A big weekend in the championship! Round up of the Monaco round for each team and individual

​A sensational weekend of action in Monte Carlo had many fans of Formula 2 talking as Sunday's feature race had signalled the end of a thrilling weekend.

After Zak O'Sullivan became the eighth different winner out of 10 races so far in the five rounds of the 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship - after winning the Monaco feature race

The ART Williams academy driver finished ahead of Isack Hadjar and Paul Aron after entering the pit lane right before a Virtual Safety Car (VSC).

Pole sitter Richard Verschoor would retire following a technical issue. Verschoor would take pole in Friday's qualifying. 

Taylor Barnard of AIX Racing would take his first points, podium and race victory in Formula 2 by winning a crazy sprint race, which saw two safety cars, a virtual safety car and a red flag.

Let's discover how the weekend went on by taking a whistle stop tour at each team on the gird and looking at how their weekend and their driver's weekend unfolded, beginning with 2023 champions ART Grand Prix.

​ART Grand Prix - Victor Martins & Zak O'Sullivan 

​It is not a complete overstretch when saying that ART have had a disastrous start from where they would have liked. The team took both the driver's and teams' championship in 2023 - with Theo Pourchaire winning the title.

The start to this season had been far from good either, accumulating 24 points from the opening round.

In Monaco, however, things look to have improved with rookie Zak O'Sullivan's victory in the feature race. O'Sullivan had never claimed a podium before Formula 2 but had managed to grab his first F2 podium and win with the same swoop.

​O'Sullivan was on the alternate strategy and it paid off massively with him in the pits as the VSC was deployed. He would come out in the lead ahead of Isack Hadjar, who was favourite to win before the VSC.

The Williams Academy driver had a best finish of fourth in the opening feature race of the season in Bahrain. ART scored 27 points in the feature race as Victor Martins picked up two for finishing ninth, although they may have been hoping for a few more.

Martins started on the front row in the feature after showing great pace in qualifying. He topped his group, in the qualifying format but it would only be good enough for second, as Richard Verschoor of Trident would be on pole.

A disastrous start for Martins saw him fall back many places. He would recover to claim some points, two in fact after a ninth place finish. The Frenchman would have been hoping for more himself after having the pace - he topped the Thursday practice session.

In the sprint race, he crashed at Saint-Devote (turn 1) bringing out the safety car and wrecking his chance of points in the top eight, after starting from ninth. He will be hoping his luck can turn around as the series heads to Spain in June but O'Sullivan may have found a confidence boost in his rookie season.

Prema Racing - Oliver Bearman & Andrea Kimi Antonelli

Another team that have had a difficult start to the year is the Prema outfit with two drivers hotly tipped for future drives in Formula One - in Ferrari Academy's Oliver Bearman and Mercedes junior driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Bearman, has been at a disadvantage in the championship due to him missing a round completely in Saudi Arabia, as he competed in the Formula One Grand Prix in place of Carlos Sainz, where he would finish seventh. 

Coming into the round, Bearman had only managed to pick up six points. He would have a strong feature race and finished fourth overall, claiming 12 points. This would elevate the British talent to 13th in the standings for his best finish of the year.

As for his rookie teammate Antonelli, it was a consistent two races from the Italian rookie as he finished in points positions in both the sprint and feature races, picking up 12 points overall - six in each.

Antonelli has climbed up to eighth in the standings and is not completely out of the running for the title with a long way to go in the season.

Prema jump up to sixth in the standings, with 66 points to their name. After a much better weekend in terms of points, they'll be hoping to build on it - heading into the latter stages of the season.

Rodin Motorsport - Zane Maloney & Ritomo Miyata

​Rodin Motorsport have had a weekend where things may feel slightly underwhelming for them with drivers Ritomo Miyata and Zane Maloney - championship leader coming into the fifth round at Monte Carlo.

Maloney is a driver who started the season off brilliantly with two wins in the opening round in Bahrain and the Sauber Academy driver stormed into an early championship lead and had the lead of the championship coming into the weekend. 

​However, after a weekend of claiming just one point, he no longer has top spot. A retirement down to no fault of his own and a 10th place finish.

Ritomo Miyata was tasked with trying to master the Monaco streets for he first time in his motorsport career. He did not get off to the best of starts. A mechanical issue in qualifying saw him not set a time. He would therefore start 22nd and last on the grid.

Miyata going slowly on the track almost saw a huge incident occur in the tunnel between him and Hadjar, which the Campos driver did insanely well to avoid.

In the sprint race, Miyata finished 17th and finished 15th in Sunday's feature race.

Maloney is now down to third in the standings, 11 points off the lead while Miyata sits 15th overall with 16 points to his name after five rounds.

DAMS Lucas Oil - Jak Crawford & Juan Manuel Correa

​Up fourth on the whistle stop tour is French outfit DAMS who have an all American driver lineup in Jak Crawford and Juan Manuel Correa.

In what is DAMS' closest to home race this year with there no French round on the calendar, it was a mixed weekend for team and drivers. Both drivers started outside the top 12 for both races, leaving them with a lot of work to do.

Correa started in 13th in the feature race but would start 16th in the feature. This would be higher up than Crawford on both occasions. Correa would finish 12th in the sprint race ahead of Crawford who was 13th.

In the feature race, it would be a successful strategy execution from Correa as he would drive a great race to finish fifth and claim 10 points. 

As for Crawford his feature race would be nowhere near as lucky. Retiring on the opening lap with a car issue signalled the end of an underwhelming weekend for Crawford. He will be hoping to bounce back in Barcelona.

Invicta Racing - Kush Maini & Gabriel Bortoleto

Next up with Invicta Racing and their drivers Kush Maini and reigning Formula 3 champion Gabriel Bortoleto. The yellow machine team can have mixed feelings about how the weekend in Monte Carlo transpired.

A decent clean race in Saturday's sprint from Bortoleto claim his second podium in the series and in succession as he finished behind AIX's Taylor Barnard. In Sunday's feature race he put in another stellar performance to finish in eighth.

It was not that much of a thrilling performance for his teammate Kush Maini, who due to his qualifying would start outside the top 10 for both races. In the sprint he would retire after an incident - which would bring out the red flag.

As for the Alpine Academy driver in the feature race, Maini would finish 17th - last of the runners who finished. A weekend to forget for him.

After the round, Bortoleto sits in fifth with 50 points, whereas Maini sits ninth with 34 to his name. ​

MP Motorsport - Dennis Hauger & Franco Colapinto 

​MP Motorsport have had a decent weekend when all is considered as they had a solid points haul across both races.

Dennis Hauger, in his second year with the team in formula 2, picked up a decent podium finish in Saturday's sprint race as he came home to finish third. In the feature race he drove another good race to finish sixth.  A great haul of points for the Norwegian driver.

As for the newest Formula 2 winner heading to Monte Carlo, Franco Colapinto was looking to build confidence after such a successful weekend at Imola in the previous round.

In Monaco, Colapinto would continue to score points but it would be of very little amount, with four in total. He would score four points in the sprint race but none in the feature race where big points could have been up for grabs. In Sunday's feature race, Colapinto would finish 13th.

At the end of the round, both drivers sit in the top eight of the driver's championship. Hauger sits fourth in the standings with 56 points while Colapinto sits eighth with 38 points.

Van Amersfoort Racing - Enzo Fittipaldi & Rafael Villagomez

​Over at Van Amersfoort, another rocky weekend transpired for Enzo Fittipaldi and Rafael Villagomez.

Zero points were picked up across the weekend from either driver in Monaco,signalling a weekend to forget for the Dutch outfit. 

Fittipaldi did not have the best start to the weekend when finding the wall in the very tight world renowned turn 6 in practice. Thankfully for him, his session would not be ruined. 

Across the weekend, a difficult weekend for Saudi Arabia's feature race winner. Starting outside the top 10 for both races, Fittipaldi went on to finish ninth in the sprint and 12th in the feature. No points for the Brazilian

As for Villagomez, a weekend of difficulties with the tricky layout catching him out.15th in the sprint on Saturday but retired in the Sunday feature race due to damage sustained when finding the wall at Rascasse.

Zero points for the pair. Fittipaldi leaves Monaco with 32 points in 10th place of the standings, while sadly for Villagomez he is 22nd and last with eight points.

Hitech Pulse-Eight - Amaury Cordeel & Paul Aron 

​On the whistle-stop tour our next stop is Hitech with drivers Amaury Cordeel and Paul Aron who had differing weekends.

Cordeel could not quite show the fine pace of his Imola weekend, a week previous to the action in Monte Carlo. A poor qualifying, way behind his teammate, set his weekend off to a start from where he would have liked. In the races, it would be no points collected thanks to a 14th place finish in the sprint and a retirement in the feature race due to suspension damage.

As for his teammate Paul Aron, what a weekend. A memorable one for him and one that could give him a great confidence boost heading into the busy stages of the season. Two points finishes including a feature race podium make Paul Aron the new championship leader.

Aron has achieved a podium at every round so far, the only driver this season to have achieved that statistic. An amazing start to the season for the Estonian rookie. 

Cordeel sits 17th overall with 15 points.

Campos Racing - Isack Hadjar & Josep 'Pepe' Maria Marti

​Isack Hadjar and Josep 'Pepe' Maria Marti had very differing weekends at Spanish outfit Campos Racing.

Hadjar would have been hoping to gain another fantastic result after heading away from Imola, with two consecutive feature race wins. He would have been on course for a third had not a great strategic gamble from ART's Zak O'Sullivan paid off. Hadjar was less than impressed when he realised, as his team radio suggested,

The rest of his weekend went well, scoring points in the sprint race after qualifying in the top 10. The French Red Bull junior moved up to second in the standings after the fifth round in Monte Carlo.

As for Pepe Marti, not the weekend he would have been hoping for. He showed good pace in Formula 3 around Monte Carlo, winning the 2023 sprint race. His Formula 2 sprint race would not go to plan. After making a mistake in the swimming pool section, the Spaniard was unable to be forgiven by the narrow circuit and found the barriers. 

In Sunday's feature race he ended 14th to cap a weekend which could have been so much better but it is one of a learning curve for the rookie. He leaves Monaco 12th in the standings with 26 points.

Trident - Richard Verschoor & Roman Stanek

On the penultimate stop for this 11 stop journey is Italian outfit Trident with the experienced Formula 2 driver Richard Verschoor and his teammate Roman Stanek.

Verschoor started the weekend off in fine fashion by taking pole position for Sunday's feature race and was in prime position for a great result around the famous street circuit. However, as is common with Verschoor's Formula 2 career bad luck struck.

A mechanical fault during the feature race he was leading set him back massively at the pit stops and he pulled in the pits a second time to retire his poorly Trident car. In the sprint race, after a difficult time of things with picking up front wing damage, he finished 16th. He'll be hoping for better fortunes in Spain.

As for Stanek, a quiet weekend but one where he would pick up points in Saturday's sprint race after qualifying in the top 10 but it would not quite work in the feature as the Czech Republican driver would finish 16th.

In terms of the driver's standings, Verschoor sits 14th in the standings with Stanek 19th. Trident in the teams' standings sit 10th with 30 points.

AIX Racing - Joshua Durksen & Taylor Barnard

Last but not least it's AIX Racing up and their rookie duo of Joshua Durksen and Taylor Barnard.

Paraguayan racer Durksen would have been looking to build on from his maiden podium on AIX's first weekend in their new branding last time out. However, his weekend in Monte Carlo was far from those amazing heights of Imola.

Last of the finishers in the sprint race, which was 18th and in the feature race he would retire from the feature race after sustaining damage when he collided with Zane Maloney on pit exit. For the incident, Durksen will be required to take a grid drop of 10 places in Barcelona - capping off a miserable weekend for him.

As for Barnard, a delightful reverse grid pole for Saturday's sprint race saw him faced with a lot of mental challenges and keeping a pursuing Gabriel Bortoleto at bay in multiple race restarts around one of the most demanding race tracks on the planet.

The Formula E NEOM McLaren driver showed great maturity and class around a track he had already raced at in 2024 - deputising for the injured Sam Bird in Formula E. In the feature race, Barnard would not manage to pick up any points. He just missed out on the singular point for 10th as he finished just behind Maloney.

After the round, Durksen sits 16th in the standings while Barnard is in 21st. Sadly for AIX they are at the bottom of the teams' standings but if their drivers continue picking up points you never know where they might end up.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - f1journal.co.uk