Roundup of a massive fifth round of the 2025 F2 season in Monaco packed with drama.
Alex Dunne arrived in the Principality as the title leader from Luke Browning but Monaco lived up to its’ unpredictability with a close Qualifying session and a maniac Feature Race amongst the action.
Practice
Invicta’s Leonardo Fornaroli was first on track and set 1m 44.998 as the initial benchmark time which proved unrepresentative, as he soon lowered that time to 1m 28.551 but Dunne, Sami Meguetounif and Victor Martins further lowered the benchmark time to 1m 24.014.
Martins soon traded fastest laps with Crawford in the 17th minute as he pulled the benchmark down to 1m 23.230 before he posted 1m 22.623 in the 22nd minute, which put him top from Browning at the halfway mark of the session as everyone initially ran the soft tyre.
Fornaroli meanwhile suffered a 31st minute spin at Rascasse as everyone switched to the supersoft tyre but was able to continue, yet the red flags were out four minutes later after Amaury Cordeel locked up and sent his Rodin into the barriers at St Devote.
The session resumed in the 38th minute which led to a flurry of final fliers which Martins topped at the checkered flag with 1m 21.715 ahead of Browning and Fornaroli.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 1m 21.715 |
| 2 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 0.616 |
| 3 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | + 0.753 |
| 4 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 0.765 |
| 5 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | + 1.079 |
| 6 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 1.087 |
| 7 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | + 1.158 |
| 8 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | + 1.233 |
| 9 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | + 1.421 |
| 10 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 1.553 |
| 11 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | + 1.559 |
| 12 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | + 1.570 |
| 13 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | + 1.658 |
| 14 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | + 1.702 |
| 15 | Kush Maini | DAMS | + 1.825 |
| 16 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 1.832 |
| 17 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | + 2.142 |
| 18 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 2.369 |
| 19 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 2.412 |
| 20 | John Bennett | VAR | + 2.692 |
| 21 | Max Esterson | Trident | + 3.877 |
| 22 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | + 4.048 |
Qualifying
Qualifying Group A
As is traditional in F2 Qualifying on the streets of the Principality, the grid were split into two groups and Stanek led the even-numbered cars out of the pit lane in the opening group.
Lindblad however was the first driver to set a representative benchmark time of 1m 25.060 in the sixth minute, but Martins two minutes later set 1m 21.792 as the time to beat, which stood until Lindblad posted 1m 21.714 with three minutes left to go quickest.
Martins immediately responded a minute later with 1m 21.145 to go fastest which wouldn’t be beaten as Verschoor slotted into second ahead of Lindblad, Mini, Maini, Durksen, Stanek, Cordeel, Beganovic, Meguetounif and Bennett.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 1m 21.145 |
| 2 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.375 |
| 3 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | + 0.398 |
| 4 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 0.436 |
| 5 | Kush Maini | DAMS | + 0.533 |
| 6 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 0.645 |
| 7 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | + 0.764 |
| 8 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | + 1.076 |
| 9 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | + 1.154 |
| 10 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | + 1.185 |
| 11 | John Bennett | VAR | + 1.842 |
Qualifying Group B
Fornaroli was the first Group B runner to lead the group out of the pit lane and set 1m 38.996 as the initial benchmark time, but Dunne found 0.954 seconds to go fastest as the red flag came out with 12 minutes and five seconds left on the clock, after Dunne had nudged Villagomez into the barrier at Antony Noghes with a brave inside move.
The session resumed after a four-minute delay and Fornaroli soon set 1m 23.782 as the representative benchmark as he then traded fastest laps with Montoya.
Dunne however was in a class of his own as he first set 1m 21.781 then eventually lowered his next two flying lap times to an eventual 1m 21.142, which saw him claim pole by just 0.003s from Martins’ fastest lap time in Group A.
Dunne’s pole position saw him open an eight-point title lead over Browning after stewards ruled his collision with Villagomez as a simple racing incident with both drivers equally at fault, which meant that the Group B drivers would line up on the odd-numbered side for the Feature Race and Group A on the even-numbered side.
Group A’s Maini also consequently inherited reverse-pole for the sprint.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | 1m 21.142 |
| 2 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | + 0.546 |
| 3 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | + 0.598 |
| 4 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 0.617 |
| 5 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 0.695 |
| 6 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | + 1.037 |
| 7 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | + 1.203 |
| 8 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 1.312 |
| 9 | Max Esterson | Trident | + 1.504 |
| 10 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | + 3.300 |
| 11 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | No Time |
Sprint Race
At lights out, Maini made a clean start but Browning got bogged down and slipped to fifth but recovered fourth at Mirabeau after Lindblad spun Crawford, which saw the British Campos driver receive a 10s time penalty whilst Crawford quickly re-joined in fifth position.
Up front, Maini fought off Mini throughout the race whilst Lindblad strategically backed up the rest of the field in an attempt to negate the impact of his time penalty.
Shields meanwhile got spun out on Lap 3 by Villagomez on the inside which sent the Brit into the barriers and out of the race, whilst the Mexican got a 10s time penalty for his antics.
The safety car was deployed on Lap 12 after Durksen had stopped on the exit of Lowes a lap earlier after he was hit by Goethe.
Racing resumed on Lap 15 but Martins lost ninth to Goethe and Dunne after Goethe had nudged him into the barriers at Rascasse, which forced him to pit for a new front wing at the end of Lap 16.
Up front, Maini cruised to his first F2 sprint victory as Mini fought off Lindblad for second after the latter unleashed a late charge with the rest of the field backed up, which saw him fall to eighth once his time penalty was applied.
Browning consequently inherited third from Crawford, Verschoor, Montoya and Fornaroli, whilst Dunne took the fastest lap point out of the top-ten runners in ninth place, after Goethe slipped to 12th at the checkered flag with a 10s time penalty for his incident with Martins.
Despite missing out on the final point, Dunne set the fastest lap amongst the top ten finishers which meant that he retained his title lead but trimmed down to a single point ahead of Browning.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Kush Maini | DAMS | 23 | 44m 57.639 |
| 2 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | 23 | + 3.705 |
| 3 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 23 | + 7.299 |
| 4 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 23 | + 10.493 |
| 5 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 23 | + 11.257 |
| 6 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | 23 | + 11.937 |
| 7 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | 23 | + 13.234 |
| 8 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | 23 | + 13.766 |
| 9 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | 23 | + 27.220 |
| 10 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | 23 | + 28.677 |
| 11 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | 23 | + 31.687 |
| 12 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 23 | + 31.981 |
| 13 | Max Esterson | Trident | 23 | + 33.194 |
| 14 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | 23 | + 43.613 |
| 15 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | 23 | + 47.785 |
| 16 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 23 | + 61.058 |
| 17 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 23 | + 63.957 |
| 18 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 23 | + 71.319 |
| RET | Pepe Marti | Campos | 16 | Mechanical |
| RET | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 10 | Collision |
| RET | John Bennett | VAR | 10 | Accident |
| RET | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | 2 | Collisionm |
Feature Race
At lights out, Dunne got a sluggish getaway and Martins swept round the outside of St Devote just as Dunne turned into the corner, which caused the Frenchman to clip Dunne’s left tyre which sent both cars into the barriers and caused massive chaos behind the pair.
Verschoor, Mini, Miyata, Marti, Cordeel, Esterson, Shields, Meguetounif and Bennett were also caught up in the chain reaction and eliminated on the spot, as the red flags immediately came out as tensions rose amongst various drivers in the pit lane.
Shields, Meguetounif and Bennett however were allowed to participate in a full restart which was established based on the initial grid but closed up to account for the loss of several cars, with Fornaroli on pole from Montoya who had stalled on the formation lap and avoided the chaos with his pit lane start.
The race recommenced 44 minutes after the red flag with two laps behind the safety car before Fornaroli led the field racing on Lap 3, but the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) was deployed a lap later after Durksen had hit the barriers on the exit of the Swimming Pool chicane and ploughed into the barriers at Rascasse.
Racing resumed midway through Lap 5 with Fornaroli unable to shake off Montoya, whilst Goethe was the first driver to pit on Lap 7 for soft tyres from seventh and re-joined last on the road in 14th position.
Beganovic, Bennett, Meguetounif and Shields soon followed into the pits on the next laps whilst Fornaroli continued to head Montoya.
The VSC was deployed on Lap 13 after Beganovic crashed into the outside barriers at Casino Square, having lost the rear of his Hitech GP car, although it was soon upgraded to a full safety car which saw those from fourth to ninth immediately pit headed by Crawford.
The top three stayed out for an extra lap after they missed the pit entry just before the safety car had been deployed which cost them the lead, as Crawford leapfrogged the trio to head the field from Fornaroli, Lindblad, Montoya and Browning.
Marshals however weren’t able to clear Beganovic’s car quickly which forced stewards to bring the red flags back out on Lap 17 due to extensive damage to the techpro barriers, with stewards subsequently opting to not restart the race.
Crawford consequently inherited a lucky win from Fornaroli whilst Montoya rounded out the podium, following a 5s time penalty for Lindblad after he sped in the pit lane during his stop, which dropped him from third to fifth in the classification counted back one lap as half-points were awarded.
Browning consequently was promoted to fourth ahead of Lindblad, whilst Maini, Stanek, Villagomez and Goethe completed the top nine ahead of Goethe.
Post-race, stewards ruled that Dunne was at fault for the opening corner chaos and handed the Irish driver a ten-place grid penalty for Spain, which is where F2 heads from 30 May – 1 June.
Browning now heads to Barcelona, Spain, as the new championship leader on 70 points ahead of Dunne by just three points, with Fornaroli sat third as six points separated the top three.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 16 | 1h 4m 00.825 |
| 2 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | 16 | + 6.693 |
| 3 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | 16 | + 8.205 |
| 4 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 16 | + 12.073 |
| 5 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | 16 | + 12.284 |
| 6 | Kush Maini | DAMS | 16 | + 17.227 |
| 7 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | 16 | + 19.392 |
| 8 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | 16 | + 20.121 |
| 9 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 16 | + 21.711 |
| 10 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 16 | + 37.965 |
| 11 | John Bennett | VAR | 16 | + 55.541 |
| 12 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 16 | + 62.555 |
| 13 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | 16 | + 63.075 |
| RET | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | 13 | Crash |
| RET | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 3 | Crash |
| RET | Alex Dunne | Rodin | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Victor Martins | ART GP | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Ritomo Miyata | Rodin | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Pepe Marti | Campos | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Max Esterson | Trident | 0 | Collision |
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