Gabriel Bortoleto took advantage of an early Safety Car to grab an amazing FIA Formula 2 Feature Race win at Monza.
The Brazilian, who started in last place, capitalised to close the gap in the championship to just 10-and-a-half points with Isack Hadjar failing to score, the title-leader finishing 11th. Fellow contender Paul Aron was taken out at the start of the race, handing Bortoleto a best case scenario that he could not have even dreamed of at the start.
Pole-sitter Zane Maloney was second, with Richard Verschoor another to make good of the early drama to take third. Kimi Antonelli was fourth after a near-race-long battle with team-mate Oliver Bearman, with Joshua Durksen fifth and Victor Martins sixth.
Bearman was seventh with Rafael Villagomez eighth. Jak Crawford and Enzo Fittipaldi rounded-up the top 10.
HOW THE RACE UNFOLDED
At the start, Maloney got away poorly, with Aron set to take the lead, but was punted off immediately by Marti who took to the escape road, giving the Rodin a clear run into the Roggia as the Prema pair of Antonelli and Bearman tussled behind, the Englishman coming-out on top before the Safety Car was deployed.
The race would start again into lap three with Maloney getting away well, holding-off Bearman with Hadjar taking Durksen for fourth. Bearman, fresh from his Saturday Sprint victory, looked up for another good result, keeping in-touch with Maloney, with Crawford taking Cordeel for sixth into lap four.
The race developed into a rhythm, with Cordeel dropping behind Martins as Durksen took fourth back off Hadjar and a lap later at Rettifilo, took Antonelli brilliantly for third.
Bearman pitted at the end of lap six, with Hadjar now looking intent on taking Antonelli for third, with Crawford also maintaining interest behind them. Antonelli went wide on the exit of Ascari, with Hadjar taking third. The trio would all pit together along with Maloney, handing the lead to Bortoleto.
Denis Hauger would spin off at T1, bringing out yellow flags and then the Safety Car, giving Bortoleto a huge opportunity to capitalise and pit whilst under the conditions, which he did so, handing Oliver Goethe the lead un the short-term, with Kush Maini, Juan Manuel Correa, Roman Sanek and Neils Koolen following, but all needing to pit.
The Safety Car entered the pits at the start of lap 11 with Goethe holding-off Maini’s challenge, with Koolen taking evasive action after a botched overtake and going down the escape road at Rettifilo. Bortoleto and Verschoor, the effectively one and two, were now fourth and fifth. Koolen, in his first F2 weekend, dropped back further having gone wide at Ascari and onto the gravel.
Bearman would take Stanek for eighth and then set about Durksen, who then went wide and onto the T1 escape road. Maini took the lead from Goethe as team-mate Bortoleto grabbed third from Correa, who then dropped behind Maloney at the end of lap 14, with Bortoleto taking second from Goethe.
Bearman tried to take Correa for sixth, going wide at the Roggia chicane, as Antonelli locked-up at Rettifilio as he tried to take Martins. Martins would then take Bearman a lap later for sixth, as Maini allowed Bortoleto through with a minimum of fuss, the Brazilian now in a commanding position in the lead.
Correa’s race was run by lap 17, pulling into the pits and retirement. At T1, Bearman and Antonelli were in their own battle for seventh place, as Verschoor, another beneficiary of the Safety Car, sat in fifth. Maloney unsuccessfully tried twice to pass Goethe, still needing to pit, but would eventually make a move stick by the end of lap 18, with Bortoleto now a whole second-and-a-half clear at the front.
Antonelli, frustrated and stuck in eighth, told his team over radio that Bearman was moving under braking as both pursued Martins. The pair’s battle continued with Bearman continuously closing the door on his team-mate, with Durksen lurking behind.
Bortoleto was now nearly four seconds ahead of Maini, and the Premas’ battle resolved with Antonelli bravely taking Bearman up the inside at the exit of the Rettifilo, holding firm and leaving him no space, leaving Bearman with two wheels on the gravel, dropping him behind Durksen.
The AIX’s straight line speed was mighty, and at the start of lap 25, he breezed past Antonelli for sixth, but then made an error going into the Roggia, giving the place back to Antonelli, who would then take Martins for fifth.
Durksen would use his straight line speed again to take Martins for sixth, as Maini would finally pit, handing Maloney second and Verschoor third.
Now on the final lap, Durksen tried to take Antonelli for fourth, but the Mercedes-bound man would hold him off, as Bortoleto, over eight seconds ahead, would take a brilliant win that nobody would expect, with Maloney second and Verschoor third.
In a weekend in which one youngster in Antonelli secured a Formula 1 seat, with another in Bearman already firmly there too, Bortoleto may well have brought his name into the conversation as a future star.
