Gabriel Bortoleto, Isack Hadjar and Paul Aron are all contenders for the 2024 F2 Championship and they spoke about their approaches to the final race weekend of the season.В?
Two rookies, a second-year driver and half a point. That’s how the Formula 2 championship this year has taken shape. Zane Maloney was the lead driver after the opening round in Bahrain, but the championship leader soon became Paul Aron.
The 2025 Alpine Reserve started off his rookie F2 season strongly. He stood on the podium every round for seven consecutive races. However, Aron has struggled slightly, and he now sits 25.5 points behind the top two in the championship.
Isack Hadjar is competing in his second F2 campaign, having switched to Campos Racing for 2024. But the current championship leader is the 2023 Formula 3 Champion, Gabriel Bortoleto. However, Bortoleto only leads Hadjar by half a point.
Coming into the final weekend of the 2024 season, the F2 title is closer than it ever has been and all three drivers do stand a mathematical chance of becoming champion — Aron has an outside chance but it is still possible.
Ahead of the weekend action, the three drivers spoke in Virtual Media Roundtables to media, including FormulaNerds, about their approaches to the final weekend.
‘I’m ready to fight’
Bortoleto started his F2 campaign as the F3 champion. He joined the McLaren Driver Academy and has won two races this year. But he knows that his 2025 plans are confirmed, having joined Kick Sauber to race alongside Nico Hulkenberg next year.
However, when speaking in the VMR, Bortoleto admitted that having an F1 seat confirmed doesn’t change anything for this weekend. He told media:
“I’m ready to fight as hard as I need to. There is no limit. Whatever games he wants to play, I’m ready to do that.
“I don’t care if I had or not my seat, my approach would be the same to be honest. It doesn’t change the fact that I’m already signed in F1…”
The Brazilian said he thinks the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix weekend will be “fun and enjoyable for sure” and that he feels himself and Hadjar will continue “playing fair”.
For Bortoleto, his approach is the same as it’s always been. He said: “You need to keep yourself always cool and on the same level, in all situations. Good or bad, you need to be able to behave the same and go over situations like that.
“And I think coming to the last round, it’s all about doing exactly the same thing I did the entire season that worked very well for me.”
CLOSEST TITLE FIGHT IN #F2 HISTORY! ?
Just HALF A POINT separates championship contenders Gabriel Bortoleto and Isack Hadjar as they head into the season finale in Abu Dhabi! ??#AbuDhabiGP pic.twitter.com/Zlt5Ro2DFX
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) December 4, 2024
‘I’m just going to enjoy it’
Hadjar has a similar mentality to Bortoleto. The French driver admitted that “being in the fight” for a championship is a “privileged position”.
But for Hadjar, this weekend isn’t just about him. In the VMR, Hadjar touched on the importance of Campos Racing and being a part of their team. He said:
“Just the relationship I have with my guys. Sometimes you fit better in a different group of people and that’s what I felt with Campos. It’s more the human side than anything. I didn’t feel comfortable last year, but I felt comfortable in F3 with the same team, so that’s the main thing.”
Hadjar continued touching on how this weekend, he’s just “going to enjoy” it because he feels he’s done “all the hard work already.” The Red Bull Junior said:
“I really feel much less pressure than at the start of the season. I’m going to enjoy myself. I really want to bring the title to Campos, so I think it’ll be the most enjoyable weekend so far.”
‘They probably won’t be thinking about me that much’
Whilst Bortoleto and Hadjar have only half a point separating them, Aron is 25.5 points behind. The Estonian has fallen back to third in the championship, which he has secured no matter the outcome of the weekend.
Last time out, Aron secured his first F2 win in Qatar, which is what kept him in title contention. However, despite the points difference between him and the top two contenders, Aron has a pragmatic approach to Abu Dhabi.
Victory at last ?
Welcome to the #F2 winners club @PaulAron16 ?#QatarGP pic.twitter.com/2JQI5Y40cj
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) December 1, 2024
In the VMR, the Hitech-Pulse Eight driver told media that “mentally all of [them] should be in the same place.” Aron said that the three of them just need to focus on themselves and what they can control. However, he knows the outside pressure isn’t easy to ignore. The Estonian driver said:
“It’s always difficult to avoid and ignore all the outside pressure, and all the questions and all the thoughts. I’m sure Gabriel and Isack are both thinking about each other quite a lot. Obviously, there’s only half a point and I’m sure after practice, they’ll check where each one of them is, after qualifying they’ll check where each one of them is.
“And obviously, me, being a bit more of an outsider, I think I’m a bit more out of the picture. The positive is that they probably won’t be thinking about me that much, but at the same time, it doesn’t really change much for me.
“In the end, it’s another race weekend. You want to do the best you can, if you can’t win the title, you want to win the race. It’s the last race. I’ve got the win now for Hitech and myself, but two is always better than one.”
Aron continued admitting:
“So in that sense, nothing changes, but I do agree I have less of this outside pressure and outside factors, let’s say, bothering me and I would like to think that gives me an edge over the other two. But this last of pressure comes from being 25 points behind, so if I could change this lack of pressure for 25 points, I would do it.”
The final Formula 2 race weekend of 2024 kicks off tomorrow with Qualifying. There are then two races, a Sprint and a Feature, but the question is: who will finish as champion?
Headline image: X @Formula2