Written by Ellie Nicholls, Edited by Umut Yelbaşı
After a long summer break, Formula Two returned to the iconic Temple of Speed this weekend, with two new drivers taking to the track for the first time in the series during today’s sprint race.
Dominating in both practice and qualifying, Zane Maloney claimed his maiden pole position this weekend - meanwhile Gabriel Bortoleto had a difficult start to the weekend after a spin in qualifying saw him start from the back of the grid in both races.
Qualifying tenth, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Enzo Fittipaldi started in reverse pole position for today’s sprint race, chasing his second victory this season.
First Lap Chaos
It was a great start by reverse polesitter Enzo Fittipaldi, but the VAR driver’s rapid getaway was immediately overshadowed by a dramatic incident towards the rear of the field.
Coming across the track, Zak O’Sullivan made contact with Formula Two debutant Oliver Goethe, causing the latter to spin into the wall and both drivers to retire from the race. Also caught out by the incident was Kimi Antonelli, with the Mercedes-bound rookie limping back to the pits after contact with O’Sullivan saw him lose a front wing.
Towards the front of the field, Enzo Fittipaldi went deep into turn one over the gravel, allowing Pepe Marti to snatch the lead before the yellow flags came out. As the safety car was called out to retrieve the stranded cars of O’Sullivan and Goethe, the top three positions were held by Pepe Marti, Enzo Fittipaldi and Victor Martins respectively.
The scramble for position continues
As the safety car peeled back into the pits on Lap 4, Fittipaldi took advantage of the slipstream behind race leader Marti to attempt a late-braking overtake into the chicane.
However, a massive lockup from the Brazilian driver saw him take to the run-off area - not only conceding first place to Marti but also losing second to Victor Martins and then third to Oliver Bearman within just a few corners.
Current championship runner-up Gabriel Bortoleto, after gaining five places on the opening lap, was continuing to make rapid progress through the field - much to the frustration of championship leader Isack Hadjar, who, in opposite fortunes to that of Bortoleto, found himself in tenth place after a poor getaway from the grid.
DRS was made available on Lap 5, prompting a wide array of overtakes throughout the field. As Zane Maloney passed Dennis Hauger and Jak Crawford made moves on Hadjar for 10th, Bearman used DRS to finally overtake Martins for second place and began to close in on race leader Pepe Marti, who had been unable to extend his lead out of DRS range.
Despite Marti’s determination, Bearman’s blistering pace was unstoppable, and a mistake from the rookie on Lap 7 allowed Bearman to soar into first place, gapping Marti by a second within a lap as Martins also overtook the Campos driver for second.
As Marti continued to drop back, struggling slightly with tyre degradation, Joshua Dürksen was quickly progressing to the front of the field after starting tenth on the grid. The AIX driver had found himself in third place after a daring overtake on Fittipaldi, who was facing some difficulties after his early lock-up.
The race began to settle into a sort of rhythm around Lap 16, with Bearman still out in front trading fastest laps with Martins in second place, and Maloney applying pressure to Fittipaldi and Marti but not ultimately able to make a move stick.
With so many cars being bunched together in the midfield for so many laps, and frustration rising as drivers were unable to make any progress, the contact between Zane Maloney and Paul Aron on Lap 19 was almost inevitable.
Although Maloney did not retain much damage from the incident, and was still able to cross the line in fifth place, Aron was unfortunately forced to pit with front wing damage, leaving him out of contention for any points.
Back out front, Bearman charged across the line in first place to claim his second victory of the year in front of his team’s home crowd, his lead unchallenged in the final stages of the race thanks to his incredible pace.
Victor Martins had to settle for second place after a solid performance in what has been a difficult season for him so far, with rookie Joshua Dürksen rounding out the top three - his second podium in Formula Two.
The fast-charging Bortoleto finished the race in eighth after a stellar performance that saw him rise 14 places in just 21 laps - importantly claiming the final points-paying position, alongside Hauger, in a race where his main championship rivals, Isack Hadjar and Paul Aron, failed to score.
After such a chaotic and drama-filled feature race here at Monza, expectations are high for tomorrow’s feature race. We’ll have to wait and see what the Temple of Speed still has in store for Formula Two!
Final points positions:
1- Oliver Bearman
2- Victor Martins *
3- Joshua Dürksen
4- Pepe Marti
5- Zane Maloney
6- Jak Crawford
7- Enzo Fittipaldi
8- Gabriel Bortoleto
8- Dennis Hauger
*Martins also claimed an additional point for setting the fastest lap of the race.
** Bortoleto and Hauger crossed the line at exactly the same time, forcing the two to split the remaining point.
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