The French driver achieved third place in the first race of the FIA Formula 2 held in Hungary. Martí fought hard, nearly reaching the points on Sunday
Campos Racing secured another podium finish at the Hungaroring, located on the outskirts of Budapest and the venue for the ninth round of the FIA Formula 2 season, thanks to Isack Hadjar. The French driver finished third in the sprint race held on Saturday. This result, combined with his rival Paul Aron finishing sixth in the same race, allows Hadjar to extend his lead in the overall drivers' standings. Spanish driver Pepe Martí gave his all to score points, but his starting positions in both races proved decisive and worked against him over the two days.
On Friday, during free practice, Hadjar completed twenty laps, setting a reference time of 1m33.512s. Martí, from Barcelona, clocked in at 1m34.290s. In the afternoon qualifying session, Hadjar was in contention for pole position despite the challenges posed by traffic at the Hungaroring. Ultimately, on his final attempt, the French driver set a time of 1m30.221s, just shy of Aron's pole time, earning him third place on the grid. Martí experienced a setback, as a spin prevented him from improving his time of 1m31.539s, leaving him second to last on the starting grid—a significant blow on a circuit as difficult to overtake on as this one.
On Saturday at midday, the two Campos Racing drivers tackled the 28-lap sprint race on hard tires. Given the cooler temperatures compared to the previous day, some drivers chose to run on soft compounds. In the end, the decision by Campos Racing’s drivers proved ideal. Starting eighth on the reversed grid, Hadjar gained a position as the lights went out but soon returned to eighth due to the faster pace of drivers on soft tires. However, from the tenth lap onwards, the balance shifted in favor of drivers on hard tires. Hadjar began his climb, overtaking Gabriel Bortoleto on lap 14 to move into seventh. Four laps later, he gained another position by passing Andrea Kimi Antonelli, and in the next two laps, he also overtook Dennis Hauger and Enzo Fittipaldi to move into fourth. Hadjar even slowed down towards the end to attack again and set the fastest lap, earning an extra point, and eventually finished third. Martí, who spent much of the race in the pack, couldn’t avoid tire degradation and finished in 18th place.
Sunday’s race became an uphill battle for Hadjar and Campos Racing even before it started. As the French driver headed to the starting grid, the pit lane light turned red, forcing him to start from the last position and from the pit lane. Hadjar chose soft tires for the first stint while Martí opted for hard tires for the 37-lap race. On the seventh lap, following a safety car triggered by Aron's collision with a rival that put him out of the race, Hadjar made his pit stop to switch to hard tires. Martí pitted a few laps later, but the difficulty of overtaking in the middle of the pack compromised their races. Martí made a second pit stop under another safety car to switch to a second set of soft tires and attack in the final part. His comeback took him to twelfth place. Hadjar, with worn tires, couldn’t go beyond eighteenth.
With these results, Hadjar strengthens his lead with 140 points in the drivers' standings, 18 over Aron. In the teams' standings, Campos Racing is in second place with 178 points, just six behind the leader.
The team now heads to Spa-Francorchamps for the race scheduled for this weekend, the last before the summer break.
Photos: © Dutch Photo Agency
