Image credit: REUTERS PIC

Gabriel Bortoleto is the 2024 Formula 2 Champion after he secured P2 in the final race of the season.
 
He becomes the first driver since Oscar Piastri to win FIA F3 and F2 championships back-to-back in rookie seasons.

The Brazilian driver was denied P1 by AIX Racing's Joshua Duerksen took his first Feature race win in Formula 2 and his second win of the season. 

Devastation for title rival Isack Hadjar who stalled on the grid at lights out, leaving him out of contention and a lap behind after the race start. 

Invicta Racing clinched the Constructor's title following Bortoleto and Maini's incredible efforts this season and were celebrating in the pit lane once the chequered flag was flown.

How the Feature Race happened

21 cars lined up on the grid ahead of the Feature Race as Kimi Antonelli withdrew from the race (no shock after yesterday's Sprint race).

Lights out and Bortoleto charged into the lead, capitalising on Pole sitter Victor Martins' bad start. Meanwhile, Hadjar who lined up in third stalled on the starting grid and watched his title dreams be snatched away. 

Up the road on the opening lap, yesterday's Sprint race winner Pepe Marti was in a close battle with Invicta Racing driver Kush Maini through Turns 1-5 but it was Maini who was able to get ahead coming out of Turn 6 and move up into P2.

No sooner had Marti lost out to Maini, Joshua Duerksen swooped around the outside of the Campos driver to slot into the podium positions, leaving the Spaniard in fourth. 

Lap 7 saw the first pitstops of the race with Maini, Duerksen, and Marti being the first from the top 10 runners to take the opportunity to change tyres. 

Duerksen ran wide in Turn 3 after exiting the pit lane which allowed Victor Martins to take the opportunity to retake the place into Turn 5. 

Whilst Bortoleto was flying in the lead, his teammate suffered a slow pitstop and Maini fell down the order as a result. 

It was the Brazilian's turn to visit the Invicta pit box on Lap 8, swapping onto the medium tyre and making his way back out onto the track just ahead of Joshua Duerksen. 

The championship leader had a tough out lap, with two lock ups in the space of three corners allowing the AIX Racing car of Duerksen to take the effective lead of the race. 

Marti, who was yet to pit due to a different strategy, was able to take up the race lead and created a comfortable gap between him and his closest competitor on track, Richard Verschoor. 

The MP Motorsport driver was on the hunt, slowly closing down the gap between himself and P1 of the race. The hard work paid off, and Verschoor was able to make the pass on Marti going into Turn 6 on Lap 18. 

Joshua Duerksen found himself getting stuck behind the drivers that had yet to visit the pits which allowed those behind him to eat into the gap that he had created. 

Duerksen was able to clear the American Trident driver Max Eterson on Lap 23 who made his way into the pits at the end of the lap, releasing the effective race top 3. 

With 10 laps to go, the gap between the top 3 was tight and the win was anyone's to play for. 

Getting stuck behind another car on the alternative strategy, the gap between the three effective lead drivers closed down to just 2 seconds between them. 

Duerksen was able to break away and put distance between himself and the others behind him, going on to take the race lead not long after. 

On Lap 29/33, Bortoleto was able to get his car back up into second place and set his sights on the AIX Racing driver who was 2.3s up the road and performing well. 

Verschoor managed to bag himself a podium spot on the final lap as an error from Victor Martin left the door open for the MP Motorsport car to take the final podium place. 

However, as much as today was Duerksen's day as he crossed the line to take his first Feature Race win and his second win in Formula 2, all eyes were on the yellow Invicta Racing car of Gabriel Bortoleto.

Bortoleto becomes the Drivers' champion alongside his team who took the win in the Constructor's championship. He will now be looking ahead to his move up into Formula 1 next season where he will be racing for Kick Sauber. 

Well that brings us to the end of an enthralling Formula 2 season, but fear not, the drivers aren't quite finished there as they all return to Yas Marina for post-season testing from 11-13th December. 

The countdown to the 2025 season is on!

2024 Drivers' Championship Top 10
1. Gabriel Bortoleto (214.5)
2. Isack Hadjar (192)
3. Paul Aron (163)
4. Zane Maloney (140)
5. Jak Crawford (125)
6. Andrea 'Kimi' Antonelli (113)
7. Victor Martins (107)
8. Richard Verschoor (106)
9. Franco Colapinto (96)
10. Joshua Duerksen (87)

Katie Shepherd
Writer - F1 Journal

Pepe Marti has claimed his maiden F2 win at the Yas Marina circuit this afternoon, becoming the 18th different race winner in the 2024 season.

Following a dream getaway, the Spanish driver catapulted himself into the lead from P4 on the starting grid and commanded the race from start to finish, holding off championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto. 

Title contender Isack Hadjar crossed the line in 6th, with damage picked up at the start of the race causing him to have work to do. The gap to his Brazilian rival has now grown from half a point to five-and-a-half points going into the final race of the season. 

Paul Aron managed to bring home P3 making it his ninth podium of the season, but now finds himself out of the 2024 championship battle mathematically going into tomorrow's feature race.  

Prema's Kimi Antonelli missed today's race due to illness leaving 21 cars on the grid ready for the lights out.

It was a thrilling first lap as Pepe (Josep Maria) Marti had a dream start, taking the lead into the first corner from fourth on the grid, storming past reverse grid Pole sitter Amaury Cordeel.

Slow starts from Cordeel and Joshua Duerksen left them scrapping for second as the Spaniard extended his lead. 

Hadjar was tagged at the start with Invicta's Kush Miani, losing his front wing end plate and dropping to 11th place in the first lap. 

Maini - seemingly unscathed - made his way up to second place by Turn 6 after a cracking get away at the start of the race. 

Victor Martins - Pole sitter for tomorrow's Feature Race - was also caught up in drama after  Ritomo Mitaya made contact with him on the first lap at Turn 6. 

Bortoleto had climbed to fourth in lap three laps, trying to make an impression on the lead as his fellow title contender Paul Aron was also crucially in the points sitting in sixth after the opening six laps, but was looking to make his way through the pack. 

Mitaya was hit by a 10 second penalty on Lap 3 following his collision with Victor Martins, ruining what could have been a great start to the race for the Japanese driver. 

The championship leader Bortoleto made his way further up the field, with the two Invicta liveries fighting it out on Lap 5. 

The Brazilian capitalised and made the move up to P2 in Lap 6, putting valuable distance between himself and his title rivals. P2 and P3 for Invicta after the opening stages of the race was a good place to be in terms of the team's constructors title hopes.

Paul Aron's Hitech Pulse-Eight was up to fourth by Lap 8 following two brilliant overtakes on Duerksen and Maini respectively. 

15 laps to go and Marti still leads the Brazilian with his close rivals sitting in P4 (Aron) and P9 (Hadjar). 

The Red Bull Academy Driver turned his P9 into P8 a lap later pulling off a great move round the outside of a struggling Kush Maini and putting himself in the much needed points positions.

Frustation for Maini as he had dropped out of the points by lap 11, despite finding himself in second place in the early laps of the race.

Hadjar was looking to make the move past Dino Beganovic into seventh in order to close the gap to Bortoleto, the DAMS Lucas Oil driver however did not let up and defended well and created a great battle

Lap 17 saw Paul Aron put himself on the podium ahead of his teammate Amaury Cordeel who was having an eventful race. 

A collison with Cordeel sees Duerksen retire on Lap 19 allowing Hadjar to move into P7 and gain another crucial point in his fight for the 2024 title. Cordeel was handed a 10 second penalty for causing a collision.

Oliver Bearman was in a great place sitting in 4th on Lap 19 but was hit with a 5-second penalty for exceeding track limits in the latter stages of the race. He would drop to fifth by the end of the race. 

The chequered flag waved for Pepe Marti who had driven a superb race from start to finish with Bortoleto following him over the line to extend his championship lead. 

Paul Aron joined the two on the podium with Isack Hadjar coming home in 6th place. 

Its all to play for tomorrow as the championship battle will go to the wire for the remaining two contenders. It certainly won't be one to miss.

Tomorrow's Feature Race will take place at 13.25 local time at Yas Marina. 

Top 10 finishers in todays Sprint race
1. Pepe Marti (Josep Maria Marti)
2. Gabriel Bortoleto
3. Paul Aron
4. Dino Beganovic
5. Oliver Bearman
6. Isack Hadjar
7. Luke Browning
8. Richard Verschoor
9. Jak Crawford
10. Oliver Goethe

Katie Shepherd
Writer - F1 Journal

Victor Martins claimed Pole for this weekend's feature race after he pipped Bortoleto to the post in this afternoon's final qualifying session of the season.

The ART Grand Prix driver was the fastest in qualifying for the first time this season and denied championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto the top spot for Sunday's race in a very close session.

Fellow championship contenders Paul Aron and Isack Hadjar settled for third and fourth place respectively. Hadjar failed to achieve the result he would of liked, after coming straight out of Vesrtappen's F1 car into the session. 

Qualifying started out with Martins' name being at the top of the time sheets from the early stages, putting in a time in the 1:36s which was already beating the fastest time in practice. A thrilling qualifying followed.

With the Supersoft tyre on, the drivers continued to improve out on track with Bortoleto capitalising and taking provisional pole off the frenchman. Invicta Racing were flying with their drivers occupying first and third on the leaderboard with 18 minutes left of qualifying. 

Meanwhile, elsewhere in the championship fight, contenders Hadjar and Aron were running P5 and P6 after their second push laps and both had work to do to close the gap to the championship leader. 

After going slowly round Turn 16, Kush Maini was to be investigated after the session for an impeding incident involving DAMS Lucas Oil driver Jak Crawford.

Bortoleto didn't get to enjoy the top spot for long as Martins reclaimed P1 with an incredible 1:35.745. 

Bortoleto responded, coming close to swapping the top two around yet again, placing himself 0.035 seconds behind the Alpine Academy driver. 

The Brazilian certainly had luck on his side with the red flags being waved shortly after he crossed the line due to Rafael Villagómez stopping out on track in the Van Amersfoort Racing car.

With just over 4 minutes left on the clock, the drivers took to the track again to try and make the final moments of the last qualifying session of the season count.

When the chequered flag waved, Martins narrowly remained on top ahead of Bortoleto after neither driver improved on their original times. The two drivers were separated by 0.035s. 

Incredible performances were shown throughout the grid with Amaury Cordeel clinching reverse grid pole by finishing in P10 for Hitech Pulse-Eight. 

In the post race press conference, the frenchman seemed delighted with his performance.

Martins said:" I am so proud of the work we have put in. We were already counting down, we can only have two opportunities, now one pole position left and we finally got it. It’s good, it’s showing that we are back in form now fighting with the title contenders."

When asked about the championship battle that was ahead of him this weekend, Bortoleto reamined positive:

"I’m not going to lie when you have a Championship that you are fighting for, you need to choose every step you take in the right way. Honestly it doesn’t change much for me right now, whatever happens, happens, we have done a good Quali and now we go for the Sprint and Feature to see what happens."

Following the session, the stewards looked into the incident between Maini and Crawford and deemed that Kush Maini impeded the American and has been issued a three-place grid penalty. 

It is all to play for in the final races of the season and with a championship at stake, it's going to be a great weekend of racing to come.

Times for the rest of the F2 action this weekend
Sprint Race - 7/12/24 at 16:15 local time 
Feature Race - 8/12/24 at 13.25 local time

Katie Shepherd 
​Writer - F1 Journal