Roundup of the tenth round of the 2024 F2 season as the title race threw more surprises in Spa Francorchamps, Belgium.
Isack Hadjar arrived in Spa with a 18-point title lead over Paul Aron but a mixture of rain, a shortened Sprint and entertaining Feature Race action delivered significant moments in the title fight.
Practice
PREMA’s Oliver Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli led the pack out for their installation laps, of which everyone pitted soon afterwards in an uncharacteristic move compared to usual practice sessions.
MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger was first to head back out and set 2m 20.529 as an initial benchmark, followed by several drivers as times soon tumbled.
DAMS’ Juan Manuel Correa headed the pack with 2m 02.634 at the halfway mark from Enzo Fittipaldi, as the red flags came out in the 22nd minute after a crash for Rafael Villagomez at Malmedy upon clipping the gravel trap on entry.
The session resumed with 13 minutes left as Bearman and Antonelli headed the field back out onto the circuit, but Victor Martins, Jak Crawford, Hauger and Hadjar soon traded the fastest lap times.
As the checkered flag fell, Hadjar topped the session on 1m 58.730 and just 0.010 seconds ahead of Martins, whilst Antonelli was third fastest from Paul Aron.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | 1m 58.730 |
| 2 | Victor Martin | ART GP | + 0.010 |
| 3 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | + 0.447 |
| 4 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | + 0.584 |
| 5 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | + 0.638 |
| 6 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | + 0.661 |
| 7 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | + 0.808 |
| 8 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | + 0.865 |
| 9 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 0.901 |
| 10 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | + 0.971 |
| 11 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 1.092 |
| 12 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | + 1.183 |
| 13 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | + 1.282 |
| 14 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | + 1.457 |
| 15 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 1.466 |
| 16 | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | + 1.496 |
| 17 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | + 1.528 |
| 18 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 1.699 |
| 19 | Kush Maini | Invicta | + 1.786 |
| 20 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 1.958 |
| 21 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 4.876 |
| 22 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 64.881 |
Qualifying
Durksen was first out on track in Qualifying but the red flags were out with exactly 24 minutes left on the clock, after Martins grinded to a halt at the start of the third sector.
The session resumed five minutes later and Durksen set 1m 59.072 as the benchmark time in the 11th minute, but it was Hadjar on 1m 57.803 who headed the order from his title rivals – Aron and Bortoleto after opening runs.
Hauger though was the first driver with three minutes left to beat Hadjar’s time as he posted 1m 57.774 to go fastest, only for Aron to find 0.815s to claim pole with 1m 56.959.
Bortoleto qualified second ahead of Hadjar, Crawford, Antonelli, Maloney, Colapinto, Verschoor and Hauger, whilst O’Sullivan left it to the checkered flag to snatch reverse-pole for the Sprint in tenth position.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 1m 56.959 |
| 2 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | + 0.168 |
| 3 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | + 0.282 |
| 4 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 0.423 |
| 5 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | + 0.438 |
| 6 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | + 0.547 |
| 7 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | + 0.724 |
| 8 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | + 0.789 |
| 9 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | + 0.815 |
| 10 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | + 0.823 |
| 11 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | + 0.842 |
| 12 | Kush Maini | Invicta | + 0.845 |
| 13 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | + 0.862 |
| 14 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | + 0.954 |
| 15 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 1.020 |
| 16 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | + 1.104 |
| 17 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 1.161 |
| 18 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 1.230 |
| 19 | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | + 1.829 |
| 20 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 2.113 |
| 21 | Roman Stanek | Trident | + 2.500 |
| 22 | Victor Martins | ART GP | No Time |
Sprint Race
Torrential rain saw the Sprint postponed from its initial slot to after the conclusion of F1 Qualifying, but there was a further ten minute delay due to rain before the action got underway.
Once the lights went green, O’Sullivan led from Hauger and Verschoor, whilst Maloney passed Colapinto for fourth into Les Combes and the Argentinean then lost fifth to Crawford into Eau Rouge a lap later.
The Argentinean continued to lose pace and suffered a further demotion at Eau Rouge on Lap 3, this time at the hands of Antonelli.
Bearman meanwhile had started 14th on the grid and managed to make up five places to ninth in the opening corners, before he took Hadjar for eighth at the Bus Stop chicane at the end of the first lap.
The 19 year-old Brit then followed Antonelli through on Lap 3 as he cleared Colapinto into Les Combes for seventh.
Up front, O’Sullivan had built a two-and-a-half second lead over Hauger when the safety car was deployed at the end of Lap 3, after Marti stopped on the run to Pouhon.
The rain however worsened under the safety car which led stewards to throw the red flag on Lap 7, and the race was subsequently declared a result due to the low visibility with O’Sullivan handed his second win of the season.
Stewards counted the result back to the end of Lap 5 which meant that only the top five received points, with O’Sullivan picking up five points but didn’t get a bonus point for fastest lap due to just two green-flag laps having been completed.
Hauger was awarded four points whilst Verschoor and Maloney received three and two points each, whilst Crawford earned one point for his efforts.
Hadjar kept his title lead over Aron at 16 points with Bortoleto and Maloney still third and fourth in the standings.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | 5 | 14m 15.548 |
| 2 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 5 | + 0.849 |
| 3 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 5 | + 1.122 |
| 4 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | 5 | + 3.031 |
| 5 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 5 | + 4.051 |
| 6 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | 5 | + 5.210 |
| 7 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 5 | + 6.022 |
| 8 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 5 | + 7.665 |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | Hitech GP | 5 | + 8.907 |
| 10 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | 5 | + 9.907 |
| 11 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | 5 | + 11.187 |
| 12 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 5 | + 12.642 |
| 13 | Kush Maini | Invicta | 5 | + 14.099 |
| 14 | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | 5 | + 15.699 |
| 15 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | 5 | + 16.697 |
| 16 | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | 5 | + 17.085 |
| 17 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | 5 | + 17.851 |
| 18 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 5 | + 18.702 |
| 19 | Joshua Dufek | AIX Racing | 5 | + 19.254 |
| 20 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 5 | + 20.186 |
| 21 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 5 | + 21.200 |
| RET | Pepe Marti | Campos | 1 | Electrical |
At lights out, Aron seized the lead whilst Hadjar jumped Bortoleto for second into Les Combes, whilst Verschoor jumped to fifth from eighth on the grid.
The safety car however was deployed after Maloney clipped Bearman which punted the Brit sideways into Marti at La Source, although stewards viewed Bearman as the driver at fault for the incident and gave him a five-place grid penalty for Monza.
Colapinto meanwhile suffered a loss of power and retired at the end of the opening lap.
Racing resumed on Lap 4 but Villagomez spun Martins into out of Les Combes into Malmedy, which ended their races and brought the safety car back out.
Racing resumed at the end of Lap 6 and Hauger immediately pitted to swap from soft to medium tyres.
Up front, Aron fought off Hadjar but the Frenchman breezed past on the Kemmel Straight to take the lead, which prompted the Estonian to pit to try the undercut.
Hadjar followed suit a lap later but Aron was able to get his tyres up to temperature and passed Hadjar on Lap 11 into Les Combes for the net lead.
Hadjar however responded on Lap 13 with an easy pass on the Kemmel Straight for the lead and victory, whilst Bortoleto was the last of the top three to pit at the end of Lap 11 which saw him pass Aron on Lap 17 for a second-place finish.
Aron settled for third – plus fastest lap – until he suffered a power failure on the final lap which dropped him down the order and out of the points., as he stopped at Les Combes.
Crawford consequently inherited third ahead of O’Sullivan at the checkered flag, whilst Verschoor was the highest-placed alternate runner in fifth place ahead of Maloney, Miyata, Cordeel, Antonelli and Durksen on the road.
In the drivers’ standings, Hadjar extended his title lead over Aron to 41 points, with Bortoleto moving above the Estonian into second and 37 points off the summit as the Brazilian looks to mount a late title challenge.
Post-race, Antonelli was handed a five-place grid drop for Monza after PREMA had left dry ice pellets in his car, which fell out at Turns 14 and 17 on the formation lap although it was the second such incident after Silverstone.
F2 now will head on the summer break before resuming the campaign at Monza, Italy, which is scheduled for 30 August – 1 September.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | 25 | 57m 08.495 |
| 2 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | 25 | + 2.934 |
| 3 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 25 | + 12.093 |
| 4 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART GP | 25 | + 13.741 |
| 5 | Richard Verschoor | Trident | 25 | + 19.392 |
| 6 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | 25 | + 21.282 |
| 7 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | 25 | + 21.884 |
| 8 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | 25 | + 25.388 |
| 9 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | 25 | + 31.800 |
| 10 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 25 | + 32.446 |
| 11 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS | 25 | + 39.528 |
| 12 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 25 | + 42.048 |
| 13 | Taylor Barnard | AIX Racing | 25 | + 43.750 |
| 14 | Roman Stanek | Trident | 25 | + 53.654 |
| 15 | Kush Maini | Invicta | 25 | + 58.831 |
| 16 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 24 | + 1 Lap |
| RET | Enzo Fittipaldi | VAR | 25 | Power |
| RET | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 25 | Collision |
| RET | Victor Martins | ART GP | 25 | Collision |
| RET | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport | 25 | Power |
| RET | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Pepe Marti | Campos | 0 | Collision |
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