Isack Hadjar secured his fourth win in the feature race around Spa-Francorchamps.

The Red Bull junior driver passed both his Championship rivals Gabriel Bortoleto and Jak Crawford on track who went on to finish in P2 and P3.​

Paul Aron, who started on pole, managed to hold the lead into the first corner, while further back, Hadjar overtook Bortoleto at the race start to get into second place.

Maloney had a terrible start and ended up between Oliver Bearman and Josep Maria Marti. But into Turn 1, Oliver Bearman and Maloney collided and spun into Josep Maria Marti, bringing out the safety car.

During the safety car, Colapinto's car also stopped at Malmedy, and the safety car picked up Colapinto, Bearman, and Maria Marti.

On lap four, the safety car comes in, and Aron retains the lap at the safety car restart. Hadjar is in second place, followed by Bortoleto, Crawford, Verschoor, Antonelli, and O'Sullivan.

But the racing doesn't last long, with the safety car being returned after a crash between Victor Martins and Rafael Villagomez in Malmedy.

Racing conditions continue on lap seven, with another safety car restart. Hadjar got a slipstream on lap eight and overtook Aron to lead the race along the Kemmel Straight.

Aron boxes while Hadjar continues. Verschoor overtakes Crawford for P3 on track, while Hadjar pits on lap nine. Hadjar comes back out behind Bortoleto but in front of Aron.

On lap 12, Aron overtakes Hadjar for the lead, but by lap 13, Hadjar takes back the lead. On lap 16, Antonelli pits, while Verschoor responds and returns in P9.

Hadjar was caught behind the yet-to-pit Barnard, with Bortoleto and Aron 1.2s behind him. On lap 22, Verschoor had a late dive to overtake Maloney for P6. Meanwhile, there is heartbreak for Aron on the final lap as his car comes to a stop on the Kemmel Straight, and his chances of a podium are dashed.

​Hadjar wins the Spa-Francorchamps feature race over two seconds clear of Bortoleto and Crawford, who round off the podium.​

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer F1 Journal

The Sprint race was meant to start at 14:15 local time, but heavy rain delayed the start and racing got underway at the rescheduled time of 18:15 local time but the formation lap didn't start until 18:25 local time.

ART Grand Prix driver Zak O'Sullivan started on reverse grid pole joined on the front row by MP Motorsport's Dennis Hauger.

ART Grand Prix driver Zak O'Sullivan started on reverse grid pole joined on the front row by MP Motorsport's Dennis Hauger.

O'Sullivan made a strong start staying ahead of Hauger and Verschoor. While further back Maloney took a dive inside and overtook Colapinto for P4.

On lap two and three Crawford, Antonelli and Bearman all also overtake Colapinto, for P5, P6 and P7. But running didn't last for very long after a safety car was brought out after Josep María Martí's Campos Racing car stopped on track.

Josep María Martí had already had issues earlier in the race and had to pit early. The safety car was still out on track on lap seven. During the safety car the rain started falling heavier and a decision was made it bring out a red flag.

The race was not resumed and O'Sullivan was announced as the winner ahead of Hauger, Verschoor, Maloney and Crawford.

1) Zak O'Sullivan                  2:19.889
2) Dennis Hauger                   +0.8
3) Richard Verschoor              +1.1
4) Zane Maloney                    +3.0
5) Jak Crawford                      +4.0​
6) Kimi Antonelli                      +5.2
7) Oliver Bearman                   +6.0
8) Franco Colapinto                +7.6
9) Isack Hadjar                       +8.9
10) ​Gabriel Bortoleto              +9.9
11) A Cordeel                         +11.1
12) V Martins                         +12.6
13) K Maini                            +14.0
14) E Fittipaldi                       +15.6
15) R Miyata                          +16.6
16) T Barnard                        +17.0
17) J Correa                          +17.8
18) Paul Aron                        +18.7
19) J Durksen                       +19.2
20) R Stanek                         +20.1
21) R Villagomez                   +21.2
22) J Marti                              +4 Laps

Anny Wooldridge
Writer at F1 Journal

Formula 2 returns this weekend for Round 10 at Circuit of Spa-Francorchamps for the last round before the summer break.

Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium is a 7.004km track with 18 corners. Soft and medium tyres are used for F2, with last years feature winning strategy being 16 laps on medium tyres and 9 on soft tyres. Last year Doohan won the race after starting in P11.

The lap record for this circuit is 1:56.054 (De Vries, 2018). This years sprint race will consist of 18 laps and the feature race will consist of 25 laps.

Top Ten Results
1) Isack Hadjar                 1:58.730
2) Victor Martins                  +0.010
3) Kimi Antonelli                  +0.447
4) Paul Aron                        +0.584
5) Amaury Cordeel              +0.638
6) Dennis Hauger                +0.661
7) Zak O'Sullivan                 +0.808
8) Franco Colapinto            +0.865
9) Jak Crawford                   +0.901
10) Gabriel Bortoleto           +0.971

Isack Hadjar continued his domination in the practice session of the Spa-Francorchamps weekend. However Campos Racing still say there was still room for improvement before qualifying.

At the start of the session the track was damp and all the drivers staying in the pits until the track was fully dry, leaving little time at the end for drivers to do minimal laps.

There was a brief red flag with just 23 minutes to go as Rafael Villagomez hit the barriers out of Turn 9. With 14 minutes left in the session the green flag came out and there was a rush to get running underway again.

All drivers started the session on their soft tyres, but running didn't last long as Victor Martins stopped on the track, and the red flag came out briefly while Martins car was removed.

The red flag was terrible news for all the drivers already on flying laps when the red flag was brought out. Duerksen was one of those drivers, and once the red flag was cleared, his tyres had very little life left, and he went slower in the first sector than on his previous lap.

Hadjar was the first to top the leaderboard with a time of 1:56.803, ahead of Aron by one-tenth, Bortoleto, Antonelli and Maloney.

As Hadjar pits, Aron, Bearman, and Fittipaldi head back out for another flying lap. Bearman and Fittipaldi both improve, but Aron aborts his lap and heads into the pits.

With seven minutes to go the drivers headed back out, with Aron going fastest ahead of Crawford, Maloney and Hadjar. O'Sullivan can only manage 10th place and put himself on pole for the reverse grid.

Aron takes pole for Sunday's feature race for the second consecutive weekend, ahead of Bortoleto, Hadjar, Crawford, Antonelli, Maloney, Colapinto, Verschoor, Hauger and O'Sullivan.

1) Paul Aron                    1:56.959
2) Gabriel Bortoleto           +0.168
3) Isack Hadjar                  +0.282
4) Jak Crawford                 +0.423
5) Kimi Antonelli                +0.438
6) Zane Maloney                +0.547
7) Franco Colapinto           +0.724
8) Richard Verschoor         +0.789
9) Dennis Hauger              +0.815
10) Zak O'Sullivan             +0.823
11) A Cordeel                     +0.842
12) K Maini                         +0.845
13) E Fittipaldi                    +0.862
14) J Correa                       +0.954
15) O Bearman                  +1.020
16) R Miyata                      +1.104
17) J Marti                         +1.161
18) R Villagomez              +1.230
19) T Barnard                    +1.829
20) J Durksen                   +2.113
21) R Stanek                    +2.500

Anny Wooldridge
​Writer at F1 Journal

​It would be time for the Formula 2 feature race at the Hungaroring in Budapest, the Hungarian capital, for round nine of the 2024 Formula 2 championship.

There would be drama already in the race weekend with Richard Verschoor the initial race winner of the sprint race was disqualified, giving Kush Maini his maiden Formula 2 victory in his second full season.

Huge drama would before the race as championship leader Hadjar would start from the pit lane due to him not leaving the pit lane in time. He would be frustrated but the Campos driver would be made to start from the pits. He would have started third on the grid.

It would be Paul Aron who would start on the front row of the grid and on pole position after taking pole on Friday, ahead of Enzo Fittipaldi who would start alongside him on the front row. Gabriel Bortoleto of Invicta Racing would start on his own on the second row, with Victor Martins of ART just behind.

The lights would go out and a lighting start from Victor Martins would see him go from fifth to first at the start of the race and he would take the lead into turn 1 as a tough start it progressed into for Paul Aron, who lost out to Fittipaldi as he locked up. Aron would drop all the way down to seventh behind Dennis Hauger.

DRS would be enabled at the end of lap one but would only come into effect at the end of lap 2 as Fittipaldi had closed up right behind race leader Victor Martins and would be in battle. Martins would be able to keep the place at the start of lap three, with Fittipaldi staying close behind.

Lap 5 and Spain feature race winner Jak Crawford would make a delightul move into turn 3 on the other Hitech of Amaury Cordeel. A delightful move from the driver part of the Aston Martin Driver Development programme.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli was given the hurry up from his team to get ahead of Maloney and he would in an incredible tussle for the position and he would make a move around the turn 9, 10 and 11 complex with a delightful battle between the pair. Antonelli would make a place up, getting ahead of the Rodin Motorsport of Maloney.

On lap seven of the race, there would be huge drama as Aron and Maloney would collide. On the run down to turn 2, Aron would send a move down the inside of the MP Motorsport of Dennis Hauger but would misjudge his braking and tag the back of the car ahead - Zane Maloney.

Maloney's Rodin and Aron's Hitech would both spin round and neither driver could keep their car going and this would end the race. The safety car would be deployed and would neutralise the race.

This would give drivers the chance to pit for change of tyres and the drivers on softs could serve their mandatory pit stops, as they are allowed under a safety car, which is a contrast to the virtual safety car rules in the regulations.

Martins, Bortoleto, Fittipaldi, Hauger and Hadjar would be among the drivers who would ditch the soft red side-wall tyres. This would mean Antonelli, on the alternate strategy, would have the race lead from Richard Verschoor and Kush Maini. Victor Martins would restart the race.

The safety car would come in at the end of lap 10 and the start of lap 11 would be the first lap of green flag racing and it would be a good restart from Antonelli and he would use his pace to good advantage to pull clear of Verschoor.

Hauger would be a driver who was using his fresher hard compound of tyres that he had changed onto. He would make a place on Rafael Villagomez of Van Amersfoort Racing for 10th. The Norwegian driver was showing great pace.

Lap 14 and a pass from the Rodin Motorsport of Ritomo Miyata as the Japanese driver would get ahead of Amaury Cordeel, who had no grip left on his tyres. Miyata also had worn tyres, but his tyres would be able to get ahead of the Hitech.

At the start of lap 15, it would be another place lost for Cordeel as Bortoleto would sail through, around the outside of turn 1 and the Brazilian would then set his sights after Miyata. Fittipaldi would also find his way ahead of Cordeel later on through the lap.

Towards the front and Victor Martins and had been pressuring his fellow Alpine Academy driver Kush Maini for third. Martins on the fresher tyres would make a comfortable pass on the Invicta and he put his ART Grand Prix car up into third. The Frenchman would be driving a great race.

Martins would not take long to catch up to Verschoor, who was in second, and would overtake the Trident driver to take the position. Martins would be up into second place and was flying. The French driver had the fastest lap of the race.

Bortoleto would be right on the tail of Miyata and like Martins was having great fun on the hard compound of tyres. He on lap 19 would get ahead of the Rodin driver and the Invicta Racing driver would be up to fifth.

Joshua Durksen would find himself in trouble with the Stewards. The AIX Racing driver who was down in 19th and had stopped twice, had been handed a 10-second time penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage.

A huge moment would appear on lap 22 for Cordeel who would use too much curb on the exit of turn 4 and would spin and crash into the barrier, causing huge damage to the car and shattering debris all over the circuit.

Thankfully Cordeel was okay but his Hitech was far from that. Unsurprisingly, the safety car would be deployed, which could give a huge chance for the drivers who had yet to serve their mandatory pit stop and that would be leader Andrea Kimi Antonelli.

Antonelli would pit to change onto the soft compound of tyres and this would bring him right into contention for victory should he maximise the soft tyres well enough in the early stages of the restart.

Martins would regain the lead of the race that he took initially at the very start of the race but something he would concede the race lead to serve the mandatory stop in the first safety car.

Lap 26 would be when the safety car would enter the pit lane which meant that the first green flag condition lap at the restart with lap 27. Victor Martins would have the lead at the restart, but what could Antonelli do from fifth.

Martins would get a good restart and streak clear from Bortoleto and would maintain the lead as Antonelli would already make the move for fourth after passing Hauger and would then take third in a stunning pass on Fittipaldi. Antonelli would overtake Hauger into turn 1 and the best move would be into turn 3 on Fittipaldi for third.

Antonelli would be flying as would the other soft tyre drivers were making moves for fun around the Hungaroring and would take second from Bortoleto on the following lap. A stunning amount of pace for Antonelli and he would then be chasing after Martins.

Richard Verschoor and Kush Maini would also be making moves, the front row for the start of the sprint race on Saturday.

Antonelli on the following lap would have the DRS on Martins onto the next lap. The Mercedes junior would be right on the back of Martins and would not need the full straight to get ahead of the ART of Martins. Antonelli would sail past Martins and would retake the lead.

A stunning drive from Antonelli, who within two laps of taking the lead would pull over a four second gap to Martins, who would then be under pressure from the McLaren junior Gabriel Bortoleto. What could have easily been a win for Martins could be third.

Verschoor was flying too on the softs and the tyre and DRS advantage would elevate the Trident driver to fifth, after the Dutchman passed Hauger into turn 2. Antonelli out front was flying and would unsurprisingly take the fastest lap of the race.

The Trident of Verschoor was on a charge and on the following lap into turn 1, he would take fourth from the Van Amersfoort of Brazilian Enzo Fittipaldi. Verschoor's pace could lead to a podium as the timer would determine the end of the race and it would go to two minutes remaining.

Verschoor was able to catch right up to Bortoleto as the time would reach zero with an extra lap to come. The Trident driver was hounding the yellow Invicta. Bortoleto's teammate Maini would be pressuring Hauger for sixth.

Bortoleto would be unable to defend onto the final lap as around the outside into turn 1, Verschoor would get onto the podium after the disqualification from the sprint race. Great redemption from Richard Verschoor.

Out in front though, Antonelli had stretched over 12 seconds worthy of a lead on the soft compound of tyres and the Italian driver would have excellent pace and had benefited from his great pace on the hard tyre and also the second safety car, which was an outside element that he could not have controlled.

Antonelli could control his rapid speed though and he used it to shine once again in Formula 2, and although there have been certain people questioning whether he was struggling in the category or not. He would take the victory in an outstanding drive, for his first feature race win and his second win in the category, in his rookie season.

The 17-year old would take the first feature race win of the year for Prema with a shining and dazzling performance from Antonelli. Victor Martins would have to settle for second place, which could have been victory had he had a bit more luck but it was not to be.

Martins would finish second ahead of Richard Verschoor, who still felt sore after disqualification but would get some sort of redemption of a result and Verschoor would take third place to complete the podium positions.

Gabriel Bortoleto would have to settle for fourth place with Van Amersfoort's Enzo Fittipaldi completing the top five. Important points gained in the championship for Bortoleto, who would have been probably hoping for better.

Dennis Hauger would finish sixth for MP Motorsport, just ahead of the charging Kush Maini in seventh. Maini had great pace towards the end. Ritomo Miyata, Taylor Barnard and Rafael Villagomez would complete the top 10 and points scoring positions.

Rodin Motorsport's Zane Maloney and the Hitech pair, Paul Aron and Amaury Cordeel, would be the three drivers that failed to finish.

A stunning weekend of action in Formula 2, and a drama-filled feature race to complete the weekend with the young sensational talent of Andrea Kimi Antonelli reigning supreme in Budapest in what could be pivotal win in his attempts to find his way onto the Formula 1 grid for 2025.

​Antonelli, winning in the feature race, would make it two victories in two rounds.

​Huge drama in the championship fight in Budapest, the top two in the championship failing to score, with Aron retiring early on. Zane Maloney would be another championship contender who would retire. Championship leader Isack Hadjar after starting from the pit lane would just fail to score.

At the end of round nine, it would be an 18-point lead in the drivers championship, in Isack Hadjar's favour. The Campos driver has the lead over Paul Aron who stays in second position despite failing to score in the feature race.

Gabriel Bortoleto of Invicta Racing would move up to third overall, going ahead of Zane Maloney. 30 points are the gap between Bortoleto and championship leader Isack Hadjar.

A fantastic round for Invicta Racing and it would see them lead the Teams standings after the ninth round of the championship. Six points Invicta's advantage is in the championship, over Campos Racing. MP Motorsport are just three points further back from Campos.

​Formula 2 would not have to wait too long to go back to racing action, as round 10 of the 2024 championship will be next weekend at the iconic Belgium circuit, Spa-Francorchamps. Action will begin for round 10 this coming Friday with free practice and qualifying taking place that day.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal

​Trident driver Richard Verschoor, who won the Hungary Formula 2 sprint race on Saturday afternoon, has been disqualified due to a technical infringement.

Verschoor initially took his first win of the 2024 campaign in Budapest after a great drive on the hard compound of tyres after starting from reverse grid pole.

The Trident driver won the race after re-overtaking Prema driver Andrea Kimi Antonelli for the lead, in the 28-lap sprint race. Verschoor has been handed disqualification post-race by the Stewards for failing an inspection, against the 2024 FIA Formula 2 Technical Regulations.

Trident's Verschoor was found, in the post-race report by the FIA Technical Delegate, to have had the plank on his car below the minimum specified thickness that is listed in the Technical Regulations.

The plank fitted to Verschoor's car was in breach of Article 3.4.3 of the Technical Regulations, and had a 3.7mm at the most rearward scrutineering hole, which is below the minimum thickness required in the 2024 FIA Formula 2 Technical Regulations.

This would therefore mean Verschoor would be disqualified from the race results and therefore losing his first victory of the season. This would give the victory to Invicta's Kush Maini for his maiden Formula 2 victory of the career.

Verschoor has now been disqualified from two race victories now this season, after he was disqualified from the Saudi Arabia sprint race in Jeddah, at round two of the championship.
The disqualification would be for the same reason back then as the most recent win taken away from him after the race.

​Verschoor will be hoping that he can rectify the weekend and hopefully will deliver a strong result in the feature race from starting 10th on the grid.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal

FIA Formula 2 produced another great race with Richard Verschoor taking victory for the first time in 2024 as he won the Saturday sprint race in Budapest.

The Trident driver delivered a brilliant performance, excelling in combining tyre management and pace. After the bad luck of the Saudi Arabian sprint race, a technical infringement saw him disqualified. In addition, in the Monaco feature race he was forced to retire with an engine issue.

Verschoor took victory by over two seconds ahead of Invicta Racing's Kush Maini, who finished in second place ahead of his fellow Alpine Academy teammate Victor Martins who was third.

The Dutch driver has become the 14th different winner in 17 races in the 2024 season. A fantastic statistic.

It would be time for sprint race action in FIA Formula 2 with the first of two races to be raced around the Hungaroring, over the course of the FIA Formula 2 weekend in Budapest.

The top 10 would be reversed from the classification in qualifying on Friday, which would see Trident's Richard Verschoor start from reverse grid pole with Invicta Racing's Kush Maini who started in second place.

Zane Maloney would be set to start third for Rodin Motorsport but stalled on the formation lap and would be made to start from the pit lane.

The lights would go out and a great start for Verschoor would see him cover off Kush Maini into turn 1. This would put Maini at a disadvantage to Andrea Kimi Antonelli and the Prema driver would find a way into second on the grid.

Antonelli on the soft tyres, the faster tyres in comparison to Verschoor and would hound Verschoor in the early laps. Verschoor would be putting up a robust defence on Antonelli with the Prema man complaining of movement in the braking zone.

It would take Antonelli to lap four to make a pass complete with a very brave but great move into turn 1 on the Trident of Verschoor and Antonelli was the new race leader with Maini fancying second place from Verschoor.

Someone who would be making great progress in the early stages of the race by the Van Amersfoort Racing car of Enzo Fittipaldi. He would next make a move for sixth on the Invicta of Gabriel Bortoleto with a great pass.

Ritomo Miyata would make a great move around the outside of Josep 'Pepe' Maria Marti in a delightful pass for the Japanese, ROdin driver.

Towards the front of the feld and Victor Martins of ART, in fourth, and Dennis Hauger of MP Motorsport, in fifth, were in a battle for position. hauger though over the few laps would fail to make a pass and would be vulnerable to Fittipaldi. Fittipaldi not wasting much time made a move for the top five.

 Lap 14 and the battle was hotting up for the lead with the top three were in close range. Antonelli having to defend from Verschoor, who himself was under pressure from Maini. This would be a battle for a few laps as all three drivers in potential for victory but drama would happen on lap 17.

Antonelli was really struggling for the grip and locked up his front tyres, going wide at turn 1 losing him the race lead to Vershcoor and dropping him down to third behind Maini. All of a sudden, Victor Martins had closed right up in fourth position. On the same lap and into turn 12, an audacious move to make from Martins but it would work.

Martins was up to third ahead of Antonelli who would pit on lap 19 for a change of tyres as his soft tyres were near impossible to prevent from locking up. Prior to locking up, he would lose out to Fittipaldi and eventually Hauger.

The soft tyres were starting to go off for a lot of drivers as the reigning Formula 3 champion in Gabriel Bortoleto. Bortoleto was dropping down the order with Franci Colapinto, Oliver Bearman, Rafael Villagomez and Taylor Barnard to get ahead of the Brazilian driver. The Invicta of Bortoleto would pit along with Durksen at the end of the lap.

Dennis Hager would be hounding Enzo Fittipaldi for fourth but in doing so left himself vulnerable to the Campos of championship leader Isack Hadjar, who would overtake Hauger in a brilliant move around the turn 2 and turn 3 complex.

There would be moves being made all the way through the field with the soft tyre drivers being overtaken by their fellow competitors on the more durable hard tyres, as Hauger would get ahead of Fittipaldi after Fittipaldi locked up and went off at turn 1.

After a difficult start for feature race pole sitter Paul Aron, the Hitech rookie would be making passes and would see himself gaining places up into seventh as he overtook the two British drivers in Oliver Bearman and Taylor Barnard. Aron would be up to seventh as Barnard of AIX Racing took eighth from Bearman. 

Enzo Fittipaldi would then suffer a puncture bringing what looked to be having a promising race. His tyres were beyond race worthy and would pit for hard compounds.

A fantastic battle would then occur between Bearman and the two DAMS drivers of Jak Crawford and Juan Manuel Correa who would go three wide around turn two and turn three, with somehow the cars avoiding contact, with Bearman and Crawford being shovelled off the road by Correa. The incident would be investigated.

Out in front, a fantastic achievement from Verschoor, he turned pole into victory and was really pushing hard all the way through. He managed his tyres perfectly well and would take his first victory of the season at the third real big attempt.

In Jeddah, he was disqualified after winning and in Monaco an engine issue cost him a fight for victory. All that was behind him now though, as he took the flag to win by over two seconds to join his teammate Roman Stanek in winning a race for Trident in 2024.

Verschoor would become the 14th different winner of the year in the 2024 Formula 2 Championship as he finished ahead of Invicta's Kush Maini and ART's Victor Martins who completed the top three. Maini in second ahead of Martins, the two Alpine Academy drivers on the podium.

Isack Hadjar drove a great race in fourth ahead of the two MP Motorsport racers, with Hauger finishing ahead of his Williams Academy teammate Franco Colapinto. The pair were fifth and sixth respectively. Paul Aron and Taylor Barnard would round off the top eight and the points finishers.

Action will return in the FIA Formula 2 Championship on Sunday morning for the feature race at Hungaroring, in Budapest with Estonian rookie Paul Aron starting from pole position, with the race getting underway at 10:05 local time with 09:05 being the start time for UK viewers

Brandon Whiteside
Writer- F1 Journal

Estonian, Hitech rookie Paul Aron took pole position in a warm Budapest Formula 2 qualifying, on Friday afternoon in Hungary.

Aron took pole position with track temperatures at around 50 degrees Celsius and the track condition really challenging the pack.

The Estonian rookie was less than a tenth faster to Van Amersfoort's Enzo Fittipaldi, who qualified second. 0.068s was the gap between the pair.

Championship leader Isack Hadjar qualified third with Richard Verschoor of Trident completing the top 10.

Time for qualifying for round nine of the Formula 2 championship in 2024 and the first of two final rounds before the summer break. Round nine would take place at the Hunagroring, situated in the capital of Hungary, Budapest.

This would be the second session of the Friday in Formula 2, with championship contender Zane Maloney setting the fastest time in the morning practice session for his Rodin Motorsport team.

Green light would be on after a delayed start and the drivers would head out onto the circuit for some installation laps before starting their first flying laps.

Maloney of the Sauber Academy would start the qualifying session off in the most perfect way and continue his practice form as he would be the first driver to take to the top of the time.

After everyone had set their first laps it was Gabriel Bortoleto who had managed to take to the top of the timing sheets with a delightful lap time from the Brazilian Invicta racer. He set two session best sectors on a lap which was a 1:30.269.

Soon after there would be a red flag which would bring a pause to the session and it would be for the Campos car of Josep 'Pepe' Maria Marti. The teammate of championship leader Isack Hadjar, Marti would spin at turn 11 like he did in free practice.

Sadly for Pepe Marti he would not be able to get the car going and would stop on circuit. A distraught Marti would be out of qualifying and take no further part in the session.

Although the red flag stoppage would not be long, there would be little action in terms on track despite green flag conditions being restored.

Drivers heading out on track would be trying to work their tyres into the best possible conditions for the final flying laps in the hunt for pole position.

10 minutes remaining and the drivers would finally head out to build up to their flying laps in a push for pole position.

The first driver to start their final run would be Enzo Fittipaldi of Van Amersfoort racing who would set a new benchmark time in going fastest overall. The time was a 1:30.096 would be the time the others would have to aim for but the drivers behind including Victor Martins, Paul Aron and championship leader Isack Hadjar were all improving on their previous best laps.

Aron would beat it but only just! 0.068 of a second would be the gap that Aron would improve over Fittipaldi's time to take provisional pole for the feature race. He had to wait for his direct championship rival of Isack Hadjar who would only take third fastest. 

Bortoleto could improve but only to fourth fastest but no one could deny Paul Aron of the fastest lap in qualifying and would therefore take the second pole position of his Formula 2 career, beating out Enzo Fittipaldi, who for the third time will start on the front row in a feature race. 

Isack Hadjar taking the third fastest time in the session ahead of Invicta's Gabriel Bortoleto and ART's Victor Martins who completed the top five, with being fourth and fifth respectively.

Dennis Hauger would finish sixth for MP Motorsport, ahead of Andrea Kimi Antonelli who is the only Prema to qualify in the top 10. Zane Maloney could only manage eighth overall ahead of Invicta's Kush Maini in ninth.

Richard Verschoor is to start from the reverse grid pole for the sprint race on Saturday afternoon after qualifying 10th. That will be the next action of the Formula 2 weekend at the Hungaroring, in Budapest for round nine.

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1. Paul Aron (Estonia, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
2. Enzo Fittipaldi (Brazil, Van Amersfoort Racing)
3. Isack Hadjar (France, Campos Racing)
4. Gabriel Bortoleto (Brazil, Invicta Racing)
5. Victor Martins (France, ART Grand Prix)
6. Dennis Hauger (Norway, MP Motorsport)
7. Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Italy, Prema Racing)
8. Zane Maloney (Barbados, Rodin Motorsport)
9. Kush Maini (India, Invicta Racing)
10. Richard Verschoor (Netherlands, Trident)
11. Joshua Durksen (Paraguay, AIX Racing)
12. Franco Colapinto (Argentina, MP Motorsport)
13. Amaury Cordeel (Belgium, Hitech Pulse-Eight)
14. Oliver Bearman (Great Britain, Prema Racing)
15. Zak O'Sullivan (Great Britain, ART Grand Prix)
16. Rafael Villagomez (Mexico, Van Amersfoort Racing)
17. Taylor Barnard (Great Britain, AIX Racing)
18. Ritomo Miyata (Japan, Rodin Motorsport)
19. Juan Manuel Correa (United States, DAMS Lucas Oil)
20. Roman Stanek (Czech Republic, Trident)
21. Josep 'Pepe' Maria Marti (Spain, Campos Racing)
22. Jak Crawford (United States, DAMS Lucas Oil)

​

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

Sauber Academy and Rodin Motorsport driver Zane Maloney was fastest in the Formula 2 free practice session on Friday morning in Budapest.

It was a session in Budapest which tested the limits for a lot of drivers with all drivers trying to get used to the warm track temperatures with the hard compound of tyres.

Maloney was quickest ahead of the DAMS Lucas Oil of Jak Crawford, who was second while Van Amersfoort's Enzo Fittipaldi finished the session in third.

Red Bull junior and Campos driver Isack Hadjar came into this weekend with the championship lead. He finished 10th in the session.

Time for Formula 2 action to return once again this coming weekend after a week break. Formula 2 heads to Budapest this coming weekend for round nine of the championship.

As is often on Friday, qualifying takes place in the afternoon, which sets the grid for both races. However, before the qualifying session a 45-minute practice session takes place on the morning of Friday. 

The green light would come on at the end of the pit lane and the drivers would head out onto the circuit to try and complete as much running as possible before the day's later qualifying session.

After some installation laps, Jak Crawford would be the first driver to set a representative lap time in the 1m36s but this would soon tumble as the track would ramp up with Andrea Kimi Antonelli being one to improve and jump above the American and championship leader Isack Hadjar. Antonelli's time would see him sit top with a 1:34.125.

Antonelli would not manage to stay top for too long as Zane Maloney would set a new benchmark time of 1:33.556 but it was still expected to be beaten at some point during the session.

Maloney would beat his best lap time almost immediately. A 1:33.521 would be the new time for the boy from Barbados.Antonelli would be second for the time being, with Dennis Hauger in third for MP Motorsport.

The Virtual safety car would be brought out during the session so marshals were, safely, able to move Josep 'Pepe' Maria Marti's Campos which had ran into the wall after spinning at turn 11.

There would be not a long pause in the green flag running as the Car 21 Campos was removed from the circuit. Not what Marti would have been after for the session.

The ART driver of Victor Martins would be the next one to set a quick lap time. he would not go fastest but second as the Frenchman missed out on beating Maloney's time by three tenths. This would also be because Maloney's time at the top had improved to a 1:33.247. 

Martins would end up beating Maloney to go fastest, but only just. Two thousandths of a second was the gap between Martins and Maloney, but Martins himself would not have the top spot for long.

Brazilian and Invicta Racing driver Gabriel Bortoleto. A 1:32.221 would set Bortoleto 0.024s ahead of the pack. This would be until he was displaced by the MP Motorsport of Dennis Hauger. Bortoleto would end up losing his lap time dropping him to fourth place.

The final minutes of practice were soon upon the drivers and they were desperate to try and get the best lap times they could. Championship challenger and Hitech rookie Paul Aron would be the first driver to beat Dennis Hauger's lap time. Aron would go 0.116s quicker than Hauger's best time.

Maloney though, who was consistently quick throughout the session would set the new fastest time, a 1:32.668 for the Sauber Academy driver. Enzo Fittipaldi would go up into second place, 0.260s slower than Maloney. Crawford would soon beat it to go second fastest. still over a tenth behind the Rodin Motorsport driver at the top of the time sheets.

The Boy from Barbados would end the session top of the time sheets, as his lap time was quickest in the session ahead of Crawford and Fittipaldi who made up the top three. Paul Aron and Dennis Hauger completed the top five.

Ritomo Miyata was sixth for Rodin ahead of Victor Martins who was seventh for ART. Franco Colapinto, Gabriel Bortoleto and championship leader Isack Hadjar completing the top 10.

Action will return in the Formula 2 weekend for the qualifying session at 16:00 track time, which is 15:00 UK time, when the 22 drivers will set the grid for both the sprint and feature races.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal

Formula 2 returns to action, after a week break, as the championship heads to the Hungaroring in Budapest for round nine of the championship. 

The round in Hungary will be the first of two rounds in two weeks before the August summer break with the round in Hungary being one week before round 10 in Spa. Therefore this will be the ninth round of 14 in the 2024 champiosnhip.

Most recently in Formula 2 was a round at Silverstone just two weeks where a weekend with no points for Hitech rookie Paul Aron saw him fail to score in both the sprint and feature races that weekend.

Although a mistake saw Isack Hadjar retire in the wet conditions, the French, Red Bull junior driver would capitalise on the pole position he took on Friday to win the feature race and take the championship lead for the first time in his Formula 2 career.

The Hungaroring is a common circuit across many feeder series in Europe, so it will be a circuit many of the field will know fairly well, as the championship heads to Budapest for round nine of the championship.

Hungaroring has produced many great moments throughout the Formula 2 years, since the series first came to the Hungarian circuit in 2017 - the first year of the Formula 2 championship since the series was evolved from the previous GP2 series.

Formula 2 has visited the Hungaroring every year since 2017 except the 2021 season, being a popular destination for the Formula 2 championship. Many different winners have triumphed around the circuit in the Formula 2 championship. 

Wins for drivers such as Oliver Rowland, Alex Albon, Nyck De Vries,Nicolas Latifi have all came at the Hungaroring. Also, 2020 Formula 2 champion Mick Schumacher took his first Formula 2 victory in 2019, in the sprint race.

The Hungaroring circuit is made up of 14 turns with a lap distance of 4.381km. Overtaking opportunities at this circuit are more likely to be at the start of the lap as the longest starights come there, as well as the two DRS zones of the Hungaroring. DRS Zones run down the start/finish straight into turn 1 and down the following straight into turn 2. 

Formula 2's lap record at the Hungaroring was set in the first Formula 2 event at the cricuit. British driver and current Formula E talent Oliver Rowland holds the lap record. Rowland, driving for DAMS, set a lap of 1:26.268. A lap still trying to beat and will be an aim for the drivers on the 2024 grid.

This weekend the drivers will participate in two races which will be the sprint and feature races, as is normal with the Formula 2 championship. 28 laps will take place in Saturday's sprint race, while on Sunday, in the feature race, 37 laps will be the race distance. The feature race, as usual, will require all drivers to make a mandatory pit stop.

The previous year in Hungary, in the 2023 season, there would be a lot of great action taking place across the three-day weekend of action. A close fight in qualifying would see Jack Doohan to put in an extraordinary lap to go fastest by just half a tenth of a second (0.052s). Doohan, of Invicta Racing, took pole ahead of his fellow Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins of ART. Frederik Vesti was less than a tenth of a second off pole in third for Prema.

When attention turned to the racing action, it would be the MP Motorsport of Dennis Hauger to take victory in what was a very entertaining race. Ayumu Iwasa finished second for DAMS, over four seconds back from Hauger with British rookie Oliver Bearman taking third for Prema.

​ However in the feature race, like 2022, Jack Doohan showed his quality at the Hungaroring to go from pole to victory to take his and his team's first victory of the season. After a bit of a difficult season up to the point, he would dominate finishing over nine seconds clear of Frederik Vesti who would take second place. Vesti would be fighting closely to keep second with a battle taking place between himself and third place Victor Martins.
​

Last time out in FIA Formula 2, the championship took to the Silverstone circuit for round eight of the championship. Silverstone having appeared every year of the Formula 2 championship since the championship was revamped from GP2 in 2017.

The British crowd at Silverstone are passionate about their motorsport and there would be excitement for the faithful as on the Thursday prior to the track action, it would be news for the 2025 Formula 1 season. Oliver Bearman of Prema would be announced that he would be driving for Haas and would graduate to Formula 1, at the end of the 2024 campaign.

However, when Friday came around, it was time for Formula 2 action at Silverstone with the practice and qualifying sessions. On Friday morning it was Josh Durksen of AIX Racing who would set the fastest time, therefore ending the session top of the time sheets.

When attention turned to the qualifying session, a dominant lap from Campos Racing's Frenchman Isack Hadjar who would take pole position for the feature race, with a lap that was a quarter of a second faster than ART's Alpine Academy star Victor Martins, who was second. Dennis Hauger was third in qualifying for MP Motorsport.

Saturday signalled the sprint race, in the afternoon which produced a lot of rain to a point where the race would be red flagged with the torrential downpour making the circuit too dangerous to drive. After a short wait it would safe again to go racing.

The race would produce great drama with Andrea Kimi Antonelli being the driver who had started on reverse grid pole. There would be a lot of drama in the sprint race with many incidents, including a big incident between Josep 'Pepe' Maria Marti and, at the time championship leader Paul Aron had a crash on the exit of Aintree bringing out a safety car..

At the same time Isack Hadjar would go wide at Copse in the slippery conditions and spin in the gravel unassisted. Therefore, he would be out of the race with Aron and Marti. 

Many incidents would occur throughout the remainder of the race with one driver dominating out front and showing stunning pace. Antonelli, who was yet to take a podium in his rookie year after making the step up from the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine and skipping Formula 3.

The highly rated Mercedes junior took his maiden win at Silverstone and showed his talent and kept his cool to deliver when it mattered. He finished comfortably ahead of Zane Maloney, who was back on the podium for Rodin Motorsport in second place. In third, Gabriel Bortoleto would initially look to have it after passing his Invicta teammate Kush Maini in the final few corners. 

However, Bortoleto would be penalised as he was deemed to have gained it unfairly and would therefore lose third to Maini and drop to fourth.

In the feature race, it would be a well measured performance for Hadjar, and after Jak Crawford's penalty was applied, for an unsafe release, Hadjar would inherit the victory for his third win of the season. Maloney would take his second podium of the weekend in second as Crawford dropped to third with the penalty. Crawford would have taken his second feature race win in three without the penalty.

A great race and a great weekend of action rounded up at Silverstone.
​

For the first time in his Formula 2 career, Isack Hadjar comes into a round as the championship leader after the victory at Silverstone and zero points for Paul Aron has made the gap 16 points in the championship between the pair.

Heading into Budapest, a lot of challenge are often presented for the drivers with a lot of overtaking into turn 1 and 2 potentially on the horizon and with five rounds remaining after this coming weekend, every point matters in the quest for the Formula 2 championship.

Free practice will commence the weekend on Friday morning, with the session commencing at 11:05 track time and 10:05 for UK viewers.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

Round 8: Isack Hadjar takes the win and takes the championship lead as Paul Aron runs dry of points at Silverstone.
​
The podium completed with Maloney and Crawford who lost out on the win due to a pitlane unsafe release penalty.

But moments into the action a safety car is deployed for yesterdays race winner Antonelli who was caught by Maini on the first corner to end his race prematurely. 

Martins leads the pack as the green flag goes again.
But Duersken spins off only a few corners in to bring out another safety car as he's beached in the gravel after collision with Paul Aron. Duersken calling Aron "dirty" as  not Arons weekend to increase his championship lead as damage sends him back to p19. Later receiving a +10 penalty for the incident.

Many soft tyre runners stopping in the pits once the track goes green again on lap 7 including Fittipaldi and Verschoor.
Ollie Bearman losing his p2 to Hadjar moments before they pit as they fight to get track position to get back out, but Bearman has issues and Hadjar manages to gain a few car lengths advantage.

Formula 2 comes back in action in Hungary: July 19-21 

Bronwen Jones
​Writer @ F1 Journal