Advantage who?
If you can’t remember anything or anyone from F2 2024 because it’s been soooooo long since the last race, then not to worry because everyone has swapped about anyway. Just think of it as a new mini championship where some of the drivers get to start with 160+ points. Those drivers being Gabriel Bortoleto, who has already signed for Sauber in F1 next year, and Isack Hadjar, who is in a classic Red Bull driver scramble where whether you get an F1 seat or not is entirely dependent on the mood of the day, so you decide who is more desperate to win the title.
If, however, you have the memory of racing elephant, then here’s a summary of the most recent developments:
The F2 season ends so late this year that a lot of drivers have already sorted out their 2025 careers (I’m looking at you Bearman, Antonelli and Bortoleto). Future F1 drivers are understandably expected to stick it out to the end of the season, but why bother if you’re off to something else, à la Dennis Hauger who has signed with Andretti for INDY NXT. Hauger is no doubt settling into his new life, while his replacement in F2, Richard Verschoor, is settling into his old life courtesy of a return to MP Motorsport, because everyone knows Dutch people feel most comfortable surrounded by all the orange. Verschoor’s move leaves his old seat at Trident open for Max Esterson to take the step up from F3. Also coming from F3 are Cian Shields, replacing random stand-in Niels Koolen (who is returning to INDY NXT), and Ferrari Academy driver Dino Beganovic, who replaces everyone’s favourite JM Correa. Correa’s future seems uncertain, along with that of Enzo Fittipaldi who has previously tested in Formula E and IndyCar but yet to announce any concrete plans. Whatever they end up doing likely won’t be as massive a leap as Fittipaldi’s replacement John Bennett, who is skipping F3 to jump straight from GB3 to F2. I’m sure Britain in a GB3 car is really similar to racing Formula 2 in Qatar.
Practice: Advantage Bortoleto
With it being the first time F2 has ever been to Qatar, none of the drivers, new or old, really knew what they’re doing. Unfortunately for new kid Beganovic, he would’t get to find out what he was supposed to be doing as he stopped after only three laps. Not that it looked like things were going much better for those who did get more practice time, as Pepe Martí flew through a polystyrene marker board (it had to be done at some point), before Luke Browning spun himself into a gravel trap, bringing out the red flag.
Less than ten minutes remained when the session resumed. Everyone headed out to try and fit in their last few practice laps, or more accurately, their last few spins and off-track excursions. The session ended with a loud “scrreeeeeeech” announcing Zak Crawford’s backwards arrival into the gravel trap. Bennett also spun, but he was more graceful, managing a 360 degree pirouette before carrying on as if nothing had happened. Less spinning occurred for the top three, Paul Aron, Bortoleto and Verschoor.
Qualifying: Advantage Bortoleto
Despite starting Qualifying by going a bit wobbly, Bortoleto soon found himself fighting for pole with Aron and Victor Martins. Zane Maloney, however, did not find himself fighting for pole, returning instead to the pits and reporting “something is broken”. Bennet also seemed like he was trying to break something as he once more spun, only to end up facing in the right direction and carrying on with the session. Developing a real necessary talent there.
The best efforts of Bortoleto and Verschoor were to no avail, as neither of them could top Aron, who went faster still, despite not needing to. His pole position for the Feature Race secured, and also apparently a role as Alpine F1 test driver for 2025. His promotion likely helped by the fact that his Hitech team boss Oliver Oakes is also the new team principle of Alpine. Seeing a driver doing well and then deciding to promote them? It’s so simple, right Hadjar?
The session ended with Bortoleto in second place, behind Aron, and Martins third. Hadjar finished ninth and a yellow flag waved, thanks to Browning. Again.
Kush Maini ended the session in the stewards’ office, getting a three-place did drop for impeding Bennett. Bennett really getting the full range of F2 experiences.
Sprint Race: Advantage Bortoleto
It was Ollie Bearman on reverse-grid pole for the Sprint Race, with Hadjar starting second and Oliver Goethe third. Bortoleto (just four and a half points ahead of Hadjar in the championship standings) was starting eighth. Not starting at all was Martí, who had some issue with his car and could be seen looking sad on the pit wall instead.
Back to those who were starting the race, Goethe was just happy to be there, Hadjar was very clear that he needed to win and Bearman sounded like a seasoned F1 pro already. He started the race in the same manner, keeping his lead just ahead of Hadjar. What happened behind them I will never know. Not only did Martins somehow go from seventh to third and Goethe from third to seventh, but there was no crashing or safety cars. Bortoleto remained in eighth.
The next lap was a little bit different. Hadjar barged past Bearman for the lead of the race, Crawford pressured Martins for third, Villagómez and Esterson had an incident with each other, resulting in a spin for Villagómez, and Ritomo Miyata crashed into Kimi Antonelli (resulting in a four-place penalty for Miyata). Meanwhile, Beganovic and Bortoleto both passed Goethe, as his car blew up old school with a long plume of smoke. A short Virtual Safety Car helped get everything in order before the racing resumed: Bearman versus Hadjar and Crawford versus Martins. While Hadjar complained about his tyres, Crawford complained about Martins, “this guy is a fucking hazard”.
It took a few more laps of Crawford attacking and Martins defending until Crawford finally made it by Martins to take third place. Apparently Martins couldn’t hold it together any longer, as Verschoor was soon past him too, while Aron crashed into him for good measure. Things also weren’t going well for Beganovic, who was Miyata’s next victim. Beganovic let us all know that he thinks Miyata is a fucking idiot, while the stewards decided a two-place penalty for Miyata was a better resolution to the situation.
Just as the race was feeling settled and coming to a close, IT ALL HAPPENED AT ONCE. Hadjar made a small mistake, which gave Bearman the opportunity to dive past him for the lead, meanwhile Antonelli and Maini had a crash, resulting in the end of the race for both of them, followed by Hadjar spinning all on his own and dropping to fourth place. The Safety Car was deployed as Hadjar apologised on the radio, “I didn’t realise there were only three laps to go, I should have been more aggressive in my defence, I’m sorry,” he said sadly, as if losing the lead to Bearman was the worst thing he had done in the last few laps.
The race finished under the Safety Car, Bearman the winner, with Crawford second and Verschoor third. Hadjar finished fourth, Aron fifth and Bortoleto sixth, that is until the stewards handed Aron a two-place penalty for his collision with Martins. This resulted in Bortoleto moving up to fifth place, allowing him to keep his lead in the championship by a mere three and a half points.
Feature Race: Advantage Hadjar
As we all anxiously awaited the start of the race, desperate to see what might happen to our championship contenders, extensive barrier work was ongoing following what as clearly an eventful Porsche race. Eventually, however, Aron, Bortoleto and Martins were able to take their spots at the front of the grid. Bortoleto clearly didn’t think he was far enough forward as he flew by Aron at the start of the race, with Beganovic making a similar move on Martins to take third place. Hadjar had a different sort of start, losing two places and dropping down to 11th.
Apparently no one liked their tyres and pit stops began early, that is until Verschoor was released from the pits into the side of Antonelli. Antonelli made it out of the pits but not without broken steering and he headed straight for a gravel trap. “He broke my steering mate. It’s over” declared Antonelli, as Verschoor trundled back to the pits with a puncture. A ten-second penalty for Verschoor was also deemed necessary, along with a Virtual Safety Car, which meant no one was allowed to take a pit stop. Such news came a little late to Bortoleto, who was very much on his way into the pits as the VSC signs flashed. Realising that he needed to stay out, Bortoleto took an alternative route back on track, via the wrong side of a bollard. He avoided an unnecessary trip through the pits, but couldn’t avoid the five-second penalty that accompanies bollard shenanigans.
It wasn’t long before the VSC was upgraded to a full Safety Car. Everyone on the regular strategy, who hadn’t yet made their mandatory pit stop, quickly pitted to take advantage of the time gained from stopping while the Safety Car was out. One of this lucky group was Hadjar, who managed to jump all the way up to what would become third place once all those on the alternative strategy had also taken their pit stops.
As the Safety Car ended, pure F2 chaos reigned. Everyone was trying to overtake each other, Bortoleto was flying through the polystyrene markers, yet somehow keeping ahead of Aron, and Crawford was into the side of Villagómez. Both Crawford and Villagómez were out of the race, which was extra bad news for Crawford as he was given a penalty for the incident, to be carried over to the next event in the form of a five-place grid drop. The Safety Car was back out while everyone composed themselves.
Once racing got back underway there was much complaining on the radio and chaotic driving about four-wide until an inevitable spin happened, courtesy of Maloney seemingly losing it all on his own, while at the same time Martins and Esterson hit each other. Esterson spun and Martins headed to the pits to retire.
With just two minutes left of the race, the last remaining alternative-strategy attempters took their pit stops, leaving Bortoleto, Aron and Hadjar in a straight out fight for the win. Bortoleto still with his five-second penalty hanging over him. Aron kept the pace, managing to stay within a second and a half of Bortoleto, while Hadjar was dangerously hanging out in the four and a half second window. A tussle with Goethe slowed Hadjar down. His team were quick to tell him he needed to go faster, and he did. Shaking off Goethe to stay within five seconds. The last lap was just following the special “Hadjar gap to Bortoleto” stats that the graphics people had hastily made: 4.6s, 4.7s, 4.5s, 4.6s, 4.5s. Tense. As Bortoleto crossed the finish line it was Aron who was the winner, but Hadjar had done his job and took second. Bortoleto was left in third, just half a second behind Hadjar, but crucially half a point ahead in the championship.
Hadjar looked happy, Bortoleto less so and Aron his usual unphased self, as they all stood on the podium, sans celebratory drinks for some reason. The instruction came: “let’s celebrate with… celebrations!” If that’s what it’s called when there’s no big fizzy bottles of drink to spray around then I’m having celebrations all the time.
Championship standings: Almost no advantage Bortoleto
As we head into the final round of the 2024 championship, Bortoleto is just half a point ahead of Hadjar and that’s all that matters!