F2 | Imola: Colapinto and Hadjar win, Aron gets closer to Maloney

Imola has proven to be a tough track for overtaking not only in Formula 1, but also in the two preparatory categories supporting the main series. However, this does not mean that there was a lack of twists and turns in Formula 2 too, because one of the two races was resolved in the final laps, with a tough but decisive maneuver in the Tamburello area.

Even in the second race of the weekend, the Feature Race, the tension was palpable until the checkered flag, because Isack Hadjar had to defend himself strenuously from the attempts of Gabriel Bortoleto, who sought the victory after starting from the pole position obtained on Friday .

Good fourth place for Andrea Kimi Antonelli in the Feature Race after difficulties in the short race on Saturday, when a bad start extinguished his hopes of getting back into the points, while it was an unlucky weekend for Oliver Bearman. After taking the lead at the start of the longest race, the British driver lost time in the pits where the car stalled twice, effectively excluding him from any discussion for the top ten.

Maloney maintains the lead of the standings thanks to the podium obtained in the sprint race, but Paul Aron, with a good weekend, closes his gap to just five points from the top. Hadjar was further behind, but with a gap of only nine points from Maloney.

Sprint race: Colapinto at his last breath

Even though the Imola track put the drivers to the test from the point of view of overtaking, making it very difficult to find a gap to overtake a slower car, on the other hand there was no shortage of decisive but beautiful manoeuvres, like the one that allowed Colapinto to snatch victory from Paul Aron on the last lap in the sprint race.

Taking a step back, however, the short race was immediately affected by an accident at the start involving many cars, while the two Hitechs took the lead of the race. An accident which, clearly, forced the Safety Car to intervene to remove the damaged cars.

The real catalyst for the confusion at the start occurred when Roman Stanek rear-ended Dennis Hauger who spun, prompting Joshua Durksen to brake to avoid him, an action which left Enzo Fittipaldi and Isack Hadjar with no way out. All the cars involved suffered significant damage, while Gabriel Bortoleto’s reactivity should be noted, as he narrowly avoided being involved in a contact.

Franco Colapinto, MP Motorsport (Dutch Photo Agency)

Furthermore, still at the start, Kimi Antonelli, who started from sixth place with the grid inverted, was the author of a slow sprint, which is not exactly unusual in F2 even with the older generation of cars.

With just 17 cars still in the race, the action resumed on lap six with Aron in the lead, who had managed to take the lead of the race ahead of his teammate earlier thanks to an excellent sprint from the third spot on the starting grid . An error by Amaury Cordeel exiting the final corner opened the door for Colapinto to snatch second place, around two seconds behind Aron, who was then able to close in the following laps.

On a track where it is really difficult to overtake, the ranking remained unchanged for a long time, even if it is worth mentioning the penalty inflicted on Pepe Marti of a 10 second stop&go for an infringement linked to the starting procedure, which clearly earned to many pilots a position.

However, the ranking changed in the last stages, when on the 23rd lap Zane Maloney overtook Cordeel with a nice maneuver on the outside of the Tamburello which earned him the final third place, a key result for maintaining the championship lead against an Aron who , at that moment, was still in the lead.

However, there was no shortage of surprises on the last lap, with Colapinto author of a maneuver as beautiful as it was decisive on Aron, again at Tamburello, gaining the lead of the race a few kilometers from the checkered flag. Following a mistake by Aron at Rivazza on the penultimate lap, the MP Motorsport driver got close to the starting straight, before completing the decisive maneuver in the first chicane. Believing he had been forced off the track, Aron questioned the legality of the overtaking: although the maneuver was noticed by the stewards, no infringement was identified, arguing that the move did not merit a sanction.

Paul Aron, Hitech Pulse-Eight, 2nd position, Franco Colapinto, MP Motorsport, 1st position, and Zane Maloney, Rodin Motorsport, 3rd position, on the podium.

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

For Colapinto this was the first victory during this championship, which, at the end of the sprint, led to six different winners in seven races during this 2024. Behind Colapinto and Aron finished Maloney, Cordeel, Bearman, Bortoleto, Verschoor and Maini closed the points, while Antonelli did not go beyond tenth place after the problem at the start.

Feature race: Hadjar rejects Bortoleto

If the sprint race ended with an overtaking on the last lap, the feature race did not have the same twist. However, that doesn’t mean there was a lack of tension, because Isack Hadjar really had to sweat to maintain first place from late attacks from Gabriel Bortoleto, who was desperately seeking victory after taking pole on Friday.

In fact, the Brazilian from Invicta and the McLaren Academy, who was sporting a nice helmet tribute to Ayrton Senna, was the author of a terrible start at the start which made him slip to fourth place, promoting Bearman to the lead ahead of Hadjar and Durksen.

Given the very small gaps, the starting quartet closed in tightly, so much so that Hadjar and Durksen attempted to undercut at the end of the sixth lap given the difficulty in completing overtaking maneuvers.

Gabriel Bortoleto, Invicta Racing

Photo credit: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Bearman and Maloney stopped the following lap, but unfortunately the Prema driver saw his chance of winning disappear in just a few seconds, as he stalled not once, but twice. The difficulties in restarting the car had a fundamental impact on his race, causing him to slip back in the standings to 21st place, now clearly outside the points zone. Clearly these problems, combined with Prema’s difficult weekend in Bahrain, the race missed in Saudi Arabia to replace Sainz in F1 with Ferrari, as well as the unfortunate weekend in Australia, are weighing heavily on his ranking, which sees him as low as twentieth with only 6 points under your belt.

With the alternative strategy, Amaury Cordeel and Pepe Marti seemed capable of undermining the most noble positions in the classification but, once again, there was no lack of confusion in the pits. The right rear tire on Cordeel’s car came off as he exited the pits, flying through the air, although fortunately he didn’t hit any pit lane workers. Furthermore, a few moments later Pepe Martì also lost his rear tyre, in this case the left one, leading both the Spaniard and the Hitech driver to retire.

At the end Bortoleto got closer to Hadjar by continuing to apply pressure, but without finding the necessary opening to launch the attack that would have led him to achieve an emotional victory thirty years after the death of his idol. Behind them was Joshua Durksen with AIX Racing, which changed ownership in recent weeks.

Andrea Kimi Antonelli, Prema Racing

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Excellent fourth place for Andrea Kimi Antonelli, author of a solid Feature Race in which he had to defend himself from Colapinto and Aron at the end, even if he clearly benefited from the problem experienced by Bearman in the initial phase which allowed him to recover a position. For the Italian it was another good test after the Feature Race in Melbourne, where he also finished in fourth place, not far from the podium.

With Maloney not scoring any points, having only finished eleventh, Paul Aron, sixth across the finish line, reduced the gap in the standings to five thanks to sixth place. Hadjar is now just nine points off the top.

Closing out the points are the DAMS duo with Crawford and Correa, as well as ninth place for Martins and tenth for Verschoor.