WHAT TO WATCH FOR: The storylines to keep an eye on at Round 6 in Barcelona

Round 6 of this captivating 2024 season is just days away from getting started, with the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya set to provide our drivers with another stern test this weekend.

It is a venue that is familiar to all involved with in-season testing having taken place in Barcelona just a couple of months ago.

But before they hit the track, let us look at a few of the storylines to keep an eye on this weekend.

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A NEW CHAMPIONSHIP LEADER

For the first time since the start of the season, we enter a race weekend with someone other than Zane Maloney leading the Drivers’ Championship.

Fresh from his third-place finish in the Monte Carlo Feature Race, Hitech Pulse-Eight rookie Paul Aron now tops the Standings – two points clear of Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar.

The Estonian has been a picture of consistency this year, having scored a podium at each of the opening five rounds, and he has also achieved points finishes in nine of the 10 races.

Aron will no doubt be keen to keep that record up in Barcelona, a track where he has previously enjoyed victory. A repeat of that would go down a treat this weekend as while he leads the way in the Championship, he is yet to win a race or take Pole Position.

So, could that change this weekend?

RODIN AND MALONEY EYEING A BOUNCE BACK

For Rodin Motorsport and Maloney, the double header in Imola and Monte Carlo did not go to plan as in the space of those two rounds they lost the lead in both Championships.

But what will give them a reason to be optimistic is that they do not appear to have lost pace to their rivals, they have simply been unlucky.

A slow pitstop in the Imola Feature Race put Maloney out of podium contention before he missed out on the points altogether – a day after he finished third in the Sprint Race.

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In Monaco, he was blocked on his final Qualifying effort after setting the fastest first sector. This caused him to abort the lap and left him starting outside the top 10 in both races at a track where overtaking is at a premium.

Both he and the team will be hoping for a clean weekend while Rodin will also hope that Ritomo Miyata – who has not scored points since Melbourne – will be in a better place in Barcelona given the experience he gained during those three days of testing in April.

PREMA BREAKING THEIR PODIUM DUCK

So far this season 10 out of the 11 teams in the paddock have achieved a podium finish, with the one exception being PREMA Racing.

The two-time Teams’ Champions have not stood on the rostrum, with both Oliver Bearman and Andrea Kimi Antonelli’s best results being P4 finishes – the former doing so once in Monte Carlo, while the latter has done it on three occasions.

But that will not worry them too much as both have shown great pace this season, with Bearman – who will drive for Haas F1 Team in Free Practice one on Friday - having qualified fastest in Jeddah before withdrawing from the weekend to deputise for Ferrari in Formula 1.

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Antonelli has also been quite consistent having scored points in seven races so far this year, including the last three.

Both the drivers and the team will believe that podium finishes are not far away, and it could even happen this weekend at a track where Bearman won the Feature Race from pole last year, after Frederik Vesti came out on top in the Sprint Race.

THE ART FIGHT BACK CONTINUES

To say Monaco went well for the reigning Champions would be an understatement with Zak O’Sullivan coming out on top in the Feature Race.

The Williams Driver Academy member went long in the first stint before pitting from the lead on the penultimate lap, only for a Virtual Safety Car intervention moments later helping him keep a hold of P1.

But to simply put it down to fortune would be robbing all parties involved of the credit they deserve for their performance throughout the weekend.

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Victor Martins was fastest in Free Practice before qualifying second a day later. If not for a slow start in the Feature Race it could have been him standing on the top step.

But it was O’Sullivan who showed great pace and outstanding tyre management skills starting in P15 which put him in position to seize the opportunity he was presented.

It shows that if ART have a clean weekend they could possibly fight with both cars at the front of the field in Barcelona, a track where they achieved two podium finishes last year.

After a slow start to the season, which at one stage left them bottom of the Teams’ Standings, the French outfit might be primed for a midseason comeback.