Roundup of the penultimate round of the 2024 F2 season as the title fight delivered more twists.
Gabriel Bortoleto arrived in Qatar with a 4.5-point lead over Isack Hadjar in the title race, but a lively weekend of surprises set up a blockbuster final round.
Now here is a roundup of all the action at the penultimate round of the 2024 season.
Practice
Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Rafael Villagomez was first out on track but it was PREMA’s Oliver Bearman who set the pace early with 1m 43.785.
ART GP’s Victor Martins however went 0.767 seconds quicker before the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was briefly deployed, after Dino Beganovic on debut for DAMS stopped near the pit entry with a mechanical issue in the tenth minute.
Upon resumption, MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe went top by 0.008s only for Gabriel Bortoleto, Paul Aron then Martins to go quicker as times soon tumbled.
Aron eventually dominated the rest of the session to finish fastest with 1m 38.024 from Bortoleto and Richard Verschoor, who had switched from Trident to MP Motorsport with whom he will race for next season following Dennis Hauger’s exit.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 1m 38.024 |
| 2 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | + 0.642 |
| 3 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.867 |
| 4 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | + 0.917 |
| 5 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.990 |
| 6 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | + 1.195 |
| 7 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | + 1.250 |
| 8 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 1.341 |
| 9 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 1.436 |
| 10 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | + 1.610 |
| 11 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | + 1.629 |
| 12 | Kush Maini | Invicta | + 1.676 |
| 13 | Christian Mansell | Trident | + 1.997 |
| 14 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 2.015 |
| 15 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 2.107 |
| 16 | Luke Browning | ART GP | + 2.142 |
| 17 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | + 2.435 |
| 18 | Max Esterson | Trident | + 2.435 |
| 19 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 2.525 |
| 20 | John Bennett | VAR | + 3.227 |
| 21 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | + 3.504 |
| 22 | Dino Beganovic | DAMS | + 36.636 |
Qualifying
Newcomer, Bennett led the field out at the start of Qualifying on medium tyres and set 1m 41.119 as the initial benchmark time, yet Aron soon dominated the opening stint with 1m 36.614 after he found 1.005s on his second flier.
Bortoleto though led at the halfway point after he opted for a third flier which saw him post 1m 36.586 to go fastest by 0.028s from Aron.
Aron however found time on all three fliers on his second set of tyres to take pole with 1m 35.115, ahead of Bortoleto, Martins, Beganovic, Verschoor, Crawford, Maini, Goethe, Hadjar and Bearman who took reverse pole for the sprint.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 1m 35.115 |
| 2 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | + 0.335 |
| 3 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.455 |
| 4 | Dino Beganovic | DAMS | + 0.657 |
| 5 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.732 |
| 6 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 0.980 |
| 7 | Kush Maini | Invicta | + 0.985 |
| 8 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | + 1.036 |
| 9 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | + 1.072 |
| 10 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | + 1.099 |
| 11 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | + 1.321 |
| 12 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 1.361 |
| 13 | Max Esterson | Trident | + 1.610 |
| 14 | Luke Browning | ART GP | + 1.614 |
| 15 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | + 1.641 |
| 16 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 1.730 |
| 17 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | + 1.746 |
| 18 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | + 1.926 |
| 19 | John Bennett | VAR | + 2.163 |
| 20 | Christian Mansell | Trident | + 2.274 |
| 21 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 2.937 |
| 22 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | + 3.221 |
Sprint Race
Bearman led from pole but Hadjar was one of five drivers to gamble on the medium tyre, which paid dividends on lap two with an inside move on Bearman at Turn 10 for the lead.
Martins meanwhile leapt from seventh up to third at the start and quickly led a DRS train which stretched down to 12th position, whilst Hadjar built a three-second lead up front.
Within the DRS train, Goethe struggled for pace and his engine ultimately failed on lap five, which caused a brief VSC deployment until lap seven.
Hadjar however reported that his “front left was dead” on lap eight which spurned Bearman on to reduce his deficit down to under one second by lap 17, which coincidentally was the same lap that Crawford cleared Martins for third.
Up front, Bearman had to wait until the first corner of lap 21 to launch an inside move to regain the lead from Hadjar, who made a mistake later that lap to gift Crawford and Verschoor the final two podium placings.
Maini however collided with Antonelli’s front-left tyre at turn one on that lap which sent both drivers out of the race, with the safety car deployed until the checkered flag as Hadjar clung onto fourth.
Aron, Bortoleto, Miyata and Maloney completed the top eight but Bortoleto and Maloney were promoted to fifth and sixth respectively, after Aron received a two-place penalty for colliding with Martins on lap 18 which dropped him to seventh.
Miyata meanwhile dropped six places to 13th in the classification after he was first handed a four-place penalty for spinning Beganovic, followed by a further two places for colliding with Antonelli.
Durksen consequently inherited the final point in eighth position.
In the drivers’ standings, Bortoleto’s lead over Hadjar was slightly reduced to 3.5 points with three races left in the season.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 23 | 40m 51.281 |
| 2 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 23 | + 0.295 |
| 3 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 23 | + 0.580 |
| 4 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | 23 | + 0.910 |
| 5 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | 23 | + 1.227 |
| 6 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | 23 | + 1.751 |
| 7 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 23 | + 1.059 |
| 8 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 23 | + 1.905 |
| 9 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 23 | + 2.868 |
| 10 | Dino Beganovic | DAMS | 23 | + 3.223 |
| 11 | Luke Browning | ART GP | 23 | + 3.532 |
| 12 | John Bennett | VAR | 23 | + 4.151 |
| 13 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | 23 | + 1.544 |
| 14 | Max Esterson | Trident | 23 | + 4.760 |
| 15 | Christian Mansell | Trident | 23 | + 5.340 |
| 16 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | 23 | + 6.053 |
| 17 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 23 | + 6.517 |
| 18 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | 23 | + 6.966 |
| 19 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | 20 | Collision |
| 20 | Kush Maini | Invicta | 20 | Collision |
| 21 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 4 | Engine |
| 22 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 0 | Mechanical |
Following a 15-minute delay due to barrier repairs, Aron lost the lead off the line to Bortoleto whilst Beganovic jumped Martins for third on a relatively solid start as Bearman and Antonelli improved to eighth and ninth.
Those who started on the medium tyres quickly began to struggle and sixth-placed Crawford triggered the pit-stops at the end of lap six, with Aron and others following suit a lap later.
Verschoor however collided with Antonelli’s front-right tyre in his pit stop as he exited his pit box, which led the Italian to stop on track and VSC deployed as Bortoleto headed to the pits.
The Brazilian however re-joined via the right of the pit entry bollard and earned himself a five-second time penalty, as the safety car was soon deployed on lap nine which allowed Bortoleto and Hadjar to make their pit stops.
Bortoleto re-joined seventh with net lead from Aron and Hadjar as the race resumed on Lap 13, but Villagomez spun and collected Crawford which brought the safety car back out.
Racing recommenced on lap 17 but Durksen passed Bearman before the start-finish line only to drop to fourth as he gave the position back, but passed Browning for third four laps later.
Bortoleto meanwhile cleared Esterson for fifth and the latter soon collided with Martins which ended the Frenchman’s race.
Up front, Bearman built a steady lead as Durksen recovered to second whilst Maini and Browning soon pitted, but Bortoleto cleared the Paraguayan for second on lap 25 with an inside lunge into turn one.
Aron followed through a lap later but Bortoleto seized the lead on lap 27 as Bearman pitted, and sprinted away to take the checkered flag.
Bortoleto’s time penalty however meant that Aron took his maiden F2 win ahead of Hadjar and Bortoleto, with the latter pair now split by 0.5 points going into the final round in Abu Dhabi from 6-8 December.
Goethe, Beganovic, Mansell and Cordeel completed the top seven ahead of debutant, Bennett who managed eighth.
Maloney finished ninth in his final F2 race as he moves to Formula E and misses the season finale, with Miyata rounding out the top ten.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Paul Aron | Hitech GP | 30 | 55m 45.433 |
| 2 | Isack Hadjar | Campos | 30 | + 2.763 |
| 3 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta | 30 | + 3.175 |
| 4 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 30 | + 3.796 |
| 5 | Dino Beganovic | DAMS | 30 | + 5.727 |
| 6 | Christian Mansell | Trident | 30 | + 11.509 |
| 7 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech GP | 30 | + 12.556 |
| 8 | John Bennett | VAR | 30 | + 18.862 |
| 9 | Zane Maloney | Rodin | 30 | + 19.818 |
| 10 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | 30 | + 23.297 |
| 11 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | 30 | + 32.320 |
| 12 | Oliver Bearman | PREMA | 30 | + 33.737 |
| 13 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 30 | + 39.043 |
| 14 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 30 | + 46.123 |
| 15 | Kush Maini | Campos | 30 | + 51.909 |
| 16 | Luke Browning | ART GP | 30 | + 53.372 |
| 17 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 30 | + 65.023 |
| 18 | Max Esterson | Trident | 30 | + 75.033 |
| RET | Victor Martins | ART GP | 18 | Damage |
| RET | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 13 | Damage |
| RET | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 12 | Spin |
| RET | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | PREMA | 7 | Tyre |
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