Britain's Luke Browning with a first Formula 2 pole position in Monza qualifying

Credit: James Sutton

​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!

2025 FIA Formula 2 Championship: Round 11 - Monza qualifying result

1. Luke Browning
2. Kush Maini
3. Roman Stanek
4. Oliver Goethe
5. Alex Dunne
6. Arvid Lindblad
7. Joshua Durksen
8. Leonardo Fornaroli
9. Sami Meguetounif
10. Dino Beganovic
11. Jak Crawford
12. Victor Martins
13. Pepe Marti
14. Richard Verschoor
15. Gabriele Mini
16. Rafael Villagomez
17. John Bennett
18. Ritomo Miyata
19. Cian Shields
20. Amaury Cordeel
21. Sebastian Montoya
22. Max Esterson

Brandon Whiteside
​Writer - F1 Journal