2024 F2 Season Roundup: Round 14 – Abu Dhabi

Roundup of the final round of the 2024 F2 season as the title went to the wire. 

Gabriel Bortoleto headed Isack Hadjar by 0.5 points coming into the season finale with Paul Aron a distant outsider 25.5 points behind the Brazilian.

Bortoleto though weathered a competitive weekend and a major title-deciding moment to become the second Brazilian in three seasons to secure the F2 title, after Felipe Drugovich achieved the feat in 2022.

 

Practice

Invicta’s Bortoleto and Kush Maini were first on track but it was ART GP’s Luke Browning who set the initial pace, as the Brit posted 1m 53.465 as the unrepresentative benchmark.

AIX Racing Joshua Durksen lowered the time to 1m 39.314 just ten minutes in but Hitech GP’s outside title challenger, Paul Aron soon displaced him followed by Pepe Marti until Durksen responded with 1m 38.515 six minutes later.

Aron and Marti soon exchanged fastest laps but it was Victor Martins who sat quickest just past the halfway mark, having produced 1m 38.082 in the 23rd minute.

Bortoleto however delivered 1m 38.046 in the 27th minute to go quickest before the red flags came out with 15 minutes left, after Cian Shields crashed on the exit of turn 14.

The session resumed with eight minutes left and times tumbled until the checkered flag, which saw Isack Hadjar snatch the fastest lap with 1m 37.817 ahead of his title rival – Bortoleto.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Isack Hadjar	Campos	1m 37.817
2	Gabriel Bortoleto	Invicta	+ 0.299
3	Victor Martins	ART GP	+ 0.265
4	Paul Aron	Hitech GP	+ 0.357
5	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	+ 0.427
6	Ritomo Miyata	Rodin	+ 0.494
7	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	+ 0.499
8	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 0.505
9	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	PREMA	+ 0.564
10	Kush Maini	Invicta	+ 0.597
11	Jak Crawford	DAMS	+ 0.687
12	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	+ 0.707
13	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 0.813
14	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	+ 0.868
15	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.099
16	Christian Mansell	Trident	+ 1.218
17	Amaury Cordeel	Hitech GP	+ 1.263
18	Luke Browning	ART GP	+ 1.271
19	John Bennett	VAR	+ 1.335
20	Leonardo Fornaroli	Rodin	+ 1.445
21	Max Esterson	Trident	+ 1.785
22	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 2.599

 

Qualifying

Beganovic was first on track and set 1m 37.497 as the initial benchmark as everyone switched to super-soft tyres, but Martins on 1m 36.245 headed the order once everyone did their first fliers with Bortoleto sat 0.234 seconds behind in second.

Bortoleto however responded on his second flier to put himself on provisional pole with 1m 36.050, as Martins found himself 0.141s shy in second.

Martins however responded at the start of his final run with 1m 35.745 which proved enough for his first pole of the season, as Bortoleto fell 0.035s shy in second but Aron slotted into third ahead of Hadjar and Beganovic.

Villagomez however brought the red flags out with four minutes left which prevented much improvement once the session resumed.

Maini, Marti, Miyata, Durksen and Cordeel rounded out the top ten, with Cordeel on reverse pole for the sprint.

Maini however began the sprint from eighth after he was handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Crawford.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Victor Martins	ART GP	1m 35.745
2	Gabriel Bortoleto	Invicta	+ 0.035
3	Paul Aron	Hitech GP	+ 0.068
4	Isack Hadjar	Campos	+ 0.128
5	Dino Beganovic	PREMA	+ 0.161
6	Kush Maini	Invicta	+ 0.205
7	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 0.312
8	Ritomo Miyata	Rodin	+ 0.370
9	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	+ 0.397
10	Amaury Cordeel	Hitech GP	+ 0.397
11	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	PREMA	+ 0.645
12	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 0.671
13	Leonardo Fornaroli	Rodin	+ 0.705
14	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	+ 0.710
15	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	+ 0.802
16	Jak Crawford	DAMS	+ 1.008
17	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	+ 1.201
18	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.240
19	Max Esterson	Trident	+ 1.684
20	John Bennett	VAR	+ 1.889
21	Christian Mansell	Trident	+ 2.389
22	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 3.023

 

Sprint Race

Prior to lights out, PREMA withdrew Antonelli from the race due to illness but once the lights out, Marti dived up the inside of the top three into the opening corner to snatch the lead.

Chaos soon reigned in the scrap for second position as Durksen passed Cordeel but Maini and Cordeel demoted Durksen back to fourth.

Martins’ race was ended by a spin at turn 6 following a tap from Miyata, although the Frenchman continued to the checkered flag – albeit a lap down, whilst Miyata was handed a ten-second time penalty.

Bearman benefitted from the chaos to climb from 14th to seventh whilst Hadjar picked up front wing damage on the opening lap.

Bortoleto quickly worked his way up to fifth by the end of lap two which soon became third two laps later with passes on Durksen and Cordeel, before the F1-bound Brazilian swapped positions with second-placed Maini on lap six.

Maini however had used up his grip and tumbled down the order by the end of lap 10.

Up front, Marti comfortably held off Bortoleto for his maiden F2 win but Cordeel lost third to Aron on lap 17, only for the Belgian to spin Durksen out a lap later as the Paraguayan passed on the outside of turn 6.

Cordeel consequently received a ten-second time penalty which saw him classified 14th at the checkered flag.

Bearman consequently inherited fourth but a five-second time penalty demoted him to fifth at the checkered flag, having failed to build a gap to Beganovic.

Hadjar had to settle for sixth ahead of Browning and Verschoor who completed the top eight following application of Miyata’s time penalty which dropped the Japanese driver to 12th in the classification.

Post-race, Aron was disqualified due to a modified DRS actuator and ordered to start the feature race from the pit lane, with everyone from fourth on the grid downwards promoted a position.

The Estonian’s disqualification also handed Crawford the final point in eighth position, ahead of Goethe and 2024 F3 champion, Leonardo Fornaroli who finished tenth on his F2 debut for Rodin following Zane Maloney’s move to Formula E.

Bortoleto now headed into the title-deciding season finale with a 4.5-point lead over Hadjar.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Pepe Marti	Campos	23	38m 36.039
2	Gabriel Bortoleto	Invicta	23	+ 2.296
3	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	23	+ 18.828
4	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	23	+ 19.547
5	Isack Hadjar	Campos	23	+ 22.980
6	Luke Browning	ART GP	23	+ 26.798
7	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	23	+ 27.896
8	Jak Crawford	DAMS	23	+ 29.768
9	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	23	+ 31.618
10	Leonardo Fornaroli	Rodin	23	+ 33.307
11	Ritomo Miyata	Rodin	23	+ 33.784
12	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	23	+ 34.727
13	Amaury Cordeel	Hitech GP	23	+ 36.268
14	Max Esterson	Trident	23	+ 40.756
15	John Bennett	VAR	23	+ 43.493
16	Christian Mansell	Trident	23	+ 45.303
17	Kush Maini	Invicta	23	+ 52.570
18	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	23	+ 60.505
19	Victor Martins	ART GP	22	+ 1 Lap
RET	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	18	Spin
DSQ	Paul Aron	DRS	23	DRS
DNS	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	PREMA	0	Illness

 

Antonelli was again ruled out due to illness which brought his sole F2 season to a sad end, as he prepares to join Mercedes in F1 next season.

At lights out, Martins lost the clutch and the lead to Bortoleto who effectively sealed the title after Hadjar stalled and re-joined two laps down on the Brazilian.

Maini settled into second whilst Marti leapt from seventh to third but lost position to Durksen on lap three, only to get the position back on lap six at turn nine after the Paraguayan tried outside move on Maini.

Maini and Durksen pitted at the end of that lap but a slow stop dropped Maini down the order.

Durksen however managed to get his tyres up to temperature as did Martins and the pair cleared Bortoleto who pitted a lap later, which put Durksen in the net lead.

Up front on the alternative strategy, Verschoor quietly nursed his medium tyres and passed Cordeel on lap 11, then hunted down Marti with a successful move for the lead on lap 18 into turn 6.

Durksen however proved difficult to match and claimed the lead on lap 29 from which he cruised to his first feature race win and second overall victory in F2.

Bortoleto finished second to secure the title and become the fourth driver to win third and second-tier titles in consecutive seasons, after Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri – with Bortoleto moving up to F1 with Sauber next season.

Verschoor completed the top three with a final-lap pass on Martins who settled for fourth, whilst Bearman ended his two seasons in F2 with a fifth-placed finish as he graduates to F1 with Haas next season.

Marti, Beganovic. Cordeel, Goethe and Miyata completed the top ten.

Bortoleto finished 22.5 points clear at the top of the standings from Hadjar and Aron, whilst Maloney, Crawford, Antonelli, Martins, Verschoor and Franco Colapinto completed the top nine.

Durksen’s win meant that he rounded out the top ten ahead of Dennis Hauger who missed the final two rounds.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	33	56m 23.715
2	Gabriel Bortoleto	Invicta	33	+ 1.791
3	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	33	+ 5.370
4	Victor Martins	ART GP	33	+ 7.337
5	Oliver Bearman	PREMA	33	+ 10.316
6	Pepe Marti	Campos	33	+ 18.177
7	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	33	+ 19.769
8	Amaury Cordeel	Hitech GP	33	+ 19.873
9	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	33	+ 21.031
10	Ritomo Miyata	Rodin	33	+ 23.331
11	Paul Aron	Hitech GP	33	+ 23.424
12	Kush Maini	Invicta	33	+ 29.795
13	Leonardo Fornaroli	Rodin	33	+ 30.390
14	John Bennett	VAR	33	+ 33.707
15	Luke Browning	ART GP	33	+ 38.946
16	Christian Mansell	Trident	33	+ 42.503
17	Max Esterson	Trident	33	+ 43.524
18	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	33	+ 62.248
19	Isack Hadjar	Campos	32	+ 1 Lap
RET	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	4	Damage
RET	Jak Crawford	DAMS	4	Damage
DNS	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	PREMA	0	Illness