Formula 2 returned for the second year running through the streets of Melbourne for the third round of the 2024 Formula 2 season.
The Australian round provided another dominant run by a particular driver after Bahrain belonged to Zane Maloney and Saudi Arabia to Enzo Fittipaldi and Dennis Hauger. This time, F2 spotlights were set on the young French Red Bull Academy driver, Isack Hadjar.
19-year-old Parisian inserted himself into early championship conversation by delivering strong results in the first 3 rounds, predominantly the Australian one.
Campos’ hope for this year’s competition crossed the finish line in first place, in both the Sprint and the Feature race.
If it weren’t for a 10-second penalty due to a ‘lights-off’ crash that caused a DNF for his teammate Pepe Marti and Gabriel Bortoleto, Hadjar would have easily marched with a maximum amount of points scored in the two Melbourne races.
In a strange outcome of an incident, Bortoleto and Marti ended their race by colliding with an inside barrier next to the pit lane exit.
Hadjar’s Sprint Race misfortune became Roman Stanek’s fortune, as the Czech driver for Trident outfit got promoted, earning him his maiden Formula 2 victory.
The Czech driver, in the process, presented good defending skills by holding back Aron, Maini, Antonelli, and his teammate, Verschoor.
Hadjar’s phenomenal racing weekend elevated him to 4th place in the championship standings.
Campos’ Frenchmen is known to be a choice of Helmut Marko, therefore, recent performances would definitely put Hadjar into contention for the future within Formula 1.
Consistency is key to Formula 2 success
Persistent points/podium-driven results are of big importance, and that fact is heavily projected in the same-spec series to which F2 belongs.
Current holders of 1st and 2nd place, Zane Maloney and Paul Aron have been doing a wealthy collection of points contributing to another podium finish in the Feature Race by scoring 3rd and 2nd place respectively.
Maloney’s weekend could have ended up with a bad implication if the Barbadian’s gravel skidding in Turn 5 of the Sprint’s lap 7 concluded with a barrier touch.
Zane Maloney has managed to extend his lead to 15 points over the Estonian, whilst Paul Aron persists in being the only driver that has achieved at least one podium finish in each of the F2 rounds this season.
Paul Aron’s mature and well-composed mentality along with his ability to quickly adapt to a new machine swiftly put him into the role of a ‘dark horse’ for a title runner.
Moreover, it is easy to forget the remarkable Estonian results in recent years. Aron finished 3rd for three consecutive junior seater seasons in Formula Regional and Formula 3.
Bearman’s woeful season continues
Oliver Bearman’s second Formula 2 campaign continues to negatively affect Briton’s chances to confirm his championship status.
Despite the Saudi Arabian heroic drive that enabled Prema’s driver to clinch the 7th place in his first-ever race for Ferrari, the youngest-ever Scuderia driver has just managed to achieve its first two shy points in the Feature Race, albeit spinning in the last lap of the race.
Bearman also lost Sprint Race points due to contact with PHM’s Joshua Dürksen.
Bearman currently sits in the 19th place of the standings and is the last of the points scorers on the table.
It is still early into the Formula 2 season, but early indicators may suggest that the new chassis may not suit Bearman’s style, despite his initial positive comments about Dallara F2 2024.
His teammate Andrea Kimi Antonelli started the Feature Race from the front row and has shown a sign of dramatic development by losing a maiden podium spot to Maloney in the final stage of the Feature Race.
Antonelli was in a good shout for a Sprint race podium, but an unexpected spin in Turn 12 of lap 11, caused a premature end to the Italian’s dreams of the inaugural Formula 2 podium.
It seems that the tire management remains a wound for Prema’s Italian early into the season. The enormous switch of a category from FRECA to Formula 2, rather than Formula 3 will certainly make Mercedes Academy drivers more patient to carve a skillful F2 tire management as time goes by.
Competition is wide-open
Despite Maloney’s and Aron’s consistency in the first 6 races of the season, the interesting feat that the current Formula 2 season possesses is the dominance of a particular driver during a racing weekend.
Excluding Hadjar’s demotion from the Sprint victory, this season already had a 66% rate of an F2 driver winning both Feature and Sprint races.
Before this season, it would have been almost impossible to imagine a driver winning both races in the reversed format.
Perhaps new regulations enable set-up differences to be of an even greater significance, and these would potentially create a performance gap between teams.
A season in which one team would fare clear on one track and then on another would underperform is a very welcoming feature to spice up the season even more.
Formula 2 is heading to the European leg of the season. Drivers will now have a long break of almost two months before they visit Imola for the 4th round of the season.
Formula 2 Driver’s standings after 6/28 races
| 1. Zane Maloney | Rodin Motorsport | 62 |
| 2. Paul Aron | Hitech Pulse Eight | 47 |
| 3. Dennis Hauger | MP Motorsport | 41 |
| 4. Isack Hadjar | Campos Racing | 34 |
| 5. Kush Maini | Invicta Racing | 33 |
| 6. Enzo Fittipaldi | Van Amersfoort Racing | 32 |
| 7. Pepe Marti | Campos Racing | 26 |
| 8. Jak Crawford | Dams Lucas Oil | 26 |
| 9. Andrea Kimi Antonelli | Prema Racing | 24 |
| 10. Ritomo Miyata | Rodin Motorsport | 16 |