Formula 2: Maloney takes second victory in a row

Gabriel Bortoleto, a 19-year-old Brazilian and reigning Formula 3 champion, started the feature race of his debut weekend in F2 from pole position. Before the start he of course assured that he would try to get off the ground as best as possible and keep the lead, and then we would see how everything would turn out. After which he cheerfully added: “However, this is much easier said than done!”

And he turned out to be right, because he started very badly, immediately letting a few rivals go ahead and the lead was taken already in the first meters of the distance by Zane Maloney, the winner of yesterday’s sprint, who made a great start today from the second position.

The driver from the island of Barbados was ahead of not only Bortoleto, but also Isaac Hajjar, but then the following happened: in the first corner, Gabriel, who had missed pole, tried to make up for it, but did so very clumsily. He hit Hadjar’s car and sent him into a U-turn – blocking the track and Enzo Fittipaldi crashed into it.

Naturally, the safety car came out straight away and the stewards started investigating the incident. The safety car was still on the track when it was announced that Bortoleto was given a 10-second penalty. And Hadjar and Fittipaldi got out.

Maloney restarted confidently and retained the lead, Zach O’Sullivan was in second place, but Jose Maria Marti, ahead of Dennis Hauger, moved up to third. Jack Crawford completed the top five at this stage of the race, but he was not happy with this, so he pushed Hauger with all his might and finally made a beautiful overtake at Turn 10 on the fifth lap.

In the group of leaders, the battle for other positions continued: Marty was ahead of O’Sullivan and took 2nd place. And only Maloney was in no danger: he calmly led the race and gradually increased his lead.

On the 9th lap, Bortoleto, after collecting his thoughts after the first lap incident, switched to attacking actions again and was ahead of Hauger, rising to 5th place. The Norwegian, in turn, was already under pressure from Richard Ferschor and was almost overtaken by Ritomo Miata, a Japanese debutant in Formula 2. It was Miata who defeated Liam Lawson last year in the battle for the title in Super Formula, and now he masters the European approach to racing behind the wheel of a Rodin Motorsport team car.

After ten laps the mandatory pit stops started and Victor Martin was the first to decide to change tires, after which he ended up in the last, 19th position.

On lap 12 the Miata passed the much more experienced Ferschor and moved up to 7th place. After this the Japanese challenged Hauger, their duel lasted several turns and Ritomo once again emerged victorious.

Closer to half the distance the image stabilized, but this was a temporary impression as the wave of pit stops soon continued. At the same time, Taylor Barnard had to pit twice: he was given fresh tires, but when he returned to the track he complained on the radio that the rear wheels were not properly secured.

On the 16th lap, a strange collision occurred in the last turn of the circle: the cars of Amaury Cordil and Oliver Berman collided. This happened just before both were about to enter the pit lane. The stewards must make their judgment on this incident after the finish of the race.

During the pit stop, some problems occurred with Crawford’s car: he was one of the race favorites, but the engine treacherously stalled during a pit stop and the DAMS team mechanics were unable to start it again, although they still made an attempt. long time.

But this was not the only retirement at this stage of the race: after contact with Berman’s car, Kordil was unable to continue the fight and also turned to the side of the road and Martin stopped there. It appears that due to an electrical problem, his car’s engine simply turned off. Yellow flags appeared on the track again, after which the safety car came out for the second time.

Even at the first stage of the season there are many technical failures – this is most likely due to the fact that the teams are just mastering the new generation of cars and not all the “teething problems” have yet been cured.

Ten laps before the finish a restart took place – only 16 of the 22 cars that started continued to fight on the track. Maloney was still in the lead, followed by O’Sullivan and Marty in third. The Prema team drivers, Oliver Berman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli, started fighting among themselves for 8th position, and the moment was very tense. It all ended with the fast Italian ahead of his teammate, with Berman even falling outside the top ten.

Antonelli clearly wanted to cement his reputation as one of the most talented riders of his generation: despite the problems faced by the Prema team in Bahrain, he fought his way through and pushed past Kush Maini to move up to 7th place .

It is clear that the Indian Invicta Racing driver did not like this, and just one lap later on the start-finish straight he counter-attacked Antonelli thanks to DRS and regained his position. Next ahead of the Italian was Bortoleto, Maini’s teammate.

With five laps to go in the race, Marty made a successful attack on Zach O’Sullivan and moved up to 2nd place. And then the Briton, whose tires were already badly worn and were holding the track poorly, was overtaken by the Estonian Paul Aron, also a Formula 2 debutant.

On the 29th lap, Franco Colapinto made a successful maneuver against Hauger and reached the top five. On the next lap, Bortoleto took advantage of a mistake by Maini, his teammate, and took 7th position from him, and their cars almost collided. And then Gabriel also got ahead of Dennis Hauger and rose to 6th place. Maini then moved the Norwegian to a lower position.

The fierce battle on the track continued until the last corners of the last lap: Bortoleto also managed to stay ahead of Colapinto! If the race had gone on for a few more laps he might have been able to overtake O’Sullivan, but then it was all over. Zane Maloney achieved a brilliant victory, ie winning both races of the first stage of the season, something few achieve.

His black and green car, with a design reminiscent of a Sauber (Zane studies at the Sauber Youth Academy), crossed the finish line first, 4.6 seconds ahead of his closest pursuer. The pursuer was Jose Maria “Pepe” Marti, who also reached the podium for the second day in a row, but where he finished third yesterday, he finished second today.

Maloney and Marty were joined on the podium by the Estonian Paul Aron, for him this is also his first significant success in Formula 2. This composition of the top three confirms the conclusions that could be drawn after yesterday’s race: the debutants give Don’t stand up to the authorities, they actively push them aside, which makes everyone immediately pay attention to you, and this only makes you happy. More than half of the top ten drivers at the end of the weekend’s main race are newcomers.

We will find out very soon whether this trend will repeat itself in the future: next weekend the second stage of the season will take place in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, in the individual competition, the top three completely repeat the order in which the riders finished today: Maloney is confidently in the lead, Marty is in 2nd place and Aron is in third place.

Race results