2025 F2 Season Roundup: Round 11 – Monza

(Image credit: @Formula2)

Roundup of the 11th round of the 2025 F2 season as the grid returned from the summer break. 

Leonardo Fornaroli arrived at his home event as the championship leader in a competitive five-way title fight but a weekend of twists and turns saw the Italian leave Monza with a new nearest rival.

 

Practice

Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) John Bennett was first on track but AIX Racing’s Joshua Durksen set 1m 56.066 as the initial benchmark, before he set a more representative 1m 34.847 on his second flier.

DAMS’ Kush Maini however headed the order after the first set of fliers on 1m 34.064 ahead of Ritomo Miyata by 0.192 seconds.

Maini briefly exchanged fastest laps with Hitech GP’s Dino Beganovic as he lowered the benchmark to 1m 33.302 ahead of Luke Browning at the halfway mark of the session, before he found 0.245s to go even quicker.

MP Motorsport eventually found their groove mid session as Oliver Goethe displaced Maini only for his teammate, Verschoor to set 1m 32.547 in the 28th minute to top the session from Browning and Alex Dunne.

Position Driver Team Time
1 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 1m 32.547
2 Luke Browning Hitech GP + 0.103
3 Alex Dunne Rodin + 0.134
4 Oliver Goethe MP Motorsport + 0.154
5 Kush Maini DAMS + 0.252
6 Victor Martins ART GP + 0.282
7 Dino Beganovic Hitech GP + 0.446
8 Arvid Lindblad Campos + 0.469
9 Jak Crawford DAMS + 0.491
10 Amaury Cordeel Rodin + 0.507
11 Pepe Marti Campos + 0.550
12 Gabriele Mini PREMA + 0.812
13 Ritomo Miyata ART GP + 0.918
14 Sebastian Montoya PREMA + 0.963
15 Cian Shields AIX Racing + 1.004
16 John Bennett VAR + 1.032
17 Joshua Durksen AIX Racing + 1.056
18 Sami Meguetounif Trident + 1.095
19 Max Esterson Trident + 1.142
20 Rafael Villagomez VAR + 1.219
21 Roman Stanek Invicta + 1.240
22 Leonardo Fornaroli Invicta + 1.440

 

Qualifying

A quiet start to Qualifying saw nobody venture out in the opening four minutes before Dunne led the field out but it was Miyata who set 1m 48.055 as the initial benchmark time, but Maini continued his pace from Practice as he set 1m 32.735 as the benchmark in the 11th minute.

Mini however brought out the red flags with 17 minutes and 34 seconds left after he stopped between the Lesmo Curves, whilst Shields came to a halt at pit entry.

The session resumed seven minutes later and Browning immediately responded with 1m 32.390 to go top from Verschoor before the red flags were back out with 12 minutes and eight seconds left, due to an electrical failure for Fornaroli at Parabolica.

Stewards subsequently cut the remainder of the session down to seven minutes to avoid overrunning into F1’s FP2 slot, but with two minutes left on the clock, Verschoor spun out of the first Lesmo curve to bring out the red flags and ensured Browning’s maiden F2 pole.

Verschoor’s spin also cost him his best lap time which dropped him to 14th on the grid and promoted Maini to second ahead of; Stanek, Goethe, Dunne, Lindblad, Durksen, Fornaroli, Meguetounif and Beganovic who claimed reverse-pole for the sprint.

Position Driver Team Time
1 Luke Browning Hitech GP 1m 32.390
2 Kush Maini DAMS + 0.318
3 Roman Stanek Invicta + 0.364
4 Oliver Goethe MP Motorsport + 0.427
5 Alex Dunne Rodin + 0.461
6 Arvid Lindblad Campos + 0.491
7 Joshua Durksen AIX Racing + 0.573
8 Leonardo Fornaroli Invicta + 0.603
9 Sami Meguetounif Trident + 0.607
10 Dino Beganovic Hitech GP + 0.629
11 Jak Crawford DAMS + 0.674
12 Victor Martins ART GP + 0.679
13 Pepe Marti Campos + 0.758
14 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport + 0.785
15 Gabriele Mini PREMA + 0.805
16 Rafael Villagomez VAR + 0.856
17 John Bennett VAR + 1.168
18 Ritomo Miyata ART GP + 1.182
19 Cian Shields AIX Racing + 1.203
20 Amaury Cordeel Rodin + 1.277
21 Max Esterson Trident + 7.562
22 Sebastian Montoya PREMA + 13.083

 

Sprint Race

At lights out, Beganovic kept his lead from Meguetounif who lost second at Variante Della Roggia to Fornaroli, whilst Stanek cleared Durksen for sixth into the Parabolica.

The safety car was deployed on lap 2 after Maini got nudged wide by Dunne through Curva Grande into a spin which sent the DAMS driver into the gravel trap, whilst Dunne post-race was handed a ten-second time penalty which left him classified 13th.

Racing resumed on lap 5 as Lindblad cleared Meguetounif for third as the Frenchman soon fell down the order, before he cut Variante Del Rettifilo on lap 9 and shoved Dunne into the gravel trap to ruin their races.

Up front, Fornaroli cleared Beganovic for the lead into Variante Del Rettifilo on lap 8 and Lindblad followed through a lap later, but the Brit couldn’t deny Fornaroli victory at home as the latter became the first Italian to win at home in F2 since Luca Ghiotto in 2017.

Beganovic finished third but a five-second time penalty post race for a Virtual Safety Car infringement dropped him to sixth, as Durksen inherited third from Verschoor who drove from 14th to fourth ahead of Stanek.

Mini fought off Browning in the closing laps to round out the top eight after Goethe spun at Variante Del Rettifilo on lap 14 as he tried to take third from Beganovic and fell to an 18th-placed finish.

Fornaroli consequently extended his title lead to 24 points as Verschoor climbed to second ahead of Crawford whilst Browning sat 36 points behind in fourth.

Position Driver Team Laps Time
1 Leonardo Fornaroli Invicta 21 35m 26.925
2 Arvid Lindblad Campos 21 + 1.662
3 Joshua Durksen AIX Racing 21 + 11.067
4 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 21 + 12.524
5 Roman Stanek Invicta 21 + 13.088
6 Dino Beganovic Hitech GP 21 + 13.700
7 Gabriele Mini PREMA 21 + 17.535
8 Luke Browning Hitech GP 21 + 17.951
9 Pepe Marti Campos 21 + 18.233
10 Sebastian Montoya PREMA 21 + 19.801
11 Ritomo Miyata ART GP 21 + 21.337
12 Rafael Villagomez VAR 21 + 28.836
13 Alex Dunne Rodin 21 + 30.678
14 John Bennett VAR 21 + 31.825
15 Cian Shields AIX Racing 21 + 32.381
16 Jak Crawford DAMS 21 + 34.531
17 Amaury Cordeel Rodin 21 + 35.049
18 Oliver Goethe MP Motorsport 21 + 69.303
19 Victor Martins ART GP 21 + 71.886
20 Max Esterson Trident 16 Power
21 Sami Meguetounif Trident 9 Damage
22 Kush Maini DAMS 1 Collision

 

Feature Race

At lights out, Browning retained his lead but Maini got bogged down in second which allowed Goethe, Stanek and Durksen to move into positions 2-4 ahead of the Indian.

Maini then collided with Lindblad out of Variante Del Rettifilo on lap 2 to fall to the back of the pack.

Up front, Goethe passed Browning for the lead into Variante Del Rettifilo on lap 4 and held position until he pitted at the end of lap six.

Browning, Stanek and Durksen stayed out and benefitted from a free stop at the end of lap 8 under the safety car due to a heavy crash for Dunne at Ascari, after the Irishman was struck from behind by Lindblad under late braking.

The race recommenced at the end of lap 10 but Shields hit the rear of Cordeel’s Rodin on the run to Parabolica which ended his race, whilst Browning opted to wait until the start-finish line before he scurried away out in front.

Campos however didn’t change Lindblad’s front wing during his stop and the Brit helplessly ploughed into Stanek at Variante Del Rettifilo on the restart to eliminate both drivers.

Just behind the pair, Mini spun Martins out of the race and necessitated another safety car period for three laps.

Meguetounif however brought the safety car straight back out on the restart on lap 14 after he spun out on entry to Variante Del Rettifilo at high speed, as the polystyrene blocks luckily slowed his Trident down to avoid sliding back onto the track in front of the field.

Durksen however had got the speed out of the Parabolica on that same lap to pass Browning for the lead and led the third restart, until Browning repassed him for the lead on the outside into Variante Del Rettifilo on lap 19.

Browning eventually held off Durksen for his maiden F2 victory to put himself second in the standings with a 21-point deficit to Fornaroli.

Marti passed Villagomez into Variante Del Rettifilo on lap 28 to take third from the Mexican, whilst Fornaroli clung onto fifth from Beganovic at the checkered flag after he cut Variante Della Roggia.

Mini, Verschoor, Montoya and Bennett rounded out the top ten.

F2 now heads to Baku, Azerbaijan, from 19-21 September in a potentially season-defining weekend in the title race.

Position Driver Team Laps Time
1 Luke Browning Hitech GP 30 53m 52.454
2 Joshua Durksen AIX Racing 30 + 3.560
3 Pepe Marti Campos 30 + 3.913
4 Rafael Villagomez VAR 30 + 4.091
5 Leonardo Fornaroli Invicta 30 + 4.767
6 Dino Beganovic Hitech GP 30 + 4.844
7 Gabriele Mini PREMA 30 + 10.784
8 Richard Verschoor MP Motorsport 30 + 11.590
9 Sebastian Montoya PREMA 30 + 12.100
10 John Bennett VAR 30 + 14.883
11 Jak Crawford DAMS 30 + 15.592
12 Kush Maini DAMS 30 + 16.280
13 Amaury Cordeel Rodin 30 + 17.057
14 Ritomo Miyata ART GP 30 + 17.687
15 Max Esterson Trident 30 + 30.836
16 Oliver Goethe MP Motorsport 30 + 59.214
RET Sami Meguetounif Trident 13 Spin
RET Victor Martins ART GP 11 Collision
RET Arvid Lindblad Campos 11 Collision
RET Roman Stanek Invicta 10 Collision
RET Cian Shields AIX Racing 10 Collision
RET Alex Dunne Rodin 7 Collision

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