Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney won his first F2 race, with a stunning performance in Bahrain’s season opener. Afterwards, he spoke to Feeder Series at a press conference with other selected media to dissect his maiden win. 

By Martin Lloyd

The Barbadian driver followed an impressive third in Thursday’s qualifying session with victory in Sakhir on Friday. After a first year in which flashes of speed were outnumbered by disappointing finishes, Maloney was delighted to have tasted a win at the first opportunity in 2024. Indeed, he has felt positive since the opening shakedown at the Circuit de Catalunya four weeks ago. 

“The second we set the car down in Barcelona, the car was good, and we turned up with a great understanding of the car so I was very confident going into this weekend.”

Qualifying frustrations

This confidence was emphasised by Maloney’s frustration after he was beaten by both Invicta drivers and Isack Hadjar in qualifying. While Kush Maini was later disqualified, Maloney only qualified in the top four three times in the entire 2023 season, and the 20-year-old felt that his disappointment with such a high grid position indicated how much he had progressed and how hard he had worked. 

“To be honest, I was quite annoyed yesterday with qualifying. I didn’t do a good lap but to be P4 with it just shows that I’m driving better and the team did a great job. I think I’m quite solid in terms of race pace and quali, so it’s really nice to see how it’s paying off. The bad laps still had me quite high up.” 

Maloney was more than solid in Friday’s sprint race. Having started eighth, he quickly scythed through other contenders – including an especially impressive move on Enzo Fittipaldi. Chasing the Van Amersfoort driver for fourth, Maloney dove down the inside of the sweeping turn 12 and took the position. 

30 seconds later, he was past Zak O’Sullivan’s ART and from there it was a matter of time before Victor Martins and Jak Crawford were dispatched for second and the lead respectively. The lap eight move on Crawford signalled the end of an impressive charge, with Maloney eventually finishing over five seconds clear of the DAMS driver. However, he expects the fight to be much tougher when the championship moves to Saudi Arabia next weekend. 

“I think in Jeddah it’ll be a different story in terms of the pecking order, and we’re going to have to get on it a lot more than we did here. We’ve been here for testing.”

A different picture in Jeddah

Certainly, numerous teams and drivers were notably off the pace in Sakhir. Reigning champions ART seem confused by the tyre degradation on the new car, with Zak O’Sullivan falling back on hard tyres and Victor Martins’ softs losing pace dramatically. The Frenchman eventually finished outside the points-paying positions, but will have a chance to bury Friday’s performance with a good result in Saturday’s feature race. 

Meanwhile, both Prema cars were never close to the top eight before the team opted to pit for soft tyres. The Italian team has a history of struggles at Bahrain and can be expected to return to the front in the coming races. But while Maloney is aware that previous frontrunners’ pace may return in Saudi Arabia, he believes that a breakthrough has been made.

“From Jeddah on, I’ll really know how much of a step I’ve made. I know within myself that I’ve made quite a big step.” 

Certainly, Maloney was impressive in Bahrain on Friday. A dominating performance means that he could be in contention for a double victory in the feature race on Saturday, an extremely rare feat in F2. Whether he can accomplish a remarkable feat such as that is unknown. Nevertheless, by winning the first race of the season he has fired a warning shot to the rest of the F2 grid. 

If Maloney and Rodin can keep up this form, much greater achievements than just one race win could be possible. 

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency