Paul Aron was candid about the realities of taking and maintaining the lead in the F2 championship in his rookie season, with half the season still to go.
In the round table press conference prior to the Austrian Grand Prix, Paul Aron talked about the Championship battle and the pressures of taking the lead in your rookie season.
Aron is an Estonian driver who used to be a member of the Mercedes Junior Driver Program. Unfortunately, he was dropped from the program at the end of 2023 as Mercedes opted to focus on 17-year-old Andrea Kimi Antonelli, who has emerged as the favourite for the 2025 F1 seat.
This left Aron without an F1 team supporting him coming into the Formula 2 Championship. However, the Estonian driver has managed an impressive 6 podiums in 6 races. Taking the championship lead in Monaco without achieving a race win.
Ahead of Austria, Aron admitted that his job was to “Adapt as quick as possible to the new car and try to lead the team in the right direction.”
Moving from Formula 3 into Formula 2, quickly adapting to a new team and a new car is vital to get results. But beyond pure performances, the Estonian acknowledges, “It isn’t always about results,”
“There’s a lot of things that go into decision made to get seats.”
Unquestionably, a prime example of this is Oliver Bearman and Kimi Antonelli. The two PREMA drivers are yet to stand on the podium this season in Formula 2. Bearman is currently 17th in the F2 standings and Antonelli is 9th.
However, their performances before F2, within F1 testing and their connections to the juniors driver programs of Ferrari and Mercedes respectively, make them top contenders for seats in F1 in 2025. Despite not leading the F2 championship like Aron.
Aron confessed “it’s way too early to think about the championship,” even saying “It doesn’t make you drive quicker.”
The only impact of leading a championship that Aron highlighted was in the team’s risk taking. “If you are not in a championship fighting position, then you normally take more risks than when you have a chance to fight for it.”
The first triple header for Formula 2 means a quick turnaround for both teams and drivers. Similarly, the season has a brief break, then goes straight into a double header.
“It’s important to start off strong and go from there.”
Paul Aron emphasised the importance of ‘momentum’ heading into a slew of races. “You arrive to this six-week period where you have five races in six weeks. The package you start with, I don’t think it changes massively because you don’t have really any time to develop the car.”
He also recognised that with the nature of Formula 2, being strong on one track doesn’t guarantee strong performances each weekend. Musing that the tracks are ‘really different’. This is something we’ve seen, with every team bar PREMA reaching the podium at least once.
Although leading the championship in your rookie year is incredibly impressive, Paul Aron shared the achievement with his team. “It seems like this year with Hitech and this new car, we have been getting it right.”
However, the Estonian driver also acknowledged that Formula 2 plays to his strengths as a driver. “I’m a driver who approaches a season with a structured learning approach and a wise approach. Which definitely plays itself in a long and difficult championship like Formula 2 because if we compare it to, for example, Formula 3, it’s such a short championship.”
With three wins under Aron’s belt at the Red Bull Ring, he’ll be hoping to repeat these performances. Starting in P5 on Sunday, he aims to gain his first win in F2 and extend his Championship lead. However, Isaac Hadjar, who is second, is not far behind. Hadjar led the practice session and will be up there challenging Aron this weekend.
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