Half a point is all that separates Formula 2 championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto and rival Isack Hadjar after a chaotic, dramatic weekend in Lusail. The balance swung between both drivers throughout the weekend, with Hadjar ultimately outscoring his Brazilian rival by four points and taking the fight to the finale in Abu Dhabi. Feeder Series analyses the key takeaways from the 13th round at Lusail. 

By Martin Lloyd

Bortoleto’s lead remains

Gabriel Bortoleto entered the weekend with a slender 4.5-point championship lead and started strongly by qualifying on the front row for the feature race. He then scored four points in the sprint and won the feature on the road. However, one mishap in the latter has threatened to derail the Sauber-bound driver’s championship challenge.

It occurred after a virtual safety car was called at the end of lap eight to retrieve Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s stricken Prema. Bortoleto was set to pit from the lead at the end of the lap in response to Paul Aron’s stop on the previous tour. 

In F2, a pit stop under virtual safety car conditions does not count as a driver’s mandatory stop. If Bortoleto had stopped after being called in, he would have had to pit again, losing precious time to his competitors. The virtual safety car intervention came at the worst possible moment, as the 20-year-old was rounding the final corner and preparing to enter the pits. Invicta told Bortoleto to stay out, and he managed to do so, but only after passing the pit entry bollard. 

The virtual safety car was later converted to a full safety car, which allowed Bortoleto to pit without losing much ground as the field closed up. Unfortunately for Bortoleto, his manoeuvring around the pit entry bollard earned him a five-second penalty. He eventually returned to the lead of the race after all the drivers on the alternate strategy pitted, but he struggled to create a five-second gap over the rest of the field. 

Aron stayed a couple of seconds behind, patiently waiting to cross the line for his first F2 win, while Bortoleto tried to extend his four-second gap over championship rival Hadjar, but he could not and dropped to third. The resulting three-point advantage Hadjar earned put the gap between the pair to just half a point. 

Hadjar struggles but survives

Entering Qatar, Isack Hadjar had not scored an F2 point since his Spa feature race win and desperately needed a strong showing. While he made mistakes and lacked the pace to win the feature race, Hadjar managed to take 23 crucial points from the Lusail round.

He was frustrated after the sprint, having led the majority of the race on the medium tyres before being overtaken by hard-shod Ollie Bearman into Turn 1 on Lap 21 and spinning a few corners later. The Campos driver kept the engine running and lost only two places to finish fourth, scoring one point more than fifth-placed Bortoleto.

In the feature race, Hadjar started ninth, battling both Premas in the opening laps, but benefitted from the first safety car period having not stopped before it. He jumped to a net third place behind Bortoleto and Aron and remained there until the end of the race despite pressure from Goethe.

With Bortoleto’s penalty promoting him to second, Hadjar managed to haul himself back into title contention ahead of the final round in Abu Dhabi despite having a pace deficit. 

Aron wins on pivotal career weekend

Before the Qatar GP, Paul Aron had achieved everything in his debut F2 season with the exception of winning a race. He came close to doing so; he was passed by Franco Colapinto on the final lap of the Imola sprint and had also finished second at Melbourne and Jeddah.  The Hitech driver had scored a podium in each of the first seven rounds and raced into an early championship lead but his lack of wins, accompanied by a disastrous July, meant that his title challenge faltered.

In Sunday’s feature race, he finally reached the top step of the podium, benefitting from Bortoleto’s penalty to win his first race since the Red Bull Ring sprint race in Formula 3 last year. That came after he took a commanding pole position by 0.335 seconds. The Hitech driver now sits third in the standings, 25.5 points from Bortoleto, with 39 points on the table in Abu Dhabi.

The result came on an important weekend for Aron, as he was announced Alpine F1’s 2025 reserve driver Saturday. The role is a just reward for the Estonian’s impressive debut season in F2, and while questions will be asked as to why Alpine overlooked their own academy members, Aron’s performances merited a place at the top level of single-seaters. 

Being with Alpine means he will continue his relationship with team principal Oliver Oakes, who remains Hitech’s owner. When asked on Sunday if he would continue in F2 next year, Aron said he knew the answer but would “leave it to be found out” by the public.

Late-season replacements start off strong

Seven of the 22 drivers in Qatar did not start the 2024 season as F2 drivers. Ollie Goethe moved to the series at Monza; Luke Browning and Christian Mansell joined the grid at Baku, as did Bearman substitute Gabriele Minì; and a further four made their debuts at Lusail. Meanwhile, veteran Richard Verschoor made an in-season switch from Trident to MP. 

All of the changes gave the field a new complexion for the final two rounds, but those new to the series acquitted themselves well. Goethe starred for MP and finished fourth in the feature race despite an engine failure in the sprint race. Dino Beganovic, debuting for DAMS, finished fifth after qualifying fourth despite not setting a time in practice, and the top three finishers from Saturday’s sprint race – Bearman, Crawford and Verschoor – all noted the Swede’s impressive performance. 

“Dino was flying yesterday in quali,” Bearman said after the sprint, “and you have to remember that he didn’t even do a lap in free practice. I think he did five laps in quali and he was P4. That was really impressive and I hope he has a great season next year. He had a tough time in F3, but I think he can really show what he’s made of in F2.”

Meanwhile, Mansell and John Bennett claimed strong points in the feature race after starting on the 10th row of the grid, finishing sixth and eighth respectively. 

The result was especially impressive for Van Amersfoort’s Bennett, who was promoted from GB3 for the Qatar event with two weeks’ notice. He stalled at the start with suspected clutch difficulties but recovered to score four points in his first feature. Cian Shields finished just outside the points in 11th place, with he and fellow newcomer Max Esterson the only active drivers who have not yet scored a point. 

Maloney bows out

Zane Maloney entered 2024 with title aspirations, and his season began perfectly with a stunning double win in Bahrain, but the Rodin driver has not won since. The 21-year-old was in mathematical championship contention until this weekend but is leaving the series one round early to take up a seat in Formula E.

Maloney, a member of Sauber’s academy, has spent two years in F2. He qualified a lowly 17th in Qatar with a faulty car part but rose to score points in both races with sixth- and ninth-place finishes. 

Maloney scored four podiums in his debut season and finished 10th in the points. Those results marked him out as a contender for the 2024 crown, but he never produced the consistent season-long points-scoring required to fight for the championship. The Barbadian has also had his fair share of bad luck, with multiple clashes with Aron and mechanical problems restricting him to no higher than fourth in the drivers’ standings. 

Still, he secured seven podiums and his first professional race drive with Lola Yamaha Abt, with whom he will start the 2024–25 Formula E season this weekend in São Paulo. For the final round of the season, he will be replaced by reigning F3 champion Leonardo Fornaroli. 

Additional reporting by Michael McClure

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency