SPIELBERG FLASHBACK: Bortoleto rises to the top for maiden F2 victory

It’s Spielberg race week and we’re set for another chapter in this twisting and turning title fight. Alexander Dunne leads the way but 12 months ago, it was Paul Aron who led the Standings going to the Red Bull Ring.

We look back at the 2024 edition of the race that brought a milestone moment for our eventual Drivers’ Champion, Gabriel Bortoleto.

Here is how the Brazilian earned his maiden Formula 2 victory that set him on the path to the crown last season.

QUALIFYING AND SPRINT SUCCESS

Qualifying went the way of Dennis Hauger, who earned pole position on Friday by just 0.008s over a quick Joshua Duerksen, with the Paraguayan P2 on the grid in a personal best result of his own. Bortoleto wound up P3 on the grid and well in contention, just ahead of Franco Colapinto and Aron in the top five.

The Sprint Race was a solid building block for the Invicta Racing driver, as he surged up from P8 on the grid to fourth. Only Hauger and Jak Crawford made up more places, the former going from P10 to P5, while the American marched his way up to sixth from back in 14th.

Bortoleto lost a spot with an average launch at lights out but made up two positions into Turn 3 on the opening tour to begin his forward progress. He staked his claim around the outside of Colapinto at the same corner on Lap 2 to move himself up to sixth position.

Onto Lap 9 and with DRS on Taylor Barnard ahead of him, the Brazilian moved up to P5 and set his sights on the leading quartet ahead, now in a DRS train.

It took some patience but by taking advantage of a pass by Aron on teammate Maini at Turn 3, Bortoleto got alongside and eventually ahead at Turn 4 to make his final move of the race for fifth.

Taking his first win of the year however was Oliver Bearman, who passed reverse grid pole sitter Kush Maini, before keeping Josep María Martí in his mirrors for the victory.

FEATURE FINESSE

After the rehearsal in the Sprint on Saturday, Sunday was made more straightforward after a stall for pole man Hauger meant Duerksen was the only car ahead of Bortoleto at lights out.

READ MORE: Dunne and Beganovic set to take part in Austrian Grand Prix FP1

The AIX Racing driver held onto the lead for the opening three tours of the race, but with DRS enabled, Bortoleto surged by for P1 on Lap 4, taking advantage of his great drive out of Turn 3 and slipstream into 4. On the brakes and with a move to the inside, the lead was the Brazilian’s, and he began to build his advantage to beyond a second in the subsequent laps.

He responded to the early stoppers on the conventional strategy, keeping his track position but dropping down the order behind those on the alternative path.

Martí was the leading driver to have pitted in the middle phase of the race, but his earlier stop at the end of Lap 6 left him with a long way to go on his tyres.

With better tyre management and fresher Pirelli tyres, Bortoleto was able to manage the situation, easing up to the back of the Spaniard and passing him on Lap 21 into Turn 4.

From there, Bortoleto cleared the remaining traffic in those yet to pit and maintained a healthy gap to his closest challengers.

Colapinto was the driver able to make the alternative strategy work best, making a late stop and switch to Soft tyres. The Argentine flew back through the top 10 and up to second place, making a final lap pass on Isack Hadjar, who earned third place for Campos in an impressive recovery drive from seventh on the grid.

But Bortoleto’s win was the first of two victories in 2024 and marked the turning point in his season. He went scoreless just twice in the second half of the campaign, culminating in the F2 title and confirmation of his F1 promotion to Kick Sauber for 2025.

Will one of our 2025 contenders experience a similar feeling as we hit halfway in the season?