2023 F2 Roundup: Round 13 – Abu Dhabi

Roundup of a dramatic 2023 F2 season finale in Abu Dhabi as the title fight went to the wire.

Theo Pourchaire entered the final round as championship leader ahead of Frederik Vesti and Ayumu Iwasa, yet this season finale delivered plenty of twists and turns as the title fight ultimately went to the very last race of the campaign.

Victor Martins meanwhile battled Oliver Bearman for the rookie of the year honour, whilst ART GP and PREMA fought hard in their fight for the teams’ title which too went to the final race.

Now here is a full roundup of the final round of the 2023 F2 season in Abu Dhabi.

Practice

Trident’s Roman Stanek was first out on track but MP Motorsport’s newest driver, Franco Colapinto set the early benchmark time of 2m 05.289 in the sixth minute.

Times soon began to tumble with Joshua Mason the first to displace Colapinto before Stanek, Roy Nissany, Pourchaire and Zane Maloney all went fastest.

Eed flags however came out in the 22nd minute after DAMS’ Arthur Leclerc grinded to a halt with a mechanical issue on the inside of Turn 1, with Nissany fastest at the halfway mark after he set 1m 38.492 in the 19th minute.

The session resumed with 16 minutes left on the clock after a seven-minute stoppage and Doohan soon went quickest with 1m 38.465, only to be displaced by Iwasa who went 0.052 seconds quicker.

Pourchaire eventually bettered Iwasa’s lap time with four minutes on the clock as he posted 1m 37.734 prior to a flurry of last minute flying laps, which saw Victor Martins emerge quickest with 1m 37.389 ahead of Maloney, Pourchaire and Doohan who rounded out the top four.

Pourchaire’s title rivals, Vesti and Iwasa finished ninth and seventh quickest respectively.

Qualifying

Like in Practice, Stanek was first out on track and he this time set the benchmark time of 2m 01.093 but was quickly bettered by his new teammate, Paul Aron who went 0.150s quicker.

Stanek on his next lap posted a more representative time of 1m 37.591 but his effort was quickly beaten by several drivers, as Martins went quickest on 1m 36.692 from Doohan on his first flier.

Martins lowered his benchmark time further to 1m 36.351 in the 11th minute to head Doohan and Maini, with the trio split by 0.091s at the halfway mark, whilst Bearman, Correa and Maloney saw their lap times deleted after they exceeded track limits.

Up front, Iwasa posted 1m 36.085 on the first flying lap of his final run but Doohan went even quicker with 1m 35.703 ahead of Iwasa and Martins, whilst Pourchaire found himself shuffled out of the top ten.

Doohan eventually claimed his fifth pole position in F2 and second of this season with 1m 35.567 set in the final minute, with Martins qualified second ahead of Maini, Maloney, Iwasa, Hauger, Verschoor, Hadjar, Vesti and Fittipaldi – who took reverse pole for the sprint.

Pourchaire meanwhile could only qualify 14th fastest for both races after struggling for pace across the session.

Out of the two rookie drivers at this round, Colapinto qualified 20th just ahead of Aron as the pair outqualified Mason.

Iwasa’s fifth-placed finish meanwhile ruled him out of title contention after he failed to pick up the two vital points for pole position.

Sprint Race

Prior to the start of the race, Aron stalled his Trident and had to start from the pit lane in his first race start as a F2 driver.

At lights out, Fittipaldi fought off Pourchaire but the pair came under attack from Hadjar and Verschoor on the main straight between Turns 5 and 6, with Verschoor briefly leading into the latter corner only for Fittipaldi to repass him for the lead as Hadjar demoted Pourchaire to fourth.

Hadjar went on to pass Verschoor for second into Turn 9 as he continued to chase his first win in F2.

The Safety Car however was soon deployed after Manuel Correa had spun after contact with Alpine junior drivers, Martins and Maini into Turn 3, of which stewards adjudged Maini at fault post race and handed the Campos driver a five-second time penalty.

Pourchaire meanwhile had recovered to ninth after he avoided the chaotic start and Manuel Correa’s spin in front of him.

Racing resumed at the end of lap five as Vesti quickly cleared Verschoor into Turn 6 for third on the next lap, before he switched focus to the point for fastest lap.

Doohan meanwhile cleared Iwasa on Lap 7 for sixth whilst Pourchaire cleared Maini a lap later, before the title leader then squeezed Iwasa wide a further lap later at Turn 9 to take seventh.

Up front, Vesti calmly reeled in Fittipaldi who had built a two-second lead whilst Verschoor cleared Hadjar for third on Lap 13.

Vesti eventually found himself within DRS range by the end of Lap 17 but patiently waited until Lap 20 when Fittipaldi suffered a second lock-up in three laps at Turn 5, which allowed the Dane to pounce and take the lead into Turn 6 and sprint away to a sixth win of the season.

Fittipaldi and Verschoor rounded out the podium ahead of Hauger who passed Hadjar on the final lap for fourth, whilst Doohan, Pourchaire and Iwasa rounded out the top eight finishers.

In the title battle, Vesti reduced his deficit to Pourchaire going into the season finale to 16 points which set up a epic final showdown.

Feature Race

Colapinto and Mason started from the pits after stalling on the formation lap but at lights out, Doohan made a clean start as Maini jumped Martins for second.

Vesti meanwhile found himself eighth – needing a top three finish to stand any chance at the title –  and Pourchaire in 11th behind Vesti’s teammate – Bearman who improved from 17th on the grid to 10th in the opening two laps.

Up front, Iwasa was the first driver to pit on Lap 7 with everyone who started on the soft tyres quickly following suit, which unleashed Martins into the lead on Lap 10 ahead of Vesti, who got instructed to treat the remainder of his medium tyre stint as a qualifying lap.

Martins though was able to resist Vesti’s charge resiliently at a four-second gap up front, whilst the Frenchman was confirmed as the rookie of the season after Bearman suffered an engine failure on Lap 17, which saw him forced to stop at the pit entry.

Stewards consequently closed the pit lane for two laps whilst his PREMA was removed from the pit entry.

Up front, Vesti pitted at the end of Lap 22 for the soft tyre and began a last-gasp charge to chase a top three finish, although Pourchaire repelled his title rival until Vesti passed him on Lap 27 into Turn 9.

Maloney meanwhile scrapped hard against Iwasa and passed him on Lap 28 with a stunning switchback out of Turn 9 to take third, whilst Vesti cleared Iwasa two laps later.

Although the title evaded Vesti’s grasp as Pourchaire sat sixth, the Mercedes junior snatched third on the final lap as he and Maloney collided at Turn 9, with the Barbados driver spinning out.

Doohan meanwhile cruised to a comfortable third win of the season ahead of Martins, whilst Vesti rounded out the podium ahead of Iwasa and Pourchaire after stewards cleared him of any wrongdoing on the final lap.

Leclerc, Hauger, Hadjar, Maini and Crawford rounded out the top ten.

Pourchaire meanwhile wrapped up the title with a 11-point gap to Vesti in their final F2 races, whilst Doohan pipped Iwasa to third in the standings, as Martins was the top-placed rookie in fifth ahead of Bearman who rounded out the top six.

ART GP meanwhile won the teams’ title ahead of PREMA by 31 points, whilst Carlin pipped DAMS to third by six points.