Sauber junior driver Zane Maloney rose from eighth on the grid to grab the first win in Formula 2’s new chassis.
The Rodin driver made his way to the front of the field to claim victory by over five seconds from pole-winner Jak Crawford.Maloney therefore began his second year in Formula 2 with his first victory in the category. Crawford, another second year driver and like Maloney a former Red Bull junior, took his highest finish since winning at the Red Bull Ring last year.
Josep Maria Marti claimed the final podium position in third following a late battle with Campos team mate Isack Hadjar who suffered from his soft tyres fading in the final laps.
Behind the two Campos drivers was Paul Aron in fifth and reigning Formula 3 champion and McLaren junior Gabriel Borteloto sixth in his first F2 start. Williams junior Zak O’Sullivan was seventh, with Dennis Hauger completing the points finishers in eighth.
After qualifying down in 17th and 18th, the two Prema drivers Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman started on the hard tyres before switching to the softs during the race. Antonelli finished his first F2 start in 14th, which Bearman finished two places behind in 16th.
There were three retirements from the race. Roman Stanek and Taylor Barnard pulled into the pits in the closing laps, while Amaury Cordeel retired from the opening lap following contact with Rafael Villagomez at turn four.
After Kush Maini’s disqualification from Thursday’s qualifying results, Bortoleto will start tomorrow’s first feature race of the season from pole.
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Formula 2 Bahrain race one results
| Position | Car | Driver | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | Zane Maloney | Rodin |
| 2 | 7 | Jak Crawford | DAMS |
| 3 | 21 | Josep Maria Marti | Campos |
| 4 | 20 | Isack Hadjar | Campos |
| 5 | 17 | Paul Aron | Hitech |
| 6 | 10 | Gabriel Bortoleto | Invicta |
| 7 | 2 | Zak O’Sullivan | ART |
| 8 | 11 | Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport |
| 9 | 6 | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin |
| 10 | 22 | Richard Verschoor | Trident |
| 11 | 1 | Victor Martins | ART |
| 12 | 8 | Juan Manuel Correa | DAMS |
| 13 | 9 | Kush Maini | Invicta |
| 14 | 4 | Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Prema |
| 15 | 24 | Joshua Duerksen | PHM |
| 16 | 3 | Ollie Bearman | Prema |
| 17 | 14 | Enzo Fittipaldi | Van Amersfoort |
| 18 | 12 | Franco Colapinto | MP Motorsport |
| 19 | 15 | Rafael Villagomez | Van Amersfoort |
| DNF | 23 | Roman Stanek | Trident |
| DNF | 25 | Taylor Barnard | PHM |
| DNF | 16 | Amaury Cordeel | Hitech |
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Formula 2
- Bortoleto clinches F2 title as Hadjar stalls and Duerksen wins finale
- Aron hit with double penalty for team’s illegal DRS modification, Hadjar gains a point
- Marti wins sprint race as Bortoleto extends points lead ahead of finale
- Martins beats title rivals Bortoleto, Aron and Hadjar to Yas Marina pole
- Bortoleto’s lead down to half a point as penalty hands win to Aron in Losail
Brell-9W
1st March 2024, 15:44
This season’s F2 championship is something else… So many talented drivers closely matched, with the pecking order shaken up from the past few seasons with the new car. Goes to show how much was down to the teams, despite F2 being a spec series. There are so many talented drivers in this series.
Rodin and Campos just have so much race pace. Invicta are very close too. DAMS, MP and HiTech all have great pace too. Meanwhile, Prema and ART are struggling. It’s more obvious at Prema, and probably more severe, but ART, who absolutely DOMINATED at Bahrain last year, had no race pace. Miyata was 15th on the first lap, Martins 2nd. Martins is so experienced, accomplished, and so highly rated, and yet after 23 laps he was behind Miyata AND Verschoor. As for Prema, at this weekend, they look like the second worst car, with PHM AIX being the absolute worst.
This pecking order is subject to change. It IS a spec series and it’s a matter of understanding and getting to grips with the car. We still have the feature race to come, but the sprint and qualifying were real eye-openers.