Zane Maloney fastest in F2 free practice at Hungaroring in Budapest

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.

How Formula 2 practice in Budapest unfolded

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.

 2024 FIA Formula 2 Championship: Round 9 - Hungary free practice result

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

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal