Formula 2 came to Qatar on tour for the first time, so all teams and drivers faced the task at the beginning of the weekend to study the characteristics of the new circuit as best as possible and adapt to them, as qualifying lasted already taking place on Friday evening.
Based on the results of this session, the starting order was determined for both Sunday’s race and tomorrow’s sprint, where it is partially reversed. The circuit in Losail is characterized by high speeds and is quite comparable to Silverstone in terms of tire loads. That is why teams here in F2, just like in Formula 1, work with Pirelli tires of the toughest compound. The difference is that in the youth series there are two: Hard and Medium. Of course, the second is suitable for qualification.
In terms of the number of points earned, the difference between the drivers actually competing for the title is very small, so the price of each bonus point still to be won in the two remaining stages of the season is very high.
Gabriel Bortoleto has 169.5 points, Azek Hadjar 165, Paul Aron 135 and his chances are much smaller, but as the leader of the personal classification said: it is too early to write off the Estonian racer. The events of today’s qualifying showed he was right.
Formally, Aron is only in fourth place, but Zane Maloney, currently in third place, will miss the season finale as he moves to Formula E, where he will compete for Lola, a new team with a historic name.
We remind you that the winner of qualifying in Formula 2 gets two bonus points, so on Friday evening at the Losail circuit everyone had something to fight for.
Rafael Villagomez was the first to show a more or less representative time, but he was immediately ahead of Jake Crawford, after which Bortoleto rose to the first line of the protocol. However, he was soon pushed away by Oliver Berman, but Paul Aron was the fastest on the first attempt and completed a lap in 1:37.619.
The video replay showed that Bortoleto was somewhat overzealous during his fast lap, and in one of the corners his car almost spun. Gabriel ‘caught’ it, but several tenths were lost.
On the second attempt he did everything as he should and improved on Aron’s time, but Berman completed the lap faster than him, and several other riders did the same and then finished the attempt, and the Estonian rider of the Hitech team led again the protocol. .
Bortoleto obviously could not accept this and in the next fast lap he posted a time of 1:36.586, returning to first place. At the same time, Hadjar was only 13th at this stage of the session. But there was still a second, decisive half of qualifying ahead, and for now the drivers returned to the pits for new tires.
Paul Aron and Victor Martin, an ART racer and participant in the Alpine youth program, were among the first to enter the track. The Frenchman occupied the third line of the qualifying protocol and ultimately stayed there.
But it was Aron who managed an excellent lap and improved Bortoleto’s time by half a second. At the same time, hard tires allowed at least two attempts in a row, so the fight continued.
Several drivers made mistakes by not keeping their cars on the track, including Berman, but without much consequence other than losing time.
Aron rode another lap faster: 1:35.427! Bortoleto lost only 0.023 to him, but Hadjar was hampered by traffic and on the radio he commented in very harsh terms on the actions of the racer, who actually blocked his path.
And then this happened: Bortoleto returned to the pits, probably feeling that the tires would not allow him another attempt, while Aron remained on track. And in the final seconds of the session, Paul once again confirmed that he has no equal in terms of speed in today’s qualifying; his result is 1:35.115 and this is the fourth pole position of the season for the Estonian.
In Sunday’s race, Bortoleto will start next to him from the front row, Victor Martin and Dino Begangovich will start from the second row. Hajjar showed only a ninth fastest time, but in tomorrow’s sprint he will start second, and the red and white Dallara of Oliver Berman will be on pole – he finished qualifying with a tenth fastest time, again ahead of Kimi Antonelli, his Prema teammate.
The results are being prepared…
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
