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QATAR FLASHBACK: Aron and Hitech dominate as title fight gets even closer

24 November 2025

After a two-month break, Formula 2 is back, with the paddock set to reconvene in Lusail for the first of two back-to-back rounds to end the 2025 campaign.

This will be F2’s second trip to the Lusail International Circuit, with last year’s race weekend delivering an epic Qualifying session, as well as two dramatic races.

So before we get going at Round 13, let us take a look back at our 2024 visit, when Paul Aron, Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar battled it out.

FREE PRACTICE

The drivers had 45 minutes to get to grips with the track, as Bortoleto and Aron started how they meant to go on. The duo went straight to the top of the timesheets after the first laps, separated by just 0.008s.

With every lap, the times dropped, although Aron and Bortoleto were still the top two, the former now 0.386s out in front on a 1:39.236.

The Hitech driver then improved to a 1:38.926, before going even quicker on his attempt to a 1:38.024, putting over six-tenths between him and Bortoleto.

The drivers got to grip with the Lusail track in the afternoon sun ahead of the evening Qualifying

Richard Verschoor moved up to third late on for MP Motorsport ahead of his teammate Oliver Goethe, as Victor Martins rounded out the top five for ART Grand Prix.

QUALIFYING

The drivers hit the track on the Medium tyres for the first night session, so while conditions had changed, Aron’s performance had not. After the first lap, his 1:37.619 put him on top by 0.446s to Oliver Bearman.

The second attempts brought improvements, with Verschoor, Bortoleto, Bearman and Martins all taking their turn to set the fastest time. However, Aron’s 1:36.614 saw him return to P1.

The Estonian then ducked into the pitlane, while Bortoleto continued on for a third lap to go fastest with a 1:36.586.

The drivers came back out on their new Mediums, as Aron remained the one to beat with a 1:36.088, Bortoleto now second 0.344s behind.

The Hitech driver then completed 1:35.427 before improving to a 1:35.115 on his final attempt to seal pole by 0.335s to Bortoleto, who had been watching on from the pitlane.

Aron dominated to take pole under the lights in Qatar

Martins was third, while Dino Beganovic’s late improvement put him to P4 on debut, ahead of Verschoor.

Crawford was sixth, ahead of Kush Maini and Goethe, while title hopeful Hadjar, who had struggled for much of the session wound up in ninth, ahead of Bearman.

SPRINT RACE

As this was the first race in Lusail, there were a mix of strategies, with pole-sitter Bearman on the Hard tyre, while Hadjar next to him was on the Mediums.

The Frenchman got ahead of Bearman at the start of Lap 2 while Martins – who also started on the Options – went from seventh to third on the opening lap.

Hadjar was over three seconds clear by Lap 5, although Hard tyre runner Jak Crawford was putting the pressure on Martins for P3.

The Medium tyre front-runners were now struggling, with the race leader coming on the radio to tell his Campos Racing team that his front left tyres were “dead” on Lap 8.

Bearman won his third race of the season ahead of Crawford and Verschoor

By Lap 12, Bearman was now 1.9s behind Hadjar, as Martins held up the rest of the field, over six seconds away from the top two.

The British driver was within DRS range by Lap 15, while a couple of laps later, Crawford finally got past the battling Martins.

Bearman eventually took the lead at the start of Lap 21 of 23, but this is when the drama well and truly got underway. After losing P1, Hadjar spun at Turn 4, dropping him to P4, while further behind, Maini and Andrea Kimi Antonelli collided at Turn 1.

This brought out the Safety Car, which took us to the end of the race. Bearman claimed a third win of the season, ahead of Crawford and Verschoor, setting us up nicely for Sunday’s Feature.

FEATURE RACE

This was Aron’s fourth pole of the season. However, in his previous three front row starts, he had failed to finish on the podium. That became four, as he lost the lead to Bortoleto on the run to Turn 1.

Beganovic’s excellent debut continued though as he overtook Martins at the start to go to P3.

Bortoleto got ahead of Aron at the start of the Feature Race

Aron ducked into the pitlane on Lap 8 of 32 to switch from the Options to the Hards, looking to undercut Bortoleto.

Antonelli, having complained of a broken steering wheel following a collision with Verschoor in the pitlane, was now in the gravel in the first sector, bringing out the Virtual Safety Car.

But just as it was deployed, Bortoleto had committed to pit and crossed the pit entry line back onto the circuit.

The Invicta Racing driver pitted on the next lap with a full Safety Car deployed, but he was later given a five-second time penalty for failing to follow the Race Director's instructions relating to crossing the line at pit entry.

Hadjar had been struggling in the midfield but was a big beneficiary by pitting under the Safety Car. At the restart, he was now directly behind title rivals Bortoleto and Aron.

Aron, Hadjar and Bortoleto took the title fight to Yas Marina after a closely Lusail Feature Race

Bortoleto, Aron and Hadjar making their way through the drivers that had yet to pit. The former was eager to pull out a five second gap to both Aron and Hadjar, and he routinely put a car between he and his rivals.

Bortoleto crossed the line with just 4.9s separating the top three, dropping him from first to third, giving Aron his first win in Formula 2, and promoting Hadjar to second.

It meant that heading into the final round, Bortoleto remained ahead of Hadjar by just 0.5s points, with Aron a further 25 points behind in third.

Lusail played a huge role in deciding the 2024 Drivers’ Championship, will it do so again in 2025?