Formula 2 made its first stop of the triple header in Spain. The Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya hosted Round 6 of the Formula 2 championship. Having hosted several weeks of testing here before, many of the drivers were coming to a track they have driven a lot on.

Paul Aron came into the weekend as the championship leader while Campos was leading the team’s championship. Kush Maini was looking to bounce back after having scored just 1 point in the last 2 rounds.

Free Practice

Championship leader Paul Aron set the pace in Free Practice. The Estonian driver was the fastest with a time of 1:26.922. Enzo Fittipaldi was second quickest, just 0.136 down on Aron with Colapinto rounding up the top 3.

Qualifying

Paul Aron continued his strong pace from Free Practice to take his first pole in Formula 2. Aron put in a time of 1:25.385 to set the benchmark in the initial run. Taylor Barnard went off at Turn 9 and into the barriers causing a red flag in the session. As a result, the winner from Monaco will start both races from the back of the grid. The session resumed with a few more drivers going out to complete their first flying laps and Isack Hadjar removed Aron from the top of the timing sheet with a time of 1:25.205.

With under 10 minutes to go, the drivers headed out for their second run on fresh softs. It was Aron once again who climbed to the top with a time of 1:24.766. Jack Crawford joined Aron on the front row with just 0.002s off. Colapinto rounded the top 3 with a time of 1:24.772. Gabriel Bortaleto joined Colapinto on the second row, 0.055 off of pole. Antonelli finished inside the top 5, narrowly ahead of Ritomo Miyata in 6th.

“I did the in-season test here and have driven the track in other categories, so I have experience around this track whereas before in earlier rounds, it was the first time driving the track for me, which is difficult with Practice only being 45 minutes.

“But I have F2 experience around Barcelona, so that’s why I can fight for the top positions in Qualifying.”

Said Ritomo Miyata after qualifying 6th, his best ever this season.

Further down the order, it was Joshua Durksen in 7th, Juan Manuel Correa in 8th, and Victor Martins in 9th. Kush Maini qualified in P10 and got the Pole for the reverse grid Sprint Race.

Sprint Race

Kush Maini started the sprint race on pole and had fellow Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins on the front row. At the start, Martins got off the line well while Maini suffered wheel spin which dropped him to fourth. Ritomo Miyata got a good start from 4th on the grid as he went ahead of Maini and Correa to take 2nd in Turn 1.

Onto Lap 2, Maini made his way back to podium places after overtaking Correa in turn 1. Further down, the fight for the final few points-paying positions was intensifying. Antonelli and Hadjar fought hard early on for the seventh position.

Victor Martins kept putting in solid lap times to distance himself from Miyata. By lap 10, Martins had pulled 1.5s ahead of Miyata, with Maini close 1.1s behind in 3rd. Hadjar finally cleared Antonelli on Lap 12. The Italian was then soon overtaken by Crawford who took the final point-paying position from him.

Ritomo Miyata got two 5s time penalties for track limits violations, which meant Maini would finish P2 if he stuck close behind. With Miyata’s penalty, the battle for the final podium position heated up. On the penultimate lap, Correa overtook Bortoleto to take 4th place (3rd after Miyata’s Penalty). Bortoleto kept falling behind with both Aron and Crawford overtaking him for 5th and 6th.

In the front, however, it was the Frenchman who took the chequered flag. Martins scored his first win since Silverstone 2023. Maini finished 2nd, taking his 3rd podium of this season.

Correa took 3rd place but was handed post-race penalties which promoted Aron to the final step of the podium. Crawford and Bortoleto rounded up the top 5. Hadjar, Miyata, and Correa finished in 6th, 7th, and 8th respectively, the final points-paying position of the race.

Multiple post-race penalties were awarded for track limit violations. 7 drivers got a total of 10 5s time penalties between them after the chequered flag.

Feature Race

Championship leader Paul Aron started on Pole position with Jack Crawford alongside him on the front row. Aron got the perfect launch at the start, leading Crawford and Colapinto into turn 1. It was not the same for Victor Martins who made contact with Dennis Hauger. Both drivers were spent spinning into the gravel at Turn 2. With both drivers out of the race, Safety Car was deployed to recover the cars.

On lap 8, the pendulum swung towards those who opted for the alternative strategy, starting on Hard tyres. Joshua Durksen was the first to benefit, overtaking Hadjar who was on Softs for fifth position. Crawford pulled the trigger first, he came in to get rid of his Softs and take a new set of Hards. Aron was called into the pits on Lap 12, he came out ahead of Crawford but the DAMS driver overtook him through turn 3.

Taylor Barnard had a weekend to forget. Having started last he came to a halt at the pit lane entry. VSC was deployed to recover the car. Going into Lap 16, Aron lined up a move on Crawford but due to a snap of oversteer, he slid off the road, dropping 3 spots before joining in 11th.

With 10 laps to go, Correa, who was leading the race on Hards came into the pits. Maini followed him to switch to Softs. Correa came out in 9th while Maini was in 15th. Both drivers made maximum use of their fresh softs and charged up the grid. On Lap 33, Correa made his way to the final step on the podium, overtaking Aron on Turn 1.

Maini moved up to 7th and was looking to overtake his teammate for 6th into Turn 1 on the final lap. The two teammates made contact, leaving Bortoleto with front wing damage while Maini moved up to 6th.

Jack Crawford won for the second time in F2, his first this year. Taking full advantage of his tyre strategy and the mistake made by Paul Aron. Colapinto came home in 2nd, his first feature race podium. Juan Manuel Correa returned to the podium after 5 years in 3rd.

Aron finished fourth, maintaining his Championship lead over Hadjar, who came in fifth. Maini crossed the line in sixth, followed by Bortoleto in seventh. Maloney, Cordeel, and local favorite Josep María Martí racing for Campos Racing, completed the points positions.

“We just won the Feature Race and it’s a huge result for DAMS. We did a really risky strategy and it paid off in the end. I’m so happy for the team and JM, it’s a good result for everyone.”

Said jack crawford after winning the feature race.

Championship Standings

Aron extended his championship lead after Round 6 in Formula 2. Jack Crawford moved up 6 places, thanks to his feature race win. Kush Maini is currently 8th in the standings, 50 points behind the championship leader.

Up Next

Formula 2 heads to the Red Bull Ring for Round 7 of the championship from June 28-30. This is their second stop in the triple-header, before heading to Silverstone. Catch all the action live on F1TV and Fancode.

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After almost a month, Formula 2 is back this weekend. The championship heads to Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya for its first stop in the upcoming triple header.

Season till now

Formula 2 has seen 5 rounds of action till now and it’s the rookie Paul Aron who leads the championship with 80 points. Performing well above his own expectations, Aron has taken 5 podiums in 5 rounds. Just 2 points behind sits Isack Hadjar. Hadjar was looking to get a hattrick of Feature Race wins in Monaco but a late VSC disrupted his plans. Having taken just 1 point in Monte Carlo, Zane Maloney now sits 3rd in the standings.

The teams’ championship is heating up as just 10 points separate the top 3 teams, the top 5 separated by 20. Campos Racing leads the championship heading into their home race with 104 points. Hitech Pulse-Eight and MP Motorsport sit behind the Spanish team in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

Kush Maini looking to bounce back

After having a very strong start to the season, Kush Maini had an underwhelming performance in the last 2 rounds. The Indian driver scored just 1 point in the last 2 rounds, having scored 33 in the first 3. It was later discovered that he was driving a cracked chassis in those 2 rounds. Maini will get a new chassis in Barcelona.

“I think it’s a great test track, when you come through junior formulas you drive a lot in Barcelona, so it’s a track I think every driver knows it quite well. It’s a track you’re comfortable with, so for the first time in the car it’s an easy track to get to grips with. Obviously, I was with a Spanish team last year, so I lived in Spain, so Spain is always close to my heart, I really like the place.

“Overtaking is a bit more difficult than other circuits, but I think now with the last sector how it is, it’s quite fun, with the two high speed corners at the end it makes it quite physical as well, so I think if you get a good run out at the last corner, Turn 1 is a great opportunity. But it’s a track where you have to look after your tyres and try and attack at the end of the race when others are struggling.

“I always hope to get pole, I think that’s a great thing to achieve in F2 with a Championship this competitive and a Feature Race win I think that’s where the big points are, so that’s a dream weekend.”

Said kush maini speaking to formula 2 before the weekend.

Schedule and Where to Watch

You can watch all the action live on Fancode or F1TV. The full schedule in IST is given below:

The Indian Formula 2 driver joined the Alpine Junior Academy last October and is mentored by the two-time Formula 1 world champion Mika Hakkinen.

Kush Maini on Wednesday took part in a young driver test with Alpine at the Red Bull Ring in Austria. He drove the Alpine A522 in the Styrian hills making it his first time driving a Formula 1 car. According to Viaplay Sport journalist Kunal Shah Maini’s laps ‘were super competitive during the test.’

The Alpine Formula 1 team announced on Monday that they have mutually agreed to part ways with their current F1 driver Esteban Ocon, leaving a seat empty alongside Pierre Gasly.
Currently, Alpine’s reserve driver Jack Doohan is reportedly the front-runner to partner with Pierre Gasly in 2025. However, Alpine is also interested in availing the services of Yuki Tsunoda or Valtteri Bottas, was also interested in Ferrari’s outgoing Carlos Sainz.

Can Kush Maini get a shot at the F1 seat?

Kush Maini had a solid start to this 2024 Formula 2 campaign. However, He had his good share of bad luck in the first few weekends of the season. He was disqualified in the Qualifying session in the season opener in Bahrain after qualifying in Pole Position due to a technical infringement, forcing him to start both races from the back of the grid. In round 2 of the Formula 2 championship, He lacked race pace in the Saturday sprint however we saw him take his second career podium in the Feature Race where he finished P2 after inheriting pole position from Oliver Bearman, who stepped up for Carlos Sainz in the Saudi Arabian GP.

Kush Maini took his third career podium in the sprint race but lost out to a Safety Car in the Feature Race after leading the majority of the laps. Coming to the European leg of the season, Maini struggled to even qualify in the top 10 during the Imola GP weekend and the Monaco GP weekend. With nearly a four-week gap in the next F2 weekend in Barcelona, Invicta Racing and Kush Maini have enough time to work on their issues and return to their early season form.

Kush Maini’s camp will have a realistic shot at the Formula 1 seat for 2025 if he continues to impress the Alpine management during the Formula 1 tests and also with consistent race finishes in his 2024 Formula 2 campaign. If Jack Doohan is promoted from his current reserve driver role to a full-time role in Alpine, Kush Maini has a good chance of replacing him as the reserve driver of Alpine.