It’s the final leg of the triple header and Formula 2 will be in town for Round 8 of the championship. Halfway through the season, and it still feels too early to call the championship. Here are the storylines heading into Round 8 of the Formula 2 championship.

Paul Aron is still at the top

The Estonian driver has continued his streak of scoring a podium in every round of the championship. A P3 in the Sprint and a P5 in the Feature Race helped Aron stay at the top of the championship. Still yet to win a race this year, he could be eyeing the top step in Silverstone.

Bortoleto is fresh off of a win

The reigning F3 champion got his first win in F2 last weekend in Austria. This helped the McLaren junior climb 3 spots from before in the championship standings. Sitting third in the championship, Bortoleto would look to build on his win last weekend and close the gap in the championship. Sitting just 32 points off the lead, the next few rounds could prove pivotal for the Brazilian if he wants to mount a championship challenge.

Win and a Promotion within a week for Bearman

Oliver Bearman had been having a lackluster season in Formula 2 till now. Having impressed in his Rookie season last year, there’s something about the new-gen cars that doesn’t click for Bearman. Coming into Austria the Prema driver had scored just 18 points in 5 rounds (he missed the Saudi round to fill in for Carlos Sainz). However, in Austria, the Ferrari Academy driver got his first win of the season. On the reverse grid, the Brit started on the front row, a good start helped him lead into turn 1 which he converted into a race win. It was announced today that Bearman will drive for Ferrari customer Haas F1 Team in 2025.

Can Kush bounce back from Austria?

Kush Maini had a disappointing time out in Austria. The Indian driver scored only 2 points in the weekend, both of which came in the sprint race. Having started on reverse grid Pole position for the sprint race, Kush failed to convert it into a win. He lost ground at the start and just couldn’t turn things around in the race, losing more positions to eventually finish 7th. In the feature race, he stalled on the grid, forcing him to start from the pitlane. To come back from a pitlane start in the race was a tough ask, especially when there were no safety car interruptions. The Alpine Academy driver finished 17th in the race.

Coming into Silverstone, Kush has said it’s his favourite track on the calendar. The Track has also given at least 1 F2 driver their first win in the championship since 2020. Could this be the fateful weekend that Kush needs?

FP1 outings for Junior Drivers

This weekend in FP1 we have a few of Formula 2 drivers making an appearance in Formula 1’s First Free Practice session.

Isack Hadjar will return to drive for Red Bull Racing, jumping into Sergio Perez’s car. He made two FP1 appearances in 2023 – one for AlphaTauri (now RB) in Mexico, and one for Red Bull in Abu Dhabi. Williams Junior Franco Colapinto will be with the British team. The MP Motorsport driver is 5th in the standings and enjoyed a Feature Race podium last time out in Austria. Oliver Bearman who’s already been confirmed to drive for Haas in 2025 will be making another Practice appearance for the team. Alpine reserve driver Jack Doohan will drive Pierre Gasly’s car in FP1 this weekend.

Timings and Where to Watch

You can watch all the sessions live in India on Fancode or F1TV. Full schedule of the weekend in IST is given below:

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Another weekend of Formula 2 wraps up. Gabriel Bortoleto scored his first win in Formula 2, and Oliver Bearman got his first win of the season. The Indian driver Kush Maini had a tough outing in Austria, leaving with only 2 points in 2 races. Here is how the Austrian leg of the triple header unfolded.

Read the preview before the weekend.

Practice

The only practice session of the weekend was topped by Isack Hadjar. The Frenchman, who’s looking to regain the championship lead started the weekend strong. The championship leader, Paul Aron, was close behind him in second. It was another close session, with the whole grid separated by just over a second. Kush Maini spent some time in the pits fixing what looked like brake issues. The Indian finished the session 21st, +1.084s off the top. Campos Racing’s Josep María Martí was disqualified from the final classification. The Spaniard could not provide the minimum 0.8kg fuel sample required by Article 6.3.1 of the FIA Formula 2 Technical Regulations.

Qualifying

Isack Hadjar maintained momentum from Practice to set an early benchmark time in Qualifying. The Campos Racing driver set an opening time of 1:15.828, and championship leader Paul Aron slotted in 2 tenths behind. Returning to the pit lane after the first runs, Hadjar had smoke running out of his car. Forcing the Frenchman to end his qualifying early.

The final few laps started coming in with 5 minutes left in the session. Dennis Hauger topped the time sheets with a 1:15.487. Duerksen was close behind, just 0.008s off Pole. Gabriel Bortoleto rounded off the top 3.

Franco Colapinto qualified fourth, ahead of championship leader Paul Aron. Taylor Barnard came in 6th, putting both AIX cars in the top 6. Isack Hadjar’s first lap was good enough to put him in 7th with his teammate Josep María Martí alongside him in 8th. Oliver Bearman and Kush Maini came in 9th and 10th, making the front row for the reverse grid Sprint Race.

Sprint Race

Kush Maini started on Pole and had Ferrari Junior Oliver Bearman alongside him on the front row. Kush Maini again failed to get a good start from the pole, dropping down to P3 in the opening lap. Whereas Oliver Bearman got a superb launch to take the lead in the race at the start. Josep María Martí overtook Maini to take second place on Lap 1.

By the halfway stage Maini started to struggle and the distance between him and Marti in 2nd kept increasing. Eventually, Maini lost his podium place to Aron, followed by his teammate dropping him down to P5.

In the end, it was Bearman who maintained his lead from the start to finish first and took the Sprint Race victory in Austria. Marti finished second, while Aron held off Bortoleto to take the final podium position. Maini was overtaken by the two MP Motorsport drivers with Hauger finishing 5th, Colapinto in 6th, and Maini in 7th. The final point was scored by Duerksen for AIX.

“Happy to be back on the podium, it’s been a tough run so far, so I’m happy to finally get a result that the team deserve. We’ve been working really hard, and we are getting towards where we want to be, so let’s go get some good points tomorrow.”

Oliver Bearman after winning the sprint race

Feature Race

There was drama before the race even started. Multiple drivers stalled on the grid during the formation lap including Pole sitter Dennis Hauger. Kush Maini and Jack Crawford were the other two to stall, the 3 drivers would then start from the pitlane.

Out on track, Duerksen was the lead car on the grid. He got off the line well to lead the race ahead of Bortoleto and Colapinto in third. Bortoleto made a move down the inside at turn 4 on Lap 4 to the lead from Duerksen. Colapinto overtook him next, dropping Duerksen down to P3.

Zane Maloney stopping on track brought out the VSC briefly, and racing resumed after the car was recovered. The first round of pit stops as drivers opting for the supersofts came in to switch to softs. Marti came in before Bortoleto and the undercut worked as Marti now had the effective race lead. Bortoleto would then take the lead from Marti on lap 18. On lap 24, the two Campos cars changed positions as Hadjar overtook Marti.

Colapinto came into the pits on lap 32 from the race lead. Having opted for the alternate strategy, the MP Motorsport driver was now on fresh supersofts. He came out of the pits in P8 and quickly started making his way up the grid. By lap 38, the Argentine was up to P4, he then overtook Marti on the next lap. On the final lap, Colapinto overtook Hadjar to take second from him. However, it was Bortoleto in the front who drove brilliantly to take his first win in Formula 2.

Colapinto took P2 ahead of Hadjar, with Martí in fourth and Fittipaldi in fifth. Aron’s penalty dropped him to P6 ahead of Duerksen and Amaury Cordeel, with Taylor Barnard in P9 and Zak O’Sullivan rounding out the points P10 for ART Grand Prix.

“P1 today in the Feature Race, so happy, it’s a special track for me. I always have good memories here, and finally I could get my first Formula 2 win. I’m super super happy, thanks to the team, McLaren and everyone that supported and helped me get on the biggest step on the podium today.”

Gabriel Bortoleto after winning the feature race.

Championship Standings

In the Championship standings, it’s Paul Aron who maintains his lead at the top. Bortoleto now slots in 3rd thanks to his Feature Race win. The Indian driver Kush Maini remains 8th in the Standings.

Up Next

With half the championship now over, we head to Silverstone next from 5-7 July.

Follow Desi Racing Co for regular updates from the world of motorsports

Halfway into the 2024 season, Formula 2 will make a stop at Austria for Round 7 of the championship. Paul Aron leads the championship standings with just 9 points separating him from the Frenchman Isack Hadjar. In the Team Standings, it’s a solitary point that separates the top two. Campos Racing leads Hitech Pulse-Eight, with MP Motorsport and Invicta Racing close behind.

Read the full Formula 2 Round 6 Review.

Can Aron maintain his form?

Paul Aron is having a debut season even he wouldn’t have expected. The Estonian driver has scored a podium in every single round till now. Championship leader with 100 points, he is yet to step on the top step. Can he finally get on the top step in Austria?

Isack will look to take the top step back

Isack Hadjar had a rather quiet time out in Spain. The Campos driver scored a total of 13 points during the weekend.

Before this, Isack was on a brilliant run, scoring 73 points in the last 3 rounds before Spain. The first 2 rounds of the championship are what could hurt Hadjar potentially in his championship fight. He scored only 5 points in the first 2 rounds, which again came at the sprint race in Bahrain. He would love to go back to winning ways in the Red Bull Ring, being a Red Bull Junior.

“It’s not going really well,” said Hadjar assessing his season as a whole.

“We had a few good rounds, I think the first two rounds didn’t really favour us.

“For me, the Championship started in Melbourne and since then we have been competitive. I’m happy with that and I think we have a really good chance to take the lead soon,” said Hadjar.

DAMS looking to continue form

DAMS Lucas Oil had their best weekend of the season in Spain. The team won both the Sprint and Feature Race with both their drivers stepping on the top step. Correa even made it a double podium for the team in the Feature Race by coming in 3rd after making the best out of his alternative strategy. Spain was the first time the team won since Monaco last year. Before Spain the team had scored a total of 46 points, in Spain alone, they scored 46 points. They currently sit 6th in the standing with 92 points.

“Let’s be humble, no big expectations,”

said Yannick Hubert, team principal of Dams

“First, we have to understand what we need in Austria, we know that it’s a Mickey Mouse track, very narrow, very small, so it will be a different challenge, so nothing to compare with here. We just have to be very focused on the next event as a single event and do the job,” said Hubert.

Kush Maini would want to build on his Spain performance

Kush had a tough few rounds before Spain, scoring only 1 point. It was later found out that his car suffered from a broken chassis. The problem having been solved in Spain did give results, with the Invicta driver scoring a podium in the Sprint race. In the Feature Race, Kush opted for the alternative strategy, which is to start on Hards and then switch to Softs towards the end. This proved fruitful as he finished P6 having started P10 in the race. When he came out of the pits he was P15, he then put in a string of consistent fast laps to move up 9 places in almost as many laps to add 8 points to his tally.

Schedule and Where to Watch?

You can catch all the live action on F1TV and Fancode in India.