The hills came alive with the sound of Formula 2 engines last weekend as the feeder series returned to the Red Bull Ring for the seventh round of the 2025 season. With a number of familiar faces up on the podium, as well as one new one, combined with a shock change to the Championship after all of the racing had taken place, there was a lot to unpack. Here’s everything you need to know in this week’s edition of the 2025 F2 Austrian GP -Weekend Round Up.
The Chronicle Headlines
- Alex Dunne led the way with the quickest time in the one and only Practice Session.
- Leonardo Fornaroli clinched Pole Position by a slim margin in Qualifying.
- Pepe Marti returned to the top step of the podium in the Sprint Race.
- Richard Verschoor claimed victory in the Feature Race.
- Alex Dunne was disqualified from the Feature Race for a technical infringement – gifting an extended lead in the Championship to Verschoor.
Practice – Dunne Leads the Way
It was a standard affair for Formula 2’s qualifying session in Austria. Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne ended the session on top with a time of 1:16.121. Gabriele Mini was in second with a time of 1:16.391 with Arvid Lindblad rounding out the top three with a time of 1:16.474.
Qualifying – Fornaroli on Top
In the early stages of this session, Leonardo Fornaroli set the timing pages alight by claiming provisional pole. But as the track and the drivers warmed up some more and got more into the groove, staying in P1 was not going to be such a straightforward affair.
With the clock ticking down, Richard Verschoor set the pace with a 1:15.253. However, ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins wasted no time in bettering the MP Motorsport driver by 0.010 of a second. Fornaroli then went even quicker, just, in the closing stages of the session. The Invicta Racing driver, who is yet to pick up his first win of the season, went 0.014 seconds quicker than Martins and snatched pole from him. Verschoor completed the top three.
John Bennet would line up on Reverse Pole for Saturday’s Sprint Race.
Sprint Race – Pepe Marti is Back
Before the Sprint Race could even get underway, there was drama. As the grid prepared for the start, Jak Crawford stalled before the formation lap and was forced to start from the pit lane. His problems would only amalgamate and lead to his eventual retirement from the race.
Red Flag Incident
Barely three laps of the race were completed when a massive accident occurred. Sami Meguetounif tried an overly ambitious move up the inside of Arvid Lindblad into T3. The resulting contact forced Lindblad into Luke Browning, and Meguetounif was launched into the air. Megeutounif rolled and landed upside down on the track next to Browning. Max Esterson, arriving with nowhere to go, then rear-ended Lindblad, causing the session to be red-flagged.
Race Restart Chaos
The race got underway again in the form of a rolling start, but that didn’t stop the drama from happening. First, Kush Maini stalled in the pit lane, going two laps down before rejoining. Then, again at T3, Dino Beganovic was spun around by Oliver Goethe. Beganovic couldn’t keep the engine going and was forced to retire. Goethe would later receive a penalty for the contact. Once more, the safety car was back out on track.
Smooth-Ish Race to the End
The race restarted again a few laps later and appeared to settle down into some kind of a rhythm. It was nip and tuck at times between drivers, but the calamities from earlier on in the race seemed over and done with. Across the line on the final lap, Pepe Marti claimed his second victory of the year. Joshua Durksen finished in second with Roman Stanek joining them in third – his first podium of 2025.
However, there was some last-minute chaos. Amaury Cordeel spun at Turn 3 and caused a domino effect. Mini, Bennett, and Fornaroli all piled into him and caused a very awkward-looking scene at the top end of the circuit. All involved were OK, but it was yet another messy end to a Formula 2 race.
Feature Race – Verschoor Vs Austria
Compared to Saturday’s Sprint Race, Sunday’s Feature Race got off to a much smoother start. Aside from some neat overtaking off the line and shuffling of positions, there weren’t any theatrics to turn the race, or indeed any of the cars, upside down. Early on, though, Gabriele Mini was forced to retire due to engine problems. ART’s Ritomo Miyata joined Mini in the pits after the opening laps to also retire.
The race settled down a bit from there as the strategic battle between the primary and alternate strategy slowly unfolded. With ten laps to go, the only crucial battle on track was for the final place on the podium. Martins and Marti came together battling for third, the latter flying briefly through the air as a result. Red Bull really does give you wings. Marti received a ten-second penalty for the collision. Fornaroli took full advantage of this and stole P3 for himself.
Over the line, it was Richard Verschoor in P1 with Dunne in P2 who hadn’t been able to mount a successful fight against the MP Motorsport driver in Austria.
Post Race Change
However, all was not to remain as we thought. Post race inspections found Dunne’s car in breach of technical infringements, and he was subsequently disqualified from the Feature Race. The Rodin Motorsport machine showed excessive wear on the front plank, with thickness dipping as low as 3.27 mm in some places. Against regulation, his P2 was taken away from him.
While Verschoor held on to victory out front, Fornaroli was promoted to P2 with Jak Crawford bouncing back after Saturday and finishing in third. Montoya was in fourth after a dramatic race saw him drive through from the rear of the field after sustaining a puncture early on. Browning, Marti, Martins, Stanek, Beganovic and Meguetounif rounded out the top ten.
Championship Standings
Richard Verschoor now leads the Formula 2 Championship with 114 Points. Dunne sits in second with 90 points and Jak Crawford is only two points behind him in third. Fornaroli, Browning, Lindblad and Marti are also hot on their heels too. One bad race for any of them could once again turn the Championship on its head.
Campos Racing lead the Team Standings with 146 points, twenty points clear of MP Motorsport. Hitech TGR are in third with Trident down in P11 with just two points to share for their efforts in 2025 so far.
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Formula 2 returns July 4th-6th for the eighth round of the 2025 Championship at the British Grand Prix.
Feature Image: Red Bull Content Pool