2018 Hungaroring Sprint Race

The 2018 Hungaroring Sprint Race, otherwise officially known as the 2018 Budapest Race 2, was the sixteenth round of the 2018 FIA Formula Two Championship, staged at the Hungaroring on the 29 July 2018. The race would see Luca Ghiotto make a barnstorming start off the grid, only to lose out to Alexander Albon a few laps later.

Indeed Ghiotto, starting from third, would sweep past pole sitter Artem Markelov, the Russian having been gifted the slot after finishing eighth in the Feature Race. Regardless, he was powerless to prevent Ghiotto, and Albon, shooting past into the first corner, with the rest of the field thundering through in his wake.

Unfortunately the clean start would only last until the pack swept into turn three, with Ralph Boschung, Roy Nissany and Alessio Lorandi all coming together. A virtual safety car was called to recover Boschung's terminally wounded car, while Lorandi's race was over with heavy damage.

The restart was rather messy too, with Antonio Fuoco smashing his front wing on the back of Sérgio Sette Câmara, whom had caught the young Italian racer out by sending a lunge inside Markelov for third. He would have to fend off a counter from Markelov over the following laps, while Ghiotto, out front, established a fair lead over Albon as the early laps ticked away.

However, other than a no-holds-barred fight for fifth between Nyck de Vries, Lando Norris and Roberto Merhi there was very little action until the closing stages. Their fight would eventually claim Markelov as the Russian racer hit tyre trouble, a fate that would ultimately befall Ghiotto.

Indeed, having desperately tried to sprint clear during the opening stages of the race, Ghiotto had done too much damage to his tyres and was paying the price as the final laps ticked away. Ultimately, with four laps to go Albon eased his way past the Italian to claim victory, leaving the Campos Racing pilot to struggle on in second.

With that the race was largely done, with Albon cruising home almost ten seconds clear of Ghiotto, while Câmara ended the race a safe third. Behind him came Norris, Merhi, Nirei Fukuzumi and de Vries, the latter pair split by just 0.001s across the line, while Championship leader George Russell completed the scorers list in eighth.

Background
There were no changes made the Hungaroring ahead of the second F2 race of the weekend, with temperatures also remaining on the high-side in the natural amphitheatre. In terms of the grid there had been no major revisions after Sérgio Sette Câmara's post-Feature Race penalty, which actually put the Brazilian higher up on the grid. Indeed, the Brazilian racer would start the second race of the weekend on the front row, with Artem Markelov on pole as the only man ahead of him.

In terms of the Championship the Feature Race had had a significant effect at the top, for Championship leader George Russell had failed to score at all, and would start the Sprint Race from the very back of the field. The main benefactor from the Brit's woes had been his main challenger Lando Norris, whom had cut the hap between them to nineteen points, with a chance of cutting the gap even further. Third placed Alexander Albon had also inched closer to the fight, while race winner Nyck de Vries had moved into fifth, level on points with Antonio Fuoco.

It had also been a positive day for Norris' team Carlin, which had moved back to the top of the Teams' Championship ahead of ART Grand Prix. Indeed, the British squad had established a sixteen point lead over the French effort, with those two still well clae of the chasing pack. That pack was being led by Charouz Racing System in third, some sixty points behind, with DAMS their closest challenger.

Entry List
The full entry list for the is displayed below:

Grid
The grid for the second Budapest race was formed from the results of the Saturday race, with the top eight in the field reversed.

Results
The final classification of the is displayed below:
 * Bold indicates a driver started from pole.
 * Italics indicate that a driver set fastest lap.
 * * Fuoco recorded the fastest lap of the race but could not claim the points as he did not finish in the top eight.

Milestones

 * Alexander Albon claimed his third victory in Formula Two.
 * DAMS secured their sixth F2 triumph as an entrant.
 * Also the French effort's 31st win at GP2/F2 level.
 * Luca Ghiotto recorded his first fastest lap in F2.

Standings
Lando Norris would head into the summer break with a small amount of momentum behind him, the Brit having closed the gap to Championship leader George Russell in both races at the Hungaroring. However, Russell would still hold a lead during the break, the Brit hanging onto a twelve point advantage over his compatriot with eight races left to run. However, they were no longer alone at the head of the field, for a third victory of the season for Alexander Albon had left the Anglo-Thai racer just eighteen points off of Norris.

Carlin had continued to inch clear of ART Grand Prix in Teams Championship after the second Hungaroring race, extending their lead to 33 points. Those two remained out of touch of the chasing pack, with DAMS leaving Budapest in third, a point ahead of Charouz Racing System. They also had daylight between themselves and the next battling pair, Pertamina Prema and Russian Time, while Trident continued to prop up the table.

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.