Category: Formula 2

Formula 2 heads to the streets of Monaco for round 5 of the championship. Monaco is a maximum downforce track with many slow-speed corners and very few straights, presenting a unique challenge for both teams and drivers. The lower average speeds compared to other tracks on this year’s calendar also put less demand on braking. Additionally, since the circuit is not used all year round for racing, drivers will encounter a very green surface. Finding grip and getting their tyres into the right temperature window ahead of their laps in Qualifying will be crucial this weekend as the last 4 Feature race winners have all started from pole at this venue.

Image credits: Formula 2 Media

How the championship looks like heading to Monaco:

The Campos driver Isack Hadjar is the man to beat right now. Having won the feature race in Australia, the Red Bull junior was also the quickest driver in the in-season test in Barcelona, he came to Imola and won the feature race again, helping him move up to 3rd in the standings with 59 points.

“What I like the most about the track is the layout, I think it’s amazing. I’ve won there before, it was actually the weekend I was signed by Red Bull, so it brings back a lot of memories for me. It’s a special place and I think it is the best track in the world.”
– Isack Hadjar speaking about Monaco

The championship leader Zane Maloney sits on the top with 68 points, only 3 points behind is the Hitech Pulse-Eight’s rookie Paul Aron. He has been on the podium four times this season, although he lost the sprint win in Imola on the final lap to MP Motorsport’s Franco Colapinto, who earned his first F2 victory.
Colapinto’s teammate Dennis Hauger is fourth in the standings, while Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto is fifth after securing pole position and second place in the Imola Feature Race.

AIX Racing also had a strong showing, with Joshua Duerksen achieving his and the team’s first podium by finishing third in Sunday’s feature race. PREMA Racing had a mixed weekend: a long pitstop dropped Oliver Bearman to the back of the field in the Feature Race after leading the opening laps, while Andrea Kimi Antonelli finished fourth on home soil.

Kush Maini finds himself 8th in the standings with 34 points. After a weekend that wasn’t up to the standards set by the Indian driver himself this season, the Alpine junior will look to make a comeback at a circuit where he enjoyed a good points finish last year when he finished 6th having started all the way back in 12th.

In the Teams’ Championship, Campos now leads with 85 points, having leapfrogged Rodin, Hitech, and MP. Only 10 points separate the top four teams, with Invicta Racing close behind in fifth with 72 points.

The unusual Qualifying in Monaco

Qualifying in Monaco is done differently, with drivers split into two groups based on their driver numbers, odd numbers in one group, and even numbers in another. Each group consists of 11 drivers and has 16 minutes to set their fastest time. The driver with the best overall time from both groups will secure pole position for the Feature Race, with the fastest driver from the other group joining them on the front row. The rest of the grid will alternate positions between the groups. This means, that if a driver from group A gets pole position then the whole group A will line up on the right side of the grid, as the pole position is on the right side of the grid.

For the Sprint Race, the fifth-fastest driver from the slower group will start on pole, and the fifth-fastest driver from the faster group will join them on the front row.

Race Strategy

This weekend Pirelli has brought the red-walled Soft and purple-painted Supersoft tires to Monte Carlo’s street circuit. The track generates less energy through the tires due to its lower average speeds. The preferred strategy is to use the Supersofts for as long as possible before switching to the Softs. Given the close walls, a Safety Car intervention is always possible, so teams must stay alert during pitstops. A poorly timed pitstop can cause a driver to lose significant ground, but a well-executed one can help them move up the order significantly.

Schedule and Where to Watch

You can catch all the action live on Fancode and F1TV, the timings in IST are given below:

Kush Maini achieved back-to-back podium finishes at the Sprint races at Albert Park after a podium at the Saudi Arabia GP the previous Race weekend.
Meanwhile, the young French driver Isack Hadjar demonstrated exceptional pace throughout the weekend by winning both the Sprint and Feature races on the track. Unfortunately, a penalty in the Sprint race resulted in him dropping to sixth place, allowing Maini to secure the podium spot.

Practice

Isack Hadjar was desperate to get his season kicked in after a disastrous start to the season with 3 DNFs in a row. Championship leader Zain Maloney was set to extend his points advantage whereas Kush Maini looked confident after big points in Jeddah finishing P2.

During Practice at Melbourne, MP Motorsport’s Dennis Hauger recorded the fastest lap time of 1:29.654. Isack Hadjar from Campos Racing followed closely in P2, just 0.001 seconds behind the leader. Prema Racing’s Andrea Kimi Antonelli took the third position, leading the charge for his team. While Maini manging a solid P6.

Qualifying

With two Red Flags, a long qualifying session ended with Dennis Hauger taking pole position in Melbourne for the Feature race after topping the session with a time of 1:28.694 closely followed by Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Richard Verschoor, and Kush Maini rounding up the top four. 10th fastest time for Roman Staněk meant he started the sprint race in the pole position

Sprint Race

During the race, Hadjar took the lead after a slow start, but he accidentally hit his teammate Josep María Martí while trying to pass pole-sitter Stanek. This caused Martí to collide with Gabriel Bortoleto, and both drivers were out of the race. As a result, the Safety Car was called on the opening lap.

On lap 10, Andrea Kimi Antonelli spun out, causing Richard Verschoor also to spin and Paul Aron to sustain front wing damage. Both Antonelli and Verschoor were out of the race, and the Safety Car was called once again.

On lap 15, Hadjar managed to pass Stanek once again and established a comfortable lead. He then set the fastest lap with seven laps to go and secured a three-second lead over the Trident driver, who was defending well from Maini.

On the penultimate lap, Hauger managed to overtake Maini, around the outside of the at Turn 9 to take third place. Maini followed in fourth ahead of Colapinto. But Hadjar was given a post-race penalty for his Lap 1 incident which made Roman Staněk the winner with Kush Maini promoted to the podium.

Feature Race

Dennis Hauger had a great start and managed to take the lead, with Andrea Kimi Antonelli following closely behind. Later in the first lap, Antonelli attempted to pass Hauger on the inside at Turn 11, which allowed him to take P1 for a short time. However, Hauger responded on the next lap and retook the lead at Turn 9 using the DRS.

There was a short virtual Safety Car on Lap 7 to remove Joshua Duerksen’s car from the track. Once racing resumed, Maini, who had chosen to start the race on medium tires, quickly gained ground with his better tire condition. He managed to take the lead from Hauger on Lap 9, thanks to the use of DRS. Maini was on an alternate strategy compared to the other drivers, and it seemed to work very well for him, as he was able to put in some fast lap times. He appeared to be on the best strategy to win the race.

But on Lap 11 polesitter Dennis Hauger crashed out and brought the out safety car which was a disaster for Maini as his lead over the pack disappeared however the Invicta racing team decided not to bring him into the pits retaining track position as the team principal commented safety car killed their strategy. Maini finally pitted for soft tires with 2 laps to go and finished a disappointing 12th place against what could have been a race win.

“Finally a race winner of a Formula 2 Feature Race. It feels great to do it here in Melbourne especially, it’s such an amazing track. Really happy and see you in Imola!”

-Isack Hadjar

“Obviously I am always thinking, the better result I get, the more points I get. We are all fighting for a Championship. It is early, there are a lot of rounds to go. It is not in my mind exactly but you know the better result, the more points so you are aiming to improve every race and get the most out of it. We did that today and hopefully, we can do that tomorrow.”

– Dennis Hauger after Sprint race.

“For sure, yesterday should have been a podium. From my side, I made a big mistake which lost me lots of places. Happy to be back on, bit of a chaotic race. For sure the pace has been good all year so far. I think we have proved that in each round. It is cool to have a clean Feature Race”

-Zane Maloney

Up Next

Formula 2 heads to Imola, Italy next for Round 4 from 18-19 May. Keep an eye on our channels for a detailed schedule in IST. You can catch all the F2 action live in India on F1TV Pro or Fancode’s Annual Subscription.

Sainz called in sick and skipped media duties on Wednesday. He later arrived at the track on Thursday to take part in practice sessions, describing it as the toughest day he’s had in an F1 car. On Friday, it was confirmed that Sainz had been diagnosed with appendicitis that required surgery, meaning he would sit out the rest of the weekend. The 18-year-old Bearman was informed hours before the third practice session that he would be driving Sainz’s Ferrari for the rest of the weekend.

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Bearman wasn’t a stranger to F1 machinery, having done two FP1 sessions with Haas last year, which impressed quite a lot of people, as well as a test in an older spec Ferrari in Fiorano.

“He drove the old car a couple of months ago, and he did very well,” commented Vasseur. “Last year he did two FP1 sessions with us in Mexico, and I don’t remember the other one. He did a good job on those too.”

Who’s Oliver Bearman?

Born on May 8, 2005, in Chelmsford, Essex, Bearman’s racing journey began with karting at the age of eight. Within his first year, he secured a top-five finish in the British Karting GP, marking the start of a successful trajectory. Bearman transitioned to single-seater racing in 2020, competing in ADAC F4 and Italian F4 with US Racing scoring victories in both categories alongside some podiums. In 2021, with Van Amersfoort Racing, he claimed both titles, winning 17 races during the campaign.

At the end of 2021, Bearman joined the Ferrari Driver Academy and moved up to Formula 3 with PREMA Racing. In his sole F3 season, he finished third, securing a sprint race victory in Belgium. This performance earned him promotion to Formula 2. Making his F2 debut in 2023 with PREMA Racing, Bearman had a strong campaign with four victories, including three feature race wins, and finished 6th in the drivers’ championship.

In October of the same year, he had his first experience in an F1 car, testing a 2021-spec Ferrari at Fiorano in Italy. The test mileage allowed Bearman to participate in two FP1 sessions for Haas in Mexico and Abu Dhabi.

“I don’t think you can fault him. He’s done really well. All the way from the initial preparation, he’s been very professional, very, very easy to deal with in every single process. I have nothing to complain [about],” said Ayao Komatsu, the then Trackside Engineering Director of Haas, prior to his recent promotion to Team Principal.

Bearman’s F1 Debut

Bearman started his F1 debut with a strong FP3 performance. He finished 10th, completing the most laps out of anyone on the grid, which shouldn’t come as a surprise as he needed as much track time as possible to prepare for his debut. He narrowly missed out on a Q3 appearance in his first ever F1 qualifying, finishing P11 in Q2, getting knocked out by fellow Brit and 7-time world champion Lewis Hamilton by just 0.036s.

“I woke up this morning focusing on my F2 race, starting P10, trying to think, how can we maximize that. And then at some stage, it was clear that I had to get in the F1 car. “What a great opportunity, of course, huge best wishes for Carlos and his recovery. But it’s a great moment and opportunity for me, and I’m ready to maximize it. A bit disappointed with the qualifying, but overall I can’t be too disappointed.

“It was so close, so close,” he added of the margin to Q3. “That’s why it hurts a bit more. I made a mistake on my first push [lap], so I had to do it on my second, and the tires aren’t really the best there, so my mistake and I’ll take that on the chin.”

Asked about his goals for his maiden Grand Prix, Bearman said: “Just bring the car back. Try and get some points, that would be a bonus, but build up my mileage, get some experience. It’s my first race, so I can’t expect much, and this is a really difficult track as well.”

Bearman made up four places to finish in 7th, scoring 6 points on his Formula 1 debut. But the points didn’t come easy as the young driver was left ‘physically destroyed’. The 18-year-old faced pressure from the threat of Lando Norris and Lewis Hamilton behind on fresher tires, but he ultimately held on to claim P7 and was also voted as the Driver of the Day.

“Destroyed. Physically it was a really difficult race! Especially in the end, when I had the two guys on soft behind me, I had to basically push flat out and it was a mentally difficult race as expected, and physically I was struggling too, but great fun out there.” said Bearman.

What’s next for the teenager?

An impressive performance in Jeddah could put Bearman on the radar of some teams, as most driver contracts are expiring this year.

“Yeah perhaps, but the most important [thing is], you know perfectly that the result of today will be behind us in a couple of weeks, and that he will have to be focused on the F2 because he has a huge challenge in front of him.

“This weekend cost him also a lot because he was supposed to start from pole in F2, it means to come back into the championship will be a challenge, but he will have the occasion to do some FP1 this year.” said Vassuer on wether bearman could find himself in any of the Ferrari powered teams.

At Haas, where Bearman will be joining the team for some more FP1 outings this season, Team Principal Ayao Komatsu was equally impressed by his performance. When asked if this puts him on the team’s radar for 2025 Komatsu said: “Yeah, absolutely. Last year when we had him in FP1 sessions in Mexico and Abu Dhabi, straight away it was obvious that he’s a total package. He’s so impressive, so I was very happy that we got him for six FP1s this year. [I’m] very happy for him.”