Formula 2 got off to a spectacular start to the weekend at the new Madring circuit: Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak’s ART car went up in flames
Williams driver Carlos Sainz had already anticipated chaotic conditions ahead of the Spanish Grand Prix at the new Madrid circuit. His fears were promptly confirmed: the Formula 2 free practice session had to be interrupted after just a few minutes following a spectacular fire accident.
What happened? ART driver Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak lost control of his car at Turn 19 and crashed heavily backwards into the track barriers. This apparently damaged the Formula 2 car’s fuel system, as the car was already ablaze shortly afterwards.
Inthraphuvasak was able to quickly exit his burning car under his own steam. The 20-year-old Thai driver escaped unharmed, but the damage to his car is likely to be considerable. It therefore seems rather unlikely that he will be able to take part in qualifying (from 3 pm).
Following the accident, the Formula 2 practice session was interrupted for a considerable time. Emergency services first had to extinguish the fire and recover the car, after which the damaged track barrier was repaired. The track surface at the scene of the accident also had to be cleaned again.
Formula 2 drivers start with little practice time
When practice finally resumed, there were only four minutes left on the clock, but there was little scope for an extension given the tight Formula 1 schedule. The premier class is due to start its first practice session at 1.30 pm, which is why the Formula 2 session was extended by just a few minutes.
This is particularly disappointing for the Formula 2 drivers: unlike the Formula 3 talents, they had not yet been able to clock up any test kilometres on the new street circuit ahead of the weekend. Now they are also missing out on valuable practice time. Meanwhile, the first fastest time in practice went to the overall championship leader, Campos driver Nikola Tsolov.
Formula 3 had already been out on the Madring circuit earlier. After the junior series had caused quite a stir with a chaotic test session two weeks ago, the first session of the weekend was considerably less dramatic. It was only shortly before the end of the session that DAMS driver Nicola Lacorte made contact with the barrier at Turn 9, causing a red flag.
