Written by Ellie Nicholls and Jacob Awcock
The Formula 2 and Formula 3 paddocks head to the glorious surroundings in the dense Ardennes for their fifth outing in six weeks, before the entire paddock gets a month off to relax and catch their breath. DIVEBOMB brings you all you need to know ahead of the upcoming weekend of action.
Formula Two
Formula Two returns to the iconic Spa-Francorchamps circuit this weekend, fresh off the back of last week’s action. With some drivers looking to repeat the success they found out in Budapest and many more hoping to make improvements, the entire grid will be desperate to make this weekend count as the 2024 season rapidly approaches its conclusion.
Considered to be one of motorsports most challenging circuits, the fast sweeping corners that make up Spa’s 7.004km (4.352 mi) length will be a true test of the drivers’ skill- and courage.
The iconic Eau Rouge-Raidillon corner complex will push drivers to their limits, requiring a high level of precision and confidence to take the corners flat out- while also ensuring that they keep their cars on the track.
Bringing a lot of speed up the blind summit is vital, as the Kemmel straight provides good overtaking opportunities, particularly being one of the track’s two DRS zones. Despite being shortened by 75 metres ahead of this year’s race, both defending and attacking drivers must push to their absolute limits — or risk surrendering the position.
Last year’s sprint race got off to a chaotic start, as reverse polesitter Jehan Daruvala was denied the chance to fight for the victory when the headrest became detached from his car, forcing the Indian driver to retire from the race in the opening laps.
Enzo Fittipaldi claimed his maiden Formula Two victory as he successfully caught and passed Richard Verschoor for the lead in the final stages of the race.
Meanwhile the Dutch driver, who had inherited the lead following Daruvala’s retirement, was later disqualified from the podium due to a technical infringement - an issue that unfortunately follows after many of Verschoor’s strongest races.
It was a Prema front-row lockout in the feature race, with polesitter Oliver Bearman starting alongside teammate Frederik Vesti. However, things did not get off to a good start for the Italian outfit, as Vesti crashed on the way to the grid, forced to retire the car before the race had even begun.
Bearman retained his lead in the opening stages of the race — however, the remaining Prema driver also faced his fair share of bad luck. A slow pitstop for the British driver meant Theo Pourchaire was able to rejoin the track ahead of Bearman — who was later demoted from the podium after receiving a five-second time penalty.
With just two laps remaining, Jack Doohan on fresh, soft tyres was able to overtake Pourchaire for the lead, and crossed the line in first place to claim victory in Belgium — with sprint race winner Enzo Fittipaldi rounding out the podium in third.
This weekend, Prema will be aiming to find far more success at this circuit than they did last season, hoping to build on the strong performance we saw last time out from rookie driver Kimi Antonelli.
Although the young Prema driver was unable to hold onto his lead in Saturday’s sprint race - as tyre degradation and several lock-ups saw him drop down the order to 14th - his 12.5 second winning margin in the feature race is a clear display of his strong performance and impressive talent.
Meanwhile it was a second disappointing weekend in a row for Hitech driver Paul Aron, who amassed just five points last weekend in Hungary despite setting the fastest lap time during qualifying.
There was, however, a small glimmer of hope for Aron, as his title rival and current championship leader Isack Hadjar also faced difficulties last time out, failing to significantly extend his lead over Aron in the championship.
This weekend, both Hadjar and Aron will be desperate to avoid any mistakes and bring home a good points haul in Belgium, as Gabriel Bortoleto and Zane Maloney continue to close the gap to the leading pair.
Could we see Antonelli claim his third victory in three weekends out in Belgium, or will one of our 2024 title contenders reign supreme at the iconic Spa-Francorchamps track? Make sure not to miss this week’s Formula Two action.
Formula 3
Formula 3 arrives in Spa for the penultimate round of the 2024 championship. Just seven points separate the top four in the championship, meaning Spa will prove crucial for this, hoping to gain traction in the championship and pull away from their competitors.
Last time round
Championship leader Gabriele Minì's weekend was one to forget, as he failed to score a point all weekend, yet managed to maintain the lead of the championship.
Meanwhile it was all about Nikola Tsolov, the Bulgarian (who at one point faced suspension following an incident in Melbourne with Alex Dunne) claimed his third Formula 3 win, and his maiden feature race win.
A dominant performance saw him take the lead at the first corner and control the race, claiming the win and promoting himself to eighth in the championship.
For Leonardo Fornaroli it was a crucial race as he cemented himself further in the championship battle: fourth place in the feature race and seventh in the sprint, the highest placed scorer out of the top four in the championship over the course of the race weekend.
For second-placed Luke Browning and third-placed Advid Lindblad the same fortunes as those of Minì were experienced; only Browning scored points over the weekend, and it was just one in the sprint race.
All championship contenders will be looking to improve their performances for Spa, most notably Minì who has had a disappointing few races by his standards.
AIX Racing claimed their first win of the season in the sprint, a welcome change in fortunes which saw Nikita Bedrin claim his first win of the season with teammate Tasanapol Inthrapuvusa snatching second for a maiden podium.
Dino Beganovic finished the top three but felt he was pushed off the track following an incident with eventual winner Bedrin which saw the Swede lunge down the inside on lap 10, heading into the left hander of turn 3, but locked up and went straight on, handing second place to Inthrapuvasak.
Spa last year
Last year provided a third win for Caio Collet who dominated the sprint race having taken the lead on the exit of Eau Rouge but had to fight for it, battling away with Taylor Barnard to claim a maiden victory.
The damp sprint was full of drama with a huge collision between Pepe Marti and Ido Cohen. Marti was spun round by Gabriele Minì on the entry into Blanchimont, yet was able to rejoin all beit at the back of the field.
As the Israeli driver looked to rejoin the track, he didn’t realise that Cohen had shot round the corner and the pair made huge contact, Cohen spinning off to the left of the track while Marti was left with a destroyed front left. Immediately, Marti was on the radio apologising, recognising his mistake. Luckily both drivers walked away unscathed from the incident.
As the safety car was withdrawn with five laps to go there was drama out of Radillion as Gabriel Bortoleto pulled over to the side of the track with damage following contact with Dino Beganovic into the first corner. Both top two drivers in the championship suffered detrimental issues in the sprint race and lost valuable points.
With the stricken Trident stuck at the side of the track, away from any marshall posts, the race was neutralised again but this time for good. Recovering the car would take up the remaining four laps meaning Caio Collet claimed his third win of the season from Taylor Barnard with championship contender Paul Aron rounding out the top three.
In the feature race though it was a different story with Taylor Barnard claiming victory in a Jenzer 1-3-4 following a thrilling wet race which saw different tyre strategies be used by the teams.
On a damp track the race commenced following a rolling start instead of a standing start which saw Christian Mansell lead away from the start but on intermediate tyres.
Those that had started on the wet tyres though were much more accustomed and prepared for the conditions and charged up the field with Paul Aron flying up from tenth to lead by the end of the Kemmel straight, with Taylor Barnard promoting himself to second place from ninth by the end of the first lap.
The wet runners would have hoped for about ten laps to kill their tyres, but instead they had four: A monumental crash for Oliver Goethe heading into Eau Rouge meant the safety car was required.
With racing neutralised, Aron made the bold call to pit for slick tyres while everyone else was on wet tyres, promoting Barnard into the lead with Christian Mansell and Nikita Bedrin holding second and third. With six laps to go, the safety car was pulled in and Barnard led the rest of the field into turn 1.
All eyes were focused further back, however, on Gabriel Bortoleto, the championship leader who had pitted for slicks and dropped to 19th, but found himself quickly moving up to 14th after some audacious overtakes.
As the race reached its closing stages, Barnard was under immense pressure for the lead, with Mansell all over the back of the Jenzer car. Heading off the Kemmel Straight and into Les Combes, the pair were wheel-to-wheel with Mansell on the outside.
The pair made contact and Mansell had to head down the escape road to avoid further contact, easing the pressure slightly on Barnard to allow him to claim his first Formula 3 win, and prove to be the final piece in what had been a phenomenal weekend in Spa.
Mansell crossed the line a second and a half behind followed by the two remaining Jenzer cars completing a spectacular weekend for Jenzer.
There is no doubt Spa will prove to be crucial for the championship battle, and out of the top four, whoever leaves with the most points will have a huge advantage heading into the final round in Zandvoort.
With overtaking opportunities in the first sector mainly, turn one in both the sprint and feature race will be crucial. With contrasting forecasts for Saturday and Sunday, drivers will be tested throughout the whole weekend.
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