Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd
Hitech GP’s points leader Paul Aron says Formula 2 is yet to reach a “real reference point” on who is contending for this year’s title.
Ahead of this weekend’s Red Bull Ring round, which marks the halfway point of the 14-round season, Aron and his closest title rival Isack Hadjar were asked if they thought the title battle was now only realistically between themselves.
“I mean, we’re not even halfway through the championship, and I don’t think there’s much of a gap with the rest, so it’s definitely not between Paul and I at the moment,” said Campos Racing driver Hadjar, who is nine points behind Aron and 16 ahead of Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney who is third in the standings.
“We still have a long way to go. But I agree. We’d say now the gap is basically one race win [covering the top three], which is starting to be already something [sizeable],” added Aron.
“But I mean the big picture, it’s a bit too early to say still, and I think the real reference point will be after this triple-header and then the double-header that follows basically straight up. When we go into the summer break, we’ll have a good idea where everyone is.”
Rounds six, seven and eight at Barcelona, the Red Bull Ring and Silverstone take place on successive weekends, then there is one week off before rounds at the Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps. After that is a one-month break, with two rounds in September and two in December concluding the season.
Mathematically, nobody is ruled out of F2’s title battle yet. The last driver who was 25 points or more behind after 12 races and was able to become champion was Mick Schumacher in 2020, when he trailed Callum Ilott by 42 points at that point of the season and beat him to the title by 14 points. That was a 24-race campaign, while this year’s field have 28 races and therefore the opportunity to score 78 more points over the remainder of the season than Schumacher had.