Isack Hadjar has extended his Championship lead with a victory in the F2 Feature race at the 2024 Belgian GP. Gabriel Bortoleto fought for a P2 in the race and moves to P2 in the Championship after a last-lap retirement for Paul Aron, who was running in P3. Consequentially, Jak Crawford inherited P3. Zak O’Sullivan came home in P4 followed by Richard Verschoor.
The Feature race also saw another six retirements along with Aron. Oliver Bearman and Josep María ‘Pepe’ Martí were involved in a racing incident at the start, ending the race for both. Franco Colapinto, Victor Martins and Rafael Villagómez were also involved in incidents, while Enzo Fittipaldi’s Van Amersfoort Racing car stalled at the pit stop and failed to restart.
It was a split-strategy race today, with the top four starters beginning the race on Softs, while Antonelli and below were on the opposing strategy starting on the Mediums. The former proved victorious, helping Hadjar extend his Championship lead.
At Lights Out
Aron secured a good start as Bortoleto and Hadjar filed in behind. Further down the pack, Bearman, not realising the grid was three-abreast heading into Turn 1, was across the track, collecting Martí in the process and narrowly avoiding collecting Zane Maloney.
The Safety Car ended on Lap 3. Aron had an early getaway on the restart, staying ahead of Hadjar who was hot on his heels. However, the Red Bull Junior would have to wait to try and make a move, because the Safety Car was back out a lap later.
On Lap 4, Victor Martins was into the wall coming out of Turn 6. Rafael Villagómez was squeezed wide by Taylor Barnard, sending him into a spin and catapulting across into Martins. Roman Stanek was into the pits early, changing from Medium tyres to Softs a lap before the mandatory pit window.
Pit Window Opens
The Safety Car was back into the pits on Lap 6. Now into the mandatory pit window, Hauger was in and onto Mediums. Antonelli up was up into to P6 past O’Sullivan on Lap 7.
Meanwhile, Hadjar was right on the gearbox of Aron. By Lap 8 he was on the hunt for the lead and ahead down the second DRS zone. Aron was into the pits on the next lap in an attempt to undercut Hadjar. Verschoor was past Crawford up for P3 but they were yet to stop. Out front, Hadjar still had good pace on the softs and was 2.3s ahead of Bortoleto, before making a pit stop a lap after Aron. The stop was slow, and while he came out ahead of Aron, the Estonian was on warmer tyres and rapidly closed the gap to the Championship leader.
Bortoleto was in to box on Lap 10 with 15 laps to go. While the stop went according to plan, the Invicta Racing team were forced to hold the car as Fittipaldi came in, losing a few seconds. Fittipaldi, having just entered for his stop, stalled the car and was unable to fire the Van Amersfoort back up. The Brazilian was forced to retire.
Aron vs Hadjar
Back out on track, Aron was chasing down Hadjar and regained the net lead on Lap 11. By the end of Lap 11 he was still ahead – but only by eight tenths of a second and still in DRS range of Hadjar. Hadjar seized the opportunity to snatch the lead back off of Aron on Lap 13 as his tyres hit the peak window and Aron’s began to drop off.
Up front, Verschoor led Antonelli, while Cordeel was fending off Maini and jostling for position. However, as those up front were yet to box, tyres soon fell away. Maini was first to pull in for a fresh set of Softs on Lap 15, followed by Antonelli. It was a woeful stop for the PREMA; the front jack failed to prop the car up properly, leaving the Italian with a slow stop and down on track position in P14.
Trouble Begins for Aron
On Lap 17, Bortoleto was up to net P2 after overtaking Aron on fresher tyres. The Hitech was starting to struggle having taken his pit stop first out of the frontrunners and pushing hard against Hadjar earlier on. Bortoleto was now the one Hadjar, the McLaren Junior soon cutting the Red Bull Junior’s lead to less than a second. Stuck behind Taylor Barnard who was within DRS of Juan Manuel Correa, Hadjar had no choice but to watch as Bortoleto shot up behind him. The frontrunners were soon past the two yet to stop, freeing them up to spar for that top step on the podium. Hadjar was quick to respond to Bortoleto’s advancements, eeking out of his DRS. Meanwhile, Aron was really struggling and had fallen into the clutches of Crawford in P4.
Bortoleto had fallen back from Hadjar now 1.4s behind. Track limits penalties were now also coming in for some of the back markers, making it more important than ever for those up front to stay on track. A clinical second-half drive by Hadjar saw him two seconds ahead of Bortoleto by the last lap. Aron was a further seven seconds behind, before slowing up on the side of the track with a technical issue. Just at that moment, Antonelli was up past Joshua Dürksen for the last points in P10. The PREMA was lucky to get by before the yellow flag was waved.
At the Chequered Flag
Crawford would then inherit the final podium position from the stricken Hitech, with Bortoleto coming home in P2 and unable to catch the winner of the F2 Feature race at the 2024 Belgian GP, Isack Hadjar. Zak O’Sullivan would finish in P4, followed by Richard Verschoor.
Featured image credit: Formula Motorsport Ltd.
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