F2: Arvid Lindbland takes maiden F2 victory after time penalty for Verschoor

Although MP Motorsport driver Richard Verschoor crossed the finish line first, a five-second time penalty for the Dutchman saw Red Bull-backed Arvid Lindblad take his maiden Formula 2 victory in the sprint race at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit.

All drivers used Pirelli's Medium compound tyre and, as expected, it showed very little signs of degradation, which meant the drivers could push as hard as they liked for all 20 laps.

Pole-sitter Verschoor had been in a battle for the lead with Josep María Martí in the early stages of the sprint. However, Martí managed to overtake the Dutchman with the help of the drag reduction system into Turn 1, but the MP Motorsport driver bounced back to make a move past the Spaniard at Turn 2 on Lap 5.

The race stewards elected to hand out a five-second time penalty to Verschoor as they thought that the Dutchman had forced off his rival in making the overtake.

Although Verschoor dominated the race, a late safety car bunched up the field, and the penalty saw him drop to fourth place. As a result of it, Lindblad, who started sixth, crossed the line second, but he was promoted up to P1 to take his maiden win and become Formula 2's youngest race winner.

Martí ended up in second to give Campos their first ever one-two finish in F2, and also to make it an all Red Bull Junior Team top two.

Hot on the heels of his feature race win in Bahrain, Alexander Dunne continued his excellent form for Rodin Motorsport to finish in third place, giving him a second podium of the year.

Invicta Racing’s Roman Stanek followed Verschoor in fifth, while Gabriele Minì overtook Leonardo Fornaroli on the final lap to end up in P6, as ART Grand Prix driver Victor Martins sealed the final point in P8.

Commenting on his victory, Lindblad said: “Really happy with the result today, youngest ever F2 race winner. A huge thank you to the team, a really good race coming from P6 to P1. A shame to Richard for the penalty, but super happy to win and looking forward to tomorrow now.”

After another strong results for them, Alexander Dunne and Josep Maria Martí are currently tied at the top of the Drivers’ Standings with 31 points. Invicta Racing’s Leonardo Fornaroli is third on 28 points, one clear of Richard Verschoor in fourth, while Hitech TGR’s Luke Browning rounds out the top five on 25 points.

In the Teams’ Championship, Campos Racing move to the top of the leaderboard on 49 points. Hitech TGR are second with 37 points, one point ahead Invicta Racing in third. MP Motorsport are fourth on 33 points, while Rodin Motorsport round out the top five on 31 points.