Victor Martins took pole for final FIA F2 weekend in Abu Dhabi, as Gabriel Bortoleto was second ahead of Paul Aron and Isack Hadjar.
Victor Martins was able to outduel Gabriel Bortoleto to take Pole Position in a dramatic Yas Marina Qualifying. The ART Grand Prix driver’s 1:35.745 was enough to give him top spot for Sunday’s Feature Race. Neither driver could improve on their final attempt, with the Championship leader ending up just 0.035s off pole, while his title rivals Paul Aron and Isack Hadjar followed him in third and fourth respectively.
It was a fast-paced start to Qualifying with Martins setting the benchmark time early on with a 1:36.245, putting him two-tenths clear of Bortoletto early on. However, the drivers were able to improve on their second push laps on the Supersoft tyre, as the track ramped up. Early pace-setter Martins then bettered his previous lap to move to a 1:36.191 only for Bortoleto to eclipse his leading time moments later by 0.141s, with his Invicta Racing teammate Kush Maini now third.
In the Championship fight, Hadjar went from P14 on his first run to fifth on his second attempt, putting him just ahead of Aron in P6. With just over 11 minutes to go Martins put himself back on top of the leaderboard after the first set of laps with a 1:35.745. A relieved Bortoleto went to P2, 0.035s off the top time just seconds before a Red Flag came out with Rafael Villagómez having stopped on track.
Once the action resumed, it was a question of if the drivers could find more time on their second push laps on the Supersoft rubber. Neither Martins nor Bortoleto could, but Aron was able to as he made a late move up to third, while Hadjar stayed in fourth. Dino Beganovic ended up fifth for DAMS Lucas Oil ahead of Maini with Josep María Martí in seventh for Campos. Rodin Motorsport’s Ritomo Miyata wound up in P8 with AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen in ninth, while Amaury Cordeel’s late effort put him up to P10 and giving him reverse grid pole for the Sprint Race.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1864997630981337466
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of today’s Yas Marina Qualifying, Kush Maini has been handed a three-place grid penalty. The Invicta Racing driver was found to have impeded DAMS Lucas Oil driver Jak Crawford during the session.
After analysing evidence following Qualifying and hearing from both drivers and their team representative, the Stewards judged that Maini had unnecessarily impeded Crawford on the entry to Turn 16. As a result, the Stewards have handed Maini a three-place grid penalty which he will serve in the next race in which he competes.
Starting grid, sprint: https://www.fia.com/sites/default/files/decision-document/2024%20Yas%20Marina%20Event%20-%20F2%20Race%201%20(Sprint)%20-%20provisional%20starting%20grid.pdf
Lia Block –
Williams Racing is pleased to announce that American driver Lia Block will continue to represent the team for the 2025 F1 Academy season, racing with ART Grand Prix. Lia made her open-wheel debut in F1 Academy in 2024 following several years of successful racing in rallying and karting.
F1 Academy has seen her tackle a new style of driving, rapidly improving throughout the season to achieve fourth place finishes in both races during the Singapore Grand Prix. Lia continued her strong run on form in Qatar, qualifying in fourth and finishing Race 1 in sixth, and will go into the final race in Abu Dhabi 8th in the standings.
Lia will also continue as part of the Williams Racing Driver Academy. The Driver Academy supports drivers on every rung of the motorsport ladder, working with them on and off the track to develop the skills necessary to race at the top level. F1 Academy, the all-female racing series established by Formula 1, will enter its third season in 2025 with each Formula 1 team fielding a driver. All seven rounds of the series will support F1 races across the globe, beginning in March at the Shanghai International Circuit and ending with November’s season finale in Las Vegas.
Lia Block: “I’m excited to be racing with Williams Racing and ART Grand Prix for the 2025 season, and I’m looking forward to working with everyone in the Driver Academy for another year. We’ve made so much progress, and I can’t wait to hit the track again in Shanghai. This time we fight for wins!”
Sven Smeets, Sporting Director, Williams Racing: “We’re thrilled to have Lia racing with us in F1 Academy for 2025. Lia has shown impressive improvement throughout her first season of open-wheel racing, progressing race after race to end the year in a great position. We’ll be closely watching her continued growth in the coming year.”
[The story is as per press release]