F2: Antonelli earns first series victory in Silverstone downpour

Andrea Kimi Antonelli claimed his maiden Formula 2 race victory in the Silverstone Sprint Race, managing the toughest of conditions and multiple Safety Car restarts en route for a memorable win.

The PREMA Racing driver had an eight-second advantage at the chequered flag, able to control things from the front throughout in his finest performance of his rookie season so far.

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Due to pre-race rain, the Sprint got started with a rolling start, though after just a handful of racing laps, the Red Flags were thrown due to another downpour.

Another rolling start was controlled by Antonelli, yet there was more drama further back, this time for Championship leader Paul Aron and his closest rival Isack Hadjar.

Paul Aron suffered contact with Campos Racing’s Josep María Martí at Turn 5 that put both on the sidelines, while later in the lap, Hadjar spun into the gravel at Copse and was also out of the race.

Following another Safety Car intervention, Antonelli began to build the gap to Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney in P2, while Invicta Racing teammates Kush Maini and Gabriel Bortoleto fought hard over third position in the middle-to-latter stages.

As Antonelli continued to build his gap to Maloney, the teammates battled away in the closing laps and entering the final tour, were separated by under half a second.

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Their battle went right to the wire, with Bortoleto making a final corner pass on the Alpine Academy driver to secure third place on the podium behind the leading duo.

That was until a post-race investigation led to a five-second time penalty for the McLaren Driver Development Programme talent, knocking him back to fourth to give Maini third once more.

For an in-depth report of the Formula 2 Sprint Race from Silverstone, visit the official website here.