Abu Dhabi. Formula 2 Championship Showdown.

Abu Dhabi Sprint Race: HiTech’s Belgian driver Amaury Cordeel started from pole position as he had qualified tenth for the Feature Race on Sunday. Sharing the front row with him was AIX’s Joshua Dürksen from Paraguay. The sprint race took place in the daytime.

Campos Racing’s Spanish Red Bull Junior Josep Marti shot into the lead at the start from fourth on the grid. Cordeel lost second to Dürksen, then from eighth on the grid, Invicta’s Indian Kush Maini stormed into second before the end of the opening lap. The usual push and shove on the opening lap in the mid-pack did not result in any collateral damage despite Feature Race ART’s pole sitter, Victor Martins, spinning on his own. The Frenchman was able to continue.

Championship leader Bortoleto passed his teammate Maini to take second on Lap 6 of 23 as DRS was enabled. Championship challenger Hadjar reported damage to his right front wing after close combat and contact with Maini. By Lap 8, Hadjar had dropped down to 9th.

Top ten after ten laps. Marti, Bortoleto, Cordeel, Aron, Dürksen, Bearman, Beganovic, Hadjar, Miyata, and Browning. Beganovic is a Ferrari junior and finished sixth in this year’s F3. Miyata is a Toyota-supported driver and is affiliated with McLaren. Browning is in the James Vowles Academy at Williams. His claim to fame is winning last year's prestigious Macau Grand Prix, and he was third in this year’s F3 Championship.

Lap 12 saw Hadjar trying every which way to take seventh from Beganovic. The French driver reported to his team, “He’s defending for his life.” Upfront Bortoleto was closing in on the race leader; the gap was less than three seconds. Top five on Lap 15: Marti, Bortoleto, Cordeel, Aron, and Dürksen. Hadjar still hounded Beganovic for seventh and much-needed additional points. The Swede was able to hold off Hadjar’s challenge despite being in the DRS zone.

Lap 17 Aron sailed past his HiTech teammate Cordeel to move into podium position. Lap 18: Cordeel collided with Dürksen; only the Belgian was able to continue, but it allowed Bearman to move into fourth. A ten-second penalty for Cordeel was most beneficial to Hadjar. Beganovic moved into the top five with a pass on Cordeel on Lap 20.

With two laps to go, Bortoleto was two seconds behind Marti. The Brazilian was unable to make any further advances on Marti, which allowed the Spaniard to take his first F2 victory, making him the eighteenth different winner this season. Bortoleto’s second-place finish extends his championship lead over Hadjar to 5.5 points. Aron continued his good performance and was the third man on the podium.

Beganovic was fourth in only his third F2 race. Bearman was fifth, followed by Hadjar, Browning, Verschoor, ex-Red Bull junior Crawford, and current Red Bull junior Oliver Goethe, completing the top ten.

After the race, Aron was disqualified. The DRS wing opening exceeded the allowed limit. This promoted Beganovic to his first F2 podium, and others behind him also moved up one place higher.

Championship leader Bortoleto and his challenger Hadjar were expected to put on a Max vs. Lando-style battle; the Brazilian already has a seat in Formula 1 for next season, and the Frenchman is almost there. The excitement was off the shelf as soon as the five lights went off. Bortoleto shot into the lead from second on the front row, and Hadjar, who had qualified third, experienced what he called “the worst moment of my life” as he stalled on the grid.

That was all she wrote as far as the championship was concerned.

Bortoleto enjoyed a lead of 1.8s at the end of the opening lap over Invicta teammate Kush Maini, who was under intense pressure from the Campos car of Sprint Race winner Marti. Beganovic was fourth, Dürksen fifth, pole sitter Martins was down in sixth, followed by German Red Bull Junior Oliver Goethe, Japanese Miyata, F1-bound Bearman, and Cordeel, who completed the top ten.

Hadjar rejoined the race as Maini defended his second place, this time from Dürksen. On Lap 5 of 33, Bortoleto led from Maini while Hadjar was 21st and a lap down. DAMS’ American Jak Crawford and VAR’s Mexican Rafael Villagomez became the first two retirements of the race.

The race leader was told to box on Lap 8 and came out in eighth just ahead of Dürksen, who had pitted earlier. The top five, Marti, Cordeel, Verschoor, Esterson, and Browning, all still had to make their mandatory pit stop. Hadjar was nineteenth. Lap 10, Bortoleto complained on team radio about his brakes not working while trying to get the tires up to temperature.

After a dozen laps, Marti led the race; Bortoleto had moved into the top ten behind Martins in ninth. Dürksen in eighth was the net race leader. Hadjar was posting fast laps but still languishing in nineteenth and still a lap down.

Halfway through the race, Marti led from Verschoor, followed by Cordeel, Esterson, Browning, Aron, and AIX’s Cian Shields, all still running on the original rubber they started on. Hadjar, while not moving up the order, maintained his sense of humour, saying on team radio, “Now I’m in traffic paradise.”

Lap 18: Dutchman Verschoor drives past Marti to grab the lead. With less than ten laps to go and the front runners still yet to pit for a change of tire compound, the battle was heating up between Dürksen, Martins, and Bortoleto for the win. The Paraguayan seeking his first feature race win, Martins hoping to regain the top spot he lost at the start, and Bortoleto hoping to clinch the championship on a winning note.

Marti made his pit stop on Lap 27 while running third. This moved net race leader Dürksen into third, Martins fourth, and Bortoleto into fifth. Race leader Verschoor made his pit stop on the following lap, which put Aron into the race lead, and he is expected to box soon. The Estonian came into the pits on Lap 29.

Now, it was a straight fight to the finish between the top three, separated by less than three seconds. Dürksen led ahead of Martins with Bortoleto all over the Frenchman to snatch second place from the Alpine junior, which he was able to achieve with a little help from DRS.

Three laps and two seconds separated the Brazilian from grabbing the race lead and victory from Dürksen. Martins was under threat of being taken off the podium from a fast-charging Verschoor, in his 100th F2 race, on fresh rubber.

On the final lap, Verschoor grabbed third from Martins. Up front, Dürksen kept calm and carried on to his first Formula 2 Feature Race victory. Bortoleto lost the battle to win the race but won the war for the championship.

The newly crowned F2 Champion, Bortoleto: “F2 Champion… Thank you to everyone supporting me this season. Couldn’t be happier than I am right now. Congratulations to Joshua for his first feature race win. Super proud, now let’s enjoy. Obrigado to all the Brazilian fans, and I’ll see you in F1.”

Bortoleto won the F3 Championship last year and is the second Brazilian in three years to be crowned F2 Champion. Aston Martin reserve driver Felipe Drugovich took the title in 2022.

In the final Drivers’ Standings, Champion Bortoleto scored 214.5 points and now moves into the top echelon of motor racing with Sauber. Hadjar was second with 192 points. He is waiting for the axe to fall on Perez for possible entry into F1 with Red Bull’s (R)B team. Aron was third, 163 points.

Maloney, fourth, 140, the boy from Barbados, would not win again after winning both races of the opening round. Jak Crawford completed the top five with 125 points. Still only 19, the American will stay with the DAMS team for his third season in F2. The “A” in the team's name is for one of the original founders, Rene Arnoux.

Much was expected from two Prema drivers, rookie Kimi Antonelli and second-year driver Oliver Bearman. The Italian finished sixth in the championship with 113 points. His English teammate was twelfth with 75 points.

In the Teams’ Standings, top honours went to Invicta (drivers Bortoleto/Maini) with 288.5 points. Campos was second (Hadjar/Marti) on 254. Third was Dutch-based MP Motorsport (Verschoor/Goethe) with 220.5.

Completing the top five were Oli Oakes’ HiTech team (Aron/Cordeel) with 202 and Prema (Bearman/Antonelli) with 194 points, respectively.

In 2025, the official Formula 1 feeder series will race into action along with the boys in March at Albert Park, Melbourne.