F2: Williams junior Zak O'Sullivan wins red-flagged F2 Sprint at Spa

Williams junior driver Zak O’Sullivan earned top honours in the F2 sprint race today, converting his pole position into a victory on a treacherous day at Spa-Francorchamps. F1Technical's senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on the F2 sprint race.

Despite the challenging conditions, there was no incident on the opening lap with the entire field having been eager to survive the first corners.

Starting the sprint race from pole, Williams Academy Driver Zak O'Sullivan seemingly enjoyed the conditions as he built up a gap of 1.7 seconds to his closest rival Dennis Hauger.

Ferrari junior racer Oliver Bearman had a sensational opening lap as he made up six positions at the start of the race. His team-mate Andrea Kimi Antonelli was desperate to overtake Franco Colapinto, attempting several ambitious overtaking manoeuvres, but the Williams junior fended off the Italian's attacks.

However, just moments later, Antonelli went side by side with Colapinto into Eau Rouge and took P6, with Bearman following him through down the Kemmel Straight.

On Lap 3, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed as Josep Maria Marti's car was left stranded on the run to Pouhon. Just moments later, the VSC was converted into a full safety car interruption as Marti's sticken car needed to be cleared.

In the meantime, the rain started to fall a little bit heavier and the decision has been made to bring the cars into the pit lane under red flag.

Shortly after drivers lined up in the narrow pit lane of the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, it was decided not to restart the race.

The decision meant that O'Sullivan won the shortened sprint race ahead of Hauger, Richard Verschoor, Zane Maloney and Jak Crawford. The regulations mean that only the first five drivers collected points.

Expanding on his victory, O'Sullivan noted: “P1 in the Sprint Race today. Honestly would’ve liked to have a bit longer on track but unfortunately conditions got worse and worse. Still, nonetheless, a good result and looking forward to tomorrow starting inside the top 10.”

Isack Hadjar continues to lead the Drivers’ Championship on 140 points from Paul Aron who remains on 122. Gabriel Bortoleto stays third on 110, while Zane Maloney was the only driver in the top five of the Standings to score, adding two points to go onto 103 points in fourth. Franco Colapinto remains fifth with 96.

The lead of the Teams’ Standings remains with Invicta Racing on 184 but MP Motorsport move to second place ahead of Campos Racing, now on 179 to 178 respectively. Hitech Pulse-Eight stay fourth on 147 with Rodin Motorsport fifth, now on 125.