| Report – F2 Round 13 – Lusail |
It’s been a long time coming but Paul Aron capped a stellar Formula 2 season with a long overdue victory at the conclusion of a dream weekend for the Estonian.
The 20-year-old has been in spectacular form since opening Practice at the new-for-F2 Lusail International Circuit, host to the Championship’s penultimate round. Hot on the heels of securing his fourth Pole Position of the season, on Saturday Alpine F1 Team announced him for their 2025 Reserve Driver role, a hugely significant step in his career and a testament to what has been an incredibly impressive inaugural F2 campaign.
Today’s triumph is the icing on the cake and a huge boost for Paul’s 2024 Championship hopes. He leapfrogged Maloney for third in the title stakes and took a huge bite out of the gap to Hadjar and Bortoleto, who are almost neck and neck at the top of the Standings.
Credit also to Amaury Cordeel, whose hard work since Baku paid off with a significant step in competitiveness. He finished today’s race in P7, bringing the team’s combined Feature points tally to 34.
In yesterday’s 23-lap Sprint Race, Paul started from ninth on the reversed top-12 grid and gained four places to finish fifth. He edged into third place in the Standings but a two-place penalty for his part in a collision with Martins pushed him down to seventh in the race classification and back to fourth in the drivers’ battle. Nonetheless, every point counts and even the two he was awarded could prove decisive come the final round in Abu Dhabi.
Amaury had a tougher time in the Sprint, which was disappointing after such a competitive start to the weekend, particularly in Practice and his first runs in Qualifying. To mitigate a P18 grid slot he ran with the option tyre, which came close to paying off for the Belgian and for the front-runners, who had also opted for that strategy. He ended Saturday in P16.
Today was an altogether different story for both drivers, who kept their noses clean in a frenetic race that saw three VSC/Safety Car interventions. Paul finished second on the track but following the application of a five-second penalty for race leader Bortoleto he was the rightful race winner.
Amaury had a near-brush when Martins and Esterson collided directly in front of him but impressive evasive action ensured he was able to stay away from the melée to bring a good strategy to a successful conclusion. Today’s seventh place moves him two places up the Championship order.
Their combined results this weekend have taken a considerable chunk out of the gap to a top-three position in the Teams’ Standings and we move up the order from sixth to fourth and with a 2.5-point margin to third.
The title fight will go down to the wire at the season finale in Abu Dhabi next weekend (6-8 December) with Paul and Hitech central to the two Championship battles. Both drivers will have a hand to play in the Teams’ title.
Hear from Paul Aron, car number 17 and the 17th winner of the 2024 Formula 2 season:
“Finally, a first win in Formula 2. I don’t need to say it but it’s been a long time coming. There was some extra pressure because we’ve been in this position already three times, on pole from Friday and not getting the win on Sunday, so I am very very happy to finally get it.
“The car has been very good from the beginning of the weekend, so a big thank you to Hitech, who have done a fantastic job since Baku. We worked hard together during what has been a very long break and coming into these rounds I just decided that to cope with the pressure I would just focus on my own race and what was within our control.
“I don’t know why but this year I’ve either had a very good start, or if I’m on pole I have a bad start. Today I had the softer tyre and got massive wheelspin. I knew we were quick and I didn’t want to finish my race on my lap 1, so I was very happy to recover quickly and come away from the first corner in P2 because that gave us the chance to fight with our strategy.
“Two races remaining in Abu Dhabi to look forward to and hopefully we will carry this momentum through to end the season on a high.”
Results
Sprint Race – Saturday
Paul Aron – P7 (2 points)
Amaury Cordeel – P16
Feature Race – Sunday
Paul Aron – Winner (28 points)
Amaury Cordeel – P7 (6 points)
