The 2024 F2 season was one of high drama, with a thrilling championship battle reaching its climax at the final round of the season. As the year comes to a close, Feeder Series’ F2 editors ranked their top 10 drivers of 2024. 

By Martin Lloyd and Steven Walton

10) Victor Martins (P7, 107 points) 

It feels slightly wrong to include Martins on this list since he finished seventh in the 2024 standings – lower than in 2023, when he was fifth.

But just looking at his place in the standings would be an oversimplification. His team, ART Grand Prix, clearly struggled to adapt to this season’s new F2 car, and Martins had a good chunk of poor luck.

He should be commended for his perseverance this season. Despite the early difficulties, he still got himself into the top 10 in the standings in the latter half of the year.

The Barcelona sprint race was his sole win of 2024, and after that breakthrough, he took podiums in Budapest, Monza and Baku. He finished his season in Abu Dhabi with a pole position, though he lost a podium finish on the last lap after Richard Verschoor on the alternate strategy passed him.

Martins’ talent is known from his debut season; he just didn’t have the car to replicate the form in 2024. Steven Walton

9) Zane Maloney (P4, 140 points)

With his dominant double victory at the season-opening round in Bahrain, Maloney immediately marked himself out as the driver to beat in 2024.

Sadly for the Rodin driver, his title charge slowly faded as the year progressed. He did not win again after Bahrain.

Maloney finished his time in F2 at the penultimate round in Qatar. He missed the season finale to take up his new drive with the Lola Yamaha Abt team in Formula E.

Maloney needed to make an impact this year if he wanted an F1 future. He parted ways with Red Bull’s junior team at the end of 2023 but picked up a place in Sauber’s academy for 2024.

There were hints of strong pace in Melbourne, Silverstone and Monza, though at each of those rounds, Maloney could only manage second- or third-place finishes.

Monza was probably his best and final chance to throw himself into the mix for the title. He took pole position but lost out in the feature race to an especially fast Gabriel Bortoleto, who gained track position thanks to a well-timed safety car intervention.

Maloney gave the year a good go and finishing fourth in the standings is still a great achievement, but given the tone he set in the first round, more was possible. SW

8) Franco Colapinto (P9, 96 points)

Colapinto left a good impression in F2 before he was whisked away after the summer break to race in F1.

Colapinto actually started the year on the back foot with just two points finishes in the first three rounds. But he made the necessary step forward following the in-season test that preceded the fourth round in Imola.

At that round, Colapinto properly announced himself in F2 by overtaking Paul Aron on the final lap of the sprint race to snatch a brilliant maiden F2 victory.

Colapinto also performed particularly well during the Barcelona-Spielberg-Silverstone triple-header. He finished second in the feature races in Barcelona and Spielberg and then took fifth and fourth in the two races in Silverstone.

After two further rounds, Colapinto’s F2 season was abruptly cut short as he replaced Logan Sargeant at Williams in F1. The unexpected call-up came just as he seemed to hit his stride in F2.

Colapinto finished 2024 ninth in the standings despite missing the last four rounds because of his F1 promotion. He still scored more points than his MP Motorsport teammate Dennis Hauger. SW

7) Andrea Kimi Antonelli (P6, 113 points)

Antonelli made himself known during what has turned out to be his one and only year in F2. In 2025, the 18-year old Italian will replace Lewis Hamilton at Mercedes.

While Antonelli wasn’t a title contender, he was the faster and more consistent driver at Prema, finishing the season higher in the standings than his more experienced teammate, Ollie Bearman.

Antonelli’s season highlights included a brilliant drive in the wet to win the Silverstone sprint race. This was his first win in F2, and his second followed a week later in Hungary. Antonelli had only qualified seventh at the Budapest track, but an alternate strategy gamble paid off and threw him into the fight for the lead. He passed four cars in his final stint to ascend to the lead and won by 12 seconds, the largest margin of victory of the season.

Ultimately, Antonelli appeared to deliver as much as he could this year, finishing sixth in the standings. He was likely held back not by his inexperience but by Prema’s struggles to extract the maximum from the new-for-2024 F2 car. SW

6) Jak Crawford (P5, 125 points)

Throughout his second season in F2, Jak Crawford displayed immense potential, often finding himself on the cusp of being a genuine title contender.

Crawford, who is an Aston Martin young driver, switched from Hitech to DAMS this season and delivered a feature race win and five podiums, ultimately netting him fifth in the standings.

Crawford was inside the top six or seven of the standings for much of the season, yet he never quite had the momentum to mix it with the likes of Aron, Isack Hadjar and Gabriel Bortoleto.

Crawford’s standout moment was his maiden feature race win in Barcelona. After qualifying second, he undercut Aron and snatched the race lead. He then held off Colapinto on his way to victory. 

It’s worth remembering Crawford should’ve won the Silverstone feature race too. He finished first on the road but was dropped to third post-race because of a penalty for an unsafe release. SW

5) Joshua Dürksen (P10, 87 points)

Dürksen arrived in F2 to little fanfare. He placed 14th and 19th in FRegional Europe in 2022 and 2023 respectively.

When PHM – who would later become AIX – announced the Paraguayan in their 2024 F2 lineup, he was not expected to be a standout driver this season, especially considering PHM failed to score a single point in 2023. 

Dürksen proved those expectations wrong with aplomb. The 21-year-old enjoyed his breakthrough round at Imola, qualifying and finishing third in the feature race. He also took third in the Monza sprint. While his season was inconsistent, he enjoyed two wins in Baku and Abu Dhabi, the latter being his maiden feature race victory.

Dürksen’s AIX machine appeared to have a top-speed advantage in the second half of the season, but this should not detract from a remarkable campaign. He finished 10th in the drivers’ standings, leading AIX to ninth in the teams’ championship. Martin Lloyd

4) Richard Verschoor (P8, 106 points)

Verschoor led the most laps of any driver in the 2024 championship. This may be an odd statement to read given that he finished eighth in the drivers’ standings, but he lost as many as three victories to issues outside of his control.

In both Jeddah and Budapest, Verschoor was disqualified from sprint race victory because of technical infringements. He also started the Monaco feature race from pole and led the first 22 laps but retired with an engine issue after his mandatory pit stop.

That statistic, however, can also be explained by his incredible raw speed. Verschoor spent most of the season at Trident, who finished 10th in the teams’ standings. He took two pole positions for the team and scored almost six times as many points for Trident than his longtime teammate, Roman Staněk. 

Verschoor was consistently fast throughout 2024. MP were quick to sign him for 2025 and the final two rounds of 2024, in which he took two more podiums. ML

3) Paul Aron (P3, 163 points)

It would be easy for Aron to  be disappointed with his sole season in F2. The Estonian, racing without the backing of an F1 driver academy, had led the championship for much of the first half of the season before losing his way in the late summer. The Hitech GP driver ultimately finished third in the standings.

It took until the penultimate round in Qatar for Aron to record his first win, at which point he was only an outside contender for the championship.

Despite the frustrating end to the campaign, Aron can be proud of his achievements. While he may have missed out on the ultimate goal of a championship victory, his stunning run of seven podiums in the first seven rounds laid the foundation for a strong campaign.

Moreover, his form also led to his next steps on the F1 ladder. Alpine confirmed his role as reserve driver during the Qatar Grand Prix weekend. Aron will rejoin Hitech founder Oliver Oakes at the Enstone team. ML

2) Isack Hadjar (P2, 192 points)

Hadjar was so close yet so far from an F2 title. He was only half a point behind Bortoleto going into the final weekend and had remained in touch with his rival despite a trying sprint race.

Then a start-line issue struck his Campos in the feature race, extinguishing any title hopes. It was a deeply unjust end to a season in which the Frenchman had won four races and fought valiantly for the championship.

Nonetheless, Hadjar succeeded in his other key goal: to prove to the Red Bull hierarchy that he was ready for an RB F1 seat.

Early in the season, Hadjar lost his Melbourne sprint race win after being awarded a 10-second penalty for his part in a crash with teammate Pepe Martí and Bortoleto. But Hadjar made amends the following day with a stunning first feature race win in the series – which he kept.

He demonstrated this ability to bounce back from disappointment again at Silverstone, where he spun out of the sprint before winning the feature. Such instances belie the hot-headed temperament associated with Hadjar through his oft-tense team radio messages. His best performances reveal a driver with the ability and mentality to succeed at a higher level. ML

1) Gabriel Bortoleto (P1, 214.5 points)

The best driver of 2024 could only be the champion. This is not the case in every season of F2, but Bortoleto’s rookie-season triumph was more impressive than any other driver’s showing in 2024.

Despite a difficult opening three rounds, the 2025 Sauber F1 driver quickly found his trademark metronomic consistency. Most notably, Bortoleto’s last-to-first win at Monza marked him out as a real championship contender. Sure, the Invicta driver was helped by a safety car, but he had also passed seven cars on the first lap to put himself in a position to take advantage of that eventuality.

Arguably as impressive was Bortoleto’s showing the previous day, in the sprint race. Having also started last after spinning into the gravel early in qualifying, he crossed the line in the exact same thousandth of a second as Hauger. They both finished eighth and earned half a point.

This result became important later in the season, when Bortoleto had a slender but critical half-point advantage over Hadjar before the final round in Abu Dhabi. He qualified second and finished both races there to take the title by 22.5 points. ML

Bonus

Feeder Series also asked the five team bosses surveyed about their teams’ 2024 seasons to nominate up to three F2 drivers from this year who stood out to them. They were not permitted to nominate their own drivers.

Bortoleto and Aron earned all four eligible nominations, while Hadjar was nominated by three of the five respondents. Dürksen, Colapinto and Maloney received one vote each. Michael McClure

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool