The championship is still wide open: Victor Martins secures the two points for pole position, followed by the three contenders Bortoleto, Aron, and Hadjar.
Victor Martins clinches his first pole position of the 2024 season! The French driver from ART showed outstanding form right from his first attempt and will start from the front row in Sunday’s Feature Race, which will decide the 2024 Formula 2 World Championship. Gabriel Bortoleto secured second place, just 35 thousandths of a second behind Martins, narrowly ahead of Paul Aron and Isack Hadjar, who were separated by less than a tenth of a second.
Dino Beganovic secured fifth place, replicating his strong qualifying performance from Qatar. He was followed by Kush Maini, Josep Maria Martí, Ritomo Miyata, Joshua Durksen, and Amaury Cordeel. In the final moments, Cordeel edged out Andrea Kimi Antonelli, denying him the chance to start from pole in tomorrow’s Sprint Race.
Leonardo Fornaroli impressed on his debut, qualifying in 13th for both races. He finished just 0.7 seconds behind pole-sitter Victor Martins, demonstrating solid pace on his first outing.
Qualifying F2 Abu Dhabi: the session report
We have reached the final qualifying session of the highly competitive 2024 Formula 2 season. The Drivers’ Championship is incredibly close, with Gabriel Bortoleto holding a razor-thin lead of just half a point over Isack Hadjar. Paul Aron, sitting third in the standings, trails by 25.5 points but is still mathematically in contention for the title.
In the only free practice session held this morning, the top three drivers in the 2024 Formula 2 Championship immediately showed their speed: Isack Hadjar led the session, two-tenths ahead of Gabriel Bortoleto, and three-tenths ahead of Paul Aron, who finished in fourth. Also notable was the debut of Leonardo Fornaroli, the Formula 3 World Champion, driving for the Rodin team in place of Zane Maloney, who is competing this weekend in the first round of Formula E Season 11 in São Paulo.
After two laps to prepare the tires, we recorded the first interesting lap times: Victor Martins is in first position, with two-tenths of a second ahead of Bortoleto and three-tenths ahead of Aron. Andrea Kimi Antonelli did well in fourth position, as did Fornaroli, who set the seventh-fastest time momentarily. Isack Hadjar, however, was only in fourteenth place, as he got stuck in the final corner before starting his attempt.
Second attempt for everyone: Bortoleto overtakes Martins for the provisional first position; Maini is third, ahead of Antonelli. Hadjar climbs into fifth place, just in front of Aron, who made a small mistake entering the final corner after setting very fast times in the first sectors. Leonardo Fornaroli does not improve and slips to fourteenth place. Now, everyone returns to the pits to fit a new set of tires for the final run.
First attempt of the final run: Victor Martins takes the provisional pole position, with a 35-thousandths advantage over Bortoleto and just over a tenth ahead of Isack Hadjar. The two main contenders for the championship are very close, although the French driver complains over the radio, not satisfied with his final result.
In fourth position is an impressive Dino Beganovic, who is replicating his strong performance from Qatar. Paul Aron follows in fifth, ahead of Ritomo Miyata, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli drops to tenth, unable to improve despite setting a purple sector in the final part of the lap. Leonardo Fornaroli is in fourteenth, still ahead of Ollie Bearman.
Meanwhile, with just 4 minutes and 19 seconds left in the session, it is interrupted: Villagomez stops in the first sector, and the marshals wave the red flag. This will give all drivers a chance for one last desperate attempt.
The session restarts: Hadjar waits in the pit lane to avoid encountering traffic that could compromise his warm-up lap, while Gabriel Bortoleto exits immediately, remembering the previous risk. He managed to complete his lap just 3 seconds before the red flag was waved.
Checkered flag! Bortoleto does not improve and stays in second position, as does Martins. Hadjar also fails to improve, while Paul Aron manages to improve his time and moves up to third, between the two title contenders. A strong final effort from Cordeel pushes Andrea Kimi Antonelli down to tenth, while Fornaroli improves again, moving up to thirteenth.
Photo: FIA Formula 2.