A first FIA Formula 2 victory achieved for Ferrari Driver Academy member Dino Beganovic, who shone in a dramatic but brilliant Formula 2 Sprint Race, at the Baku City Circuit, on Saturday.

After having a great chance to clinch a maiden victory in the Sprint Race at Monza, one round ago, Beganovic made no mistake after starting from the front row, in the Azerbaijani capital.

Beganovic secured victory in what was a chaotic and eventful Formula 2 Sprint Race at the Baku City Circuit. Two Safety Cars were required across 21 laps of racing, with both restarts controlled brilliantly by Beganovic.

The driver secured an amazing result for Hitech TGR, who celebrated their best results of the season and their entire time in FIA Formula 2.

A 1-2 finish was claimed after Williams Academy driver Luke Browning took second place. Both Hitech drivers have now taken their maiden Formula 2 wins and both doing so in consecutive Formula 2 races.

Beganovic claimed history for himself too as he became the first ever Swedish history in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. Doing his Scandinavian nation proud in the top flight of feeder series open-wheel motorsport.

As for the race itself, chaos initiated from the moment the lights went out. A three-wide moment between Pepe Marti, debutant Martinius Stenshorne and Sprint Race pole sitter Rafael Villagomez, ended in disaster.

Stenshorne went down the inside, with Pepe Marti on his outside, but who was on the inside of Villagomez. Three into one did not go and Marti collided with Villagomez.

Both of Villagomez and Marti retired on the opening lap of the Sprint Race due to damage caused to their Formula 2 machines. However, they were not the only drivers to retire on the opening lap.

Oliver Goethe too retired from the Baku Sprint Race after he was tagged round at the second turn. Three retirements before the race had even really got going.

Stenshorne, a McLaren Development Driver, showed great skill and talent in the early stages of proceedings in the Sprint Race and was demonstrating why he has earned his seat at Trident and his place at McLaren.

A move on Prema Racing's Sebastian Montoya was the main highlight. The Norwegian moved up into second and looked to have pace that matched race leader Beganovic.

However, his debut was abruptly ended, as a mechanical issue brought a horrid end to such a promising opener to his Formula 2 career.

After pulling over on the approach to Turn 16, his retirement caused the second and final Safety Car.

Two post-race penalties were handed out following the conclusion of the Baku Sprint Race on Saturday afternoon.

Firstly, Alpine Academy driver Kush Maini was handed a five-second time penalty for causing a collision with Amaury Cordeel. However, due to Maini failing to finish, this has been converted to a three-place grid penalty for Sunday's Feature Race.

The other post-race penalty was for the other debut driver at Trident, Laurens Van Hoepen. The Dutch driver was handed a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Ritomo Miyata and Arvid Lindblad. This did not change the finishing position of 17th for Van Hoepen.

In the final order and behind the Hitech duo, who were first and second, McLaren Development Driver Alex Dunne was third and completed the podium.

The front row for Feature Race Sunday completed the top five with pole sitter Jak Crawford fourth and ahead of championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli, who was fifth.

Richard Verschoor stole sixth on the line from Prema's Gabriele Mini in a drag race to the line. Completing the points scoring, in the top eight, was the Williams Academy driver Victor Martins, of ART Grand Prix.
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Sunday morning's Feature Race will complete round 12 action at the Baku City Circuit, in Azerbaijan.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal

Aston Martin Development driver Jak Crawford took Feature Race pole in a drama-filled and red-flag disrupted FIA Formula 2 qualifying at the Baku City Circuit on Friday afternoon.

Crawford set an early benchmark lap time to rise to the top of the time sheets with a 1:54.791 and he withstood it through three red flag periods, before the session eventually concluded on the third.

Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli was not far behind Crawford and was within two hundredths of a second from his lap time. A great effort for the Italian who is demonstrating brilliant form.

It was a very mixed session at Teams Championship leaders Invicta Racing though. Fornaroli's teammate, Roman Stanek, had a crash with John Bennett, which brought out the third and final red flag.

Stanek went wide at the first turn and rejoined dangerously. In doing so, he collided with John Bennett in a heavy impact. This ended both of their sessions and everyone else's.

The Stewards investigated this and handed Stanek two separate sanctions. His first was a five-place grid penalty for both races, after the Czech Republican driver was deemed to be at fault. Two penalty points were also additionally sanctioned for this collision.
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As Stanek was the direct cause of the red flag, because he caused the collision, he also had his best lap time deleted. This dropped Stanek from ninth to 12th.

The other two red flags were individual mistakes, which both resulted in crashes at different points of the race track.

First, Amaury Cordeel brought out a red flag after the Rodin Motorsport driver had a big crash at Turn 13, following a collision with the wall.

Cordeel, as he was the direct cause of the red flag, lost his best lap time. This was irrelevant anyway as the Belgian had already ended the session in a provisional place of 22nd and slowest.

The other red flag was caused by Williams Academy driver Victor Martins, driving for the ART Grand Prix team. Martins, who was pushing hard on his flying lap, made a mistake by messing the braking up at Turn 3.

Like Cordeel, Martins lost his best lap time from the session, as punishment for the red flag. He dropped from fourth to 13th in the final classification.

A fourth and final driver was penalised after the session and that was Joshua Durksen of AIX Racing. The Paraguayan was handed a one-place penalty for both races, after he was deemed to have impeded Laurens Van Hoepen.

Van Hoepen was one of two drivers competing in their first qualifying session at the Baku City Circuit. The other was his Trident teammate Martinius Stenshorne, with both having graduated from FIA Formula 3.

Stenshorne ended a fantastic seventh in the final classification. The McLaren Development driver initially qualified eighth but following Martins' lap being deleted, he was promoted to seventh.

In the final classification, it was Prema's Alpine Academy driver Gabriele Mini, who was third ahead of McLaren Development junior Alex Dunne and Williams Academy driver Luke Browning, who completed the top five.

Josep 'Pepe' Maria Marti was sixth and ahead of Stenshorne. Sebastian Montoya ends the qualifying classification in eighth with Dino Beganovic in ninth.

After being promoted two places following laps being deleted, Mexican Rafael Villagomez will start on pole for the very first time in FIA Formula 2.

The Van Amersfoort Racing driver will start Saturday from the front of the field.

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

​Williams Academy driver Luke Browning took a maiden FIA Formula 2 Aramco Pole Position in a heavily disrupted qualifying session at Monza, on Friday afternoon, that saw three red flags.

Browning set the quickest time in the 30-minute qualifying session, with a 1:32.390 for the Hitech TGR team. The British driver has stood on the podium multiple times and comes into Monza, fourth in the championship, but never had topped qualifying or won a race.

That changed on Friday afternoon, in a qualifying session that was disastrous for championship contenders Leonardo Fornaroli and Richard Verschoor, who were among four drivers to be lost in three separate red flags.

Gabriele Mini, Cian Shields and Fornaroli all ended up losing the rest of their FIA Formula 2 qualifying sessions following mechanical problems. Due to the drivers not being the direct cause, they were able to keep their best lap times, therefore keeping Fornaroli in the top 10.

As for MP Motorsport's Verschoor, a spin coming out of the first of the two Lesmo corners sent him spinning into the barriers and bringing out a third red flag with two minutes to go.

The session was not resumed at a point where he was running in second place. However, because Verschoor was the direct cause of the red flag, he lost his best lap time.

Inheriting second was DAMS Lucas Oil's Kush Maini, with pole sitter at Budapest, last time out, Roman Stanek moved up to third. Oliver Goethe, Verschoor's MP Motorsport teammate, was fourth ahead of McLaren Development Driver Alex Dunne, who was fifth.

Arvid Lindblad ended sixth, with Joshua Durksen in seventh and one place ahead of championship leader Fornaroli. Had Verschoor kept his lap, Sami Meguetounif was on course for Sprint Race pole but instead was promoted to ninth.
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Inheriting Sprint Race pole was Dino Beganovic, Browning's Hitech TGR teammate and he will start Saturday from the very front of the field!

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

​Experienced Dutch driver Richard Verschoor was the fastest driver in the opening session of the Formula 2 weekend at Monza, on Friday morning.

Verschoor was quickest for MP Motorsport, in a positive session for the Dutch team with both he and teammate Oliver Goethe within the top five.

The 24-year-old, who comes into the round third in the championship, was fastest with a 1:32.547. Verschoor comes into the round 19 points of championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli.

Fornaroli comes into the round with the championship lead, and to a venue where he was crowned champion 12 months ago in the FIA Formula 3 Championship.

The Invicta Racing team had a difficult session with both cars 21st and 22nd, with Roman Stanek ahead of Fornaroli.

Verschoor was fastest ahead of Hitech TGR and Williams Academy driver Luke Browning, who was second and McLaren Development driver Alex Dunne, who was third.

Dunne was later called up to McLaren's Formula One team for Free Practice 1, where he finished 16th overall.

Goethe and Kush Maini rounded off the top five for DAMS Lucas Oil. The other DAMS Lucas Oil driver Jak Crawford, second in the championship, was ninth.
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Qualifying continues the Formula 2 action at Monza on Friday afternoon.

(Graphic donated by Feeder Review)

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal

​For the first time since the beginning of August, following the Summer break, FIA Formula 2 returns to racing action this weekend with a trip to Monza.

The "Temple of Speed" as it is referred to by many passionate motorsport fans, with the continuous long straights and very few multi corner complexes, will play host to round 11 of 14 in 2025.

It is the second Italian venue of the 2025 FIA Formula 2 Championship and will close the European part of the season, following the other Italian venue, Imola, opening it up back in May.

Arriving to Monza, with a big home crowd in attendance, Leonardo Fornaroli will have eyes very much laid upon him. The 2024 FIA Formula 3 Champion, who clinched glory at Monza 12 months ago, has the Formula 2 championship lead heading into round 11.

Fornaroli has a 17-point lead over DAMS Lucas Oil and Aston Martin Development driver Jak Crawford, who is second in the standings.

Richard Verschoor is third in the standings and is 19 points off the championship lead with Luke Browning and Alex Dunne not far away within the top five.

Dunne will be featuring in two championships across the weekend at Monza with the McLaren Development Driver set to participate in the Formula One Free Practice One session.

The Irishman will step into Oscar Piastri's McLaren on Friday afternoon to get some more experience behind the Formula One car.

Fornaroli, who races for Invicta Racing, has his team currently top of the Teams' Championship Standings. The yellow machines lead Spanish outfit Campos, who are second. DAMS Lucas Oil, MP Motorsport and Hitech TGR are all very much within a chance with four rounds remaining.

The round at Monza can often be pivotal in FIA Formula 2. Last year, Gabriel Bortoleto made history by winning the Feature Race after starting in 22nd and back of the grid.

It was a driver that pushed him on a title charge and pushed him closer to a full time Formula One drive.

The iconic Monza circuit is one of just 11 turns and many long straights that help the lap distance rise to 5.793km. Two DRS zones at Monza make it a great circuit for overtaking with the best chance appearing down the start/finish straight.

Two races per weekend is usual for FIA Formula 2 and at Monza, this time out it's no different. 21 laps are to take place in Saturday's Sprint Race while 30 laps are competing in Sunday's Feature Race.
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Free Practice will get the Formula 2 weekend underway on Friday morning.

Josep Maria (Pepe) Marti takes the Sprint Race win in Hungary after defending brilliantly against a last minute charge from Alex Dunne.

It's the Spanish driver's third win of the season for Campos Racing and this one will feel even better coming out of the final lap battle on top. 

Alex Dunne ultimately had to settle for P2 after going wheel to wheel with the Spaniard in the final corners of the race but wasn't able to get move done. 

Jak Crawford sealed the Top 3 after making a last minute move on British Red Bull Junior Arvid Lindblad - who was later penalied post race for antics during the race. 

As it happened 

It was Pepe Marti on reverse grid Pole for today's Sprint Race after finishing 10th in Qualifying yesterday. Lining up alongside him was Alex Dunne for Rodin Motorsport with Marti's Campos teammate Arvid Lindblad starting in P3. 

Lights out and it was a good getaway off the line for the pole sitter but a slow start for the Irishman in P2 who was coming under attack from Lindblad in P3 very quickly. The Briton got a better start and managed to get ahead of Dunne going into Turn 1 making it a Campos 1-2 on Lap 1. 

However, the opening lap was not kept as clean further down the gird as a battle for P11 between Gabriele Mini and Joshua Duerksen had emerged and in the midst of the fight, Mini made contact with the rear of Roman Stanek's Invicta and sent the Czech into a spin at Turn 9 but both drivers managed to continue on in the race.

The incident was looked at by the stewards and the PREMA driver was handed a 10-second penalty for causing a collision which he served in his pitstop later on in the race.

Championship contender Richard Verschoor was up to eighth position on Lap 2 after passing his MP Motorsport teammate Oliver Goethe and was now in the points scoring places (reminder that P1 to P8 score points in an F2 Sprint Race).

The second Invicta car of Leonardo Fornaroli was also having a difficult start to the race up the road as he lost out on P6 in a battle with Luke Browning on Lap 3. 

Up front, Marti was struggling to shake Lindblad with the fellow Red Bull Junior just half a second behind him.

Dunne was crucially keeping up with the leaders in P3 and the front runners had pulled a gap of just under two seconds to Victor Martins of ART Grand Prix in P4 who was closely followed by Crawford. 

A fight for the lead was starting to take shape between the two Campos Racing drivers on Lap 8 as Lindblad made a big move down the inside at Turn 1 and momentarily took the lead. However, Marti kept his cool and retook the lead into Turn 2. 

The battle for the lead meant that Dunne and Martins behind were able to close up to the back of Lindblad and bunched up the top five in the race. 

Dunne was starting to get ever closer to the back of Lindblad's Campos as the Briton fell out of DRS range to the leader for a spell on Lap 14 after a few laps of putting pressure on Marti. Dunne looked to make a move on the first few corners of the lap but Lindblad defended well to keep P2.

Having been patiently waiting for the right moment to pounce on the Red Bull Junior ahead, Dunne made a great move from a long way back to take P2 from Lindblad at Turn 1 on Lap 19. 

Lindblad's problems kept on coming as he had fallen back with the reaches of Victor Martins in P4. However, the Frenchman who was fighting hard to make moves on the Brit in front was forced to back out to avoid collision going into Turn 3 which opened the door for Crawford to snatch P4.

Lap 22 saw the Safety Car out on track following Sebastian Montoya in the PREMA Racing machinery coming to a stop on the main straight. 

Racing got back underway on Lap 26 with Marti handling the restart very well but further back, Luke Browning made a move to take P5 from his fellow Williams Academy driver Victor Martins. 

Lap 28 of 28 and after struggling for the last few laps to get through, Crawford was able to use DRS down the main straight to take P3 going into Turn 1 bagging himself a podium place. 

Going into Turn 5 on the final lap, the leader of the race made a mistake allowing Alex Dunne to go wheel to wheel with the Spaniard into the final corners in a great battle.

In the end it was Marti who came out on top and held off the Irishman to secure his third win of the 2025 season with Crawford completing the podium - a great drive by the American today. 

Lindblad and Browning originally finished in P4 and P5 respectively but following time penalties for leaving the track and gaining an advantage for both drivers in two separate incidents with Martins, the pair ended up being demoted to P10 and P12.

This means that drivers have since been promoted meaning Martins takes P4 with Fornaroli coming home behind him in P5. Richard Verschoor took sixth followed by Oliver Goethe who moves up to P7 with the points places being rounded out by Dino Beganovic for Hitech TGR.

Tomorrow is the Formula 2 Feature Race - be sure to tune in for all the action at 10am on Sunday morning!

Roman Stanek goes fastest after a close battle with his teammate sees the Invicta Racing team take a 1-2 in Qualifying and lock out the front row for Sunday's race.  

This is the Czech driver's maiden Pole Position in the Formula 2 Championship, earning the Aramco Pole Position Award by setting a 1:28.779 to top the timesheets. 

Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli came close to dethroning his teammate but couldn't quite find the extra time needed and settles for P2 with Jan Crawford completing the top three for DAMS Lucas Oil. 

As it happened

Timings in Free Practice this morning were pretty close and got even more competitive as the track evolved which meant we had a great qualifying in store. \

Green light was shown at the end of the pit lane and it was Arvid Lindblad's name to appear at the top of the times first in this qualifying session as he set a 1:30.319.

However, his stay at the top didn't last long as Oliver Goethe was looking just as strong as he did this morning in Free Practice managed to find time and go just over a second up on the Briton.

Stanek was going fast out on track and managed to find time to go 0.146s quicker than the German driver. 

Out on the second laps, the track was ever changing but it was Stanek who extended his lead out front by the end of the second runs and no one had managed to find an answer to his pace yet. He had now upped the gap between himself and Goethe to just under two tenths of a second - setting a 1:29.107.

Whilst the majority of the grid had returned to the pits to fit a new set of Soft tyres, it was the provisional pole sitter's teammate Fornaroli who decided to try and use the empty track to his advantage and set a time before the others rejoined the circuit.

The Italian's time was looking good and was enough to put him on provisional Pole but a lap time deletion followed shortly after as he had exceeded track limits. The Invicta driver opted to make another attempt at the lap but had to settle for fourth fastest. 

The rest of the drivers had made their way back out onto the circuit for their final efforts of the session and Stanek yet again lowered the time to beat to a 1:29.779 - the Czech driver putting on a great display in this session after a positive Free Practice this morning. Jak Crawford had slotted into P2 and the fastest in Practice, Luke Browning, went up to P3. 

As others were making there way back to the pit lane, Fornaroli emerged b ack out on track with four minutes of the session left to go to make his final attempt. He came extremely close to topping his teammate who watched on in the garage, but fell short by 0.146s. 

This sealed the maiden Pole for Roman Stanek, with championship leader Fornaroli locking out the front row for the Invicta team in P2 and Crawford coming home in P3. 

Following the American in P4 was Luke Browning and then came Joshua Duerksen and Oliver Goethe - the latter struggling to find the same pace in the close stages of Qualifying. 

P7 went to the ART of Victor Martins and Arvid Lindblad wound up in P8. Alex Dunne finished in P9 and Pepe Marti rounded out the Top 10. 

As always, tomorrow's Sprint Race will feature the reversed Top 10 for the starting grid which puts Marti on reverse grid Pole for tomorrow's Sprint Race. 

Be sure to tune in tomorrow for all the racing action which gets underway at 15:55 local time (16:55 UK time) - its sure to be a good one!

Luke Browning goes quickest in Free Practice in Hungary.

The Briton took the top spot away from Oliver Goethe in the final seconds of the session setting a 1:30.609 after the German had led the way for most of Practice.

Goethe in the end settled for P2 with Alex Dunne going third fastest. 

As it happened

Green flags were shown in the pit lane to get the session underway, but it wasn't long before Ritomo Miyata ran into mechanical problems with his ART Grand Prix machinery coming to a stop just coming out of Turn 1. The stranded car and driver brought out the red flags whilst the Marshalls could come to assist but the clock still continued to count down. 

Green flags were shown again and most drivers were keen to leave the pit lane as soon as possible with the red flag costing them 10 minutes of Practice time out on track. 

Joshua Duerksen goes quickest not long after the drivers have been back out on track with a 1:32.879. The AIX driver lead the way but it wasn't long before last weeks Feature Race winner Roman Stanek takes the top spot with a 1:32.528.

Alex Dunne and Victor Martins were setting purple sectors behind Czech driver and it was Alex Dunne who was next to take the P1 spot, setting a 1:32.306.

However, almost immediately Martins beats the Irishman's time with 1:31.998 having followed the Mclaren Development Driver round the Hungaroring. 

Last week's Sprint Race winner Fornaroli dethroned the Frenchman shortly after with a 1:31.854 as the track continues to ramp up for the drivers allowing them to constantly improve on their last effort and the efforts of their rivals. 

It was the turn of Oliver Goethe to go fastest with his MP Motorsport teammate Richard Verschoor following just three hundredths of a second behind. 

Martins was on the hunt to retake P1 from Goethe but the Williams Academy Driver has a big moment when exiting the final corner sending him wide and unable to recover the lap.

The MP Motorsport teammates were running well out on track with both drivers improving on their times with Goethe managing to better the fastest time that was set by himself by four hundredths of a second with 15 minutes of Practice remaining.

Stanek manages to put himself back in P2 with 10 minutes remaining just 0.176s behind the leader. 

Dunne was right there to take his place though, the Irishman putting in a 1.30.991to take second place, Goethe still is fastest for MP. 

Just over three minutes to go and the Brit Luke Browning slots into P2 with drivers putting in their final laps trying to improve on their times. 

Checkered flag is waved and it is Luke Browning to the top of the times with the Williams Academy Driver finding a tenth of a second to take P1 away from Oliver Goethe - the Brit setting a 1:30.609 to go fastest in Free Practice.

Goethe was demoted in the final seconds to P2 after a great session for the German with Alex Dunne taking P3.

Roman Stanek and Joshua Duerksen rounded out the Top 5 with Victor Martins following on in P6 after great efforts in the early stages.

Arvid Lindblad finished P7, followed by Dino Beganovic and Richard Verschoor with Gabriele Mini completing the Top 10.

Qualifying is next for the Formula 2 drivers so be sure to tune in at 15:55 local time (16:55 UK time) for all the action. 

After a post-race time penalty for Alex Dunne and a disqualification for Arvid Lindblad, Invicta Racing's Roman Stanek inherits victory in Sunday's Formula 2 Feature Race in Belgium,

Alex Dunne initially won the race but was handed a 10-second time penalty post race for a starting procedure infringement, which would have promoted Arvid Lindblad to race victory. However, Lindblad was then disqualified for a tyre pressure infringement.

This promoted Stanek to first position for a first win since the Australian Sprint Race back in March 2024, where back then, he inherited race victory from now Formula One racing driver Isack Hadjar.

With the penalty and disqualification issued to Dunne and Lindblad respectively, this promotes Ritomo Miyata to second place, which gives the Japanese driver a maiden FIA Formula 2 podium, in his second season. After an eventful race, Luke Browning took the final place on the podium in the final classification.

After round nine, a change to the championship lead has been made after a really difficult weekend for Dutch MP Motorsport driver Richard Verschoor, who went the weekend without scoring a point.

Dunne would have taken the championship lead, had he kept victory, but now that instead falls to FIA Formula 3 reigning champion Leonardo Fornaroli, who won Saturday's Sprint Race at Spa Francorchamps.

Fornaroli now has 125 points at the top of the Drivers' Championsship, with three points being the gap between he and Verschoor in second. Jak Crawford is third just nine points off the championship lead, while Dunne in fourth finds himself 11. Just 12 points separate the top five with Luke Browning in fifth on 113.

As for the Teams' Championship, after two wins across the weekend, Invicta Racing jump up to the top of the table and ahead of Campos Racing. Invicta have 182 points and that is a 13-point advantage over Campos, who move to second.

The race itself was a challenging one for the drivers and teams, as the circuit was wet, with the threat of potentially more rain, but also there was a chance that it could dry if the rain held off throughout the 25-lap Feature Race.

The Feature Race became 23 laps though, with three laps being done under the Safety Car before the race start, which was determined to be a rolling start by the Race Control team so it was pole sitter Alex Dunne, who led the cars over the start/finish line to begin the race.

It was a good start from Dunne, who had the lead from Miyata and Stanek after Les Combes with Victor Martins holding fourth position from the Red Bull-liveried Campos of Lindblad.

Qualifying on Friday saw a few big upsets with Verschoor, Browning and Crawford all qualifying outide the pivotal top 10. Browning was making progress really early on and took 11th from the Rodin Motorsport of Amaury Cordeel on the second lap.

Despite no DRS activation, there was still possibility for overtaking as Pepe Marti proved so  as he got back ahead of Fornaroli, who he lost sixth place to on the opening lap but now he was back chasing after his teammate Lindblad.

Browning's wet-weather pace was not doubted after a stunning Feature Race drive during the Silverston Feature Race, one round prior to the one at Spa Francorchamps. His latest position gain on lap four was him up to 10th. The Williams Academy driver passed his championship rival Verschoor.

A few corners later, it became ninth for the British driver as he passed Verschoor's MP Motorsport teammate Oliver Goethe. Great early pace from Browning in the Belgium Feature Race.

Hitech were showing good race pace and this was furthered by just a few corners later, Browning's teammate Dino Beganovic passed Verschoor for 11th place in the race. Good move from the Ferrari Academy driver.

Despite it being a wet-weather race, drivers still had to serve mandatory pit stops, which for the entire field meant a new set of the wet-weather tyres. The first drivers, who took a gamble early on, were Sami Meguetounif of Trident, Kush Maini of DAMS Lucas Oil and Sebastian Montoya of Prema.

Meanwhile those three drivers served their pit stops, there was a battle for the lead developing out front. Despite a strong and rapid start from the Rodin Motorsport of Dunne, he was being reigned in by Miyata, Stanek, Martins and Lindblad. The top five really close together.

Despite wet weather, track limits around Spa Francorchamps were still causing issues with Martins and Prema's Gabriele Mini picking up black and white flags early on. Eventually, Martins was penalised for track limits and handed 10-seconds worth before his mandatory pit stop.

Lap 11 and more drivers began to pit. Beganovic, Fornaroli, Mini and Verschoor all made the decision to pit for fresh wets close to the halfway point in the race. Beganovic rejoined out ahead of the other three and the four were running in 16th, 17th, 18th and 19th respectively.

However, many more ahead of them were yet to come into the pit lane and on the following lap many decided to stop. This included Martins, Stanek and Marti before on the following lap, race leader Dunne was in.

Dunne and Miyata visited the pit lane and the start of lap 13 as well as British duo Lindblad and Browning. There was drama in the pit stops though as when Lindblad pitted, he had an incident involving the Invicta team. Lindblad was investigated after the race was given a reprimand.

It was not the only driver who had drama as on cold tyres exiting the pit lane, on the slippery pit exit, Browning spun and did well to avoid the wall. He kept the engine running and thankfully, for his sake, he was able to rejoin the Feature Race.

The rain began to get heavier on the following lap, which made the conditions at Spa Francorchamps even more treacherous. While this was going on, Dunne got back up into the race lead as he passed Goethe with a lovely move in the middle part of the lap.

Soon the lead pack were all back up in some form of order once Oliver Goethe was the final driver to serve his mandatory pit stop. This promoted Lindblad to third and Miyata is up to second after the pair passed Stanek in the yellow Invicta Racing machine.

Miyata was on course for his first podium in the race but that was thrown into jeopardy when he spun at turn 10 and dropped from second on the road to fourth place. Lindblad was up to second and Stanek up to third.

Lap 17 and Sprint Race winner Leonardo Fornaroli made a brilliant pass through the Eau Rouge and Radillon sequence with a delightful pass on the Hitech of Beganovic. The Formula 3 champion made it look easy but his precision was spectacular.

At the same time, a position was gained for the Hitech of Browning. He was continuing a fine drive through the field after passing the Campos of Pepe Marti for position.

That was the last of green flag racing action though as the Safety Car was called into play following a stranded Montoya at the top of Radillon. The Prema spun entering Radillon and did well to keep it out of the barrier but in doing so, stalled the engine and was out.

During the Safety Car period, Oliver Goethe ran into some bother and had an engine failure and had to pull up near to where Montoya's car was being recovered. The rain was starting to get worse and Race Control made the subsequent decision to red flag the race and that was the end of the race.

Originally Dunne crossed the line to take the win ahead of Lindblad, Stanek, Miyata and Browning completed the original top five. However, both Dunne and Lindblad were penalised after the race had finished.

Dunne failed to engage the start procedure correctly at the beginning of the formation lap and on that technicality was handed a 10-second time penalty by the Stewards which dropped him from first to ninth in the final classification.

As for Lindblad, he was disqualified after the race for the tyre pressures being too low in parc ferme and therefore lost what was looking like victory after Dunne's penalty.

Instead the win went to Stanek to make it two wins for Invicta Racing across the weekend and one each for their respective drivers after Fornaroli secured Sprint Race glory on Saturday. Stanek, Miyata and Browning was the podium in the final classification.

Pepe Marti was registered fourth ahead of Fornaroli, who rounded off the top five positions. After a podium in the Sprint Race, Gabriele Mini took sixth ahead of Beganovic and Martins, who were seventh and eighth.

Completing the top 10 was Dunne in ninth and home hero Amaury Cordeel, who rounded off the point-scoring positions.

Formula 2 will be next back in action on Friday August 1, when round 10 of 14 in the 2025 season will take place in Budapest, Hungary at the legendary Hungaroring.

Brandon Whiteside
Writer - F1 Journal

Leonardo Fornaroli takes his maiden Feature Race victory in Budapest just a month after his first win in Formula 2.

The Italian drove a brilliant race and came back from a penalty setback mid race to take the chequered flag and made this his third win in the Championship this year.

Roman Stanek came home in P2 to complete the 1-2 for Invicta and Jak Crawford took third place on the podium for the second time this weekend.

As it happened 

Rain overnight meant that the track was a bit damp and still had wet patches to put the drivers through their paces, however, the track was continuing to dry and would stay that way as the race gets underway.

The formation lap took place under the Safety Car as confirmed by Race Control and this meant we would be getting a rolling start for this Feature Race. 

​Green flag was waved and racing got underway and the opening lap was a clean one from all drivers with Stanek leading the pack round the Hungaroring. There were no changes to the top 10 on the first lap. Stanek led Fornaroli followed by Crawford, Browning and Duerksen to make up the top five.

Further down the order, Lap 2 saw Rafael Villagomez from Van Amersfoort make a great pass on Dino Beganovic to move himself up into 15th place. DRS had also been enabled this lap. 

By Lap 3, Stanek had pulled a two second gap to the Championship leader behind.

The following lap, Crawford looked to be struggling to keep up with the two front runners and was starting to be put under pressure by Williams Academy driver Luke Browning who was eyeing up the final podium spot.

Martins was having a difficult time out on track in the opening stages as he was running the alternative strategy. He had dropped to P14 by Lap 5 and all drivers on the alternative seemed to be having a hard time. 

Lap 6 brought our first DNF of the race as Amaury Cordeel pulled into the side of the road with what looked to be an engine failure just moments after he spun coming out of the final corner. This brought out the Virtual Safety Car due to where the car was parked and the marshalls set about moving the Rodin Motorsport car off the track.

The VSC ended at then end of Lap 7 and the green flag was shown to the drivers as racing got underway again. Fornaroli was on the charge at the start having brought the gap to his teammate down to just 1.6s.

Arvid Lindblad also made a great move on Lap 8 going past Joshua Duerksen and Oliver Goethe in quick succession to get himself up to fifth. Duerksen then dropped to P7 himself after running off the road at Turn 2 as Goethe kept hold of P6. 

It was not the ideal restart for yesterday's Sprint Race winner Pepe Marti - as he found himself losing two places to Mini and Verschoor at Turn 1 which dropped him down the order to P11.

The Virtual Safety Car was deployed for the second time in this race on Lap 10 after Victor Martins came to a halt out on track due to a mechanical issue leaving his car stuck out on track. The VSC remained out for a while despite Martins getting out of the car, as this prevented other drivers from being able to do their mandatory pit stops.

Once the ART car was moved, racing resumed again and Goethe went off the road going into Turn 13 on Lap 11 whilst trying to overtake Lindblad and ended up being passed by Duerksen and Dunne as a result leaving him in P8. 

A battle between Duerksen and Dunne followed with the Rodin Motorsport driver managing to pass the Duerksen for sixth place even after a big lock up from Dunne going into Turn 2. 

Yesterday's Sprint Race winner Pepe Marti was running well and was up to P9 by Lap 13 after passing Mini and Verschoorgoing into Turn 2. only to then make it passed Goethe later on in the lap at Turn 12 to put the Red Bull junior up into eight place. 

Lap 14 saw the start of the drivers on the Soft tyre choosing to make their mandatory stops with Browning being the highest in the order of drivers that came in. He was joined by Duerksen, Goethe and Mini who all chose to swap to the Medium tyres alongside the Brit. 

Stanek decided to lose track position and come in for his pitstop on Lap 15 followed by Crawford who had been running in P3. 

Fornaroli and Dunne followed suit a lap later with the Championship leader executing the overcoat well to end up back out on track ahead of Stanek. 

The drivers on the alternative strategy took up the lead of the race with the two Campos cars of Lindblad and Marti respectively out up front. Verschoor was now lapping in third followed by Dino Beganovic. Maini, Shields, and Miyata were also now up at the front of the pack having yet to make a pitstop. 

​Fornaoli, now ahead of his teammate Stanek, was sitting in P8 on Lap 19 and only a second ahead of his the Czech driver as he looked to try and get back ahead of the Italian. To make Fornaroli's job even harder, he was handed a 5-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane which gave him the task of trying to pull a gap of over 5 seconds to Stanek if he wanted to keep the lead by the end of the race. 

Lap 22 signaled the first of the drivers on the alternate strategy coming in to make their stop with the first of them being Richard Verschoor. He came back out on track behind Oliver Goethe who was running in P11. 

The two Campos drivers were the next to pit. Lindblad came in on Lap 23 after leading the race for seven laps with Marti following suit a lap later. They both struggled however to get temperature into their new tyres causing Lindblad to end up in P10 and Marti in P15. 

Crawford had closed in on Stanek and was looking to make the move to take P2. The DAMS Lucas Oil driver went for the overtake on Lap 28 but suffered a big lock up going into the corner allowing Stanek to shut the door on the American. 

Out in front, Fornaroli had done what he needed to do in order to cancel out the penalty and had pulled a gap of 4.9s to his teammate by Lap 29 with eight moire laps to increase that lead further. 

Various battles for position were starting to take place in the latter stages of the race as Luke Browning set a new best lap time and started to put pressure on Crawford who was just over a second and a half down the road but the Brit was running out of laps.

Miyata, the last of the drivers running the alternative strategy, made his pit stop on the second to last lap of the race which allowed Stanek and Crawford to be freed behind him but it was too late to do anything about Fornaroli's lead.

​Fornaroli took the chequered flag by some margin, crossing the line over seven seconds ahead of his teammate Roman Stanek who crossed the line to make it a Invicta 1-2.

Crawford crossed the line in P3 followed by Browning and Verschoor. Lindblad managed to hold on to P6 with Beganovic taking settling for P7. Goethe hung onto P8, Dunne came home in 9th with Marti taking the final points place - rounding out the top 10.