Roundup of the seventh round of the 2024 F2 season as the title fight rumbled on in Austria.
Paul Aron arrived in Austria as the championship leader but a weekend of thrills and spills saw the title fight rumble on between him and Isack Hadjar, whilst the races saw a past winner return to the top step and a new F2 race winner emerge.
Now here is a roundup of all the action in the seventh round of the season at Red Bull Ring.
Practice
Amaury Cordeel and Enzo Fittipaldi were first out onto the track and Cordeel set 1m 37.056 as the unrepresentative benchmark lap time, which soon tumbled with Aron finding himself on 1m 16.680 set in the 13th minute.
Red flags however were waved in the 16th minute after AIX Racing’s Taylor Barnard broke down on the start-finish straight, although the session resumed five minutes later.
Isack Hadjar had endured a difficult start to the session but once he hit his stride, he went quickest with 1m 16.624 in the 28th minute, then lowered the time to a Practice topping 1m 16.441 just three minutes later ahead of Aron and Crawford.
Post-session, Marti stopped on track with a lack of fuel and was consequently disqualified from the classification.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | 1m 16.441 |
| 2 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | + 0.239 |
| 3 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 0.272 |
| 4 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | + 0.278 |
| 5 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.312 |
| 6 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | + 0.446 |
| 7 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | + 0.531 |
| 8 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 0.532 |
| 9 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 0.570 |
| 10 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 0.615 |
| 11 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 0.616 |
| 12 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | + 0.621 |
| 13 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | + 0.624 |
| 14 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | + 0.642 |
| 15 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | + 0.647 |
| 16 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | + 0.739 |
| 17 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | + 0.775 |
| 18 | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | + 0.938 |
| 19 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | + 1.011 |
| 20 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 1.051 |
| 21 | Kush Maini | Invicta | + 1.084 |
| DSQ | Pepe Marti | Campos | No Time |
Qualifying
Hauger and Colapinto were first on track as Qualifying began and the former quickly set 1m 16.412 as a representative lap time, which was soon bettered by Aron with 1m 16.039 ahead of Bortoleto in the seventh minute.
Barely a minute later, Hadjar went even quicker with 1m 15.828 to head his title rival – Aron, but the Frenchman’s engine expired as he completed his second flier to leave him out of the session with 18 minutes left on the clock.
Unlike the opening runs which saw everyone produce at least two flying laps, the final runs led by Hauger saw the field attempt just the single flying lap which the Norwegian nailed in the 26th minute with 1m 15.487 to take pole.
Durksen was amongst the last drivers over the line and fell 0.008s shy of Hauger as he secured a front row start for the Feature Race, ahead of Bortoleto, Colapinto, Aron, Barnard, Hadjar, Marti, Bearman and Maini – who took reverse pole for the Sprint.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 1m 15.487 |
| 2 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 0.008 |
| 3 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | + 0.114 |
| 4 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | + 0.161 |
| 5 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | + 0.234 |
| 6 | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | + 0.320 |
| 7 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | + 0.341 |
| 8 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 0.406 |
| 9 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 0.413 |
| 10 | Kush Maini | Invicta | + 0.424 |
| 11 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | + 0.433 |
| 12 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | + 0.482 |
| 13 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.508 |
| 14 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 0.520 |
| 15 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | + 0.560 |
| 16 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | + 0.671 |
| 17 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 0.730 |
| 18 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 0.783 |
| 19 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | + 0.803 |
| 20 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | + 0.805 |
| 21 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | + 0.861 |
| 22 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 0.975 |
Sprint Race
At lights out, Maini got a slow getaway which handed Bearman the lead from Marti as the Invicta driver slotted into third, ahead of Barnard who got wide out of Turn 3 on the inside as he attempted a double over-take for second.
Bortoleto meanwhile cleared Colapinto on Lap 2 for sixth but he and Aron got stuck behind fourth-placed Barnard, until Aron passed the Brit on Lap 7 with Bortoleto following through a lap later.
Barnard soon struggled with his tyre wear and after he was passed by Colapinto on Lap 11, AIX Racing swapped him and Durksen around on Lap 14, but he eventually dropped to 12th at the checkered flag.
Up front, Bearman drove a mature strategic race to fend off Marti for his first win of the season.
Maini however began to struggle with his tyre wear and was passed by Aron on Lap 21, with the Estonian eventually finishing third following a late scrap with Maini’s teammate, Bortoleto as Maini fell to seventh behind Hauger and Crawford.
Durksen rounded out the top eight points-finishers ahead of ART GP’s Zak O’Sullivan and Victor Martins.
In the drivers’ standings, Aron extended his championship lead over Hadjar to 16 points as Maloney, Crawford and Hauger rounded out the top five, whilst Bearman’s win lifted him from 17th to 14th in the standings.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 28 | 37m 22.959 |
| 2 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 28 | + 1.751 |
| 3 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 28 | + 3.003 |
| 4 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | 28 | + 3.655 |
| 5 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 28 | + 11.030 |
| 6 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 28 | + 11.677 |
| 7 | Kush Maini | Invicta | 28 | + 13.703 |
| 8 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 28 | + 13.887 |
| 9 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | 28 | + 15.866 |
| 10 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 28 | + 19.852 |
| 11 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 28 | + 21.546 |
| 12 | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | 28 | + 22.305 |
| 13 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | 28 | + 22.857 |
| 14 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | 28 | + 23.629 |
| 15 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | 28 | + 23.728 |
| 16 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | 28 | + 26.445 |
| 17 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | 28 | + 27.184 |
| 18 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | 28 | + 27.597 |
| 19 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 28 | + 28.250 |
| 20 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 28 | + 29.804 |
| 21 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 28 | + 29.884 |
| 22 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | 28 | + 46.914 |
Feature Race
Hauger, Maini and Crawford stalled on the grid at the beginning of the formation lap, with Hauger’s stall from pole position effectively handing Durksen the lead once the race commenced.
Maloney’s difficult weekend continued as he stalled at the race start but his race eventually ended on Lap 6 as he pulled over at Turn 4.
Up front, Bortoleto cleared Durksen for the lead on the inside of Turn 4 on Lap 4 with Colapinto – the lead driver on alternate soft tyre strategy – following through two laps later.
The Virtual Safety Car was deployed on Lap 6 after Maloney had stopped on track which allowed Marti to gamble on an early pit stop at the end of that lap, which put him in the net lead once those on the prime strategy once the frontrunners except Colapinto pitted by the start of Lap 9.
Bortoleto however had caught and passed Marti by the end of Lap 20 with Hadjar onto Marti’s rear by Lap 24, yet Marti chose to retain track position which led Hadjar to plead with Campos to switch the pair to maximise his chances of victory.
Marti eventually complied with Hadjar’s wish on Lap 27 and swapped positions into Turn 3.
Up front, Colapinto led from Bearman until the Brit suffered a power failure on Lap 20 which handed the Argentinean a huge gap to Cordeel, O’Sullivan and Crawford who were also on the alternate strategy to the majority of the grid.
Colapinto eventually pitted on Lap 33 to hand Bortoleto his maiden F2 victory but the Argentinean recovered from eighth upon re-joining on the supersoft tyres to finish second, ahead of Hadjar and Marti who continued to complain over team radio about track positions.
Fittipaldi finished fifth after Aron received a time penalty which left him sixth in the classification ahead of Durksen, Cordeel, Barnard and O’Sullivan in the top ten.
In the drivers’ standings, Aron’s title lead was reduced to nine points by Hadjar whilst Bortoleto’s win moved him up to third ahead of Maloney and Colapinto.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | 40 | 53m 59.322 |
| 2 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 40 | + 4.296 |
| 3 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | 40 | + 5.553 |
| 4 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 40 | + 6.035 |
| 5 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | 40 | + 11.399 |
| 6 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 40 | + 11.437 |
| 7 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 40 | + 12.562 |
| 8 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | 40 | + 22.557 |
| 9 | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | 40 | + 27.634 |
| 10 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | 40 | + 32.180 |
| 11 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 40 | + 32.244 |
| 12 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 40 | + 32.613 |
| 13 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 40 | + 33.470 |
| 14 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | 40 | + 34.724 |
| 15 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | 40 | + 35.143 |
| 16 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 40 | + 49.792 |
| 17 | Kush Maini | Invicta | 40 | + 51.433 |
| 18 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 40 | + 55.494 |
| RET | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | 33 | Engine |
| RET | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 40 | Engine |
| RET | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 40 | Power |
| RET | Zane Maloney | Rodin | 40 | Engine |
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