The Formula 2 championship is over even with a race remaining as we crowned Leonardo Fornaroli champion. He is the second driver to win as a rookie in the span of two years, after Gabriel Bortoleto last year.
Two races remained for that Formula 2 season and Leonardo Fornaroli was already crowned champion. However at the start of the race, Victor Martins had a really good start and took first place away from the championship leader. Alexander Dunne behind, overtook Oliver Goethe for fourth place. However, he went a bit wide, giving the opportunity to the German to come closer. With the help of the DRS, Montoya reclaimed his P6, after losing it to Nikola Tsolov at the start.
Different strategies to take the win
On lap 3, Fornaroli already complained about his soft tyre degradation. Joshua Dürksen went a bit wide into the gravel at the end of the last corner and lost one position to Villagomez, and saw Verschoor close behind. Staněk did the same and Alexander Dunner overtook him for P3. Fornaroli, Dunne, Montoya and Verschoor pitted for the hard tyres. Victor Martins pitted a lap later but he had a small issue that made him lose time. Ritomo Miyata stopped in the pit, with probably an issue on one of his tyres. On lap 15, Oliver Goethe had an issue on his car and stopped on track, creating a safety car.
Alexander Dunne and Nikola Tsolov both took a 5-second penalty for an unsafe release. Arvid Lindblad and Cian Shields took the opportunity of the safety car to pit on soft tyres. But with the degradation on track, they were either counting on a second safety car or on their luck to finish the race on these tyres. A strange situation occurred as the safety car ended with only five cars close to each other at the restart.
James Wharton took a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. Victor Martins tried to overtake Laurens Van Hoepen but struggled to do so. Jak Crawford overtook Gabriele Minì for P16, even though he pushed the Italian wide off track. Against all odds, Arvid Lindblad’s soft tyres seemed to work as he managed to overtake Dunne and even defended against him. On lap 28, Dino Beganovic is the first driver on the alternative strategy still on track to pit.
A new champion in the house
Cian Shields pitted again, and was a lap down. In the meantime, the battle for the lead between Martins and Fornaroli began on lap 29, with the Invicta chasing the ART Grand Prix car. Behind, Martinius Stenshorne tried to overtake Villagómez but pushed him a bit out of the track. However, he took a 10-second penalty for that move. Victor Martins took the win, his first of the 2025 season. Leonardo Fornaroli, finished second but is officially the 2025 Formula 2 champion. Alexander Dunne completes the podium.