Gabriel Bortoleto targets F2 championship crown in Abu Dhabi ahead of F1 graduation

ABU DHABI: The 2024 FIA Formula 2 season has been one of numerous twists and turns, with championship contenders coming and going. Heading into this final weekend at Yas Marina Circuit in Abu Dhabi, there is a clear two-horse race between one driver confirmed to graduate to Formula 1 in 2025, and another with sights on his own promotion.
Similar to his 2023 rookie title success in Formula 3, Gabriel Bortoleto’s consistency was key to his elevation up the drivers’ standings, despite a challenging start to the year. The Invicta Racing driver, who will race for Kick Sauber in F1 next year, suffered three consecutive retirements in the Jeddah feature race, and both Australia outings due to collision damage and mechanical failure, stunting his early momentum.
Bortoleto’s response was impressive, however. Feature race wins in Austria and Monza in Italy, the latter a stunning last-to-first comeback victory, propelled the Brazilian driver into title contention. He is the in-form driver on the grid, and will look to follow in the footsteps of Charles Leclerc, George Russell and Oscar Piastri in immediately following his FIA F3 crown with the F2 title before focusing on his F1 debut.
Bortoleto’s closest challenger for the F2 title is Frenchman Isack Hadjar. The Red Bull junior driver has experienced contrasting fortunes to his rival, with four feature race wins — more than any driver — and looked to be racing towards the title earlier in the year. But the Campos driver only accumulated points in three of the last 10 races before the long break, ahead of the final two weekends in Qatar and Abu Dhabi. Should he return to form this weekend and claim the crown, he will certainly have staked his claim for his own F1 graduation with Red Bull sister team RB.
The Italian PREMA Racing squad, typically contending at the top of the Teams’ Championship and producing numerous F1 drivers, has struggled to get the best of the new FIA F2 car introduced in 2024. Its two drivers, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman, both headed for F1 next year, have been unable to fully demonstrate their abilities.
Antonelli’s two feature race wins, and Bearman’s two sprint race wins, are the grand total of the team’s success in 2024. The team will hope to sign off its season on a positive note this weekend, however, much like last year when Frederik Vesti took Sprint Race victory at Yas Marina Circuit.