Round 2 – Jeddah, Saudi Arabia – FIA Formula 2

Paul Aron was back on the podium at the weekend in Friday’s F2 Sprint Race held at the Jeddah Corniche Circuit. The Estonian driver has now secured successive third-place finishes in the first two rounds of the championship.

Thursday’s P10 qualifying result meant that Aron would start on the reverse-grid pole for the Sprint the following day. The 20-year-old maintained the lead ahead of fellow front-row starter Verschoor and comfortably held position for eight laps. He dropped down to P3 with two laps remaining, collecting a valuable points haul for the team. As a result of the later disqualification of original race winner Verschoor, Aron was elevated to P2, securing 9 championship points. 

“Obviously it is never good to start on pole and then finish third but it’s still our second podium of the year, which we can be very happy with,” commented Aron. 

“It is a completely different type of circuit, so it shows that Bahrain isn’t just an outlier, and we are completely in the game, both me and Hitech GP.”

It was a tale of misfortune for teammate Cordeel after he suffered a mechanical issue in the latter stages of the Sprint, which ultimately forced him to retire from the race.