The 2024 F2 season has come to an end after a year full of surprising moments, battles on the track and a championship decided on the last round.
What Made the F2 2024 Season So Exciting?
As Gabriel Bortoleto celebrates his championship victory, the team members are already dismantling everything, marking the end of the 2024 Formula 2 season.
This season was filled with surprises and twists, featuring an intense title fight that went down to the wire, and numerous drivers achieving unexpected victories.
The introduction of the new Dallara F2 2024 improved certain aspects of the cars but did not resolve the reliability issues faced by the drivers.
The reliability issues persisted also due to the Mecachrome engines.
This season has served as an adjustment period for both the teams and the drivers, providing valuable lessons along the way. It was also the backdrop for many thrilling moments on the track.
The Fight for the Championship
Zane Maloney’s Double Victory
Under the burning sun of Bahrain, the new Formula 2 season kicked off with its first round. It served as the official test bench for all teams. They had only been able to try the new car through three days of testing.
Kush Maini claimed the first pole position of the year.
This was an excellent result for the Invicta team, which had both of his drivers starting in the front row. Bortoleto, 2023 Formula 3 champion and a rookie in F2 with the British team, secured second position.
Unexpectedly though, Maini was disqualified for a technical infraction.
At Sakhir, the winners of the weekend were not Invicta, but rather Zane Maloney.
The Barbadian driver, who had been dropped from the Red Bull junior team and moved to Sauber, is the one who best adapted to the conditions of the circuit. He achieved a remarkable double victory, winning both the sprint and feature races that weekend.
This sent him in the lead of the championship. He remained in that position until Monte Carlo when Paul Aron overtook him.
From the beginning, the Estonian had a very solid season achieving at least one podium in each round until Silverstone.
Paul Aron Leads the Standings
No one seemed to have Aron’s consistency, even among the more experienced drivers. However, after the Hitech driver had taken his advantage to eleven points in the championship at Silverstone, everything changed when they got to Hungary.
Due to his own mistake, which also sent out Maloney, he was not able to collect any points. As a result, he fell back in the Drivers’ championship standings, behind Isack Hadjar.
The Franco-Algerian himself has improved a lot since last year. In 2024 he was able to fight for the Formula 2 title.
His first victory of the season came in Australia, a round marked by some tense moments.
At the start of the sprint race, Hadjar, Bortoleto, and Pepe Marti touched in a chain contact. This led to the withdrawal of the last two due to the heavy damage suffered to the cars.
Fortunately, both drivers were unhurt but Hadjar was penalized with ten seconds for the incident. The penalty sent him to sixth position. This prevented him from crowning the perfect weekend, having won the feature race the next day.
Hadjar’s successes did not stop down under, they continued in Europe as well.
In Belgium, he qualified behind Bortoleto and Aron. This encouraged him to fight for the victory from the first lap. After climbing up to the first position, he defended the victory from Gabriel Bortoleto until the end of the race.
In the standings, even the Brazilian had passed Aron who, due to a technical problem, was forced to retire. In the overall classification, the Estonian fell to third place.
Bortoleto vs Hadjar
For Hadjar, it was not over as Bortoleto was rapidly climbing the standings.
In Belgium, The Brazilian was already second in the championship. At Monza, he was the author of a historic comeback. After losing control of the car in qualifying, he was forced to start last in both races.
Despite this challenge, he managed to enter the points on both occasions. Even better, on Sunday he won the race.
Consequently, while Hadjar struggled all weekend, not taking home a single point, Bortoleto relaunched himself in the fight for the championship.
When they arrived in Baku, the Brazilian showed even more constancy. He scored fifth in the sprint race and fourth in the race on Sunday. His opponent once again did not collect any points.
Bortoleto climbed to first position in the standings, taking the championship’s lead with only two races left.
In Qatar, the situation became complicated for the Brazilian. Bortoleto and Hadjar came out of the weekend in Lusail just half a point apart.
Meanwhile, Aron felt comfortable enough on the new circuit and achieved his first win in Formula 2.
Three drivers arrived in Abu Dhabi to fight for the championship.
However, the Estonian was a little more detached from the two leading drivers. After the Sprint Race, only Bortoleto and Hadjar were left counting down the hours until the lights went out on Sunday.
However, In the Feature Race, before the fans could see any battles on the track between the two, the French-Algerian driver stalled at the start. This sent him to the back of the grid and he raced one lap behind the rest of the field.
As a result, 20-year-old Bortoleto from São Paulo won the 2024 Formula 2 championship. His victory brought an end to a season filled with twists and turns.
READ MORE: F2 Ends 2024 Season with Drama, Triumph, and Heartbreak in Abu Dhabi
The Best Victories
Besides the alternation of three leaders ahead of all in the standings, this season has marked the record in the series for the highest number of different drivers to have won a race in a year.
18 different drivers climbed the top step of the podium between Saturday and Sunday.
Franco Colapinto’s First F2 win
One of the most hard-fought victories was undoubtedly that of Franco Colapinto in Imola.
The Argentinian had been in the shadows until then, after having done a good campaign in Formula 3 that earned him a seat in F2 in 2024. Still, in the new series, he had not yet had the opportunity to showcase his talent.
However, he was not concerned and knew that by going on the European tracks he could best express his potential. And so it was.
On Saturday at Imola, after a fight until the last lap with Aron, Colapinto managed to overtake his opponent just in the final corners.
This test of strength, along with other actions during his year in F2, earned him the seat in Williams in F1 this year.
Zak O’Sullivan Surprises Monte Carlo
Among the surprises of the season, there is certainly the victory of Zak O’Sullivan in Monaco.
The Briton did not have a good qualifying and on Sunday he started from the 15th position. However, in Monte Carlo, the Safety Car changed the race.
Behind him, the drivers entered the pits to change tyres, with O’Sullivan staying out until the last laps.
The strategy of the ART team paid off. Thanks to a Virtual Safety Car, the Englishman returned to the pits without losing the lead of the race.
While Isack Hadjar had to settle with a disappointing second place, Zak O’Sullivan and ART Grand Prix crossed the finish line as winners for the first time this season.
Monaco was the first of three O’Sullivan victories in 2024.
Durksen’s Speed in Baku
Another rookie driver who managed to get his name on the list of this year’s winners was Joshua Durksen. The Paraguayan raced his first year in F2 after moving directly from FRECA as Andrea Kimi Antonelli.
He immediately showed great speed during the Azerbaijan weekend and, starting fourth in the Sprint Race, he climbed to the top step of the podium.
He accomplished another win in the last Feature race of the year, in front of Gabriel Bortoleto and Richard Verschoor.
ART Grand Prix and Prema Racing’s Difficulties Through the Season
Last year the ones that fought for the team and Drivers’ championships were those who had more difficulties with the new cars in 2024.
Prema and Art Grand Prix had some problems from the start to adapt to the changes of the 2024 season.
While ART Grand Prix and Prema struggled, the teams that have been in the background in recent years, had the spotlight this year. For example, Invicta Racing clinched the team title after finishing fifth in the 2023 standings.
ART Grand Prix: From Winners to Seventh Place
The French team, winner of the Teams’ and Drivers’ championship in 2023, concluded the year in seventh position in the overall ranking.
Only three wins, along with a long list of placements outside the points have damaged the team.
Among their drivers, O’Sullivan’s performances did not impress the team. On the occasion of the Baku Grand Prix, they announced that Luke Browning would take the place of the Englishman till the end of the season.
The swap was mainly due to O’Sullivan’s lack of sufficient funds to complete the season.
Even the most experienced driver of the French team, Victor Martins, faced a turbulent start to the season.
Before Bahrain, the Alpine driver was seen as one of the main contenders for the title this year, alongside Oliver Bearman.
Prema Struggling for Pace
Ollie Bearman had to deal with a car that was not easy to drive, from which he and the team were unable to unleash the best possible potential.
As a result, the FDA driver finished his second season in F2 in the twelfth position, with two victories but a sense of disappointment over a missed opportunity for a title fight.
Competing for the Italian team was also rookie Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who came directly from the Formula Regional European by Alpine.
The star of the Mercedes Junior Program tried to adapt as best as possible to the new car.
He won two races this season, which allowed him to close the championship in sixth position. This is a strong result for a driver transitioning from a series that features less powerful cars than those in Formula 2 and Formula 3.
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All Grid Changes During the Year
The F2 2024 season will surely go down in history as the one with the most changes to the line-up in the same year.
The first to leave the grid was Taylor Barnard. The English driver was chosen as a member of the McLaren Arrow team in Formula E and left AIX Racing to prepare for his next season in the new series. Danish Niels Koolen was chosen as a replacement for Barnard.
Williams announced the early termination of their contract with Logan Sargeant and the signing of Colapinto as their driver for the remainder of the 2024 Formula 1 season.
Colapinto, a member of the Williams Academy, has demonstrated his capabilities by finishing the Formula 1 championship with two points finishes.
MP Motorsport had to find a replacement for Colapinto on short notice for the Monza GP. Oliver Goethe was the Argentine’s successor at the Danish team.
In MP the surprises did not end there.
Their most experienced driver Dennis Hauger, during the break between Baku and Qatar, announced that he would no longer continue with the team to prepare himself for the 2025 IndyCar championship.
Form F3 to F2
At the same time as Hauger’s farewell, another announcement followed: Richard Verschoor took over from the Norwegian, terminating his contract with the Trident team.
It was a complete revolution for the Italian team, where Max Esterson and Christian Mansell graduated from the Formula 3 grid. The latter was chosen by the team after the departure of Roman Stanek from Formula 2.
Along with these names, three other drivers came from the 2024 F2 grid of Formula 3: Luke Browning, Dino Beganovic, and Leonardo Fornaroli. The former took over for O’Sullivan in the ART Grand Prix team.
Beganovic replaced Juan Manuel Correa from Qatar in DAMS, and he has already been confirmed for the 2025 season. From Lusail, Cian Shields and John Bennett also took part in the last two races.
The F3 2024 champion, Leonardo Fornaroli, took Maloney’s place in Rodin for the last round in Abu Dhabi as the Barbadian decided to begin a new journey in Formula E with Lola Yamaha.
Another driver who made his brief appearance in the F2 grid is Gabriele Mini, Formula 3 vice-champion, who replaced Bearman in Prema.
The Englishman had to fulfil his role as reserve driver for Haas in Baku, Replacing Kevin Magnussen after a ban race.
The Conclusion of a Thrilling F2 2024 Season
Bortoleto’s championship victory in Abu Dhabi marks the conclusion of the 2024 Formula 2 season.
Drivers have mixed opinions about the new car, as there have been numerous reliability issues across the grid. One thing is certain: the new Dallara F2 2024 has shuffled the competition, resulting in 18 different drivers winning at least one race throughout the season.
This level of competition gave nearly everyone a chance to shine, providing fans with thrilling battles on the track.
The biggest surprise this season has undoubtedly been rookie champion Bortoleto, who won the Formula 3 championship just last year. His future is secured, as he will be moving up to a Formula 1 car with Sauber in 2025.
On the other hand, some of the biggest disappointments have come from teams like Prema Racing and ART Grand Prix. They were strong contenders last year but have often found themselves in positions this season that don’t reflect their historical performance.
The 22 drivers have been the authors of some of the most exciting moments of the year.
For example the victory of Bortoleto from last to first in the Feature Race at Monza; the defence of Hadjar in Belgium; Aron’s constancy in the season or even the decisive overtaking of Colapinto in Imola and the thrilling podium of Correa in Spain.
As Bearman, Antonelli, and Bortoleto will leave the F2 2024 grid to move up to Formula 1, next year there will be new drivers and new challenges that will light up the circuits around the world.
