Gabriel Bortoleto wins the Formula 2 championship after his title rival Isack Hadjar stalled at the Abu Dhabi Feature race start.
After his Formula 3 title win last season, Bortoleto was crowned the F2 champion after finishing second behind the Feature race winner Joshua Durksen.
Durksen passed Victor Martins and Bortoleto after the first round of pit stops as he cruised home for his second win of the season.
Richard Verschoor made the alternative strategy work to grab a podium finish in third.
Hadjar failed to get away from the grid and continued on a lap down for the rest of the race.
Martins started from pole position, Bortoleto in second and his championship rival directly behind him in third.
Both of the title contenders went into the race knowing victory in the Feature race would secure the championship for themselves.
If Hadjar finished lower than first, it would be in Bortoleto’s hands; if he finished eighth or lower, it would be over for the Frenchman.
Paul Aron finished third in the Sprint race on Saturday but was disqualified for breaching Article 1.5.2 of the FIA F2 Technical Regulations after the race stewards found that the DRS “actuator had been modified”.
Article 1.5.2 states that “no parts may be modified in any way” therefore he was DSQ and was handed a pit lane start as an additional penalty for the Feature race.
Prema Racing announced before the Feature race that “Kimi Antonelli will not take part in the Feature Race today as he continues his recovery.
“While the team is sad not to race one last time together, everyone at PREMA Racing wishes him a quick return to the track!”
With Antonelli out, Oliver Goethe assumed the last spot inside the top 10 of the starting grid.
Hadjar misfortune hands Bortoleto F2 title
On Lap 1 of 33, Bortoleto stormed into the lead of the Feature race as polesitter Martins dropped down the order after a slow start.
Remarkably, Hadjar’s title dreams were over after the race start as his Campos Racing car had stalled on the grid.
Hadjar voiced his frustrations over the radio with the stall, stating it was “the worst moment of my life”.
The 20-year-old’s misery was compounded after he returned to the pits and made his way back out onto the track to be lapped by Bortoleto.
Elsewhere, Martins had dropped down to sixth place and Kush Maini battled hard with the Sprint race winner Josep Maria Martí.
Maini came out on top as his Invicta Racing team-mate scurried away down the road, building his lead to over a second.
Hadjar unlapped himself and took the fastest lap as he continued to fight for the title.
But he was soon lapped again and out front, the battle for second between Maini, Marti and Durksen continued.
Most of the soft runners pitted including the front runners behind Bortoleto and Marti on Lap 7.
During the pit stops, Maini had an issue dropping him down the order and Durksen fought hard with Martins out of the pits.
Both drivers passed Bortoleto when he pitted on Lap 8 and Hadjar pitted for the medium tyre as well.
Marti led the alternative strategy runners as Bortoleto complained about his brakes not working to his race engineer.
Verschoor passed Amaury Cordeel for second place on the track as he chased down Marti on Lap 17.
At the same time, Hadjar complained that he was in “traffic paradise” as he kept pushing at the back of the pack.
On Lap 18, Verschoor was flying and overtook Marti for the lead on track whilst Durksen held the net race lead.
With just over 10 laps to go, the top six had been caught by the early pitters as Verschoor had built a four-second lead over Marti.
On Lap 23, Martins had closed up to Durksen after he was held up by Max Esterson, who eventually pitted after being overtaken by the ART car as well.
Lap 27 and Marti dashed into the pits to get rid of his old medium tyres but the Spanish driver almost peeled into the wrong pit box.
Marti came out in 10th place and when Verschoor pitted from the lead, he came back out behind Oliver Bearman in sixth.
On Lap 28, Bortoleto was all over the back of Martins as Durksen built a two-second gap over the pair.
Five laps to go and Aron was the final driver of the alternative strategy runners to pit, handing the race lead to Durksen.
Meanwhile, Bortoleto cruised past Martins to take second place on Lap 29, with Durksen just two seconds up the road.
Verschoor was setting multiple purple sectors and took the fastest lap as he passed Dino Beganovic for fifth and then Bearman into fourth place on Lap 30.
On Lap 31, Marti had passed two cars to climb up into eighth place and made swift work of Goethe to take seventh place.
Replays showed that Durksen had gone straight on at the Turn 6 chicane, as the Paraguayan continued to lead on the penultimate lap of the race.
Verschoor was fast closing in on Martins for the last spot on the podium as Marti chased Beganovic for sixth place.
Before the last lap, Martins went wide into the final corner, handing Verschoor third place and a podium finish.
Marti passed Beganovic for sixth and Durksen held onto first place to take his first Feature race win in F2, a fantastic performance by the AIX Racing driver.
Bortoleto took second place as he was officially crowned the F2 Drivers’ Champion of the 2024 season, as he proudly shouted “Let’s go” over the team radio.
Verschoor claimed the final podium position ahead of Martins in fourth, who had started from pole, and Bearman rounded off the top five.
Marti finished in sixth after his alternative strategy, Beganovic seventh, Cordeel eighth, Goethe ninth and Ritomo Miyata claimed the final point with a 10th-placed finish.
Hadjar stayed out after his stall but it wasn’t meant to be for him this year as Bortoleto came out on top in the Abu Dhabi showdown.
In the Constructors’ title fight, the result ensured Invicta would be team champions ahead of Campos by 34.5 points.
READ MORE: Pepe Marti wins Abu Dhabi Sprint race, Gabriel Bortoleto extends F2 championship lead
