Roundup of the fourth round of the 2024 F2 season as teams hit the European leg of the season, starting with a trip to Imola
Zane Maloney arrived at this round as the championship leader but a weekend packed with drama and twists blew the title fight wide open.
Now, here is a full roundup of all the drama at Imola.
Practice
Following a nine minutes delay due to track repair, Maloney and Ritomo Miyata were first out on track but it was Zak O’Sullivan who set a benchmark 1m 32.113 but he was soon displaced by several drivers with Roman Stanek top after opening laps on 1m 30.784.
Isack Hadjar soon displaced him at the summit with 1m 29.805 after Oliver Bearman and others had gone quicker than the Czech driver.
Bearman then Hauger went quicker but it was Gabriel Bortoleto who set the pace at the halfway mark with 1m 29.423 ahead of Aron, and lowered his benchmark by 0.500 seconds on his next flier.
Aron however displaced the Brazilian in the 36th minute with a session-topping 1m 28.052 as Maloney rounded out the top three ahead of Hadjar, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Hauger and Bearman.
Bearman however brought the session to an early close with a spin midway through Tamburello with seven minutes left on the clock.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 1m 28.852 |
| 2 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | + 0.071 |
| 3 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | + 0.077 |
| 4 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | + 0.232 |
| 5 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | + 0.299 |
| 6 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | + 0.355 |
| 7 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 0.588 |
| 8 | Kush Maini | Invicta | + 0.635 |
| 9 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | + 0.657 |
| 10 | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | + 0.697 |
| 11 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 0.710 |
| 12 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 0.742 |
| 13 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.768 |
| 14 | Pepe Marti | Campo | + 0.794 |
| 15 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 0.859 |
| 16 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | + 0.867 |
| 17 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | + 0.913 |
| 18 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | + 0.981 |
| 19 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 1.095 |
| 20 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | + 1.168 |
| 21 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | + 1.237 |
| 22 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 1.380 |
Qualifying
Following a five minute delay due to track repairs following F3 Qualifying, Maloney was first out on track and set 1m 28.496 as the benchmark time as teams ran the super-soft tyre for the first time at this round.
Once opening laps were completed, Bortoleto posted 1m 28.044 to head Hadjar and Durksen only for Maloney to displace them in the 10th minute with 1m 28.010, yet Bortoleto responded to go fastest by 0.271s.
At the start of the final runs, Antonelli then Bearman went top for PREMA with the latter heading the order ahead of the final laps, but Bortoleto saved his best until the penultimate minute to post 1m 27.056 to take pole by 0.055s from Bearman with Hadjar third ahead of Antonelli.
Durksen qualified fifth ahead of Maloney, Stanek, Aron, Colapinto and Cordeel – who claimed reverse pole for the Sprint.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | 1m 27.056 |
| 2 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 0.055 |
| 3 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | + 0.216 |
| 4 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | + 0.264 |
| 5 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 0.328 |
| 6 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | + 0.372 |
| 7 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 0.411 |
| 8 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | + 0.419 |
| 9 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | + 0.558 |
| 10 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | + 0.607 |
| 11 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | + 0.683 |
| 12 | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | + 0.718 |
| 13 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | + 0.739 |
| 14 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 0.746 |
| 15 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 0.830 |
| 16 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | + 0.994 |
| 17 | Kush Maini | Invicta | + 1.005 |
| 18 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | + 1.072 |
| 19 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 1.075 |
| 20 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | + 1.136 |
| 21 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 1.277 |
| 22 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 1.513 |
Sprint Race
At lights out, Cordeel made a clean start but both he and Colapinto were demoted into Tamburello by Aron who seized the lead amidst contact between Hadjar and Stanek, which caused a chain reaction that ended with Hauger, Fittipaldi and Durksen also eliminated.
The safety car was deployed until the end of Lap 5 as Aron headed his Hitech GP teammate – Cordeel, followed by Colapinto, Maloney, Bearman and Bortoleto in the top six at the restart as Aron quickly built gap.
Cordeel however made a scruffy exit out of Rivazza on Lap 6 which allowed Colapinto to pass him at the start of the next lap, with the Argentinean quickly putting Aron under pressure for the remainder of the race.
Colapinto’s intensity eventually told at the start of the final lap as he forced Aron into a mistake into Tamburello and seized the lead on the exit of the corner to become the first Argentine winner in modern F2.
Maloney rounded out the podium after he cleared Cordeel for third into Tamburello on Lap 23, as Bearman, Bortoleto, Barnard and Verschoor rounded out the top eight on the road at the checkered flag.
Post-race, Barnard was disqualified after stewards determined that he failed to engage the start set-up procedure on the formation lap, which promoted Verschoor to seventh and Maini into the final points-paying position in eighth place.
Elsewhere, O’Sullivan benefitted from the opening lap chaos to climb to 11th which became 10th after Marti was handed a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for a start infringement, before he was promoted to ninth following Barnard’s disqualification.
In the driver standings, Maloney’s lead over Paul Aron was reduced to 13 points whilst Hauger and Hadjar remained third and fourth ahead of Maini, Fittipaldi, Marti and Crawford as Colapinto climbed to ninth.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 25 | 41m 43.964 |
| 2 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 25 | + 1.706 |
| 3 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | 25 | + 6.618 |
| 4 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | 25 | + 8.173 |
| 5 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 25 | + 11.125 |
| 6 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | 25 | + 11.589 |
| 7 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 25 | + 14.254 |
| 8 | Kush Maini | Invicta | 25 | + 16.330 |
| 9 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | 25 | + 17.427 |
| 10 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | 25 | + 18.286 |
| 11 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 25 | + 18.960 |
| 12 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 25 | + 19.396 |
| 13 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | 25 | + 19.788 |
| 14 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 25 | + 20.089 |
| 15 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | 25 | + 20.587 |
| 16 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 25 | + 55.602 |
| RET | Roman Stanek | Trident | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Isack Hadjar | Campos | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 0 | Collision |
| DSQ | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | 23 | Technical |
Feature Race
At lights out, Bortoleto made a slow getaway to hand Bearman the lead from Hadjar and Durksen until the latter pair pitted on Lap 7 for the medium tyre, whilst Bearman followed suit a lap later with Bortoleto.
Bearman however lost his engine during his stop and dropped to second-last by the time he re-joined, whilst Bortoleto re-joined in a net second place behind net leader, Hadjar but ahead of Durksen and Antonelli who stopped on Lap 9.
Once those who began the race on the super-soft tyre pitted, Stanek found himself in a net seventh place and held up a five-car train as Maloney desperately tried and failed to pass, with the title leader soon overtaken by Crawford on Lap 20 at Piratella.
Crawford then passed Stanek on Lap 25 into Tamburello on the outside line to take net seventh place.
Up front, Cordeel headed the six drivers who started on the medium tyre as he built a solid gap to Marti of over seven seconds, as the pair eventually pitted on Lap 31 with Cordeel and Marti both suffering loose rear wheels as they exited their pit boxes.
Villagomez inherited the lead until he pitted at the end of Lap 32 by the time that Bortoleto caught Hadjar for the net lead to set up a tense final three laps.
Hadjar ultimately clung on to take consecutive Feature Race victories as Bortoleto and Durksen rounded out the podium.
Antonelli, Colapinto, Aron, Crawford, Manuel Correa, Martins and Verschoor rounded out the top ten.
Maloney missed out on the top ten in 11th position which meant that his title lead was further reduced down to just five points ahead of Aron, with Hadjar now up to third and nine points off Maloney.
F2 now heads to Monaco to hit the streets of the Principality from 23-26 May.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | 35 | 54m 01.509 |
| 2 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | 35 | + 0.569 |
| 3 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 35 | + 13.736 |
| 4 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | 35 | + 18.034 |
| 5 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 35 | + 18.489 |
| 6 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 35 | + 18.815 |
| 7 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 35 | + 20.737 |
| 8 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | 35 | + 21.240 |
| 9 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 35 | + 28.364 |
| 10 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 35 | + 33.507 |
| 11 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | 35 | + 34.107 |
| 12 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 35 | + 34.346 |
| 13 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | 35 | + 37.657 |
| 14 | Kush Maini | Invicta | 35 | + 37.957 |
| 15 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | 35 | + 38.402 |
| 16 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 35 | + 42.357 |
| 17 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | 35 | + 43.055 |
| 18 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 35 | + 43.575 |
| 19 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 33 | + 44.017 |
| 20 | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | 35 | + 44.786 |
| 21 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | 30 | Tyre |
| 22 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 30 | Tyre |
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