The 2024 high-end single-seater season commenced today with Formula 3 initiating its first of ten weekends consisting of 20-point scoring rounds. Meanwhile, Formula 2 began its 2024 season with the inaugural 14 race weekends comprising of 28-point scoring rounds.
Here are the reports of Thursday’s action at Sakhir:
Formula 2, the last frontier before aspiring drivers enter the realm of Formula 1, kicked off its 2024 season on Friday at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir. The race featured the all-new car designed by Dallara.
The qualifying order (top ten) was partially reversed, resulting in American Jak Crawford (DAMS Lucas Oil team) starting from the pole position.
A clean start saw the ex-Red Bull junior from Texas leading the opening lap, followed by Frenchman Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix), a second-year driver.
On lap 6, Zane Maloney from Barbados (Rodin Motorsport) overtook Martins, securing the second position. Crawford maintained his lead with a one-second advantage.
Maloney swiftly closed the gap on Crawford and claimed the lead on lap 8, starting from eighth on the grid.
After 10 laps, the top five were: Maloney, Crawford, Martins, Isack Hadjar (Campos Racing), and Enzo Fittipaldi (Van Amersfoort). However, Fittipaldi was later pushed down to sixth place by Paul Aron (HITECH GP).
By lap 25, Maloney had a 2.7s lead over Crawford, who held a similar advantage over Martins. Hadjar, starting from ninth on the grid, secured the third position on lap 16, surpassing Martins.
Towards the end of the race, while Maloney maintained his unchallenged lead, Hadjar faced pressure from his Campos Spanish teammate Josep Maria Marti. Due to his front tires being “totally destroyed,” Hadjar lost the final podium spot to Marti.
Estonian Paul Aron completed the top five, while Gabriel Bortoleto (Invicta Racing), Fernando Alonso’s Brazilian protégé, finished sixth in his F2 debut.
Zak O’Sullivan (ART Grand Prix) and Dennis Hauger (MP Motorsport) claimed the final points-paying positions in the sprint race.
Andrea Antonelli, the pre-season Hypemeister, Italian Kimi, and Mercedes junior, had a low-key start to his maiden F2 season, finishing 14th.
His second-year Prema teammate, Olie Bearman, a member of the Ferrari Driver Academy (FDA) and one of the title favorites, finished 16th. Meanwhile, Argentine Franco Colapinto (MP Motorsport) received a ten-second stop-and-go penalty for starting from the wrong spot on the grid.
DNFs (Did Not Finish) were Roman Stanek (Trident), Taylor Barnard (PHM AIX Racing), and Amaury Cordeel (HITECH GP). Bortoleto will start Saturday’s Feature race from the pole position.
Gabriel Bortoleto, who started in the front position, and Isack Hadjar, who also started in the front row, were left stunned and bewildered by the sudden surge of Zane Maloney, who quickly took the lead before the first turn.
Hadjar didn’t even make it to the second bend as a slight collision from Bortoleto caused him to spin out, and his race came to an end when he was hit from the side by Enzo Fittipaldi.
The safety car brought the pack together, but during the restart, Maloney was able to create distance between himself and the rest of the field. This marks the first time since the inception of the GP2 series in 2005 (now F2) by Bruno Michel and Flavio Briatore that a driver has won both opening races of the season.
The victorious driver expressed his joy, saying, “I’m incredibly happy to have won both the Sprint Race and the Feature Race this weekend. The Rodin team did an outstanding job, and I just had to drive the car as fast as I could. Thank you to everyone for the support. I know Jeddah will present new challenges, so we will continue to push forward there.”
Josep Maria “Pepe” Marti moved up one spot on the podium to claim second place, after finishing third in Friday’s Sprint race. Paul Aron secured third place 24 hours later.
Andrea “Kimi” Antonelli, Toto Wolff’s potential successor for the soon-to-be vacant Mercedes seat, managed to salvage a single point from his tenth-place finish in the feature race.
In an interview with GPWeekly last year during the Monza F4 race, Arvid Lindblad discussed the advantages of winning in a new series. This victory on his debut is a significant achievement for young drivers. Lindblad is only in his second year of single-seater racing.
After his impressive win, Lindblad commented, “I just won my debut in the Sprint Race today, and overall, I’m really happy with the race. I’m extremely grateful to the team for doing a phenomenal job. I made a few mistakes, so there are definitely areas for improvement, but we’ll analyze the data and strive to perform even better in tomorrow’s Feature Race.”
Starting in pole position, Dino Beganovic, who has Swedish and Bosnian heritage and is also a Ferrari junior driver, had a challenging race. Sebastian Montoya, the son of beloved F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, also participated in this series but qualified towards the back of the grid.
Laurens van Hoepen from the Netherlands secured second place, with Leonardo Fornaroli from Italy finishing third. American racer Max Esterson, who comes from a Sims racing background, claimed sixth place. Mini Monty finished in 18th position.
Beganovic, who took pole position for Saturday’s feature race, experienced a puncture on the first lap and ended up being the last car to finish the race.
Dino Beganovic, the aspiring next Super Swede, had a stroke of misfortune yet again. Starting from the front position, he had a slow beginning which caused him to fall behind in the race.
Luke Browning, a British driver who had a commanding performance in the Macau Grand Prix last year, took the lead on the first lap and maintained it throughout the race. He emerged victorious in the opening feature race of the F3 season, leaving no room for doubt.
Christian Mansell, an Australian driver, secured second place, while Tim Tramnitz from Germany claimed the third spot on the podium. Arvid Lindblad, who triumphed in Friday’s sprint race, finished in eighth position.
Despite putting up a valiant effort, Beganovic was unable to score any points due to a string of unfortunate events in both races. He crossed the finish line in 13th place during the feature race.