Championship drama gripped Formula 2’s Hungary round as the drivers at the top of the standings only picked up a few points. Meanwhile, Kush Maini won for the first time in F2, and Mercedes prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli took his second win in as many rounds. 

By Steven Walton

A big opportunity goes begging

Hitech driver Paul Aron had a prime opportunity to retake the championship lead in Budapest, but it slipped through his fingers.

Aron lined up in pole position for Sunday’s feature race, and shortly before the race began, it emerged that his championship rival Isack Hadjar would start from the pit lane because his car was not on the grid in time.

Aron failed to make the best of this situation as his own race unravelled quickly. A poor getaway saw him fall back to seventh by the end of the first lap, and on Lap 7, he drove into the back of Zane Maloney at Turn 3, ending his race.

This was the second consecutive feature race where Aron has failed to score points. He finished 12th in Silverstone two weeks ago. 

The consistent podium-scoring habit he achieved earlier this year has seemingly gone out the window.

For championship leader Isack Hadjar, he can only blame perhaps his team and bad luck for what happened in Hungary. He only recovered to 18th in the feature race after his pit lane start, a testament to how difficult overtaking is at the Hungaroring.

“Absolute waste of an opportunity,” he later said on Instagram.

Aron will take more pain in Spa

Unfortunately for Aron, he cannot rock up to the next round in Spa and immediately wash his hands of what happened in Hungary.

The stewards decided that Aron’s race-ending collision with Maloney was worthy of a 10-second time penalty, and because Aron could not serve the penalty in the race, it has been converted to a five-place grid drop.

Additionally, Aron picked up another five-place grid drop in Hungary for forcing Ollie Bearman off the road in the feature race.

This means Aron will drop 10 places on the grid for the sprint race in Spa. 

While the drop is sizeable, Aron can at least take some comfort from the fact that the penalties will be served in the sprint race, which is less vital than the feature race.

Antonelli finds form

Mercedes prodigy Andrea Kimi Antonelli took his maiden F2 feature race victory in Hungary, making it two wins in two rounds for the Prema driver.

The young Italian is starting to find a great groove in F2, while his plans for 2025 remain undecided. Many fans and pundits alike have speculated whether Mercedes will move Antonelli to their Formula 1 team next year to replace Ferrari-bound Lewis Hamilton. Winning in F2 will only strengthen Antonelli’s case.

While Antonelli’s win in Hungary was helped by a late safety car, he still drove impressively on fresh tyres in the final stint to quickly move up from fifth into the lead.

Antonelli has been the better of the Prema drivers this season, and has shown clear improvement since the first round.

Winning the sprint race in Silverstone earlier this month was a critical milestone, and his Hungary win has now immediately bettered that.

Antonelli sits sixth in the F2 standings with 85 points. While a championship bid is unlikely, it isn’t impossible if he keeps winning races and championship protagonists Hadjar and Aron hit trouble.

Invicta Racing take the points lead

Invicta Racing moved to the top of the teams’ standings in Hungary, overtaking Campos Racing and MP Motorsport.

Invicta scored solid points in both races, with their most notable result coming from Kush Maini, who won the sprint race. Maini finished second on the road but inherited the win as race winner Richard Verschoor was disqualified for a technical infringement.

The next day, Maini finished seventh in the feature race with teammate Gabriel Bortoleto coming home fourth.

Invicta Racing has been a strong force in this year’s teams’ standings as both of their drivers have contributed large amounts of points. The team has 184 points, with Maini scoring 74 and Bortoleto picking up 110.

By comparison, Campos Racing have 178 points, but 140 of them have come from Hadjar. His teammate, Pepe Martí, has only contributed 38 points.

Verschoor’s heartbreak

Verschoor lost a race win in Hungary – and what’s worse is that it was the third time a win has been ripped away from him this year. 

It is hard not to feel for the fan-favourite driver, who is also one of the most experienced operators in F2.

Verschoor convincingly won the Hungary sprint race but was disqualified afterwards for a technical infringement. The same scenario played out after he won the Jeddah sprint race in March.

Additionally, Verschoor was primed to win this year’s Monaco feature race, having led from pole position. But, he couldn’t get to the end due to a technical issue with his car.

In all three instances, the circumstances were beyond Verschoor’s control. He would have been 45 points better off if he won all three races, which would be good enough to lift him from 15th to ninth in the standings.

At least in Hungary, Verschoor recovered from his sprint race heartbreak to take a podium in the feature race, his best official result of the season.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency