Paul Aron wins ahead of Hadjar and the penalized Bortoleto. Championship wide open heading into Abu Dhabi.
Finally Paul Aron! After a dominant Friday, the Estonian Hitech driver secures his first career victory in Formula 2, following four pole positions and seven podiums. Aron capitalized on the 5-second penalty handed to Bortoleto, who had crossed the finish line first.
Isack Hadjar also takes advantage of the penalty, finishing second after a very challenging weekend, thanks to a pit stop during the Safety Car period. Starting from ninth, he ended up just ahead of the Brazilian Invicta Racing driver, Bortoleto.
Fourth place went to an excellent Goethe, followed by a surprising Beganovic, who showed remarkable speed on his debut. Completing the points-scoring positions were a solid Mansell driving for Trident, Cordeel, Bennett—also making his debut with Van Amersfoort—Maloney, in his final Formula 2 race before moving to Formula E, and Miyata.
The championship standings become even more thrilling ahead of the final round, with Gabriel Bortoleto leading by just half a point over Isack Hadjar, 188.5 to 188. Paul Aron climbs to third place, overtaking Maloney, with 163 points—25.5 behind Bortoleto. Aron remains mathematically in contention for the title, with 39 points still up for grabs next week in Abu Dhabi.
Feature Race F2 Qatar: the race report
We come to the Feature Race, the final Formula 2 race in Qatar before the last round in Abu Dhabi, scheduled for next week, where we will see who will take the title. The battle seems to be between Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar, with the Brazilian driver ahead by just 3.5 points after gaining a position at the end of the Sprint Race due to a penalty given to Paul Aron.
The Estonian driver, fresh off his signing with Alpine, will start from the pole position and will look to secure his first Formula 2 victory after dominating Friday’s sessions. Next to him on the grid will be the championship leader, Bortoleto, who has a great opportunity to extend his lead over rival Isack Hadjar, as the French driver from Campos will start from ninth place.
An important factor in the race will be tire management: the top 7 drivers, up to Kush Maini, will start on medium tires, as will Hadjar and Antonelli, while only Goethe and Bearman in the top ten have opted for the harder tires. The race start was delayed by about 15 minutes due to damaged barriers, which also led to the cancellation of F1 Academy Race 2.
Bortoleto gets off to a great start, while Aron struggles with wheelspin, almost losing a position to Martins. However, Aron recovers with a brilliant late braking maneuver into turn 1. The French ART driver thus loses third place to Dino Beganovic. Further behind, there’s almost contact between the two Prema cars, which have risen to eighth and ninth positions, while Hadjar drops to eleventh, now behind Goethe as well.
In the third lap, Bearman passes Kush Maini on the outside of turn 1, and Andrea Kimi Antonelli immediately takes advantage, executing a great move on the inside of the fast turn 4. The Indian driver from Invicta Racing loses two more positions, first to Goethe and then to Hadjar, who moves back into the top ten.
On lap 6, Crawford, Maloney, and Mansell start the pit stop sequence, switching to hard tires. Meanwhile, at the front, Bortoleto and Aron have created a gap over the rest of the pack, with Beganovic, in third, already over 4.5 seconds behind. On the following lap, Paul Aron pits, aiming for an undercut on Bortoleto. The Estonian is followed by Beganovic, Martins, Verschoor, and Antonelli, with the Swedish DAMS driver losing his virtual podium position to Martins.
During the seventh lap, the first major twist occurs: Verschoor, exiting the pit stop, makes contact with Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Dutch driver suffers a puncture, while the Italian driver has a broken steering wheel, forcing him to retire. This brings out the Virtual Safety Car! Meanwhile, Bortoleto enters the pits but, after being called back by the team, is forced to rejoin the track, as it is not allowed to make a mandatory stop during the Virtual Safety Car period.
The following lap, however, the Race Control deploys the Safety Car, and under this regime, pit stops are allowed. Bortoleto, Hadjar, Goethe, and Miyata take advantage of this opportunity. On track, Bearman is now in the lead, followed by Durksen, Maini, Esterson, Browning, and Marti, who still need to make their pit stops since they started on hard tires.
In seventh position currently, but in first place virtually, is Gabriel Bortoleto, who will have to serve a 5-second penalty at the end of the race for incorrectly entering the pit lane. Behind him are Aron and Hadjar, who are thus on the virtual podium. Next are Goethe, Miyata, and Beganovic.
After 5 laps, the race restarts: Bortoleto immediately tries to attack Marti, but is forced wide and hits a polystyrene board. Fortunately, the Brazilian driver doesn’t suffer any damage to his front wing. Behind them, there is contact between Crawford and Villagomez, with both drivers forced to retire. The Safety Car is deployed once again!
The race restarts on lap 17: a dramatic mistake by Bearman at the final corner before the restart, which Durksen takes advantage of. However, Durksen is later forced to give the position back to the Prema driver, as the overtake occurred before the Safety Car line. Behind them, Bortoleto, Aron, and Esterson quickly dispose of Esterson, with the Brazilian driver also passing Pepe Martí, making a brave move on the inside of turn 12.
In the following lap, Aron and Hadjar pass Martí, while further back, Esterson and Maloney spin at turn 6, involving Martins, who is forced to retire. There is also contact between Goethe and Martí at turn 5, with the Campos driver spinning and dropping to 16th position.
Due to the two Safety Cars and the delayed race start, the race will finish on time. Bortoleto, Aron, and Hadjar clear Browning, with Maini returning to the pits. There’s a great battle between Beganovic, Goethe, and Browning, with the Swedish driver attempting a move on both inside turn 12. However, it’s the clever Goethe who switches lines to reclaim the fourth virtual position.
With 5 minutes remaining, Bortoleto passes Durksen on the inside of turn 1 and now needs to push to extend his lead over Paul Aron, who is trying to stay within the 5-second window. Behind, Hadjar seems to be struggling more, sitting 1.6 seconds behind Aron and aiming for Bortoleto’s position. Meanwhile, Bearman pits and drops to 13th position.
The final lap begins: after everyone has made their mandatory pit stops, Bortoleto is in the lead with a 1.5-second gap over Aron and 4.5 seconds over Hadjar, who must defend against a charging Goethe. The Brazilian driver needs to push hard to maintain at least his podium position.
Bortoleto crosses the line first, but it’s Paul Aron who takes his first Formula 2 victory! Hadjar finishes second, redeeming himself after yesterday’s mistake, while Goethe narrowly misses out on the podium, finishing just over half a second behind. A great debut for Beganovic, who finishes fifth, while the points are completed by Mansell, Cordeel, Bennett, Maloney and Miyata.
PHOTO: Gabriel Bortoleto, Prema Racing, Formula 2, MP Motorsport, Van Amersfoort.