Paul Aron secures back-to-back pole positions in a tight battle for pole in Belgium. Credit: Formula 2
As the season gears up to head into the summer break, the F2 cars head to Belgium for the tenth round of the season. Isack Hadjar leads the standings with 140 points. Paul Aron looms behind the Frenchman with 122 points; a disappointing outing in Silverstone saw the Estonian slip behind.
Recap of Budapest
Round 9 saw Kush Maini secure his maiden sprint race victory, the Indian inherited the win from Richard Verschoor who was disqualified from the race after it was found his car breached a technical infringement.
The following day Kimi Antonelli claimed his maiden feature race victory after dominating the race, crossing the line over 12 seconds ahead of Victor Martins. The sensational victory from the Mercedes Junior meant he moved up the standings into sixth position, just 11 points behind Enzo Fittipaldi.
Hadjar tops practice
Continuing his momentum, Isack Hadjar topped the timing sheets in practice with a 1:58.730, narrowly taking the top of the board ahead of Martins. Antonelli rounded out the top three for practice after a late attempt from the Italian saw the Prema driver jump ahead of Aron and secure third.
Qualifying gets underway
With 30 minutes on the clock, drivers began their out laps around the historic 4.3 mile-long circuit. Joshua Durksen was the first driver to attempt a push lap, however, Martins began slowing around the track, bringing the red flag out.
A tough beginning for Martins. Photo credits: Formula 2
A disappointing start to the weekend for the Frenchman who will be starting from the back of the grid for both races. With 24 minutes left on the clock, the drivers left the pit lane once again to put their first set of push laps onto the board.
Aron began his fastest lap, setting the benchmark for the session at 2:23.579, Durksen looking to eclipse the Estonian’s time was next to put a time on the board, slicing the time down and jumping to the top of the board with a 1:59.597.
It wasn’t long before more times were being placed onto the board, Hadjar was next to jump to the top of the board with a 1:57.803, his championship rival Aron slotted in just a tenth of a second behind the Campos Racing car.
The pair of Invictia’s were next to attempt a push lap, Bortoleto who sits third in the championship standings, slotted into third on the board. Maini crossed the line and improved into fifth position, bumping Colapinto down. The rest of the field retreated to the pits to preserve their tyres for the final run.
With ten minutes left on the clock, the drivers began exiting the pits. Hadjar remained at the top of the timing board, however, the 22 drivers on the grid were all improving on their times meaning it was all to play for with pole position. Aron jumped to the top of the board after an impressive middle sector, crossing the line with a 1:56.959.
Hadjar during his final run. Photo credit: Formula 2
Hadjar on his flying lap wasn’t able to improve on his time after realising his car was on safety mode - a disappointing ending to his session, seeing the Frenchman drop down to third after an improvement from Bortoleto slotted the Brazilian into second, just a tenth of a second off Aron.
Bortoleto attempted to go for pole on his final run, however, had to bail due to his tyres not being able to complete the lap. O’Sullivan in 15th, was on his final run, crossing the line in tenth, taking the sprint race pole position.
An incredible lap from Aron see’s the championship hopeful take pole position for Sunday, an exciting race awaits. The Estonian who has a ten-place grid penalty will start the sprint race from 20th.
The classification
1 - Paul Aron
2 - Gabriel Bortoleto
3 - Isack Hadjar
4 - Jak Crawford
5 - Kimi Antonelli
6 - Zane Maloney
7 - Franco Colapinto
8 - Richard Verschoor
9 - Dennis Hauger
10 - Zak O’Sullivan
11 - Amaury Cordeel
12 - Kush Maini
13 - Enzo Fittipaldi
14 - Juan Manuel Correa
15 - Oliver Bearman
16 - Ritomo Miyata
17 - Pepe Martí
18 - Rafael Villagómez
19 - Taylor Barnard
20 - Joshua Durksen
21 - Roman Stanêk
22 - Victor Martins
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