Roundup of the third round of the 2024 F2 season as teams jetted Down Under to Melbourne, Australia.
Zane Maloney entered this round looking to extend his title lead on a weekend where his rivals all sought to make inroads and ignite a title battle, yet both races delivered drama and some tough luck once penalties were dished out.
Now, here is a roundup of all the action in the third round of 2024 F2 season.
Practice
Gabriel Bortoleto was first out on track but it was PREMA’s Oliver Bearman who set the initial benchmark of 1m 52.838 on his return to F2 after a sudden one-off step up to F1 in Saudi Arabia for Ferrari.
Bortoleto then Hitech GP’s Paul Aron went fastest with the Estonian on top with 1m 46.987 as the red flag came out in the ninth minute, following his teammate – Amaury Cordeel’s spin at Turn 1.
The session resumed five minutes later with Bortoleto then Beaman going top before ART GP’s Victor Martins soon went fastest from his teammate, Zak O’Sullivan by 0.074 seconds.
Bortoleto however quickly reclaimed the lead with 1m 31.043 in the 19th minute, only to be displaced by Dennis Hauger three minutes later, as the Norwegian went 0.107s faster only for Bortoleto to respond with 1m 30.373 to go top with 21 minutes left in the session.
Hauger responded by going 0.070s faster a minute later and ultimately lowered the fastest lap time to 1m 29.654 in the 29th minute, which wouldn’t be beaten as Isack Hadjar and Andrea Kimi Antonelli ultimately finished second and third at the checkered flag.
Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Rafael Villagomez however brought practice to a premature close three minutes early, as he spun at Turn 1 and came to a stop at Turn 2 with session-ending damage.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 1m 29.654 |
| 2 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | + 0.001 |
| 3 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | + 0.473 |
| 4 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | + 0.604 |
| 5 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 0.679 |
| 6 | Kush Maini | Invicta | + 0.688 |
| 7 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.713 |
| 8 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | + 0.719 |
| 9 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 0.729 |
| 10 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | + 1.060 |
| 11 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 1.067 |
| 12 | Joshua Durksen | PHM Racing | + 1.128 |
| 13 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | + 1.184 |
| 14 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | + 1.205 |
| 15 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | + 1.228 |
| 16 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 1.584 |
| 17 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | + 1.641 |
| 18 | Taylor Barnard | PHM Racing | + 1.661 |
| 19 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | + 1.758 |
| 20 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 2.201 |
| 21 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 2.225 |
| 22 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | + 23.131 |
Qualifying
DAMS’ Crawford and Manuel Correa were first out on track for Qualifying and Crawford went on to set 1m 55.308 as benchmark time, but Martins brought the session to a halt with 24 minutes and 10 seconds on the clock after he stopped at Turn 7 following a spin.
The session resumed 12 minutes later as Maini was first back out and he went on to set a benchmark 1m 30.359 in the 10th minute, but was quickly displaced by several drivers as Aron set the pace with 1m 29.984 after the opening round of flying laps.
Drivers found further time on their second flying laps and by the halfway mark, Aron set the pace with 1m 29.385 ahead of Hauger and Hadjar.
With just over four minutes left, Zane Maloney lowered the benchmark pole time to 1m 29.374 just moments before Crawford crashed at Turn 12 to bring out the red flags again for seven minutes.
As the checkered flag fell, Hauger claimed pole position with 1m 28.694 ahead of Antonelli who achieved his first front-row start for a F2 Feature Race, as Verschoor, Maini, Maloney, Aron, Marti, Hadjar and Bortoleto rounded out the top nine.
Stanek finished tenth and claimed reverse-pole for the Sprint Race whilst Bearman qualified 16th after a technical issue forced him to abort his final lap.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 1m 28.694 |
| 2 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | + 0.344 |
| 3 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 0.479 |
| 4 | Kush Maini | Invicta | + 0.619 |
| 5 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | + 0.680 |
| 6 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | + 0.691 |
| 7 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 0.735 |
| 8 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | + 0.776 |
| 9 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | + 0.808 |
| 10 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 0.900 |
| 11 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | + 0.938 |
| 12 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | + 1.008 |
| 13 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | + 1.278 |
| 14 | Joshua Durksen | PHM Racing | + 1.311 |
| 15 | Taylor Barnard | PHM Racing | + 1.538 |
| 16 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 1.876 |
| 17 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 2.389 |
| 18 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | + 2.884 |
| 19 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | + 3.047 |
| 20 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | + 3.134 |
| 21 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 26.614 |
| 22 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 31.142 |
Sprint Race
At lights out, Stanek got a clean start from pole whilst Hadjar cut across from third on the grid to punt his Campos teammate, Marti into Bortoleto – who had made a slow getaway – and sent the latter pair crashing out before they reached Turn 1 whilst he took the lead from Stanek.
The safety car was subsequently deployed until the end of Lap Six, with Martins having climbed from last spot on the grid to 13th at the time of its deployment and he went on to clear Durksen on the restart for 12th position.
Maloney meanwhile ran wide at Turn 6 and slid from fourth to tenth in the order, whilst O’Sullivan lost seventh on Lap 8 to Hauger with Colapinto following through.
Up front, Hadjar continued to head Stanek who fought off Verschoor, Aron and Antonelli who tried to make a double overtake on Lap 10 into Turn 12 for third, only to spin and collect Verschoor, whilst Aron escaped with front wing damage after failing to avoid Verschoor’s spin.
The safety car was once again deployed and the race didn’t resume until the end of Lap 14 as Hadjar ultimately held on for victory from Stanek, whilst Hauger passed Maini on the final lap for third.
Post-race, Hadjar was adjudged at fault for Marti’s collision with Bortoleto and handed a 10-second time penalty, which promoted Stanek to a maiden F2 win whilst Hauger, Maini, Colapinto and Miyata were promoted a position as Hadjar dropped to sixth in the classification.
Bearman meanwhile finished eighth on the road but was demoted to 13th after stewards adjudged him at fault for forcing Durksen wide during his overtake on the Paraguayan, with the 18 year-old dropped to 14th and still without a point in F2 this season.
Crawford received a five-place grid penalty for the Feature Race after he was found to have failed to comply with Sporting Regulations in regard to the Feature Race, having ruined both of his left-rear supersoft tyres in Qualifying.
The American consequently started that race from last position – having initially only qualified 21st and on the back row anyway.
In the drivers’ standings, Maloney’s title lead was reduced to six point by Hauger whilst Maini moved up to third in the order.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 23 | 43m 59.337 |
| 2 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 23 | + 0.349 |
| 3 | Kush Maini | Invicta | 23 | + 1.754 |
| 4 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 23 | + 2.393 |
| 5 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | 23 | + 2.984 |
| 6 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | 23 | + 3.173 |
| 7 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 23 | + 3.639 |
| 8 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | 23 | + 6.615 |
| 9 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 23 | + 7.297 |
| 10 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | 23 | + 7.921 |
| 11 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | 23 | + 10.156 |
| 12 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | 23 | + 11.864 |
| 13 | Taylor Barnard | PHM Racing | 23 | + 15.612 |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 23 | + 16.095 |
| 15 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 23 | + 16.269 |
| 16 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | 23 | + 35.544 |
| 17 | Joshua Durksen | PHM Racing | 23 | + 44.447 |
| 18 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 23 | + 72.351 |
| RET | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 9 | Collision |
| RET | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | 9 | Collision |
| RET | Pepe Marti | Campos | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | 0 | Collision |
Feature Race
At lights out, Hauger fought off Antonelli for the lead but the rookie managed to get the lead into Turn 11, only for Hauger to bounce back and snatch the lead at Turn 9 on Lap 2.
Hauger proceeded to head Antonelli whilst Maini calmly waited for those who began on the supersoft tyre to hit the cliff, before he passed Verschoor then Antonelli for second, when the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed on Lap 7 after Durksen and O’Sullivan collided in a race-ending incident.
Hauger and those on supersoft tyres consequently pitted on Lap 10 once the VSC ended but the Norwegian spun out at Turn 6 on his out-lap on medium tyres, which caused the safety car to be deployed under which Hadjar pitted and assumed the net lead in seventh.
Racing resumed at the end of Lap 15 with Hadjar quickly cruising away from Antonelli and Aron – who were his nearest rivals for the net win – as he worked his way up to fourth by the end of Lap 20 which was the same lap when Aron passed Antonelli for net second place.
Up front, Maini, Manuel Correa and Crawford stayed out in hope of a late safety car which didn’t materialise, as Manuel Correa pitted on Lap 31 as Crawford passed Maini for the lead before they both pitted at the end of that lap.
Hadjar consequently sprinted away for his first F2 victory with points – having previously won the abandoned Dutch Sprint which was aborted after two laps due to rain, as Aron and Maloney completed the podium.
Antonelli finished fourth ahead of; Miyata, Verschoor, Colapinto, Villagomez and Martins, whilst Bearman benefitted from the alternative strategy gamblers backfiring to take his first point of the season in tenth position despite a late race spin at Turn 1.
Colapinto however was disqualified post race after he was found to had failed to engage the race start set-up procedure, which breached Article 1.5.2 of F2’s Technical Regulations.
O’Sullivan meanwhile was handed a 10-second time penalty for spinning Stanek on the opening lap, but he will instead take a five-place grid penalty at the next race, after he failed to finish this race.
Durksen meanwhile was handed a five-second time penalty for his collision with O’Sullivan but because he failed to reach the checkered flag, he will take a three-place grid penalty at the next race he competes in.
Maloney remains top of the standings with his title lead now at 14 points as Aron moved up to second ahead of Hauger, Hadjar and Maini.
F2 now takes a two-month break before resuming the season at Imola, Emilia Romagna, Italy on weekend of 17-19 May.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | 33 | 56m 42.116 |
| 2 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 33 | + 4.454 |
| 3 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | 33 | + 9.649 |
| 4 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | 33 | + 12.990 |
| 5 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | 33 | + 13.652 |
| 6 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 33 | + 18.059 |
| 7 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 33 | + 23.600 |
| 8 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 33 | + 25.080 |
| 9 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 33 | + 29.442 |
| 10 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 33 | + 31.199 |
| 11 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | 33 | + 33.841 |
| 12 | Kush Maini | Invicta | 33 | + 34.041 |
| 13 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 33 | + 34.594 |
| 14 | Juan Manuel Correa | Campos | 33 | + 41.772 |
| 15 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 33 | + 58.194 |
| 16 | Taylor Barnard | PHM Racing | 33 | + 59.319 |
| 17 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | 33 | + 69.169 |
| DSQ | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 33 | Technical |
| RET | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 9 | Spin |
| RET | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | 6 | Collision |
| RET | Joshua Durksen | PHM Racing | 6 | Collision |
| RET | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | 6 | Damage |
Leave a Reply