Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar took the lead of the FIA Formula 2 championship after winning an eventful Feature Race at Silverstone.

The Frenchman, who started on pole position, was handed the win after DAMS Lucas Oil’s Jak Crawford, who crossed the line first but dropped down to third thanks to a five-second time penalty.

The American driver was penalised for an unsafe release from his pit stop.

The penalty dropped him behind Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney.

Hitech driver Paul Aron, who had led the series standings arriving at Silverstone, failed to score for the first time this season.

The Estonian, who started 12th, was involved in a collision with AIX driver Joshua Durksen and the stewards handed him a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.

Speaking after his third win of the season, Hadjar said he was delighted with the win.

“Big thanks to the Campos team,” the 19-year-old said, adding: “We’ve been amazing on every track so far, they’ve always given me the right tools to perform, so I owe this to them.”

PREMA’s Oliver Bearman was the only home driver to score points on Sunday, finsihing seventh, while ART’s Zak O’Sullivan and AIX’s Taylor Barnard came home 11th and 14th respectively.

Hadjar now has a 16 point advantage over Aron in the Drivers’ Standings, while Campos comfortably lead the Teams’ Championship.

Hadjar takes full advantage of Aron woes

Paul Aron had built his 11-point championship lead by consistently scoring at every round of the season.

But in a dramatic qualifying session on Friday, Aron could only manage P12 while Hadjar scored his first pole of the season.

The Frenchman made a sluggish start, losing the lead to ART’s Victor Martins at the start, while home-hero Oliver Bearman screamed by as well with a rocket getaway from fifth.

Hadjar kept his composure and after two early safety car interventions, blasted past Bearman before pitting at the end of Lap 7 to dispose of the Soft compound tyre he had started on.

The one-lap undercut closed the gap to Martins, but Hadjar was unable to find a way through.

However, on Lap 19, the French pair went into battle through Stowe corner, eventually running side-by-side through the final sequence of Vale and Club.

Martins attempted to defend the lead into Abbey but ran wide – costing him three places.

This squabble allowed Jak Crawford to snatch the on track lead – but he was then handed his time penalty.

There was brief concern for the lead group as MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto threatened to hunt them down on the alternate strategy with soft tyres at the end.

The Argentine’s challenge quickly fell away as his tyres lost performance.

Crawford tried his hardest to open a race-winning gap but had to settle for third as Hadjar inherited a deserved victory and the championship lead.

Image: RBCP