Only hours after BWT Alpine F1 Formula One Team confirmed that Paul Aron (ARO), would be joining the team as Reserve Driver for the 2025 season, replacing Jack Doohan who will be making his F1 debut, the Estonian will start his penultimate Formula 2 (F2) sprint race from nineth place.
Will Aron match Friday’s performances?
The Hitech Pulse-Eight driver, currently fourth in the Drivers’ Championship standings, has performed excellently this Qatar GP weekend. He set the fastest lap times of the free practice and qualifying sessions. The Estonian put in an excellent qualifying performance. His lap time of 1:35.115 saw him outperform championship leader, Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto by 0.335 seconds. Aron will subsequently start Sunday’s feature race from pole position. He starts P9 for the sprint under the reverse-grid conditions. Aron had originally been meant to start from P10, but was promoted to P9, after Invicta Racing’s Kush Maini was handed a three-place grid penalty. Maini was found to have impeded Van Amersfoot Racing’s John Bennett during the session. He was subsequently start the sprint race from P12.
The 2024 season has been one of mixed results for the Estonian driver. Despite a strong start to the season, a series of unfortunate events during the Hungarian, Belgian and Italian Grands Prix saw the driver score only three points across the three weekends. This, combined with his struggles in Silverstone, saw the driver drop away from the top of the standings. However, Aron’s form appeared to improve in Azerbaijan with P6 finishes in both the sprint and feature races. Aron will hope that his dominant Friday performances are indicative of a return to the form that he enjoyed at the start of the season. With just two weekends left, he currently sits just 34.5 points behind Bortoleto. Though he will require luck to be on his side, Aron still remains in contention for the championship title.
Can Bearman capitalise on F2 sprint pole start?
Another driver who has had a mixed 2024 season, albeit across Formula 1 and Formula 2 is Oliver Bearman (BEA). The Prema Racing driver currently sits 18th in the Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship standings after scoring seven points across the three race weekends in which he has participated. Despite scoring no points in his latest F1 outing in Brazil, the nineteen-year-old, who will make his full-time F1 debut with Haas next season, remains ahead of Williams Racings’ Franco Colapinto (5 points from 7 GPs) and the ousted Logan Sargeant (0 points from 14 GPs), RB’s Liam Lawson (4 points from 4 GPs), Sauber’s Zhou Guanyu and Valtteri Bottas (0 points from 22 GPs).
However, despite showing immense potential in F1, he has struggled to score points in F2. With just two weekends left before the end of his final F2 season, he sits 15th in the standings with just 50 points. Bearman, who qualified P10, just one position ahead of Prema Racing teammate, Andrea Kimi Antonelli, will start the sprint at the front of the grid under reverse grid conditions. Antonelli, who will join Bearman in F1 next season, though with Mercedes instead of Haas, will start the sprint race from P10, despite qualifying P11.
F2 starting grid
Hadjar and Bortoleto in title race
Also starting at the front of the grid is Aron’s Hitech Pulse-Eight teammate, Isack Hadjar (HAD). The Red Bull Junior qualified P9 during Friday’s qualifying session, and will start Saturday’s sprint race from P2. This may be a good opportunity for the driver to gain some points on title rival Bortoleto. With 165 points, Hadjar sits second in the championship standings. However, with only 4.5 points separating him from Bortoleto, he remains very much in contention for the title.
Invicta Racing’s Gabriel Bortoleto (BOR), on the other hand, impressed during Friday’s qualifying, securing himself a P2 start for Sunday’s feature race. However, he will start the sprint race from P8 under the reverse grid conditions. He will want to make his way through the pack to add to his advantage in the championship standing.
Potential for first F2 points for Goethe
MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe (GOE), will round out the top three starters. The Danish driver, who finished seventh in the 2024 F3 Drivers’ Championship despite missing the final round in Monza, is in his third weekend as an F2 driver. He will, however, be hoping for better fortune, having scored no points and suffered two retirements during his previous race weekends. He currently sits 26th in the F2 Drivers’ Championship standings.
Impressive start for F2 debutant Beganovic
Another newcomer who will be hoping the impress at the Lusail International Circuit is DAMS Lucas Oil and Ferrari Driver Academy’s Dino Beganovic (BEG). The twenty-year-old, who finished sixth in the 2024 F3 Drivers’ Championship standings is making his F2 debut this weekend. He replaces Juan Manuel Correa. After an impressive performance which saw him finish qualifying P4, Beganovic will start his first F2 sprint race from P6 due to the reverse grid condition.
The starting grid of F2 Qatar GP sprint race
With no penalties handed out after qualifying, the starting line-up for Saturday’s F2 Qatar GP sprint race is: BEA, HAD, GOE, CRA, VER, BEG, VMA, BOR, ARO, ANT, JMA, MAI, EST, BRO, MIY, DUR, MAL, ACO, BEN, MAN, VIL and SHI.
Before the lights go out, however, Josep Maria “Pepe” Martí (MAR) appears to be out of the race. His car has a technical issue and will not be ready in time for the race. With him unable to leave the pitlane, he is forced to retire from the race.
F2 sprint underway at Lusail International Circuit
The drivers have all taken their places on the grid. Most of the grid have opted for the hard-compound tyres for the race. However, a few, including Hadjar in P2, have opted for the medium-compound. He will be hoping the the speed advantage will him him offset any complications from the increased tyre degration.
As the lights go green, Bearman gets an excellent start off the line. He keeps the lead ahead of Hadjar. Behind them, Victor Martins (VMA), who started the race from P7 on the medium compound tyres, has cut through the pack to get up to third. These medium compound tyres soon prove advantageous to Hadjar, who keeps right on the back of Bearman. In Lap 4, he makes a move down the inside at Turn 10 to get ahead of the Prema Racing driver. They two have now dropped Martins, who is coming under pressure from Jak Crawford. Richard Verschoor (VER), Paul Aron (ARO), Oliver Goethe (GOE) and Gabriel Bortoleto (BOR) round out the top 8, going into Lap 5.
At the back of the grid, Zane Maloney has also had an impressive start. He is now up to P12, having started P17 after a difficult qualifying session.
Back at the front of the grid, Hadjar is putting his medium tyres to good use. He had built up a lead of 3.4 second ahead of Bearman, who himself is 2.2 second ahead of Martins.
Goethe retires from F2 sprint
As the drivers get into the sixth lap of the race, a DRS train forms behind Martins. Goethe, however, is not part of that train. Despite an excellent start to the race, Goethe appears to have an issue with the car. This appears to be a terminal issue as he pulls over to the side of the road.
Just ahead of him, Crawford, who has shown good pace over the recent laps, attempts to dive down the inside of Martins at Turn 1. However, the ART Grand Prix driver defends well to hold on to his position. With Goethe now stopped, a virtual safety car is called. This neutralises the race, putting a stop to any further attack on Martins by Crawford.
The track goes green as the drivers get into the ninth lap of the race. With Goethe’s stricken car now cleared, the drivers are free to continue racing. Almost immediately, Crawford lauches another attack on Martins for P3. He runs wide at Turn 4, however, losing time to Martins. However, he holds on to P4, ahead of Verschoor. Behind them, Aron and Bortoleto are challenging Verschoor for P5. However, none pose a significant threat to Crawford in P4.
Medium tyre runners starting to struggle
Out at the front of the pack, Hadjar’s lead has fallen to below three seconds. The medium tyre runners, including Hadjar, are starting to struggle on their degraded tyres. This is good news for Bearman whose tyres appear to be in better condition. As things stand, only Bearman and Hadjar appear to be competing for the win. Behind Martins, a DRS train stretching all the way down to Antonelli in P12 has formed.
First half of F2 sprint race done
As the drivers get into lap 13 of the 23-lap race, Bearman is now just 1.7 seconds behind Hadjar and the lead appears to be dropping quickly. Bearman will need to avoid overworking his tyres, however. He risks coming under threat from Martins and the drivers in the DRS train behind him.
With just ten laps left, the standings are: HAD, BEA, VMA, CRA, VER, ARO, BOR, BEG, MIY, DUR, MAL, ANT, BRO, MAI, BEN, EST, ACO, MAN, SHI, VIL, GOE, JMA. As a note, Goethe has retired from the race while Correa was unable to start.
Into lap 15 of the race, Martins is still keeping Crawford behind him. The DAMS Lucas Oil driver, however, refuses to let up his challenge. Whether he will be able to get ahead to finish P3 remains to be seen.
Gap between Bearman and Hadjar closing
With just six laps to go, the gap between Hadjar and Bearman has dropped to under a second. Fortunately, Hadjar, however, puts up a good effort in the final sector and just manages to keep Bearman out of DRS range. Whether Hadjar can hold on the race lead remains to be seen, but Bearman shows no signs of letting up on the Frenchman.
While Hadjar’s medium tyres handed him the advantage he needed to get ahead of Bearman at the start of the race, they now appear to be a disadvantage. Bearman’s hard tyres have suffered far less degradation, and are helping him continue to close the gap between the two from runners.
Martin drops to P7
Despite holding on to P3 for the majority of the race, and excellent defensive work throughout the race, Martins eventually loses position to Crawford. Crawford, who had put up a relentless fight throughout the race, used his DRS advantage to get ahead down the main straight. He goes up to P3. Behind them, Verschoor, Aron and Bortoleto sneak their way past Martins. The ART Grand Prix driver is now P7, and is likely to finish in this position. It is a disappointing end to a very promising race for the Frenchman.
Just ahead of him, Aron and Bortoleto go wheel-to-wheel while competing for P5 down the main straight. However, the Estonia keeps position ahead of the Brazilian.
Bearman takes the lead of F2 sprint!
The gap between Bearman and Hadjar has now dropped to just three-tenths. The Campos Racing driver is doing a good defensive job, but it is not enough to keep Bearman behind him. With less than four laps left, Bearman takes the lead of the race, after a dive down the inside of Hadjar at Turn 1.
Hadjar, however, is unable to hold on to P2. He spins at Turn 3, and drops to fourth, behind Crawford and Verschoor. He is unable to attempt any challenge to make up the places, however, as the safety car is deployed. In their battle for points, Antonelli and Maini collided at Turn 1.
Safety Car deployed
With both Antonelli and Maini unable to continue the race, the race is again neutralised. Their cars will need to be cleared. With less than three laps remaining, it appears that drivers will cross the car under safety car conditions. This will be good news for Bearman, who will not have to defend his win.
Checkered flag
Under safety car conditions, Oliver Bearman leads the drivers across the finish line, securing his third sprint race win of the season. Crawford finishes P2 the F2 sprint race with Vershoor rounding out the podium in P3. Hadjar, who put up a strong, defensive performance for the majority of the race, finishes P4, just ahead of Aron in P5.
Final standings of F2 Qatar GP sprint
With the F2 sprint race now complete, the final standing are: BEA, CRA, VER, HAD, ARO, BOR, MIY, MAL, DUR, VMA, BEG, BRO, BEN, EST, MAN, ACO, VIL, SHI, ANT, MAI, GOE and JMA. Antonelli and Maini were unable to finish the race after their collision. However, Antonelli places higher than Maini due to being 0.1 seconds ahead at the time of their retirement.
FIA Formula 2 will return at 15:20 local time (13:20 CET) for the feature race.
