F2: Aron takes maiden Formula 2 victory in entertaining Lusail Feature Race

Hitech Pulse-Eight driver Paul Aron turned a fourth Pole Position of the season into a first Formula 2 victory in Qatar, taking advantage of Gabriel Bortoleto’s five-second penalty to win the Feature Race.

Aron lost out to the 2025 Sauber F1 driver at the start but stayed close to the Championship leader throughout the first stint, before attempting an undercut on Lap 7.

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However, his plans were scuppered by a Virtual Safety Car that turned into a full Safety Car after Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Richard Verschoor collided in the pit lane, damaging the steering rack of the PREMA Racing driver’s car and causing him to end up in the gravel.

But Aron’s hopes of victory were reignited once Bortoleto was given a five-second time penalty for failing to follow the Race Director’s notes relating to crossing the line at pit entry.

The Invicta Racing driver had committed to pit just as the VSC was deployed, with the Brazilian deciding then to cross the pit entry line back onto the circuit.

Bortoleto was able to keep the effective race lead ahead of Aron and now Isack Hadjar once he did change tyres as the trio looked to force their way past the drivers yet to pit on the alternative strategy.

Once they did, the newly announced 2025 Alpine reserve driver was able to stay within a second and a half of Bortoleto, while Hadjar was over four seconds behind in third as they entered the final stages.

But Bortoleto could not get the five second lead he needed meaning, despite crossing the line in P1, he dropped to P3 in the final classification, giving Aron his first Formula 2 victory and promoting Hadjar to second.

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Behind the trio, MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe impressed to finish fourth in his Red Bull liveried car, while Dino Beganovic caught the eye on his F2 debut with DAMS Lucas Oil in fifth.

Christian Mansell fought his way up from 20th to finish sixth for Trident, ahead of Hitech’s Amaury Cordeel and Van Amersfoort Racing’s debutant John Bennett, while Rodin Motorsport’s Zane Maloney and Ritomo Miyata rounded out the points.

This means the Championship battle heads to Abu Dhabi with Bortoleto leading Hadjar by just 0.5 points, while Aron in third, and on 163 points, has an outside chance of winning the title.

But for a more in-depth report of the Lusail Feature Race, visit the official Formula 2 website here.