Heartbreak for aron as Hadjar wins f2 feature race to extend title lead

Redbull junior Isack Hadjar took his 4th win in 2024 to put one hand on the championship trophy, as his rival Paul Aron had another race to forget after starting from pole.

Finlay McSporran
Published: 17:02, 28th July 2024

Race Report

Unlike Hungary, pole-sitter Aron had a good start as he held off Bortoleto to maintain he lead as they headed up Raidillion, with Hadjar looming large in the mirrors of Bortoleto, passing him along the Kemmel straight.

Behind them, as slow start for Maloney put him under pressure from Bearman, the British driver cutting across him as they approached turn 1 unaware of the fast starting Pepe Marti who had a also gotten passed Maloney but was taken out by Bearman to bring out the first safety car.

Racing would resume on lap 4 with Aron maintaining the lead from Hadjar, but the safety car was out once again to recover a stricken Victor Martins. The Van Amersfoort of Villagomez had dipped a wheel in the gravel at the Le Comes chicane, sending him spinning right into the path of Martins, taken them both out of the race.

The safety car came in on lap 7 with Hadjar all over the back of Aron. Lap 8 and the Frenchman was now right behind his championship rival, using DRS to pass him along the Kemmel straight.

Aron was the first of the leaders to box, coming in on lap 9 with Hadjar pitting a lap after, emerging out in front of the Estonian however with fresher tyres Aron got back ahead of Hadjar to re-take the net race lead.

He wouldn’t stay there for long however as just 2 laps later Hadjar had gotten his tyres up to temperature and had passed his rival for the net race lead.

A few laps later and the driver 3rd in the standings, Gabrielle Bortoleto was now closing in on Aron for P2, using DRS to pass him along the Kemmel straight.

With the 2 drivers nearest to him in the championship now ahead, it looked like things couldn’t get much worse for Aron. But on the final lap of the race his car came grinding to a halt, taking him out of the race and promoting Jak Crawford to the podium.

With his nearest rival out of the race, Hadjar came across the line to win for the 4th time in 2024, which swings the championship firmly in his favour as Aron lost out on the 15 points that he would have got for finishing 3rd had he not retired.

The podium would be completed by Gabrielle Bortoleto and Jak Crawford.

Championship Outlook

Aron’s DNF may very well be the defining moment in the championship as it allowed Hadjar to extend his title lead to 36 points. To add insult to injury, P2 for Bortoleto sees him move ahead of Aron in the standings as he now claims the position of top rookie. Maloney is P4 in the standings while a podium for Crawford sees him move up to 5th on 100 points.

As for the teams standings, it’s level at the top with Campos and Invicta Virtuosi both on 203 with MP motorsport in 3rd with 179.

Full Race Results (subject to change)

Pos	Driver	Team	Time
1	Isack Hadjar	Campos Racing	57m08.495s
2	Gabriel Bortoleto	Virtuosi Racing	+2.934s
3	Jak Crawford	DAMS	+12.093
4	Zak O’Sullivan	ART Grand Prix	+13.741s
5	Richard Verschoor	Trident	+19.392s
6	Zane Maloney	Rodin Motorsport	+21.282s
7	Ritomo Miyata	Rodin Motorsport	+21.884s
8	Amaury Cordeel	Hitech GP	+25.388s
9	Andrea Kimi Antonelli	Prema	+31.800s
10	Joshua Duerksen	AIX Racing	+32.446s
11	Juan Manuel Correa	DAMS	+39.528s
12	Dennis Hauger	MP Motorsport	+42.048s
13	Taylor Barnard	AIX Racing	+43.750s
14	Roman Stanek	Trident	+53.654s
15	Kush Maini	Virtuosi Racing	+58.831s
16	Paul Aron	Hitech GP	+1 lap
Ret	Enzo Fittipaldi	Van Amersfoort Racing
Ret	Rafael Villagomez	Van Amersfoort Racing
Ret	Victor Martins	ART Grand Prix
Ret	Franco Colapinto	MP Motorsport
Ret	Ollie Bearman	Prema
Ret	Pepe Marti	Campos Racing
Fastest lap: Aron, 1m59.029s Championship standings: 1 Hadjar 165 2 Bortoleto 129 3 Aron 124 4 Maloney 111 5 Crawford 100 6 Colapinto 96 7 Antonelli 87 8 Hauger 83 9 Maini 74 10 O’Sullivan 59