Marti wins as Bortoleto extends championship advantage

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.

With 26 points left available on Sunday, Bortoleto now holds a five-and-a-half point lead over Hadjar – who finished sixth.

Paul Aron’s third-place finish means he is now 27.5 points off the leader, making it a two-horse race for the championship.

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.