DAMS’s Alexander Albon overhauled Campos Racing’s Luca Ghiotto to seize victory in the closing stages of an action-packed Formula 2 sprint race at the Hungaroring.
Displaying excellent late-race pace, Albon passed long-time race leader Ghiotto around the outside of Turn 1 with four laps remaining, before building a lead to seal victory.
After taking the lead at the start after both polesitter Artem Markelov and fellow front row starter Sergio Sette Camara suffered poor launches, Ghiotto built and controlled a three-second advantage.
Albon only began to close in on Ghiotto in the final third of the race, as the Campos driver suffered significant tyre degradation.
Ghiotto managed to hang onto second place, with third-placed Camara also struggling with the tyres in the closing stages. Camara was caught by his Carlin team-mate Lando Norris late-on.
Norris battled with Prema Racing’s Nyck de Vries throughout the first half of the race, before passing both de Vries and Markelov in one move around the outside of Turn 2 to reach fourth place.
Finishing in fourth, Norris closes in on championship leader George Russell. The ART Grand Prix driver now leads by only 12 points, after entering the weekend with a 37 point advantage.
Russell started the race from 20th and last after a throttle issue forced him to retire from Saturday’s race. He carved through the field to salvage a point in the sprint race with an eighth-place finish.
MP Motorsport’s Roberto Merhi was another driver to climb through the order, finishing fifth after having started in 13th.
Nirei Fukuzumi made late race progress in his Arden International-prepared car, beating de Vries in a drag race to the line and a photo finish for sixth and seventh.
Charouz Racing System’s Louis Deletraz ended up ninth. His team-mate Antonio Fuoco was fifth after the opening lap but was eliminated from contention when he misjudged the virtual safety car restart and broke his front wing after hitting Camara.
ART’s Jack Aitken slipped to 10th from seventh place in the closing stages after struggling with his tyres in the final laps. Markelov tumbled to an eventual 13th place, after having spent the first half of the race in a comfortable fourth.
