Formula 2’s Monza round might just be the most consequential weekend in this year’s championship. Longtime points leader Isack Hadjar hit trouble while the ever-improving Gabriel Bortoleto delivered a pair of incredible drives. These are the takeaways from the Temple of Speed.

By Steven Walton

Costly weekend for Hadjar

Isack Hadjar’s hopes of winning this year’s F2 title took a hit in Monza as the Frenchman failed to score points all weekend.

Hadjar started strong by finishing second in Friday’s qualifying session, but he uncharacteristically lacked outright pace in both races. Hadjar finished 10th in the sprint race and 11th in the feature race, with the latter result compromised by a slow pit stop.

His troubles were compounded by the hugely successful weekend for championship rival Bortoleto. Despite starting Sunday’s feature race from the back, the Invicta driver took an unlikely win with the help of a safety car, bagging 25 critical points.

Consequently, Hadjar’s lead in the standings has shrunk considerably. He came into Monza with a 36-point buffer to Bortoleto, but the gap has now reduced to just 10.5 points. Hadjar is still in the fight, but he no longer has a healthy cushion of points.

Bortoleto has title-winning pace

In both races, Bortoleto showed that he has the pace to go all the way to this year’s F2 title.

His weekend was compromised on Friday by his own mistake in qualifying which left him 22nd and last in the classification, but the Brazilian was the star of the field in both races.

He was phenomenally fast and clinical in the sprint race as he fought his way to finish eighth. Bortoleto finished in a dead heat with Dennis Hauger, the pair recording the same race time and each getting half of the single point normally awarded for finishing eighth.

In the feature race, Bortoleto again fought his way through, though the task was made far easier thanks to an aptly-timed Lap 8 safety car, allowing him to take his mandatory pit stop and rejoin the race in the effective lead.

Bortoleto’s stint from Lap 8 to the end of the race was outstanding. He built a commanding and unchallenged lead, eventually winning by 9.5 seconds – among the largest victory margins in F2 this year.

This is undoubtedly the pace he needs if he is to win this year’s title.

A crucial result for Maloney

Zane Maloney leaves Monza with a much-needed points boost.

Maloney started this year with a bang by winning both races in Bahrain. However, since losing the championship lead in Monaco, he hasn’t quite hit the same heights – and attracted as much attention – as other contenders like Hadjar, Bortoleto and Paul Aron.

But the tide is starting to swing back in favour of the Barbadian driver. 

Before the summer break, Maloney picked up a solid points haul with fourth and sixth in Spa, and he built on that in Monza with his first F2 pole position and fifth- and second-place finishes. Arguably, the safety car in the feature race was the only reason Maloney didn’t win it.

Maloney picked up a haul of 24 points in Monza, his best F2 round points-wise since his double-win in Bahrain. Maloney has moved ahead of Aron in the standings and is now just 30 points behind championship leader Hadjar. 

Aron can’t catch a break

Paul Aron will have every right to complain about his luck at the end of this season. Bad luck has played a huge part in his journey from comfortable championship leader just a few rounds ago to what is now a distant fourth in the standings.

Monza was the fourth consecutive round that didn’t go to plan. Although Friday went well with third in qualifying, Aron fell out of the points in Saturday’s sprint race after a collision with Maloney at turn one. Though, this one was on him; the stewards later penalised him for causing the crash.

The most critical part of the weekend is the feature race, which delivers the much desired F1-style points. Unfortunately for Aron, his race didn’t even last a lap, as he was taken out at turn one by the out-of-control Campos of Pepe Martí. Martí was given a 10-second penalty for causing the collision.

Aron has now scored just seven points in the last four rounds, leaving him 41 points behind Hadjar.

Dürksen shines

AIX Racing’s Joshua Dürksen was one of the top drivers in Monza. With stunning performances in both races, he has now surely silenced many of his pre-season critics.

Although he only qualified 11th in Monza, Dürksen made great progress in both races. In the sprint race, he made up two places at the start and continued to move forward during a safety car restart on Lap 3, setting him up for an eventual third-place finish – his second trip to the podium this year.

In the feature race, Dürksen avoided early calamity and got up to fourth on the first lap. He then kept his speed up for the rest of the race and came home fifth, bagging AIX’s second-best finish in a feature race this year. Stunningly, this result could have been even better if not for a safety car that massively benefitted first and third-placed drivers, Gabriel Bortoleto and Richard Verschoor.

All in all, Dürksen has proven to be a refreshing presence in F2 this season. Too often the series witnesses highly anticipated drivers under-performing. It’s nice to see the flip side: an underrated driver exceeding expectations.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency