Feature Race
Under the Safety car and after some of the cars had made their stops it was Maini in the lead, Correa 2nd, Fittipaldi 3rd, Crawford 4th, Stanek, Barnard & Hadjar were 5th, 6th and 7th and Antonelli, Aron & Miyata completing the top 10. Maloney was 12th, Bearman 17th, Martins was now 15th and everyone below Hadjar had made their mandatory Pitstop as the race resumed on lap 15. Maini went very early to make a gap before turn 1 and was safe as Fittipaldi was under pressure from Crawford who passed at turn 5 followed by Stanek. Aron went for a move on Antonelli but couldn't get it done, Hadjar was all over the back of Fittipaldi on old tyres as Maloney was desperate to get past team mate Miyata as Vershoor pressured him from behind.
Lap 24 Fittipaldi had a look at Stanek into turn 1 but couldn't get it done and ended up going onto the gravel at turn 5 and dropping to 10th. Maloney had caught Antonelli for 7th but before he could make the move Antonelli passed Stanek for 6th, taking Maloney with him and dropping Stanek to 8th. Lap 25 Maloney was passed Antonelli for 6th as Stanek and Fittipaldi found themselves back together on track but this time Fittipaldi passed his team mate as Stanek finally dove into the pits for fresh rubber rejoining in18th & last. (No further action for Aron/ Antonelli pass) Maini in front was losing pace on his old tyres with Hadjar less than 6 seconds off the lead having pit earlier in the race. Lap 28 Crawford passed Correa for 2nd but both still needed to make their stops. In the fight for the net lead Aron was catching Hadjar as he caught the last of the cars yet to pit and Bearman had a big spin after taking to much kerb into turn 1.
Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk
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On the way to the grid Fittipaldi was told he needed to return to the pitlane after hitting the wall yesterday and causing a yellow Flag and impeding other drivers laps. Sprint Race
Lap 11 and under yellow flags for the incident between Antonelli, Vershoor and Aron the action didn't stop with the battle for 9th, 10th and 11th was really heating up between Championship leader Zane Maloney, Victor Martins, who was having a great drive from the back of the grid and Bearman who had also done well to climb up the field after a tough qualifying. Maloney locked up making the move on Miyata but he made it up to 7th before Miyata came back at his Rodin team mate and reclaiming the place as Martins and Bearman were right on the back of Maloney, both passed him within corners of each other and were up to 8th & 9th when the 2nd Safety car was brought out for Antonelli's Prema to be recovered
Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk Round 3 of 2024 and the grid is at Albert Park for the Australian Grand Prix weekend. Olli Bearman is back in his Prema F2 car after his mega Formula 1 debut in Jeddah after Qualifying on Pole in Formula 2 on the Thursday before his rapid call up to the Ferrari seat on Friday. Zane Maloney still leads the Championship by 15 points over Enzo Fittipaldi in 2nd. Antonelli despite a difficult start to the season for the Prema car managed to score in 3 of the 4 races he has participated in and is 10th in the standings. Practice
Qualifying
14 minutes left of Qualifying and we saw most of the cars return to the pits to prep for their final runs, Aron, Hauger and Hadjar were the top 3, Malone was down in 10th despite bailing on a really fast lap, Bearman after being caught out by the first Red Flag and mixed up in traffic was down in 12th hoping for a similar result to Jeddah were he stuck his Prema on Pole before being promoted to the f1 for the weekend. 10 minutes to go and cars began to file out of the pits fueled for multiple laps and praying for a clean end to the session. Maloney was the first of the front runners to set his lap going fastest of all just in time for the 2nd Red flag of the session, caused by Jak Crawford, who didn't make the corner at turn 12 and ploughed through the gravel trap and into the barrier.
Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk Before the race even started there was controversy with Maloney and O'Sullivan being investigated after the race for an unsafe release in the Pitlane and Barnard not making it off the line for the formation lap and had to be pushed back to the pits and would start from there. Along with the promotion of Maini to Pole after Bearman was called up to Ferrari to replace Sainz who was rushed to hospital on Thursday night with Appendicitis. Feature Race
Lap 11 of 28 Hadjar got passed Antonelli for 5th with nothing the young Prema driver could do to keep him behind as Miyata pits again with car troubles and the team having to restart the car before he could rejoin. After passing Antonelli Hadjar was straight on the back of Crawford hunting down 3rd position after all the stops were complete. Lap 13 Maloney was inside the top 10 as Fittipaldi destroyed the gap to Maini in the middle sector and made a move for the net lead, with the Invicta driver having nothing to fight back with and being forced into 2nd with Crawford just 3 seconds down the road. Martins continued his drop down the standings to 12th with Colapinto to be the next man past him, the ART again struggling with tyre degradation over a race distance
Lap 19 and Correa lead the pack round to restart the race. Fittipaldi was straight past Barnard at turn 1 for 3rd, Maini and Crawford went side by side into turn 3, Maini keeping 5th Hadjar was forced to pull off with an engine problem putting him out of the race and promoting Antonelli to 7th. Cordeel was catching Correa getting within DRS range on fresher rubber while Fittipaldi was gaining on them fast. Lap 21 Cordeel takes the lead into turn 1 with Maini passing Barnard for 4th just behind, Fittipaldi was a man possessed, passing both Correa and Cordeel between turns 27 and 1, Antonelli went along side Crawford into turn 1 but was forced to the run off with Crawford doing the same, Barnard's day was getting worse as he was passed by Maloney and dropped to 9th. Lap 23 of 28 Maini & Crawford started to really catch Correa and Cordeel as the 2 swapped places and Cordeel lost out to Maini as well in his attempt to get soft tyres to the end of the race as a Virtual Safety car was called while the car of Zak O'Sullivan was recovered from the track after he spun at turn 2.
Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk Before the action got going on track there where 2 headlines, 1/ The over night promotion of Bearman to F1 in the Ferrari, replacing Carlos Sainz who is in hospital with Appendicitis,, Prema will only run 1 car for the rest of the weekend. 2/ The delay to the formation lap for track repairs Sprint Race- Saudi Arabia
5 laps to go Vershoor was 1.3 clear of Aron, Crawford and Maloney went wheel to wheel with Crawford winning the fight with a stella move through 22 & 23 but the fight continued all the way to turn 1 with Maloney taking back 6th down the start finish straight giving Hadjar some breathing space. Lap 16 More yellow flags with debris on track in a poor visibility spot on track after Correa tagged the wall breaking his wing and causing his retirement and a Virtual Safety car was briefly brought out to retrieve the debris. Lap 17 Hauger had closed on Aron as the V/C ended and he passed him down to the first corner to take 2nd.
Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk Practice- Very Windy Track temp-52º Air Temp 27º
Qualifying
Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk After a brilliant season opening Sprint race the whole world could see the the FIA had got it right with the next generation of Formula 2 car and Redbull had maybe got it wrong dropping Maloney from their driver development programme at the end of 2023. Zane stats the race from 3rd position and was hopeful to convert it into a second win in as many days. Lets have a look at al the action............ Feature Race
Lap 11 Victor Martins was the first man to pit while Verschoor was trying everything to get past Hauger in 6th but before he could get past Miyata was done waiting behind them both and got past Verschoor into turn 1, Verschoor tried to come back at turn 4 but the move was done and Miyata went on to pass Hauger on the next lap as Barnard radioed that during his pitstop his tyre had not been fitted properly and after a slow 1st stop was forced to pit again to rectifying the issue. Lap 15 The rest of the field started to pit Bearman stopped for the 2nd time almost coming together with Cordeel as they entered the pits. O'Sullivan pit from 3rd, the first of the front runners to do so at exactly half race distance. Crawford made his stop on lap 17 and unfortunately for him never rejoined the race, it was a slow stop with the car stalling as he tried to pull way and the team never manage to recover the engine, ending his race.
What a race!!! Maloney took the 2nd win of 2024 and his 2nd win in F2 just the day after getting his 1st in the Sprint race. He really showed his skills off the line, racing and managing the race from the front. This writer wonders if Redbull are regretting their decision to drop Zane from their academy at the end of 2023. 1 thing i can tell you is Sauber are not unhappy with their choice to take him into their driver development programme. Rodin Motorsport clearly have a brilliant new generation car. Last season the driver and team who dominated the 1st weekend of the year went on to win both Championships, could this be the beginning of an amazing come back for both Zane Maloney and Rodin Motorsport? We will see, but already it seems the FIA achieved their objectives when they designed the new chassis for Formula 2, top drivers in a brilliant car so far in 2024 is making for top notch racing. Joanna Blackmore
Writer f1journal.co.uk Before the race even started we saw a change of position for the whole grid when Pole sitter Kush Maini was disqualified for excessive wear on the underneath of his car and he was put back to last position, moving Crawford up to 10th and to the front of reverse grid with Barnard 2nd next to him on his debut in Formula 2, along with 9 other rookies starting their Formula 2 careers today. Dunne didn't quite make it to the start for his first race in F2 after stalling pulling away for the formation lap meaning he had to started from the pitlane after his mechanics restarted the car.
Lap 5 and Maloney continued his charge forward in his Rodin Motorsport car, chasing down 2nd place man Victor Martins, as Hadjar caught O'Sullivan who was now in 5th (after Fittipaldi also passed him) struggling on his Hard tyres in the early stages of the race hoping they come to life in the closing laps. Lap 6 both Maloney and Hadjar got their moves done, Hadjar into turn 1 and Maloney moved up to 2nd place at turn 4. Now Maloney only had 1 car between him and 1st place and only 1 lap later attempted a move into turn 1 on Crawford but didn't get it done till he out dragged the DAMS car on the straight and was ahead into turn 4.
Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk Welcome to our 1st Formula 2 Round Up of the 2024 season. We begin the season in Bahrain with the Formula 1 with some very familiar names and some highly anticipated newcomers who are as eager to show their skill as the veterans of Formula 2 like Bearman & Hauger. New rules for Qualifying will see any driver who stops on track or brings out a flag unable to continue in the session and their fastest time so far will be deleted. These much harsher penalties could have a really profound affect on such a tight championship and could make or break a championship challenge. Lets look at how the first day of the season went for the Formula 2 boys. Practice
The session ended with a surprisingly few incidents considering all the rookie drivers and the new car all the drivers are learning to drive together and we looked forward to the afternoon Qualifying session to see how they shake out for the Sprint and Feature races for the 1st race of the season. Qualifying
Hadjar then went top only to be beaten by Indian driver Maini, who's team mate then took 2nd giving Invicta a provisional 1-2 for the 1st race of the season, Maloney attempted a 2nd lap on his tyres but couldn't improve and remained in 4th. Barnard however did make the 2nd lap work and took reverse grid pole for the Sprint race tomorrow. But it was Kush Maini who took Pole with 3 minutes left on the clock with a time that just couldn't be beaten and his team mate, Mclaren academy driver Bortoleto held onto 2nd to give Invicta the feature race 1-2. Maini also becomes the first leader of the 2024 F2 Championship with his 2 points for Pole position. The shock of the day is the Prema boys being down in 18th and 19th, hopefully they can improve on race pace and challenge for points tomorrow in the Sprint race. Joanna Blackmore
Writer f1journal.co.uk 2024 see's the introduction of a new rule in Qualifying for the Formula 2 & 3 grids. Taken from Indy Car series, Article 33.5 will mean that ' any driver who in the eyes of the Stewards is the sole cause of the issuance of a red flag, will no longer be permitted to take part in the session' and will lose their fastest time. In previous seasons of Formula 1 and its 2 feeder series we have seen sessions ended by the person in 1st position or close, meaning that other competitors who could have and would have beaten their time are unable to complete their laps. From now on this wont be possible as of 2024 with the person causing the session to be stopped will be heavily penalized. While for 2024 this is isolated to the Formula 2 and 3 Qualifying sessions the addition of these regulations is with the aim of testing the format to assess its viability for F1 and could see the rules added to F1 sooner than later. Joanna Blackmore
Writer @f1journal.co.uk |
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