2024 F2 Highlights Part 4: Second half standouts

27 November 2024

The tail-end of the European season has shaped this year’s Championship fight which looks set to go right to the wire in both the Teams’ and Drivers’ stakes.

With the final leg of the season set to get underway this weekend, we look back at some of the key moments from the second half of the 2024 campaign.

Laying it on the line

With the bulk of the European season in the books and the title landscape taking shape, the contenders were known, and the sense of urgency began to creep in.

Paul Aron, Isack Hadjar and a then distant Gabriel Bortoleto had marked themselves out as the main candidates in the Drivers’ Championship fight, and with that the focus on their performances went up that much more as a result.

So, when Qualifying rolled around at Spa-Francorchamps, it was a hugely engaging final few minutes as those three fought for Pole Position.

Watching the onboards from each driver, they achieved their laptime in various ways. Bortoleto was flying along the straights, but it was Aron gaining most of his time in the middle sector, which rewards downforce over lessening of drag, that benefitted the most.

In the end, just 0.282s separated the trio, and the Hitech driver topped the session. But the Estonian’s Friday feeling was short-lived as his setup choices left him vulnerable to both rivals in the Feature Race along the long Kemmel Straight.

Dead heat

Bortoleto was in fine form around Monza in both the Sprint and Feature Races

One day before he went on to stun the field with a last-to-first drive, Gabriel Bortoleto pulled off some more F2 history as he secured a scoring result alongside Dennis Hauger, literally.

Having started from P22 and last on the grid following his Qualifying spin he was in tremendous form in the Sprint Race.

Bortoleto avoided the chaos at the start to pick up several places on the opening lap and ran P17. He claimed three spots at the first Safety Car restart and by the closing laps, had cracked the top 10, but he wasn’t done there.

Into the final laps and Hauger was the car ahead in eighth, and an improbable point was now a potential reality.

On the run to through the final sector on the last lap, Bortoleto closed down the gap down to just one tenth of a second, and out of Parabolica, the move was on.

Edging alongside the Norwegian, it was a drag race to the chequered flag and the duo crossed the line at the exact same time, to the thousandth of a second.

As per the regulations, the points scored were split and with eighth offering just one, the duo received half a point each.

It was hard earned, but Bortoleto saved his best for last and completed the charge to the front on Sunday to win.

Welcome to the Rookies

Browning, Mansell and Minì scored points in Baku on F2 debut, with the latter on the podium

If drivers could pick where they made their Formula 2 debut, the Baku City Circuit would probably be low on the list due to the technical challenge it presents.

That didn’t prevent a trio of first time F2 drivers from impressing on debut, as Luke Browning, Christian Mansell and Gabriele Minì took to the track in the Championship for their first time.

For the latter duo, they made a fast impression as they secured top 10 starting positions in Qualifying on their first visit to Baku, with Mansell lining up for his maiden F2 race from reverse grid pole.

While the Australian ultimately slipped back in the race, he was pleased with his performance and point for P8, but Minì was able to secure a podium at the first time of asking, earning P3 for PREMA Racing in the Sprint.

Onto Sunday and it was Browning’s turn to impress for ART Grand Prix and claimed P7 in the Feature Race for his first point-scoring result in F2 on his first weekend.