Silver lining for Zane Maloney after postponed race is red flagged in Belgium due to poor visibility

27th July 2024

Bajan driver maintains 4th position in championship

Barbados’ F2 star Zane Maloney was able to score two points in Belgium despite the sprint race being red flagged and eventually stopped after only 8 laps due to poor visibility, writes Damian Hall.

Even though the race was short of 10 laps, Maloney, who started in 5th, gained 4th position (P4) by the end of lap 1 after making a move at the end of the Kemmel straight into Les Combes.

This came after the sprint race at Belgium’s Spa-Francorchamps was earlier postponed due to the same reason and was rescheduled to take place 1 hour and 15 minutes after the Formula 1 (F1) qualifying session. However when the iconic Rolex clock hit 18:15 local time, the session was yet again delayed by 5 minutes.

Despite being under pressure from DAMS Lucas Oil’s driver Jak Crawford down the straight, the Barbadian driver, affectionately dubbed ‘The Boy From Barbados’, overtook MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto around the outside on entry into Les Combes, a brave move for the conditions.

On lap 3, the Sauber Academy driver again attempted a similar move on Trident driver Richard Verschoor but was forced to and over the kerbs.

He re-joined maintaining P4 ready to go on the attack again but the race was neutralised by a virtual safety car triggered after the Art Grand Prix machine of Victor Martins lost power just after the exit of Les Combes.

The safety car was eventually deployed to clear the stricken car but weather conditions progressively got worse, and on lap 8 the session was eventually red flagged and subsequently cancelled.

As a result, only the top 5 drivers were awarded points as per regulation 6.5 (d) of the 2024 FIA FORMULA 2 Championship Sporting Regulations. Whenever a race session ends before scheduled and the leader has completed more than 25% of the race distance but less than 50%, the 1st place driver is awarded 5 points, the 2nd 4 points, the 3rd 3 points, the 4th 2 points and 5th is awarded one point.

This is good news for Maloney, who remains 4th in the championship and slightly closes the gap to those ahead who didn’t score any points today.

Maloney starts in P6 for the feature race tomorrow (July 28).

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