Between chaos and unexpected winners, the third round of the 2024 F2 season comes to an end. What happened in Australia?
The third round of F2 ended with Isaac Hadjar winning the Feature Race and Roman Stanek winning the sprint race. Zane Maloney still holds the top spot in the championship, while behind him several drivers have swapped positions. In Australia, between accidents and overtaking to the limit, giving many F2 drivers a chance to showcase their skills. However, some drivers continue to face challenges. Here are some of the highlights from the last race weekend leading up to Imola.
Big incident at the start
At 14.15 in Australia, the lights went out and the third Sprint of the took off. Stanek started on pole, followed by Gabriel Bortoleto, Isack Hadjar, and Pepe Martì. Half of these drivers didn’t even make it through the first corner.
At the start of the Australian round, as Roman Stanek proceeds undisturbed, chaos ensues behind him. Martì positioned himself between Hadjar and Bortoleto, to pass them both. However, Hadjar did not seem to realize that his teammate was standing right next to him and began to huddle towards Bortoleto. This caused the contact between the three drivers, but it was only Bortoleto and Martì to go off the track, losing control of their cars and hitting the wall in front of the exit of the pit lane. Fittipaldi, who started from the pits, saw before his eyes the two cars crashing and blocking the way.
Fortunately, both drivers were fine although very disappointed that they could not continue the race. Hadjar, then, won the Sprint but was found guilty of the accident at the start and was awarded a 10-second penalty that sent him to sixth place.
2nd place in qualifying but no podium for Kimi Antonelli
Coming to F2, all eyes are on him, thanks to his excellent resume and close relationship with Toto Wolff. After the difficulties Prema had in Bahrain, Antonelli seemed to have found the right pace in Jeddah, securing sixth place in both races. In Melbourne, an unknown track for the Italian, Kimi seemed to be more comfortable during qualifying and managed to take the second position, just 3-tenths from Dennis Hauger.
However, during the Sprint, Antonelli made a mistake while overtaking and ended up off the track. In the Feature Race of the third round, he had a good start and, with the first stint of tires, he managed to keep up with the front-runners. However, his performance worsened after the pit stop. He couldn’t find the right speed, and he went down to fourth place. Nevertheless, he managed to defend himself against Miyata in the final laps, and he brought home his best result since his debut in F2.
Antonelli x Hauger x Maini ⚔️
The Feature Race saw multiple race leaders in the early stages 😲#AusGP #F2 pic.twitter.com/xTQYe9E8Zf
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) March 25, 2024
Hard F2 weekend for Ollie Bearman in Australia
After making his Ferrari debut in Jeddah, Ollie Bearman had some difficulties facing the race weekend. In qualifying, also because of the many red flags that prevented a clean session, the Englishman qualified only sixteenth. An uphill start, but it opened up the possibility of improving in both races. In the Sprint Race, Ollie managed to recover only two positions and in one corner he almost lost control of the car. In the Feature Race, he climbed to the points, finishing in ninth position. These are the first points of the FDA driver this year; at Imola, Bearman will be charged to recover the points lost in these first rounds.
Paul Aron and Zane Maloney are closer and closer
Among the drivers in the 2024 Formula 2 grid, Aron and Maloney are proving to be the most consistent in achieving excellent results. Aron has currently achieved three podium finishes in six races in F2, and he managed to get to the podium every time, except in the Sprint Race in Australia. Zane Maloney continues to lead the championship ahead of everyone, with two wins and a third-place finish in Melbourne. The Barbadian also failed to score points in the first race in Australia, but he recovered in the Feature Race. Now between the Estonian and the Sauber Academy driver, there are only 15 points in the F2 standings. Will the fight continue to be just between the two of them, or will another driver join the title fight?
