Lindblad "took more risk at the start" while Browning revels in Imola sprint podium

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

The Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari is known to be notoriously difficult to overtake around, and such was the case even when the grid of 22 drivers took to the circuit for 25 laps constituting the Imola sprint on Saturday. And as it would turn out, moves made at the start had a lasting impact on the final result.

Lindblad climbed up three spots from fifth around Imola to finish second | Credit: Dutch Photo Agency/Red Bull Content Pool

While race-winner Jak Crawford managed to move past reverse-pole sitter Ritomo Miyata at the start, the duo of Arvid Lindblad and Luke Browning had to make moves on their way to the sprint podium.

Lindblad started the race on the front foot from fifth on the grid. Gaining a position off the starting grid on the slow-starting Red Bull junior Ollie Goethe, Lindblad then hung it around the outside of Browning's Hitech TGR into the Tamburello chicane. The result of his brave move was third, the Red Bull junior emerging out of the three-part complex ahead.

" I knew I had to get a good launch," Lindblad mentioned, knowing it was the key to his sprint success around Imola. "It's notorious for being hard to pass. That puts even more importance on the start and lap one. Therefore you take a bit more risk in the beginning," Lindblad said.

"I was already able to get one position off the line and then, there was a gap into turns one and two, and I went for it," the Campos racer concluded, describing his start to the race.

Lindblad's race wouldn't be without further battling, as he scrapped fiercely on lap 2 to keep Browning behind heading into Piratella corner, just keeping his position, leaving the Williams junior to fend off a hungry Martins into the tricky Acque Minerali corners.

The Campos man would later close down and overtake Miyata for second, before a straight fight with leader Crawford down to the wire. Despite the gap ebbing and flowing in between, Lindblad would ultimately fall short, the two split by just over a second at the finish line.

Second in the Imola sprint marks Lindblad's second visit to the rostrum this year, and with five points scoring races on the bounce, places him firmly in the top ten ahead of an important phase of the season.

Like his fellow rookie, Browning too had his work cut out in the sprint. Starting fourth, he gained one position after Goethe's slow start, but was overtaken by Lindblad's Campos into the Tamburello chicane.

However, after his unsuccessful pass on the Briton into turn 8, Browning turned his focus towards the long game, first looking to fend Martins off.

Although he wouldn't be able to close down Lindblad, who wandered five seconds in the distance, the Hitech racer took advantage of Miyata's degrading tyres to move up to third, maintaining the position until the end.

The result marks Browning's second sprint podium of the year, to go with his feature race podium in Bahrain, leaving him a strong contender for the rest of the year.

Browning made one overtake on Miyata that netted him a podium | Credit: Formula 2 via X

"It was pretty straightforward today," Browning said, addressing DIVEBOMB and other select media during the post-sprint press conference. "I kept my wheels away from other people's wheels, and did the job, and collected eight points," the 23-year-old said.

It has been much of the same for the Hitech man in his campaign so far, the youngster driving clinical and calculated races to consistently end up on the podium.

I think it's the same for the whole season, right? Risk versus reward," Browning revealed, when speaking of the risk he'd have undertaken to gain the extra point in the sprint.

The Briton had revealed earlier during the season about the 14 sprint events offering upto a total of 140 points to drivers, and with his ultimate goal being the drivers' title, he would be able to get there by "doing this (taking podiums) a lot more often".

Both drivers were able to drive controlled races on Saturday after gaining positions at the start, revealing just how important taking that extra slice of risk in the pack allowed them to pace their respective races accordingly.

Lindblad and Browning start in the middle of Sunday's grid for the 35-lap sprint, in sixth and seventh respectively. With Imola known to be notoriously difficult to pass around, both drivers will be aiming to capitalise on their strong qualifying to score valuable points and continue their excellent campaigns.

F2's Imola feature race kicks off at 10:00 track time (08:00 UTC), and it is certainly an event you do not want to miss!