FORMULA 2
 ART’s Williams academy talent Zak O’Sullivan won the Monaco Formula 2 feature race after a dramatic twist in the latter stages on Grand Prix Sunday. It was an action packed race with five retirements but remarkably only one virtual safety car. O’Sullivan gambled on a long stint and came into the pits just before a virtual safety car, which slowed the field right down, while he served his top and came back out in the lead. O’Sullivan finished ahead of Isack Hadjar who was second and would have been on course to win. New championship leader and rookie Paul Aron was third for Hitech. How the Monaco F2 Feature race unfoldedIt already had been a crazy Formula 2 weekend by the series’ own standards around the streets of Monte Carlo. It would also be a four day weekend and with qualifying being a group session. Richard Verschoor would take his maiden Formula 2 pole on Friday for Trident and would start Sunday’s feature race from pole position with ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins in second on the grid. It would be Taylor Barnard who would start on reverse grid pole for AIX Racing for the Saturday sprint race in Monaco. He would go onto lead every single lap and win the sprint, to take his maiden points, podium and victory in the category all at once. He finished ahead of fellow McLaren young driver Gabriel Bortoleto and Dennis Hauger who was third for MP Motorsport. Saturday’s sprint race would see two safety cars, two virtual safety cars and a red flag. Sunday’s feature race would be highly anticipated and one where strategy would play a huge part due to the limited overtaking opportunities around the Monaco Grand Prix circuit. With Verschoor and Martins on the front row, the lights went out and both of them had mixed starts. A good reaction time from Richard Verschoor saw the Dutch Trident driver lead into Saint-Devote and up the hill towards Casino Square. However, it was a nightmare for Martins. Martins got a horrendous start and slipped all the way to 15th off the start. A nightmare for the Alpine Academy driver who needed this high grid position to get a good result – to aid his season turnaround after what had been a tough start to the season thus far. Oliver Bearman was a big gainer from the opening lap. The young British talent lined up 12th and by the end of the first lap was sat in a very impressive seventh. However, there was no such luck for Jak Crawford. An issue on the opening lap forced him to retire at Portier. On lap 4 the order had gained some regularity and the order was Verschoor in the lead from Isack Hadjar and Paul Aron – both whom could lead the championship by the end of the 42 laps. Franco Colapinto and Andrea Kimi Antonelli were fourth and fifth respectively. Hadjar took the fastest lap and was within DRS range of race leader Verschoor and was really starting to put pressure on the experienced Dutchman. Another on-track battle that was beginning to take shape between Colapinto and Antonelli. Lap nine would see the second retirement of the race. Amaury Cordeel would come into the pits with suspected suspension damage and was forced to retire. Lap 11 and Josep Maria Marti came in to ditch the supersoft tyres and on lap 15 Zane Maloney would ditch them too, as would Bearman on lap 17. Disaster out front for Richard Verschoor the championship leader had issues and slowed. He was able to get back up to speed again but was not running as smooth as he would have wanted. Rafael Villagomez had a moment at Rascasse where he broke his front wing when hitting the wall. He made it into the pits but retired. Lap 22 and Aron was in with an undercut attempt and Hadjar would come in a lap later to cover Aron off, which the Campos Red Bull junior did. Richard Verschoor would box after that and he managed to come out in the lead but the gap was shorter. Antonelli would pit at the same time as Aron and when he rejoined he was right in front of Prema and Antonelli would put a robust defence against his teammate for track position. Bearman though would find a way ahead. Verschoor’s car was really struggling for performance and was becoming under fire from Hadjar who finally got ahead into turn 1 . Aron, Colapinto and Antonelli would soon find a way ahead of his Trident. This was a nightmare for him. He would receive a penalty, a five-second one, for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. He would pull into the pits to serve it and one lap later he would retire from the race. Heartbreak for the Dutchman. Juan Manuel Correa served his mandatory pit stop and came in the mix of the Colapinto and Antonelli battle. A fantastic pit stop for the DAMS driver. Dennis Hauger would be another one to benefit with the overcut. Lap 38 and a superb move by Antonelli caught Colapinto napping and got ahead into Anthony Noghes – the final corner. Out front Zak O’Sullivan had yet to pit. Meanwhile, Joshua Durksen had come out of the pits and not sighted by Zane Maloney on his left he crashed into the side of the Rodin car. Dursken’s AIX would come off worse and he would retire bringing out yellow flags. O’Sullivan came into the pits as he yellow flags came out but crucially before the virtual safety car came out, which made it a perfectly legal pit stop and so much so he came out in the lead of the race. He would keep a frustrated and confused Hadjar at bay to win for the first time in Formula 2. O'Sullivan finished ahead of Hadjar and Aron who were second and third. Aron the new championship leader. Oliver Bearman was fourth for his best finish of the season ahead of Correa, who also had his best finish of fifth. Dennis Hauger was sixth and Antonelli came home in seventh. Gabriel Bortoleto, Victor Martins and Zane Maloney completed the top 10. Formula 2 almost has a month break until when it returns to Barcelona for round six of the season. The action is 21-23 June. 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship: Round 5 - Monaco feature race result
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer - f1journal.co.uk
0 Comments
 Barnard celebrating his maiden Fomula 2 win. Credits: Joe Portlock via Getty Images In Monte Carlo on Saturday, Taylor Barnard won for the first time in FIA Formula 2 in a drama-filled sprint race. Barnard finished first ahead of Invicta’s Racing Gabriel Bortoleto who was second. Dennis Hauger was third for MP Motorsport. It was a race that had so much action including two safety cars and a red flag. Zane Maloney, the championship leader, retired from the race. How the Monaco F2 Sprint unfoldedThe top 10 would be reversed from the grouped qualifying on friday and Taylor Barnard would start on pole for the sprint race with Gabriel Bortoleto alongside him on the front row. All 22 cars on the grid and the lights went out with BArnard not getting the best of starts but being able to maintain the lead from Bortoleto with Hauger in third but the safety car would be brought out for Victor Martins who ran into the barriers at Saint-Devote. Martins made contact with the rear of Jak Crawford’s DAMS and then running into the barriers. The safety car was deployed. The Safety car wouldn’t be out long as racing would resume on lap 3 as on the restart Barnard would maintain the lead throughout the lap as further back, Oliver Bearman tried a move to the inside of Zak O’Sullivan for 10th on the way to the second Mirabeau. Drivers maintained their positions and racing would be green until lap six when the safety car would make a return. Campos’ Josep Maria Marti found the wall out of the swimming pool section with a mighty whack. The safety car would only be out for a couple more laps and at the start of lap nine, Taylor Barnard would get a good restart and maintain the lead from Bortoleto, Dennis Hauger, Andrea Kimi Antonelli ad Franco Colapinto were the top five. Kush Maini at the start left the track at turn 1 and gained an unfair advantage at the start of the race. Due to this, the Stewards would hand him a penalty of 10 seconds, which will be added to the end of his race time. Lap 11 and this time the virtual safety car would be out due to Richard Verschoor’s front wing being on the track and causing a safety hazard. Replays would be shown and it looked as if the AIX car of Joshua Durksen would run into the back of the Trident sending him into the wall. This would be noted for causing a collision. The Stewards would determine a 10-second penalty would be a fitting punishment for Durksen Sunday’s pole sitter would be forced to pit and his race was as good as done and rejoined in 20th and last. Bearman had a run in to the wall on the final corner and he had reported damage but chose to continue on. Meanwhile, out front, Bortoleto was doing all he could to put pressure on Barnard, despite his team suggesting he should focus on the fastest lap. Bortoleto while going for a fastest lap attempt had dropped back after making a mistake at the Nouvelle chicane. Onto lap 20, the gap was over a second between Barnard and Bortoleto. Dennis Hauger had closed up to the Invicta in second place. Lap 22 and championship leader Maloney had sent it down the inside of O’Sullivan losing a front wing end plate. The drama would not end there for the championship leader as he hit the back of O’Sullivan at Rascasse, who heavy braked. Juan Manuel Correa then tagged round Maloney sending him into a spin.Kush Maini would then try to take evasive action but went left at Rascasse and parked before losing the clutch and stopping, causing a car park at turn 18. The virtual safety car would momentarily come out before the red flag was out. Maloney would be out of the race and so would Maini, while an incident between Maloney and Zak O’Sullivan would be investigated after the race had reached its conclusion. At 15:13 local time, a rolling start procedure would get the remaining six laps of the Monaco sprint back underway. Barnard would get the race restarted with five laps remaining. He got away well from Bortoleto who was still second of Hauger as the top three. Jak Crawford sat 13th in the order and had the fastest lap overall so no bonus point from that thus far. He remarkably had six seconds between himself and 14th place Hitech Amaury Cordeel. His teammate Correa was fancing a look at Oliver Bearman at the start of lap 27. on that lap, Hadjar went across the Nouvelle Chicane. He let Aron maintain the position in front of him. But due to making the mistake, he was under pressure from Enzo Fittipaldi for Van Amersfoort. Bearman was tapped in the rear from Correa. Correa would be noted for that incident but no further investigation would be necessary for the Stewards. Taylor Barnard was flying and in the first three laps of the restart he had pulled a four second gap over second place Bortoleto. The British AIX driver was the only driver yet to score in the season and was set to take his maiden victory at Monaco, a street where he had already raced in 2024 – in Formula E with NEOM McLaren. Barnard had demonstrated fantastic skill out front and showed fantastic class out front. He bossed the restarts to a fantastic skill and he came home to win the sprint race for his first points, podium and victory in FIA Formula 2. He finished clear of Gabriel Bortoleto, who was second for his second podium in the category and his second podium in succession. Dennis Hauger was third for MP Motorsport. Andrea Kimi Antonelli matched his joint best finish in Formula 2 with fourth. He was ahead of Franco Colapinto in fifth and Roman Stanek in sixth. Paul Aron was seventh and Isack Hadjar rounded off the points scoring in eighth. Maloney’s lead comes down to three points ahead of Paul Aron going into Sunday’s feature race. 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship: Round 5 – Monaco sprint race result
Brandon Whiteside
Writer - f1journal.co.uk  Richard Verschoor (pictured) on the streets of Monte Carlo. Credit: Joe Portlock via Getty Images Trident's Richard Verschoor topped the grouped F2 qualifying session around the streets of Monaco on Friday. Verschoor topped the Group A, and his fastest time was quicker than Group B's top driver who was ART Grand Prix's Victor Martins. Martins will hold second position while Isack Hadjar is third in the classification and Paul Aron fourth. Zane Maloney the championship leader coming into the event, is 14th in the classification which means he will be out of the top 10 for both races. How Qualifying unfolded in MonacoAfter the mess of GP2 qualifying in 2011, the feeder series qualifying has undergone significant changes, comparing to every other round of the season. In Monaco, the field is split into two even groups and these groups will aim to set the best laps they can in 16 minute sessions. The fastest driver out of both groups would get pole while the fastest driver in the other group would be on the front row. The fifth fastest driver would start 10th and therefore being given reverse grid pole for the sprint race to come on Saturday. The groups were split into odd and even numbered cars. This meant the groups looked as follows: Group A: Zak O'Sullivan (ART Grand Prix), Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Prema Racing), Ritomo Miyata (Rodin Motorsport), Juan Manuel Correa (DAMS Lucas Oil), Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing), Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport), Enzo Fittipaldi (Van Amersfoort Racing), Amaury Cordeel (Hitech Pulse-Eight), Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing), Richard Verschoor (Trident) & Joshua Durksen (AIX Racing). Group B: Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix), Oliver Bearman (Prema Racing), Zane Maloney (Rodin Motorsport), Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil), Kush Maini (Invicta Racing), Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport), Rafael Villagomez (Van Amersfoort Racing), Paul Aron (Hitech Pulse-Eight), Josep Maria Marti (Campos Racing), Roman Stanek (Trident), Taylor Barnard (AIX Racing). Group AThe green light would come on at the end of the pit lane with the drivers in Group A and the even numbered cars headed out in their personal hunts for pole position. On the first main representative lap times, Zak O'Sullivan would have great pace. He went fastest by half a second ahead of Isack Hadjar, who was second. O'Sullivan's ART teammate Victor Martins topped the practice session on Thursday. On the second runs Gabriel Bortoleto went fastest but then would be beaten by three drivers. Richard Verschoor would slot into first place before being beaten by O'Sullivan. Hadjar would slot into third. A scary moment in the tunnel as Hadjar narrowly missed the slow moving Rodin Motorsport of Ritomo mIyata. It was perilously close to a huge accident, thankfully not. Also Juan Manuel Correa would get in the way of the Prema of Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The incident would be investigated after the session. Third runs and Bortoleto and Vershcoor would go top in that order, Zak O'Sullivan could only go third as Verschoor was top as Hadjar jumped ahead of Bortoleto into second. As the time came down and the chequered flag was out, no one could beat Verschoor's time. he would at least be on the front row. He topped group A ahead of Hadjar and Colapinto was third. Andrea Kimi Antonelli would end fourth and Gabriel Bortoleto was fifth. At the end of Group B running he might have been on reverse grid pole. Group BBut turning attention to Group B, the 11 remaining drivers with odd car numbers would head out. The drivers would set some installation times, which saw Maloney have the quickest time but there would be a delay soon after as the Van Amersfoort of Rafael Villagomez smacked into the wall at Saint-Devote to bring out a red flag. His car was stranded on the track. After a short delay, the drivers headed back out, once the green flag came out once again. In the first runs Victor Martins, topped free practice on Thursday, and went quickest in his group for ART. His time would not be beaten on the initial runs, as although Roman Stanek was fast but after a poor final sector was 0.261s down. Oliver Bearman of Prema put his first time on the board and went third quickest. Championship leader Zane Maloney would then beat Victor Martins' time to go quickest overall and take provisional top spot. He set a 1:21.941. It would however soon be beaten. Martins would beat it to re-claim top spot before he was knocked back down to second by the Trident of Stanek, who went quicker. There was still time to find to attempt to beat Verschoor's lap time of 1:21.283 to take pole. Stanek would be investigated after the session for an impeding incident with Dennis Hauger of MP Motorsport After a yellow flag out in part of his final lap and Maloney was made to back off his attempt at pole. On the final runs Martins went quickest overall. It was not quick enough to beat Verschoor's best lap but it was a provisional front row for the Alpine Academy driver. Aron was fast, very fast but he was unable to do it. He went second in the group which would put him on the second row. At the end of the session, Bearman would give the wall at the entry of Saint-Devote a good whack and damaged his front wing. Stanek also hit the wall on his last flying lap. However, Richard Verschoor, in the the classification, is first ahead of Group B's top man with Victor Martins second. In form Hadjar is third ahead of Aron who is fourth in the classification. Franco Colapinto is fifth ahead of Roman Stanek in sixth, who is under investigation. Andrea Kimi Antonelli is the only Prema in the top 10 in seventh, with Hauger eighth, despite the alleged impeding by Stanek. Gabriel Bortoleto will be ninth with AIX Racing's Taylor Barnard 10th. Barnard will start on the reverse grid pole for Saturday's sprint race. 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship: Round 5 - Monaco qualifying provisional classification
Brandon Whiteside
Writer - f1journal.co.uk  Victor Martins (pictured) was the quickest in Monaco F2 practice. Credit: Joe Portlock via Getty Images Alpine Academy ART driver Victor Martins topped the Formula 2 practice session on Thursday, in a rainy Monte Carlo. The drivers were put up to the test to try and push the car as best as they could, while trying to avoid damaging the cars and making mistakes - despite the treacherous conditions Monaco was putting on offer. Martins topped the session ahead of MP Motorsport's Dennis Hauger and Trident's Richard Verschoor who were second and third. Zane Maloney had a difficult session with the conditions and ended 17th. Maloney leads the championship coming into the event. How F2 practice unfolded in a soaked Monte Carlo Formula 2 times for UK Viewers - Round 5 Monaco Formula 2 would get underway at 15:00 local time in Monaco and the drivers would have 45 minutes to complete their running. It would be the start of a four day weekend, with practice taking place on Thursday instead of Friday. Qualifying would still take place on Friday but would be split into two groups of 11 to solve a traffic issue discovered in GP2 back in 2011. The Saturday and Sunday schedules would remain the same, with the sprint race on Saturday and the feature race on Sunday. However, their track running in practice, would be mostly wet due to the afternoon's earlier rain shower that soaked the circuit. Rain would continue to fall throughout the session. At the very start, on the out laps, Enzo Fittipaldi had no grip and ended up stopping as he brushed the wall at turn six. The Brazilian had to try and get himself reversed and back going, which he did. His teammate Rafael Villagomez reacted well to avoid hitting him. In the early stages, Victor Martins ran the quickest lap time 1:43.224. Victor Martins would be 0.653 ahead of Verschoor. The track would be ramping up though and times would change frequently. Zak O'Sullivan, Martins' teammate, went quickest. However, he would not be there for long as Martins went to the top once again with a 1:40.531 - 1.278s quicker than O'Sullivan. Taylor Barnard went third before he would be beaten by Juan Manuel Correa. Martins and O'Sullivan would temporarily switch places as both improved with 31 minutes remaining. O'Sullivan would lose his lap due to track limits. Then, Taylor Barnard and Andrea Kimi Antonelli set a lap to go third and fourth respectively. This would be until the two MP Motorsport drivers, Dennis Hauger and Franco Colapinto, would jump above the two drivers. Colapinto would go third and Hauger would be fourth. O'Sullivan would go back to second soon after. He would be beaten though by the Campos of Isack Hadjar, who had found great pace. Meanwhile, Victor Martins would improve yet again to go even quicker with a 1:39.237. Hauger and Richard Verschoor were next to put in good laps. Hauger would go second and Verschoor third fastest ahead of Hadjar. Verschoor, earlier in the session had a moment where he ran down the escape road at Saint-Devote (turn 1). A similar moment would happen for Jeddah feature race winner Fittipaldi, who ran off at the same place. A difficult session it was turning into for the Brazilian talent. Colapinto would have been feeling good after a quality weekend at Imola where he grabbed his maiden Formula 2 win in Imola - after making a great last lap pass on Paul Aron. He would not have been wanting to end the session with his car at Rascasse in the wall. The red flag was introduced. The session would get back underway as the rain was continuing to fall and lashing down a bit harder, as Martins found out when running down the escape road. Josh Durksen also had a moment down into Saint-Devote and would be unable to continue. His session was over down at the escape road. No red flag would be required. Drivers were struggling all over the circuit and championship leader Zane Maloney would run off at Mirabeau (turn 5). With 12 minutes to go, Martins' time was standing strong at the top of the time sheets with a 0.601s gap over second place Dennis Hauger of MP Motorsport. The conditions were starting to get treacherous out on the Monte Carlo circuit, with drivers crawling round the circuit. The session was into the final 10 minutes. As the clock was ticking down towards six minutes remaining, the majority of the drivers headed for the pit lane as the standing water on circuit made things near impossible for the drivers to set lap times of any real threat to dislodge Martins. Drivers would head out with two minutes remaining in preparation for the end of session practice starts. With a chance of rain for Saturday's sprint race, getting a practice start on a wet surface would not be a bad idea. No more fast laps would be set and therefore Victor Martins would have the quickest time at the end of free practice. A 1:39.237 from Martins would be the best time. Dennis Hauger was second in his MP Motorsport, while Trident's Richard Verschoor was third. Martins' teammate Zak O'Sullivan was fifth, behind Isack Hadjar who was fourth. AIX Racing's Taylor Barnard was sixth ahead of Colapinto who was seventh with Andrea Kimi Antonelli eighth. Paul Aron was ninth and Jak Crawford completed the top 10. Formula 2 will return on Friday, as the weekend's Monaco action continues with the group qualifying. 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship: Round 5 - Monaco free practice result
Brandon Whiteside
Writer - f1journal.co.uk  Credits: Bryn Lennon via Getty Images FIA Formula 2, whilst preparing for the fifth round at Monaco, announced its 2025 calendar on Wednesday. Brandon Whiteside
Writer - f1journal.co.uk |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
October 2024
Categories |
RSS Feed