2025 F2 Season Roundup: Round Eight – Silverstone

Roundup of the eighth round of the 2025 F2 season as Silverstone threw up plenty of drama in the title race. 

MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor began the round with a 24-point lead over Rodin’s Alex Dunne but both races threw up plenty of surprises, which saw the Dutchman’s title lead trimmed to set up an exciting double-header before the summer break.

 

Practice

DAMS’ Kush Maini was first out on track but it was PREMA’s Sebastian Montoya who set 2m 10.161 as the initial unrepresentative benchmark, which he soon lowered to 1m 43.160 then 1m 42.465 as he initially headed Victor Martins then Luke Browning.

Trident’s Sami Meguetounif however went quickest in the 19th minute with 1m 42.369 which initially put him second by Jak Crawford’s lap time was swiftly deleted to proper the Frenchman to the summit.

The red flag however was deployed seconds later after Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Rafael Villagomez spun out at Club and stalled his car.

The session resumed after a 11-minute pause and Browning moved to the top with 1m 42.324 ahead of Dunne by 0.006 seconds, only for Martins to go quicker by 0.007s shortly afterwards.

Lap times soon tumbled and Martins at the checkered flag emerged fastest with 1m 41.699 ahead of Browning by 0.051s with Crawford in third from Dino Beganovic and Montoya.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Victor Martins	ART GP	1m 41.699
2	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	+ 0.051
3	Jak Crawford	DAMS	+ 0.163
4	Dino Beganovic	Hitech GP	+ 0.224
5	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 0.263
6	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 0.471
7	Kush Maini	DAMS	+ 0.522
8	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	+ 0.548
9	Ritomo Miyata	ART GP	+ 0.582
10	Roman Stanek	Invicta	+ 0.610
11	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.631
12	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	+ 0.670
13	Arvid Lindblad	PREMA	+ 0.730
14	Leonardo Fornaroli	Invicta	+ 0.819
15	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	+ 0.834
16	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	+ 0.936
17	Max Esterson	Trident	+ 0.960
18	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 1.113
19	John Bennett	VAR	+ 1.185
20	Amaury Cordeel	Rodin	+ 1.883
21	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 1.896
22	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 2.552

 

Qualifying

Maini was the first driver to hit the track like in practice and this time he set 2m 14.561 as the initial unrepresentative benchmark time, before Montoya lowered the benchmark to 1m 41.225 in the seventh minute.

Martins however put himself fastest a minute later with 1m 40.710 ahead of Verschoor by 0.067s as half of the grid had lap times deleted due to breaches of track limits, including Browning and Dunne.

Cordeel however replicated Villagomez’s spin from practice at Club which brought out the red flags with 18 minutes-and-five-seconds left on the clock, although the session resumed five minutes later.

Dunne took advantage of the mid-session lull to put himself third quickest ahead of the final runs, which saw Crawford go top with 1m 39.971 in the 24th minute.

Martins responded a minute later with 1m 39.731 to take his second pole position of the season, albeit 0.065s clear of Dunne who qualified second ahead of Stanek, Montoya, Durksen, Verschoor, Beganovic and Maini.

Fornaroli inherited reverse-pole after he left it until the checkered flag to snatch tenth from home hero, Lindblad who had participated in F1’s FP1 for Red Bull in-between the first two F2 sessions of the weekend.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Victor Martins	ART GP	1m 39.731
2	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.065
3	Jak Crawford	DAMS	+ 0.240
4	Roman Stanek	Invicta	+ 0.334
5	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 0.407
6	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	+ 0.438
7	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	+ 0.595
8	Dino Beganovic	Hitech GP	+ 0.606
9	Kush Maini	DAMS	+ 0.649
10	Leonardo Fornaroli	Invicta	+ 0.697
11	Arvid Lindblad	Campos	+ 0.769
12	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	+ 1.004
13	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	+ 1.104
14	Max Esterson	Trident	+ 1.211
15	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.265
16	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	+ 1.337
17	John Bennett	VAR	+ 1,449
18	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 1.480
19	Pepe Marti	Campos	+ 1.602
20	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 2.256
21	Amaury Cordeel	Rodin	+ 39.097
22	Ritomo Miyata	ART GP	No Time

 

Sprint Race

Beganovic stalled from third on the grid on the formation lap but was able to recover to the pit lane before the field made their way round the circuit.

Once the lights went out, Fornaroli made a slow getaway from reverse-pole which allowed Maini to sweep past him into the lead at Abbey, whilst Montoya nudged Stanek wide at Village to retain third.

Fornaroli however managed to get a wide outside line through Luffield which allowed him to get the switchback on the exit to sweep through Woodcote to retake the lead into Copse, from which he calmly built a lead to the checkered flag.

Browning meanwhile battled his way from 12th on the grid to take eighth from Verschoor on lap 7 at the Loop and defended through into Luffield.

Dunne’s title challenge took a knock on lap 8 after he locked up into Village and valiantly tried to squeeze Mini wide onto the outside kerb at the Loop, only for his Rodin car to get a right-rear tyre puncture from the Italian who was handed a ten-second time penalty for his blunder.

Dunne eventually retired on lap 16 due to the damage caused from the incident.

Up front, Maini kept Fornaroli within sight at just over one second behind the Italian but he soon lost life in his tyres, which allowed Montoya to pass him into Stowe for second on lap 15.

Maini subsequently mounted a defensive drive which led Stanek to complain about “zig zags and brake testing” over his team radio, before he swept round the outside of Stowe to get the inside into Vale on lap 20 to take third.

Stanek’s move also meant that Invicta achieved an one-three finish as Fornaroli claimed his first F2 victory and first in any category since his sole Italian F4 victory at Misano in June 2021.

Maini held off Durksen and Crawford for fourth, whilst Browning finished seventh on the road from Verschoor and Martins.

Browning however was demoted to 12th in the classification after stewards determined he was at fault for a final-lap collision with Martins on exit of Luffield, despite the Frenchman having turned in on the Brit who had taken the outside line in a clash considered by many as a racing incident.

In the drivers’ standings, Verschoor remained top but his title lead was cut to 20 points after Fornaroli moved up to second ahead of Crawford who was five points behind the Italian in third, as Dunne slipped to fourth with his failure to finish the race.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Leonardo Fornaroli	Invicta	21	36m 53.118
2	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	21	+ 1.404
3	Roman Stanek	Invicta	21	+ 9.395
4	Kush Maini	DAMS	21	+ 11.188
5	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	21	+ 11.866
6	Jak Crawford	DAMS	21	+ 11.867
7	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	21	+ 13.534
8	Victor Martins	ART GP	21	+ 14.826
9	Arvid Lindblad	Campos	21	+ 14.962
10	Pepe Marti	Campos	21	+ 15.872
11	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	21	+ 21.745
12	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	21	+ 22.810
13	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	21	+ 23.770
14	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	21	+ 25.408
15	John Bennett	VAR	21	+ 26.366
16	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	21	+ 29.842
17	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	21	+ 31.988
18	Dino Beganovic	Hitech GP	21	+ 33.483
19	Amaury Cordeel	Rodin	21	+ 34.259
20	Ritomo Miyata	ART GP	21	+ 40.218
21	Max Esterson	Trident	21	+ 46.845
RET	Alex Dunne	Rodin	15	Damage

 

Feature Race

Heavy rainfall during the premature finish to the F3 race caused a 12-minute delay to the start of the formation lap on a damp track.

At lights out, Martins struggled to engage his revs from pole position which allowed Crawford to blast past into the lead from Dunne and Stanek, although Martins soon cleared the Czech driver to reclaim third.

Durksen jumped Montoya for fifth whilst Lindblad improved to eighth ahead of Browning and Beganovic but found himself passed by the Hitech GP drivers on the next two laps, as Browning and Beganovic then cleared Verschoor on lap 4 for seventh and eighth respectively.

Browning and Beganovic then cleared Montoya on lap 5 as they continued their charge before they followed Durksen past Stanek on lap 9.

Durksen however proved a tough customer to crack with only Browning able to clear the Paraguayan with an inside move at Luffield on lap 12, before he hunted down and passed Martins round the outside of the same corner on lap 18 for third.

Up front, Dunne strategically sat around two seconds behind Crawford until lap 18 when he unleashed his pace with better managed wet tyres, which saw him get within DRS range by the end of lap 20.

Lindblad and Maini at the end of that lap were the first to stop with others following on the next lap, including Mini who clattered into Goethe at Village with no grip on his hard tyres, which brought out the Virtual Safety Car (VSC) on lap 23 under which Stanek spun out at Chapel.

Browning was the first frontrunner to pit from third at the end of lap 22 for fresh wet tyres but Crawford controversially crossed into the pit lane at the end of lap 23 as the VSC was deployed, with rules stating that no pit stops under the VSC is permitted which led to questions over the legality of his stop.

The safety car subsequently was deployed on lap 25 and Dunne pitted at the end of that lap but managed to re-join second in-between Crawford and Browning, with the leading trio on wet tyres.

Racing recommenced at the end of lap 27 as the rain began to intensify but Durksen spun across the start-finish straight and brought out the safety car to conclude the race.

Crawford consequently took his third win of the season subject to a stewards’ query about his pit stop, ahead of Dunne who took second from home hero, Browning.

Beganovic, Montoya, Fornaroli, Verschoor, Lindblad, Marti and Villagomez rounded out the top ten.

Verschoor’s title lead was further cut to six points as Crawford climbed to second as he and Dunne demoted Fornaroli to fourth, as Browning improved to fifth with the top five split by 24 points.

F2 now takes a three-week break before reconvening on weekend of 25-27 July for the Belgian round at Spa-Francorchamps.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Jak Crawford	DAMS	29	29 Laps
2	Alex Dunne	Rodin	29	+ 0.2
3	Luke Browning	Hitech GP	29	+ 0.8
4	Dino Beganovic	Hitech GP	29	+ 1.3
5	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	29	+ 1.7
6	Leonardo Fornaroli	Invicta	29	+ 2.2
7	Richard Verschoor	MP Motorsport	29	+ 3.0
8	Arvid Lindblad	Campos	29	+ 3.7
9	Pepe Marti	Campos	29	+ 4.1
10	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	29	+ 4.4
11	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	29	+ 4.9
12	John Bennett	VAR	29	+ 5.3
13	Max Esterson	Trident	29	+ 6.2
14	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	29	+ 6.5
15	Ritomo Miyata	ART GP	29	+ 8.9
16	Kush Maini	DAMS	29	+ 20.2
17	Amaury Cordeel	Rodin	29	+ 24.8
18	Sami Meguetounif	Trident	29	+ 75.6
19	Victor Martins	DAMS	28	+ 1 Lap
20	Joshua Durksen	AIX Racing	27	Spin
RET	Roman Stanek	Invicta	22	Spin
RET	Gabriele Mini	PREMA	21	Spin