Written by Caitlyn Gordon, Edited by Sean McKean
Paul Aron has successfully settled into the Formula 2 Championship, sitting second overall in the standings just two points behind Zane Maloney.
The Estonian kick-started his season in Bahrain, where he secured his first podium after a strong performance in the feature race. Saudi Arabia was no different, with Aron taking reverse pole position for Friday’s sprint and grabbing another podium; however, he narrowly missed out on his maiden win after Dennis Hauger overtook him.
On the lookout for his first win in Melbourne, the rookie qualified in sixth. Aron was up to third during the opening laps of the sprint race, but it took a turn for the worst when he ran onto the gravel, resulting in the Hitech driver finishing in 18th and preventing him from grabbing a win once again.
Sunday was Aron’s last shot of the weekend to clinch his maiden victory and with qualifying in sixth, he was in a good position to do so but had to put up a fight before he could reach the top step. The start of the race wasn’t the easiest for Aron, as he was passed by many due to a poor getaway .
A big priority for drivers in Melbourne was looking after their tyres. Due to how hot the track was, drivers would lose their grip quicker if they weren’t cautious. After his slow start to the race, Aron started to capitalise on other drivers beginning to lose grip in their cars.
“It didn’t start off the easiest the first few laps, I think the other guys were pushing a lot more than me on the options, but I knew that the deg was coming and in the end my driving paid off.“ Aron said to the media after the race.
“From then on, we had good pace on both compounds, a good pitstop and some moves for the highlight reel.”
When Aron returned out of the pits, he was looking to join the fight for the win with Antonelli and Hadjar – the main two contenders.
However, Hadjar fought his way past the cars yet to pit and started to leave the sight of the others. Antonelli – who had been having a great race up to this point – was his next hurdle to pass.
On lap 20, Aron made a move and overtook Antonelli, with his next target now being Hadjar. However, the Frenchman couldn’t be caught, crossing the line four seconds ahead of the Estonian. A lucky recovery for Hadjar was an unfortunate tale for Aron.
He continued his conversation with Formula 2, remarking he was “deserving of the win” in Melbourne.
“I would say it was a very fun race, and I am very happy because I think in the end if Isack Hadjar wasn't as lucky as he was with the stop, we could have got that win.
“In the end we were 4.4s behind and I didn’t have the pace to catch him, so I just kind of managed my tyres and went for the fastest lap in the end which in the end gave us one point. But this weekend and this race – the lack of a win was just due to a bit of poor luck for us and luck for Isack.
“In the end, he delivered after that moment and won the race, but honestly, I think with the drive I had, we were deserving of the win.”
There is now a month break between now and the next Formula 2 race in Imola. Testing begins in Barcelona from the 23rd of April to the 25th.