Aron on provisional pole with a time of 1:29.984s.

Dennis Hauger was just 31 milliseconds behind, with Isaak Hadjar sitting in P3.

Meanwhile, the early yellow flags post-restart were found to have been for Crawford who hit the wall on exit of turn 5, earning himself a rear puncture. 

Antonelli clawed his way back up to the top before the Mercedes junior was demoted by McLaren’s next prodigy, Gabriel Bortoleto. 

Gabriel Bortoleto during qualifying at the Australian Grand Prix. Image: Mark Sutton / Sutton Images.

The former top three of Aron, Hauger and Hadjar retook their places in the top three, with the margins between the trio slimming.

The drivers returned to the pitlane, taking one last moment before the last sprint to pole position. 

A mix of strategies was seen in the pitlane, with teams sending their drivers out at a varied rate.

The earlier exiters were on the cautious side, having seen how many incidents there had been throughout the day’s running, while those who remained in the pitlane for an additional period of time were hopeful of improved track evolution for their flying laps. 

The argy-bargy started early on the out-lap, with drivers tussling for track position right until the final corner. 

Zane Maloney was the first to set off, taking advantage of the clear track ahead with 6 minutes on the clock. 

The boy from Barbados improved to provisional pole, crossing the line clear of a costly incident ensuing behind.

Crawford’s luck went from bad to worse when the DAMS driver crashed into the barriers after losing it on exit of Turn 12. 

The session was red-flagged once again, this time with only four minutes on the clock. 

There was no waiting for the remaining 20 drivers who immediately began trundling down the fast lane, hyper-aware of the fact that they only had one lap to stake their claim at pole position.

Richard Verschoor’s Trident was seen leaking fluid as he exited the pitlane, whilst Ollie Bearman was noted for an unsafe release.

Bortoleto led the way, struggling to find pace in the opening sector.

He wasn’t alone in that, with most drivers vulnerable without temperature in their tyres. 

Antonelli crossed the line in P1, one of only a few to improve. 

The young gun held provisional pole position before Hauger’s experience earned him the top grid slot for the Feature race.

Verschoor completed the top three, crossing the line over a tenth ahead of Maini.

Further back in the pack, and the main reason for the lack of improvements, Enzo Fittipaldi crashed out at Turn 6 to end his session in the barriers.

As for the rest of the grid, Bearman will have a lot of work to do.

The Prema driver competed in the Formula 1 Saudi Arabian Grand Prix in place of Carlos Sainz, finishing that night in P7, however, tomorrow and on Sunday, he will start from P16.

Tomorrow, the Formula 2 Sprint race will kick off at 2:15 PM, with 23 laps of intense racing guaranteed. 

Qualifying Results:

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