Zane Maloney has put himself in with a mathematical chance to win the Formula 2 title with two rounds to go.
The 20-year-old is in his sophomore year in Formula 2 with Rodin Motorsport, having graduated to the category last year after finishing second in Formula 3 in 2022.
Driving for Trident in F3, Maloney was given his debut in F2 in 2022 at the final round of the season in Abu Dhabi replacing Calan Williams, finishing 15th and 16th in the event’s two races respectively.
The Barbadian moved to the series full-time the following year with Rodin Carlin, grabbing four podiums and finishing the year in 10th with 96 points.
In 2024, Maloney has stepped it up a gear with two wins, one pole position and seven podiums as he currently sits third in the drivers’ standings. But speaking with the F2 website, the 20-year-old revealed the one event he has struggled at this season.
Zane Maloney reveals Spielberg as the one event he has ‘struggled’ at in F2 this season
Maloney registered both of his wins at the season opener in Bahrain having qualified in third.
READ MORE: Formula 2 2025 driver line-up with every team’s confirmed entry for the grid
The Barbadian has also secured two third place finishes in Australia and Imola and three second places finishes in both races at Silverstone and the Feature Race at Monza.
Maloney has failed to score points at three events this year, one of those being Austria. The Rodin driver qualified down in 20th and could only manage 17th in the Sprint Race before retiring from the Feature Race after four laps with an engine issue.
According to Maloney, this has been the one event where he has not had the pace.
Reflecting on his season so far, he said: “It started very well with Bahrain, the double win, after that it wasn’t really a difference in performance from the team or myself, it was more just not getting that end result. A few things I could have done better and the team also, but there were a lot of things that were outside of both of our control.
“In Jeddah, with the problem in Qualifying, we still recovered to get two decent results, but it could have been much better for sure.
“Australia was a very good round, another podium and towards the sharp end, but the real highlight after Bahrain was Silverstone with a double P2 finish, which was very good as well.
“I think in 2024, we’ve been very strong across every single round except for Red Bull Ring. That round we really struggled for pace. Other rounds were just a few things outside of our control stopped the result. We still have two rounds to go to make use of and try to fight for the title.”
READ MORE: What Christian Mansell’s ‘expectations’ are after Baku as he eyes full-time Formula 2 seat in 2025
Does Zane Maloney have a realistic chance at the title?
While he may have a mathematical chance of winning the championship as Maloney sits third, 34.5 points behind the leader, it is most likely that the title will go to one of the current two top.
Gabriel Bortoleto leads the championship after he finished fifth and fourth in Baku to take advantage by just four and a half points as the series heads to Qatar.
Isack Hadjar had been leading the way, but the Frenchman comes into the final two races on poor form, having failed to score points at six of the last seven events.
Hadjar has won more races than any other driver with four Feature Race wins, but he will need to find his groove again and get points on the board if he is to stop the surging Bortoleto.