Bruno Michel’s Column: Both Championships taking shape ahead of upcoming triple header

It has been quite the first five rounds of the Formula 2 season so far with both the Drivers’ and Teams’ Standings showing how close the action has been on track.
Our CEO Bruno Michel is here to take a look at it all as he assesses the battle at the front in both Championships, how the rookies are performing and why the upcoming triple header could prove vital in everybody’s chances.
As it stands, rookie Paul Aron is in the lead of the Drivers’ Standings, two points ahead of second-year Isack Hadjar.
The young Estonian displayed some strong skills in F3 last season, having finished third overall. He joined the F2 grid with Hitech Pulse-Eight, with a renewed determination that’s made him the most consistent driver of the season so far, having failed to score only once, in the Melbourne Sprint.
Even better, Aron has pocketed 5 podiums – one in each round, which is one more than former Championship leader Zane Maloney and third-year driver Dennis Hauger. What’s missing from Aron’s impressive F2 resume so far is a pole position – although he started from Pole in the Jeddah Sprint Race – and a win. Seeing how the Hitech ace has handled his season up until now, I would not be surprised if he added both achievements to his resume sooner rather than later.
But can he stop the man who has taken two Feature Race wins and another P2 on Sunday in Monaco? Isack Hadjar has kept on building on an extremely strong weekend in Melbourne. The Frenchman and his Campos Racing team have said it loudly and clearly: they’re in it to win it.
And so, the Spanish squad are now top in the Teams’ Championship, while Hadjar has moved up to second in the Drivers’ Standings, only 2 points off Aron. The Red Bull protégé will have to try and score more points in Sprint Races from the next round to match his impressive Sunday form, which will help him take the lead in the Standings.
Aron and Hadjar will need to keep the momentum going into the triple header, starting with Barcelona next week, where everyone spent three days of in-season testing.
It’s been four races since Zane Maloney last stepped onto the podium. The man who triumphed twice in a race weekend in the opening round at Sakhir has not been in a position to win again since. He lost the lead of the Championship last time out in Monaco, but he remains within touching distance of Aron and Hadjar. The next three rounds will be crucial for Maloney, who will have to match his rivals’ pace.
The four rookies who are currently in the Top 10 will also be looking at putting the triple-header to good use, starting with Zak O’Sullivan, our last Feature Race winner. Racing is mostly about hard work, with no room for mistakes. But sometimes, it’s also about timing and a bit of luck and sometimes, you do everything you can to be on the right side of luck.
That’s what happened to the ART Grand Prix racer in Monaco. Starting from P15, there was very little hope to even finish in the points. He delayed his mandatory pitstop until the last possible moment, wishing for a Safety Car or VSC, which lucky for him happened at the best time. That first win before a break and a triple-header was perfect timing for the reigning Champions who have been struggling since the introduction of the new F2 car.
Gabriel Bortoleto and Andrea Kimi Antonelli will also be under scrutiny in the next part of the season. The former has two pole positions to his name already, but no wins yet. He is two points ahead of Antonelli, who has showed that the more experience he gains, the stronger he gets. It will be interesting to see how both perform at Barcelona next week, along with another newcomer and race winner Franco Colapinto, currently eighth in the Standings.
Twenty points cover first to fifth in the Teams’ Championship, while 30 points cover first to fifth in the Drivers’ Championship, after a little over one third of the season. And a few contenders are yet to deliver at their highest level. For instance, who would have thought that Oliver Bearman and PREMA Racing would not have made a first appearance on a podium at this point of the season? In fact, PREMA are the only team this season without a podium so far.
Meanwhile, AIX Racing may be last in the Standings, but they have managed to score their first points, first podium and first win in a matter of two races alone.
Sitting at the top are Campos Racing. Apart from Jeddah, the Spanish squad have finished either first or second in the Feature Races so far, with either Pepe Martí in Bahrain, or Hadjar in Australia, Imola and Monte Carlo. What’s been missing, though, is for both drivers to score points at the same time regularly. The only instance where this happened was in Sakhir Sprint. This will need to change from Barcelona onwards should Campos want to distance themselves from their closest rivals as quickly as possible.
In the Drivers’ Championship, all 22 competitors have scored points, with eight different race winners out of 10 races. This season has been quite unpredictable so far, and more than ever, consistency will be key. The triple-header that will kick off next week at Barcelona will be crucial in the making or the breaking of everyone’s title hopes…