Roundup of the 12th round of the 2025 F2 season as the grid hit the streets of Baku, Azerbaijan.
Leonardo Fornaroli arrived in Baku with a 21-point lead over Luke Browning following an eventful weekend in Monza, Italy, but the streets of Baku as is tradition delivered plenty of chaos throughout the weekend.
Come the checkered flag of the feature race, three drivers were left with clear chances of becoming champion come December, whilst two further drivers held remote chances of snatching the title.
Practice
AIX Racing’s Joshua Durksen and Cian Shields were first out on track with the former setting 2m 03.150 as the initial benchmark, which he lowered to 2m 00.278 on his second flier.
Jak Crawford and Browning soon exchanged fastest laps alongside a brief displacement by MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor and Hitech GP’s Dino Beganovic in the 22nd minute, but Browning sat top at the halfway mark on 1m 56.769 from ART GP’s Victor Martins.
Verschoor, Browning and Martins soon afterwards exchanged fastest laps before Browning lowered the benchmark time to 1m 55.869 in the 31st minute,
Beganovic and Dunne however left their fastest laps until the closing minutes, with the latter topping the session on 1m 55.720, whilst Crawford snuck into second ahead of Beganovic as the top three were split by 0.058 seconds.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | 1m 55.720 |
| 2 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | + 0.049 |
| 3 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | + 0.058 |
| 4 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 0.149 |
| 5 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 0.182 |
| 6 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 0.307 |
| 7 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 0.457 |
| 8 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | + 0.487 |
| 9 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | + 0.703 |
| 10 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 0.717 |
| 11 | Kush Maini | DAMS | + 0.919 |
| 12 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | + 0.920 |
| 13 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | + 0.971 |
| 14 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 1.090 |
| 15 | Martinius Stenshorne | Trident | + 1.150 |
| 16 | John Bennett | VAR | + 1.345 |
| 17 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | + 1.570 |
| 18 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | + 1.688 |
| 19 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | + 1.701 |
| 20 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 1.765 |
| 21 | Laurens van Hoepen | Trident | + 2.643 |
| 22 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | + 3.337 |
Qualifying
Crawford was first to hit the track and set 1m 56.179 as the benchmark which was swiftly usurped by several drivers including Stanek and Dunne, as the latter set 1m 55.846 to go onto provisional pole as his teammate, Cordeel brought out the red flags after a spin into the outside wall at Turn 13.
The session resumed 12 minutes later with 22 minutes and 05s left on the clock and Dunne set 1m 55.569 to go top with Browning in second in the 13th minute – having both set the same lap time with Dunne having crossed the line first.
Crawford however displaced the pair seconds later with 1m 54.791 ahead of Fornaroli and Mini.
Martins sat fourth going into the final runs but he brought out the red flags with four minutes and 22s left on the clock after he went into the barriers at Turn 3, which saw his fastest lap time deleted and demoted to 13th in the final classification.
After a 18-minute delay, everyone headed out for a final-lap dash but Stanek brought out the red flags with one minute and 8s left on the clock, after Stanek ran wide at Turn 1 and collided with Bennett upon re-joining the circuit which saw the Czech’s lap time deleted.
Stanek consequently dropped from ninth to 12th in the final classification and was also served five-place grid penalties for both races, which dropped him to 17th on the grid.
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
| 1 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 1m 54.791 |
| 2 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | + 0.019 |
| 3 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | + 0.399 |
| 4 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | + 0.778 |
| 5 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | + 0.778 |
| 6 | Pepe Marti | Campos | + 0.785 |
| 7 | Martinius Stenshorne | Trident | + 0.847 |
| 8 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | + 1.018 |
| 9 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | + 1.128 |
| 10 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | + 1.141 |
| 11 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | + 1.192 |
| 12 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | + 1.194 |
| 13 | Victor Martins | ART GP | + 1.387 |
| 14 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | + 1.400 |
| 15 | John Bennett | VAR | + 1.563 |
| 16 | Kush Maini | DAMS | + 1.699 |
| 17 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | + 1.836 |
| 18 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | + 1.895 |
| 19 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | + 2.375 |
| 20 | Laurens van Hoepen | Trident | + 2.513 |
| 21 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | + 2.859 |
| 22 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | No Time |
Sprint Race
A slow start from Villagomez on reverse-pole allowed Beganovic to sweep through into the lead whilst the Mexican got spun out by Marti as Montoya slipped through into second from Stenshorne.
Goethe meanwhile spun at Turn 2 after he clipped the wall amidst contact with Bennett – who got away unscathed in terms of damage, which brought the safety car out.
Racing resumed at the start of lap 5 but Maini spun at Turn 2 after he ran into the rear of Cordeel’s Rodin and the DAMS driver subsequently retired in the pits on lap 6, whilst he received a three-place grid penalty for the feature race due to the contact.
Fornaroli meanwhile cleared Mini for sixth but was repassed on lap 7 as Stenshorne cleared Montoya for second on that same lap, but the Trident debutant suffered a power failure on the next lap which forced him to stop on the run between Turns 15 to 16.
Stewards initially deployed a Virtual Safety Car (VSC) to allow marshals to recover Stenshorne’s car, but soon had to upgrade to full safety car on lap 10, whilst Dunne reported a “light drizzle” on lap 12 just as the safety car ended.
The rain didn’t intensify before the end as Beganovic cruised to his first F2 victory but Montoya suffered a brief loss of power on lap 19 after Browning passed him for second a lap earlier
Dunne meanwhile passed Mini on that same lap for fourth which quickly became third as Montoya tumbled down the order, whilst Mini was further demoted to seventh in the closing laps following overtakes from Crawford, Fornaroli and Verschoor.
Martins rounded out the top eight finishers.
Van Hoepen post-race received a ten-second time penalty after he was adjudged to had collided with Miyata and Lindblad during the race, but stayed 17th in the classification.
Browning’s second-placed finish meant that he cut his title deficit to Fornaroli down to 17 points.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | 21 | 48m 46.810 |
| 2 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 21 | + 6.281 |
| 3 | Alex Dunne | Rodin | 21 | + 7.309 |
| 4 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 21 | + 7.702 |
| 5 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | 21 | + 11.513 |
| 6 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 21 | + 12.390 |
| 7 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | 21 | + 12.468 |
| 8 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 21 | + 12.704 |
| 9 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 21 | + 13.339 |
| 10 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | 21 | + 13.818 |
| 11 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | 21 | + 14.334 |
| 12 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | 21 | + 15.362 |
| 13 | John Bennett | VAR | 21 | + 17.979 |
| 14 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | 21 | + 32.174 |
| 15 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | 21 | + 40.505 |
| 16 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | 21 | + 61.111 |
| 17 | Laurens van Hoepen | Trident | 21 | + 89.844 |
| RET | Martinius Stenshorne | Trident | 7 | Power |
| RET | Kush Maini | DAMS | 5 | Spin |
| RET | Pepe Marti | Campos | 1 | Collision |
| RET | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 0 | Collision |
| RET | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 0 | Collision |
Feature Race
At lights out, Crawford lost the lead to Fornaroli on the inside of the corner and was quickly overtaken by Mini whilst Dunne slipped to sixth behind Marti and Stenshorne.
Browning got a slow getaway which dropped him to eighth in the order but he soon got passed by Beganovic and Durksen.
Up front, Crawford repassed Mini for second at the start of the second lap, whilst Stenshorne cleared Marti for fourth on the same lap but the Norwegian found himself in the barriers at Turn 1 on lap 5 after contact from Marti.
The safety car was deployed and on lap seven, everyone who started on super soft tyres made their pit stops which allowed Mini to re-join the order ahead of Crawford, Marti, Fornaroli and Dunne as the leading five drivers on the restart a lap later.
Mini however ran deep out of Turn 16 and conceded the lead to Crawford but the Italian repassed him at the start of lap 9, only for Crawford to retake the lead a lap later.
Dunne dived up the inside of Fornaroli for fourth on lap 9 but the Italian responded at the start of lap 13 by recklessly ramming Dunne off track at Turn 1, although the Irishman re-joined in ninth but was passed by Lindblad whilst Durksen passed Fornaroli for fourth in the chaos.
Up front, Crawford fought off Mini as Durksen soon caught and cleared Marti then Mini on laps 17 and 18 respectively to take second.
Crawford eventually cruised to his fourth win of the season to deny Durksen an unlikely victory from 13th on the grid, despite the Paraguayan getting within a second across the final laps.
Beganovic benefitted from a 10s time penalty for Fornaroli to round out the podium from Mini as Fornaroli was demoted to fifth in the classification ahead of; Marti, Lindblad, Villagomez, Verschoor and Montoya.
Marti however was demoted to 11th post race after he received a five-second time penalty following an investigation into his move on Stenshorne, which resulted in the Trident driver’s race having ended in the barriers.
Shields meanwhile was handed a ten-second time penalty for failure to slow for yellow flags but remained classified in 18th position.
Fornaroli now leads the championship standings from Crawford by 19 points with Browning a further seven points behind third, as 26 points separate the top three heading into the autumnal break, whilst Verschoor and Dunne were left needing a miracle to take the title.
F2 now takes a two-month break before regrouping in Lusail, Qatar, for the penultimate round on weekend of 28-30 November, which forms the first of a double-header followed by the season finale in Abu Dhabi from 5-7 December.
| Position | Driver | Team | Laps | Time |
| 1 | Jak Crawford | DAMS | 29 | 1h 00m 40.563 |
| 2 | Joshua Durksen | AIX Racing | 29 | + 0.216 |
| 3 | Dino Beganovic | Hitech GP | 29 | + 5.371 |
| 4 | Gabriele Mini | PREMA | 29 | + 10.811 |
| 5 | Leonardo Fornaroli | Invicta | 29 | + 11.703 |
| 6 | Arvid Lindblad | Campos | 29 | + 13.970 |
| 7 | Rafael Villagomez | VAR | 29 | + 17.175 |
| 8 | Richard Verschoor | MP Motorsport | 29 | + 20.014 |
| 9 | Sebastian Montoya | PREMA | 29 | + 20.950 |
| 10 | Ritomo Miyata | ART GP | 29 | + 21.351 |
| 11 | Pepe Marti | Campos | 29 | + 23.145 |
| 12 | Oliver Goethe | MP Motorsport | 29 | + 23.165 |
| 13 | Roman Stanek | Invicta | 29 | + 26.015 |
| 14 | John Bennett | VAR | 29 | + 28.637 |
| 15 | Victor Martins | ART GP | 29 | + 32.951 |
| 16 | Amaury Cordeel | Rodin | 29 | + 52.403 |
| 17 | Laurens van Hoepen | Trident | 29 | + 64.205 |
| 18 | Cian Shields | AIX Racing | 29 | + 94.378 |
| 19 | Luke Browning | Hitech GP | 28 | + 1 Lap |
| 20 | Kush Maini | DAMS | 27 | + 2 Laps |
| RET | Alex Dunne | Rodin | 24 | Tyre |
| RET | Martinius Stenshorne | Trident | 4 | Collision |
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