The 2024 FIA Formula 2 season is reaching its crescendo with just two rounds remaining. As those events loom on the horizon, Invicta Racing and Gabriel Bortoleto are poised to battle for both the Drivers’ and Teams’ championships, sitting atop both tables after Round 12 in Azerbaijan.
In F2, anything can happen, and it often does. That means there can be no resting of laurels just yet; both team and driver must maintain recent form to come out on top when the chequered flag falls in Abu Dhabi.
Here’s everything you need to know about how the 2024 F2 titles can be won…
How many races are left?
Results have been called for 12 rounds so far in 2024; 12 Sprints and 12 Features for a total of 24 races. Now just two events remain: Qatar and Abu Dhabi with a Sprint and Feature Race apiece.
How many points are up for grabs?
Across the two events, there are 20 Sprint points, 50 in the Feature Races, as well as four for pole positions and four for fastest laps still to play for. That leaves 78 total points on the table in the Drivers’ Championship (39 per round), and there are 130 points still on offer in the Teams’ Championship (65 per round).
Gathering momentum
Since his first F2 Feature Race win at the Red Bull Ring, Gabriel has been the in-form driver, only failing to score points in the Hungarian and Belgian Sprint Races. Including that Austrian win, he’s also taken a second place at Spa-Franchorchamps and another victory – going from last to first – at Monza.
In contrast, his rivals have scored considerably less often. Isack Hadjar – the championship leader until the last event at Baku – has had a total of seven non-scores in the same period, as has Paul Aron who led the championship earlier in the year. Similarly, early season points leader Zane Maloney has had five non-scores in that time.
The Drivers’ Championship
Last time out at Baku, Gabriel took the lead of the championship for the first time on 169.5 points, but as things stand, it’s a slim 4.5-point advantage. Certainly not enough to play it safe and cruise to the finish.
As always in F2, there are many different ways the next two rounds could play out, but if Bortoleto can keep up his Feature Race form – four top-five finishes including a win and a second in the last four rounds – then that will go a long way to securing the crown. Outscoring Isack Hadjar is a must, at least in the Feature Races, while he must also ensure he doesn’t drop more than 15 points per round to Maloney or Aron (the points difference between first and fifth in a Feature).
Hadjar, Maloney and Aron may be the realistic threats to Gabriel’s title chances – with the Estonian being the lowest placed and 36.5 points behind – but there are three other drivers who could also spoil the party: Jak Crawford, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Victor Martins. The French driver is the most unlikely to mount a challenge at 76.5 points behind, but Crawford and Antonelli could still be potential threats at 53.5 and 56.5 back respectively. Williams super sub Franco Colapinto is also within striking distance but is unlikely to be back in an F2 car before the end of the season.
The Teams’ Championship
Invicta Racing has been closing in on the top of the Team’s standings for some time, and at the Belgian round, drew level for the points lead. Gabriel’s outstanding comeback drive at Monza and yet more consistent scoring in Baku has seen the team extend its advantage at the top of the table on 243.5 points, but with a huge number of points still available, a strong weekend for another team could mean a huge swing in the order.
Invicta’s nearest competitor, Campos Racing, is 35.5 points behind in the standings, so there’s a buffer of 17 points per round that can be dropped (the difference between first and sixth in a Feature). Results from the last two events do play in Invicta’s favour though – Campos has only scored on one occasion with a fourth place in the Monza Sprint race.
MP Motorsport are also a viable threat at 62 points behind, but beyond that, it becomes increasingly unlikely that another team could overhaul the deficit. That’s not to say impossible though, this is Formula 2 after all. Eight out of the total 11 teams on the grid can still theoretically get the job done, so Invicta will need to avoid the distractions of the other teams and focus on running its own races at the final two events, targeting consistent point scoring as it has done all year.
