Paul Aron wins in Qatar becoming the 17th different winner of the Formula 2 season!

Photo credits: Autosport

Feature Race summary

Paul Aron started on pole, followed by championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto, the two of them making up the front row. The start of the race was delayed by 15 minutes due to a barrier repair. 

The lights went out and Bortoleto got a great start, taking the lead of the race into turn one. Hadjar was more unfortunate and dropped down to 10th, while Antonelli makes up two positions now running in 9th having started in 11th. 

Aron manages to use DRS to his advantage to stay close behind Bortoleto. Ollie Bearman gets past Maini and moves into 7th. Antonelli follows Bearman through at turn 4 dropping him one place. Goethe shortly follows leaving Maini down in 10th. Hadjar then also overtakes now putting Maini in 11th. 

On lap 6, Crawford became the first driver to make his stop, pitting for the hard tyres. Many drivers stayed out hoping for a safety car. Lap 7, Paul Aron is called into the pits at the end of the lap. Beganovic, Martins, Verschoor and Antonelli all pit as well in an attempt to undercut the rest of the field. 

Shortly after the drivers make their way out the pits, Antonelli finds himself in the gravel. He came on the radio reporting broken steering, which we later found out was caused by contact between himself and Verschoor in the pit lane. Verschoor was left with a puncture, his tyre eventually flying off. He was able to make his way back to the pits and continue his race. He was later given a 10 second penalty for the unsafe release. 

The virtual safety car was deployed due to this incident leaving Bortoleto unable to pit and having to abort it right at the last minute. He pulled into the pit entry before crossing over back onto the track which was quickly noted down by the stewards. 

An on-track safety car was shortly brought out due to Antonelli being beached in the gravel and needing to be recovered. This then allowed Bortoleto to pit, his championship rival Hadjar also pitting. 

The drivers that started on the hard tyres decided to stay out on the track meaning that Bearman now led, followed by Durksen and Maini. 

Investigation from the FIA regarding Bortoleto and his earlier incident with the pit entry came back, and it wasn't looking great. It would be a 5 second penalty for the Brazilian driver making his job of maintaining the championship lead a lot harder. 

Racing resumed on lap 13 with the safety car now back in the pits. Bearman led with Durksen right on his tail, putting lots of pressure on the F1 bound Brit. The safety car was then deployed yet again due to an incident between Villagomez and Crawford. 

Villagomez was stationary at turn 6 but Crawford was able to drag his DAMS back to the pitlane. He returned to the pits with a damaged front wing, thinking that it would be replaced and that he would continue racing. However, during the pit stop it was discovered that he had suspension damage and had to retire the car. 

The safety car came in at the end of lap 16, which left Bearman having to lead another safety car restart. He goes wide at turn 15, giving the advantage to Durksen who followed close behind. Durksen overtook Bearman, but had to give the position back as he overtook before they had crossed the line. 

The pack was close, and in the process of Durksen giving the lead back to Bearman he lost two more places to Maini and Browning. Bortoleto pulls off a great switch on Marti, taking 5th place. 

On lap 25, Bortoleto dived down the inside of Durksen to take second, his main focus now being to build a 5 second gap between himself and championship rival Isack Hadjar. Paul Aron found himself following closely behind, eventually moving up into third past Durksen. 

Bearman and Durksen still found themselves having to pit, which they did on lap 26. This meant that Bortoleto was now leading the race followed by Aron and Hadjar. 

Going into the final lap of the race, the gap between Bortoleto and Hadjar was 4.3 seconds, meaning that the pressure was on for the Brazilian to finish ahead of his championship rival. 

Throughout the last lap, the gap found itself increasing and decreasing by a few tenths. Unfortunately for Bortoleto, the gap between himself and Hadjar was 4.4 seconds. This meant that Aron was promoted to P1, winning his first race this season and becoming the 17th different winner this season also. Hadjar was promoted to 2nd and Bortoleto dropped down to 3rd. 

Going into the final two races (sprint and feature) of the season, the points difference between Bortoleto and Hadjar sits at only half a point. Luckily for Bortoleto, he keeps his championship lead. 

Feature Race results

1) Paul Aron
2) Isack Hadjar / + 2.7
3) Gabriel Bortoleto / + 3.1
4) Oliver Goethe / + 3.7
5) Dino Beganovic / + 5.7
6) Christian Mansell / + 11.5
7) Amaury Cordeel / + 12.5
8) John Bennett / + 18.8
9) Zane Maloney / + 19.8 
10) Ritomo Miyata / + 23.2
11) Cian Shields / + 32.3
12) Oliver Bearman / + 33.7
13) Richard Verschoor / + 39.0
14) Joshua Durksen / + 46.1
15) Kush Maini / + 51.9
16) Luke Browning / + 53.3
17) Josep Maria Marti / + 65.0
18) Max Esterson / + 75.0
19) Victor Martins / + 5 Laps
20) Jak Crawford / DNF
21) Rafael Villagomez / DNF
22) Kimi Antonelli / DNF

​Written by Kelsie Jayes