Pepe Marti became the 18th different winner in the 2024 Formula 2 season in an Abu Dhabi sprint race that was decided by a phenomenal start which propelled him from fourth to first by Turn 1 of the 23-lap event.
The Campos driver was followed home by championship leader Gabriel Bortoleto, who started behind title rivals Isack Hadjar and Paul Aron but made an equally impressive start to overtake his contenders in the opening stages.
Aron finished third meaning he dropped out of title contention, making it a two-horse race for the championship. But things got worse post-race when he was disqualified for running a DRS actuator, "modified to extend the length of the piston by 1 millimetre, allowing a wider opening of the DRS wing".
As a result, the Estonian will now also start the season-ending feature race from the pitlane.
With 26 points left available on Sunday, Bortoleto now holds a four-and-a-half point lead over Hadjar – who finished sixth but gained a place with Aron's troubles.
In a chaotic opening lap that saw Marti launch to the front, Kush Maini flew from ninth to second as Bortoleto followed his Invicta team-mate up to fifth. This fast start for Maini included contact with Hadjar into Turn 1, as he entered the corner with his left-front fully locked and slid into the front wing endplate of the Campos.
Feature race pole sitter Victor Martins retired in those opening exchanges after being struck by Ritomo Miyata’s Rodin at Turn 6 – the Japanese driver receiving a 10s penalty for his actions.
After the eventful lap one, the race settled into a rhythm, though Bortoleto was aiding his title bid with further gains on Joshua Durksen and Amaury Cordeel putting him in third and directly behind Maini.
On lap six, Bortoleto completed a textbook DRS move on Maini for second while Aron and Hadjar ran sixth and ninth.
With Maini dropping to the chasing pack he was powerless to prevent Hitech drivers Cordeel and Aron from powering by, while Durksen overtook around the outside of Turn 9 on lap eight.
Oliver Bearman, Dino Beganovic and Hadjar followed past one lap later, shuffling Maini out of the points.
Bearman was the biggest gainer on lap one, climbing seven places, but as the medium Pirelli rubber struggled to manage the 24-lap distance, the Prema driver was among an ever-growing number of drivers seeing times deleted for track limits breaches. With a handful of laps remaining, he received a 5s penalty for the consistent violations.
Team orders are not commonplace in F2 and this was evident as Cordeel put up a stout defence on team-mate Aron. But this was resolved on lap 17 when a lock-up opened the door and allowed championship challenger Aron through.
A further lock-up for Cordeel while defending into Turn 6 resulted in contact with Durksen. While Hadjar gained a place on Durksen’s stricken AIX, he gained another point when Cordeel was hit with a 10s penalty – promoting Hadjar to sixth.
Aware that his advantage was shrinking, Bortoleto attempted to close the margin to leader Marti. But he was unable to make significant gains and crossed the line 2.2s behind in second.
F2 Abu Dhabi sprint race result
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| Cla | Driver | # | Laps | Time | Interval | km/h | Pits | Points | Retirement | Bonus | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |
P. Martí Campos Racing
|
21 | 23 |
38'36.039 |
188.620 | 10 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 |
G. Bortoleto Invicta Racing
|
10 | 23 |
+2.286 38'38.325 |
2.286 | 188.434 | 8 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 |
P. Aron Hitech Pulse-Eight
|
17 | 23 |
+13.971 38'50.010 |
11.685 | 187.489 | 6 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 |
D. Beganovic DAMS Lucas Oil
|
8 | 23 |
+18.828 38'54.867 |
4.857 | 187.099 | 5 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 |  O. Bearman Prema Powerteam |
3 | 23 |
+19.547 38'55.586 |
0.719 | 187.042 | 4 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 |  I. Hadjar Campos Racing |
20 | 23 |
+22.980 38'59.019 |
3.433 | 186.767 | 3 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 |
L. Browning ART Grand Prix
|
2 | 23 |
+26.798 39'02.837 |
3.818 | 186.463 | 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 |  R. Verschoor MP Motorsport |
11 | 23 |
+27.896 39'03.935 |
1.098 | 186.375 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 |  J. Crawford DAMS Lucas Oil |
7 | 23 |
+29.768 39'05.807 |
1.872 | 186.227 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 |
O. Goethe MP Motorsport
|
12 | 23 |
+31.618 39'07.657 |
1.850 | 186.080 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11 |
L. Fornaroli Rodin Motorsport
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5 | 23 |
+33.307 39'09.346 |
1.689 | 185.946 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 |  R. Miyata Rodin Motorsport |
6 | 23 |
+33.784 39'09.823 |
0.477 | 185.908 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 |  R. Villagomez Van Amersfoort Racing |
15 | 23 |
+34.727 39'10.766 |
0.943 | 185.834 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14 |  A. Cordeel Hitech Pulse-Eight |
16 | 23 |
+36.268 39'12.307 |
1.541 | 185.712 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15 |
M. Esterson Trident
|
22 | 23 |
+40.756 39'16.795 |
4.488 | 185.358 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16 |
J. Bennett Van Amersfoort Racing
|
14 | 23 |
+43.493 39'19.532 |
2.737 | 185.143 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17 |
C. Mansell Trident
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23 | 23 |
+45.303 39'21.342 |
1.810 | 185.001 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18 |  K. Maini Invicta Racing |
9 | 23 |
+52.570 39'28.609 |
7.267 | 184.434 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 19 |
C. Shields PHM AIX Racing
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25 | 23 |
+1'00.505 39'36.544 |
7.935 | 183.818 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 20 | V. Martins ART Grand Prix |
1 | 22 |
+1 Lap 39'37.069 |
1 Lap | 175.780 | 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| dnf |
J. Duerksen PHM AIX Racing
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24 | 18 |
+5 Laps 30'43.067 |
4 Laps | 185.448 | 1 | Accident | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| View full results | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
