Two races on the back foot for the Campos Racing drivers followed a difficult qualifying session. Despite this, Frenchman Hadjar climbed to fifth and sixth place, while Barcelona native Martí reached ninth place on Sunday after scoring the fastest lap. Hadjar remains second in the drivers' standings, while Campos Racing still leads the team standings
Campos Racing saved, to use a tennis analogy, a real match point at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, the scene of the sixth round of the 2024 FIA Formula 2 season this past weekend. A complicated qualifying session prevented both Isack Hadjar and Pepe Martí from placing among the top ten, severely damaging their chances of scoring points in either of the two races. Despite everything, the hard work of everyone paid off with valuable points that allowed Hadjar and Campos Racing to retain the same positions they held before Barcelona.
On Friday, in free practice, Hadjar and Martí were seventh and ninth at the end of the session with their best laps of 1m27.320s and 1m27.367s. Later, in the qualifying session, with higher temperatures that significantly changed the tires' performance and behavior, the two Red Bull-liveried drivers had notable problems achieving competitive times in the three sectors of the circuit. Ultimately, and due to the last-minute improvement of a few drivers, Hadjar could go no further than eleventh place with his time of 1m25.205s, just six-thousandths away from pole position in Saturday's reversed grid. Meanwhile, Martí had to settle for fourteenth place with a time of 1m25.285s. As a prime example of the prevailing parity, the top 19 drivers finished within less than a second.
The climb began on Saturday. In the 26-lap sprint race, Hadjar had gained three positions in the first lap and was already eighth. The Frenchman had to recover positions without mistreating his tires and set his sights on his next target: Andrea Kimi Antonelli. After blocking him several times, Hadjar finally overtook the Italian on lap 12. From there to the end, Hadjar tried to gain a few more places and ultimately did, finishing sixth in the race. Martí also gained positions, crossing the finish line in eleventh place.
On Sunday, with a forecast of rain that never materialized, the challenge was even greater with a 37-lap race. Hadjar would start on the soft compound while Martí would start on the hard compound. When the lights went out, Hadjar maximized his soft tires, reaching fifth after just one lap. Martí had less luck, as Victor Martins and Dennis Hauger collided in the first chicane right in front of him, forcing the Barcelona native to go through the gravel to avoid the impact. Despite the dirty tires, Martí managed to continue the race. After the safety car left the track on lap 4, Hadjar focused on extending his pit stop to the maximum, which finally occurred on lap 11. Now on the hard compound, Hadjar quickly overtook Zane Maloney. Ahead, Martí continued on track and rose to fourth before pitting on lap 27. Hadjar kept overtaking cars in the pack, with Zak O’Sullivan being another driver overtaken by the Frenchman. Hadjar gained one more position in the final stages of the race, passing Gabriel Bortoleto on the outside and climbing to fifth place, where he finally crossed the finish line. Martí's comeback was also superb, and the local idol secured ninth place.
After this sixth round of the championship, Hadjar still holds second place in the drivers' standings with 91 points, nine behind Paul Aron. Martí is thirteenth with 29 points. As for the teams' standings, Campos Racing remains in the lead with 120 points.
With no time to rest, the entire FIA Formula 2 caravan will move to the Red Bull Ring for two new races next weekend.
Photos: © Dutch Photo Agency
