2024 F2 Season Roundup: Round 11 – Italy

Roundup of the eleventh round of the 2024 F2 season as the title fight delivered more twists in Monza, Italy. 

Isack Hadjar arrived in Monza as the title leader but a round packed with surprises and two slightly unexpected winners delivered drama, which has blown the title fight wide open once more.

Now, here is a roundup of all the action in Monza, Italy as F2 continued to prove unpredictable.

 

Practice

AIX Racing’s Joshua Durksen was first out onto the circuit and soon set 1m 52.248 as the initial benchmark time, which soon tumbled with Zak O’Sullivan and Zane Maloney amongst those who exchanged fastest laps.

Come the halfway mark, it was MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger sat top with 1m 33.209 from Maloney and O’Sullivan.

Durksen went quickest with 1m 32.953 in the 31st minute but Maloney, Ritomo Miyata and Gabriel Bortoleto all briefly went fastest, but Maloney secured the quickest time of 1m 32.385 with four minutes left.

Bortoleto and O’Sullivan finished second and third fastest as the red flags came out with two minutes left, after Trident’s Roman Stanek stopped on the exit of the second Lesmo curve after colliding with the barriers.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Zane Maloney	Rodin	1m 32.385
2	Gabriel Bortoleto	Invicta	+ 0.145
3	Zak O’Sullivan	ART GP	+ 0.149
4	Ritomo Miyata	Rodin	+ 0.320
5	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	+ 0.472
6	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 0.481
7	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	+ 0.568
8	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	+ 0.652
9	Isack Hadjar	Campos	+ 0.744
10	Paul Aron	Hitech GP	+ 0.779
11	Richard Verschoor	Trident	+ 0.790
12	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 0.833
13	Jak Crawford	DAMS	+ 0.924
14	Enzo Fittipaldi	VAR	+ 0.982
15	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.073
16	Amaury Cordeel	Hitech GP	+ 1.085
17	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 1.146
18	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	PREMA	+ 1.457
19	Juan Manuel Correa	DAMS	+ 1.581
20	Kush Maini	Invicta	+ 1.822
21	Niels Koolen	AIX Racing	+ 4.114
22	Roman Stanek	Trident	No Time

 

Qualifying

Stanek was the first and only driver to head out early which left him free to set a benchmark time of 1m 34.992, before he found 1.154 seconds on his next flying lap to lower his time to 1m 33.838.

Antonelli though displaced him with 1m 32.941 in the 11th minute, but the red flags came out after Martins ran wide through the Lesmo curves and knocked an advertising hoarding onto the track.

The session resumed seven minutes later with the timer reduced to 16 minutes but just four minutes after the restart, the session was again stopped after Bortoleto spun out at the second Lesmo curve.

Stewards however opted to continue the timer in fear of overrunning into F1’s FP2 slot, which led to a frantic finish as everyone tried to put a lap time in.

At the checkered flag, Maloney emerged fastest with 1m 32.160 and just 0.089s quicker than Hadjar, whilst Aron, Hauge, Martins, Antonelli, Marti, Bearman, Cordeel and Fittipaldi rounded out the top ten.

Fittipaldi inherited reverse-pole for the Sprint but Bearman and Antonelli started eighth and 15th respectively, owing to grid penalties picked up in Belgium before the summer break.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Zane Maloney	Rodin	1m 32.160
2	Isack Hadjar	Campos	+ 0.089
3	Paul Aron	Hitech GP	+ 0.162
4	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	+ 0.181
5	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 0.188
6	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	PREMA	+ 0.214
7	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 0.348
8	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	+ 0.359
9	Amaury Cordeel	Hitech GP	+ 0.452
10	Enzo Fittipaldi	VAR	+ 0.460
11	Joshua Dufek	AIX Racing	+ 0.468
12	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 0.512
13	Zak O’Sullivan	ART GP	+ 0.565
14	Jak Crawford	DAMS	+ 0.620
15	Kush Maini	Invicta	+ 0.664
16	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 0.726
17	Ritomo Miyata	Rodin	+ 0.736
18	Juan Manuel Correa	DAMS	+ 0.796
19	Richard Verschoor	Trident	+ 0.816
20	Roman Stanek	Trident	+ 1.031
21	Niels Koolen	AIX Racing	+ 2.081
22	Gabriel Bortoleto	Invicta	+ 19.647

 

Sprint Race

Fittipaldi made a clean start at lights out but cut Variante del Rettifilo and conceded the lead to Marti, whilst Martins cleared Cordeel for third and Bearman improved from eighth to fifth.

The safety car however was deployed after O’Sullivan made a false start but ultimately collided with Goethe into Rettifilo to end their races.

Racing resumed on Lap 4 and Bearman quickly cleared Cordeel then Martins for second on the next two laps, whilst Fittipaldi locked up at the restart and slipped to seventh.

Marti ultimately couldn’t keep a fast-charging Bearman at bay and the Brit took the lead on the inside of Curva Grande on Lap 7, after Marti got wide at Rettifilo and the Spaniard then lost second to Martins into Variante della Roggia on Lap 8.

Durksen meanwhile drove a measured drive to take third from Marti, Maloney, Crawford and Fittipaldi, whilst Hauger and Bortoleto were awarded 0.5 point apiece after they finished joint eighth at the checkered flag.

Bortoleto’s half-point trimmed his title deficit to Hadjar slightly to 35.5 points, whilst Aron remained third.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	21	35m 37.225
2	Victor Martins	ART GP	21	+ 1.694
3	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	21	+ 7.254
4	Pepe Marti	Campos	21	+ 12.880
5	Zane Maloney	Rodin	21	+ 13.442
6	Jak Crawford	DAMS	21	+ 13.486
7	Enzo Fittipaldi	VAR	21	+ 13.587
8	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	21	+ 14.840
9	Gabriel Bortoleto	Invicta	21	+ 14.840
10	Isack Hadjar	Hitech GP	21	+ 16.126
11	Kush Maini	Invicta	21	+ 17.120
12	Amaury Cordeel	Hitech GP	21	+ 19.164
13	Ritomo Miyata	Rodin	21	+ 22.808
14	Richard Verschoor	Trident	21	+ 23.376
15	Roman Stanek	Trident	21	+ 24.990
16	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	21	+ 29.441
17	Juan Manuel Correa	DAMS	21	+ 29.713
18	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	PREMA	21	+ 32.510
19	Niels Koolen	AIX Racing	21	+ 48.820
20	Paul Aron	Hitech GP	20	+ 1 Lap
RET	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	21	Collision
RET	Zak O’Sullivan	PREM	21	Collision

 

At lights out, Maloney made a quick getaway but Aron was on his heels only for a fast-charging Marti to spin the Estonian out at Rettifilo, which caused a safety car.

Bearman meanwhile climbed from eighth to second ahead of Antonelli and Durksen as Hadjar slipped to fifth.

Racing resumed on Lap 3 with Hadjar quick to clear Durksen but the Paraguayan hit back two laps later, before he then passed Antonelli on Lap 6 for third.

Bearman was the first super-soft tyre runner to pit on Lap 7 with Maloney and Durksen following suit a lap later, but upon exiting the pit-lane ahead of Bearman they found that Hauger had spun out at Rettifilo to cause another safety car.

Bortoleto had begun the race from last place on the grid but had stayed out until the end of Lap 8, when he pitted and re-joined in the net lead.

Racing recommenced on Lap 11 with Goethe in the lead but he was demoted by Maini on Lap 13, whilst Bortoleto was on a charge and seized the lead from his teammate into Roggia on Lap 15.

Bortoleto subsequently sprinted away to victory from Maloney and Verschoor, once Maini and the alternate runners pitted in the closing laps.

Antonelli finished fourth after he punted his teammate, Bearman into the gravel at Rettifilo on Lap 24, then passed Martins two laps later and the Frenchman then lost fifth to Durksen on Lap 28.

Martins ultimately saw off Bearman to finish sixth, whilst Villagomez, Miyata and Crawford rounded out the top ten.

In the drivers’ standings, Bortoleto benefitted from Hadjar’s 11th-placed finish to cut his title deficit down to 10.5 points, whilst Maloney moved up to third ahead of Aron and Crawford.

F2 now heads to Baku, Azerbaijan across the weekend of 13-15 September for a crucial round, as the season begins to hit its home straight.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Gabriel Bortoleto	Invicta	30	50m 30.337
2	Zane Maloney	Rodin	30	+ 9.436
3	Richard Verschoor	Trident	30	+ 11.628
4	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	PREMA	30	+ 14.173
5	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	30	+ 14.558
6	Victor Martins	ART GP	30	+ 15.047
7	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	30	+ 15.399
8	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	30	+ 15.753
9	Jak Crawford	DAMS	30	+ 17.054
10	Enzo Fittipaldi	VAR	30	+ 17.372
11	Isack Hadjar	Campos	30	+ 17.864
12	Pepe Marti	Campos	30	+ 18.600
13	Zak O’Sullivan	ART GP	30	+ 25.424
14	Ritomo Miyata	Rodin	30	+ 31.720
15	Kush Maini	Invicta	30	+ 46.981
16	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	30	+ 51.605
17	Roman Stanek	Trident	30	+ 62.455
18	Amaury Cordeel	Hitech GP	30	+ 81.694
19	Niels Koolen	AIX Racing	30	+ 86.773
RET	Juan Manuel Correa	DAMS	16	Damage
RET	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	7	Spin
RET	Paul Aron	Hitech GP	0	Collision