Roundup of the ninth round of the 2025 F2 season as the title fight rolled on into Belgium.
MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor arrived at Spa-Francorchamps as the championship leader but the top five were split by just 24 points coming into the weekend, which marked the closest points margin between the top five at this stage in F2 history.
One of the title protagonists proceeded to enjoy a dominant Friday whilst another further boosted his title aspirations in a lively sprint, before a wet feature race saw the title lead change hands.
Practice
After F3 practice was postponed due to low fog, visibility had improved in time for F2 to enjoy a smooth start to its weekend as Oliver Goethe led the field out onto the circuit.
Trident’s Sami Meguetounif however was the first driver to set a benchmark time of 2m 26.389 which was quickly usurped by several drivers as the lead changed hands repeatedly in the opening 13 minutes, until PREMA’s Gabriele Mini set 2m 00.843 as the benchmark time.
Mini further lowered his benchmark time to 2m 00.093 just five minutes later before he and Victor Martins traded fastest laps, as the Italian soon set 1m 59.918 as the new fastest lap by 0.043 seconds from Martins.
Dunne however had quietly settled into the session without troubling the timesheet until the 27th minute when he produced 1m 59.519 to top the session from Mini and Martins.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | 1m 59.519 |
| 2 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 0.399 |
| 3 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.442 |
| 4 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | + 0.502 |
| 5 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 0.520 |
| 6 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | + 0.640 |
| 7 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.759 |
| 8 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | + 0.799 |
| 9 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 0.865 |
| 10 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | + 0.900 |
| 11 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 0.901 |
| 12 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | + 0.936 |
| 13 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | + 0.966 |
| 14 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | + 1.190 |
| 15 | John Bennett | VAR | + 1.331 |
| 16 | Kush Maini | DAMS | + 1.356 |
| 17 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 1.358 |
| 18 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 1.435 |
| 19 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | + 1.573 |
| 20 | Max Esterson | Trident | + 2.010 |
| 21 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | + 2.108 |
| 22 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | + 2.668 |
Qualifying
Bennett and Villagomez led the field out onto track for qualifying although it was Browning who set the initial benchmark of 1m 58.537 but Dunne delivered 1m 58.340 to go fastest from Fornaroli by just 0.003s., with Mini a further 0.075s back in third.
Dunne continued his dominant performance on his second flier with 1m 57.863 after he was briefly displaced by Fornaroli as the top three stayed as they were at the halfway mark.
Nobody could ultimately beat Dunne who took his second pole position with 1m 57.151 but Miyata achieved his best F2 qualifying performance to qualify second ahead of Stanek, Martins, Lindblad, Marti, Fornaroli, Mini, Cordeel and Goethe – who took reverse pole for the sprint.
Mini however would begin both races from eighth after he was handed a five-place penalty for the sprint following the Silverstone Feature Race.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | 1m 57.151 |
| 2 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | + 0.419 |
| 3 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | + 0.425 |
| 4 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.437 |
| 5 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | + 0.523 |
| 6 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 0.548 |
| 7 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | + 0.561 |
| 8 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 0.634 |
| 9 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | + 0.716 |
| 10 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | + 0.742 |
| 11 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.845 |
| 12 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 0.891 |
| 13 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | + 1.017 |
| 14 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 1.051 |
| 15 | John Bennett | VAR | + 1.195 |
| 16 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | + 1.203 |
| 17 | Max Esterson | Trident | + 1.319 |
| 18 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 1.376 |
| 19 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | + 1.416 |
| 20 | Kush Maini | DAMS | + 1.452 |
| 21 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 1.524 |
| 22 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | + 2.362 |
Sprint Race
At lights out, Goethe got an initial strong start but was bogged down in the second phase which allowed Fornaroli to sweep up the inside to take the lead from Cordeel.
Further back, Crawford nudged Browning into Verschoor on the exit of La Source which caused the Brit to bounce back across into the American’s path to send both drivers into the gravel, whilst Verschoor spun at Eau Rouge due to his own oil leak from the collision between three title contenders.
Browning and Verschoor consequently retired whilst Crawford recovered to the pit lane for repair and was able to continue as the safety car came out.
Racing recommenced at the end of lap three and Dunne quickly cleared Miyata for eighth into Les Combes followed by Stanek a lap later.
Up front, Goethe ran wide on the exit of Raidillon on lap eight which cost him momentum and allowed Martins to pass him a lap later on the Kemmel Straight with DRS assistance to take third.
Martins eventually caught Cordeel on lap 12 and made a sweeping outside move at Les Combes for second but accidentally clipped Cordeel’s front-left tyre with his right-rear tyre, which sent the Belgian into the gravel trap and caused a second safety car deployment.
Everyone except Fornaroli, Martins, Goethe, Mini and Shields pitted for soft tyres and when racing resumed at the end of lap 13, Marti, Stanek and Dunne quickly cleared Shields on the next lap whilst Mini passed Goethe for third.
Dunne passed Stanek on lap 15 but he and Marti ended up scrapping over fifth as they traded positions at La Source on lap 16, only for Marti to repass him at Raidillon which allowed Stanek to also repass Dunne into Les Combes.
Their fighting and a stoppage for Meguetounif on the Kemmel Straight on the penultimate lap ultimately brought the race to a finish under the safety car, as Fornaroli clung on for his second victory of the season from Martins, Mini and Goethe.
Marti, Stanek, Dunne and Miyata rounded out the top eight.
Verschoor’s title lead over Crawford was slightly trimmed to five points as Fornaroli’s victory lifted him up to third and seven points off the summit, whilst Dunne sat 12 points behind in fourth position.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | 18 | 41m 49.222 |
| 2 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 18 | + 0.601 |
| 3 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | 18 | + 1.271 |
| 4 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 18 | + 2.408 |
| 5 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 18 | + 2.804 |
| 6 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | 18 | + 4.405 |
| 7 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | 18 | + 4.883 |
| 8 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | 18 | + 5.647 |
| 9 | John Bennett | VAR | 18 | + 6.734 |
| 10 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 18 | + 7.663 |
| 11 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 18 | + 8.053 |
| 12 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 18 | + 8.423 |
| 13 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | 18 | + 8.933 |
| 14 | Max Esterson | Trident | 18 | + 9.387 |
| 15 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | 18 | + 9.939 |
| 16 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | 18 | + 11.052 |
| 17 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | 18 | + 11.477 |
| 18 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 16 | Mechanical |
| 19 | Kush Maini | DAMS | 15 | Mechanical |
| RET | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | 11 | Collision |
| RET | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 1 | Collision |
| RET | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 0 | Collision |
Feature Race
With heavy rain having curtailed after the F3 Feature Race was abandoned, the race commenced under the safety car for three laps before Dunne led everyone away on a rolling start.
Stanek immediately cleared Miyata at La Source but ran wide at Raidillon which allowed Miyata to repass him into Les Combes for second.
Fornaroli meanwhile cleared Marti for sixth whilst Goethe and Verschoor demoted Cordeel to 11th, which became 12th a lap later as Browning cleared him as the rain returned at a steady pace during which Marti and Mini passed Fornaroli.
Meguetounif, Montoya and Maini were first to pit on lap seven whilst Miyata, Stanek, Martins and Lindblad reeled in Dunne, but the Irishman stood firm and forced Stanek plus Martins to pit at the end of lap 11 to try the undercut.
Martins however was out of contention for the win after he had to serve a ten-second penalty at his stop due to multiple breaches of track limits.
Dunne and Miyata made their stops a lap later which saw Stanek successfully undercut Miyata and immediately pressurised Dunne who again stood firm for the net lead.
Browning meanwhile spun at the pit exit after his stop that same lap and dropped to 12th but was able to recover to fifth by the end of lap 17.
Montoya however aquaplaned through Eau Rouge on lap 18 which brought the safety car out under which Verschoor and Maini took a gamble on a second pit stop for fresher wet tyres.
The race was ultimately red flagged on lap 21 after Goethe’s engine blew up through Eau Rouge and caused him to stop on the entry of the Kemmel Straight.
Dunne subsequently cruised to his third victory of the season on two-lap countback ahead of Lindblad after Miyata spun on lap 16 at Pouhon which gifted third to Stanek who fell behind Lindblad, having taken avoiding action in the wake of Miyata’s spin.
Stewards post-race handed Dunne a ten-second penalty after he failed to engage the start-up procedure despite having been advised by Rodin not to – in part due to the decision to conduct a rolling start rather than standing start, which saw him fall to ninth in the classification.
Lindblad briefly inherited victory but was disqualified due to failing to meet Pirelli’s minimum tyre pressures, with his tyre PSI having been measured at the following measurements;
- Front left: 15.74 PSI
- Front right: 15.61 PSI
- Rear left: 13.59 PSI
- Rear right: 13.70 PSI
Stanek consequently inherited his second victory of his F2 career ahead of Ritomo Miyata who achieved his first podium in F2, as Browning rounded out the podium from Marti, Fornaroli, Mini, Beganovic, Martins, Dunne and Cordeel.
Dunne initially moved top of the standings prior to his penalty which left Fornaroli on 125 points top from Verschoor by just three points, whilst Crawford slipped to third ahead of Dunne and Browning as the top five were split by just 12 points.
F2 now heads to Hungaroring, Budapest, Hungary for the tenth round of the campaign from 1-3 August prior to the summer break.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Roman Stanek | Rodin | 19 | 46m 15.274 |
| 2 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | 19 | + 1.790 |
| 3 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 19 | + 2.413 |
| 4 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 19 | + 3.058 |
| 5 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | 19 | + 3.651 |
| 6 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | 19 | + 4.352 |
| 7 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | 19 | + 5.198 |
| 8 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 19 | + 7.717 |
| 9 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | 19 | + 8.547 |
| 10 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | 19 | + 8.717 |
| 11 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 19 | + 9.457 |
| 12 | John Bennett | VAR | 19 | + 19.513 |
| 13 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 19 | + 11.546 |
| 14 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 19 | + 12.143 |
| 15 | Sami Meguetounif | Trident | 19 | + 16.720 |
| 16 | Max Esterson | Trident | 19 | + 33.906 |
| 17 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 19 | + 36.900 |
| 18 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 19 | + 38.901 |
| 19 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | 19 | + 66.338 |
| 20 | Kush Maini | DAMS | 19 | + 73.228 |
| DSQ | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | 19 | Tyre Pressure |
| RET | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | 17 | Spin |
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