Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

GB3 will alter its international presence with next season’s calendar by heading to Austria and Spain for the first time.

Britain’s top junior single-seater series first raced abroad in 2016, when it was known as BRDC British Formula 3, by visiting Spa-Francorchamps in Belgium. The circuit has been on the calendar every year since, although the COVID-19 pandemic prevented it from being visited in 2020.

Dutch circuit Zandvoort was added in 2023, then the Hungaroring in 2024, and this season will end in Italy with a first ever trip to Monza.

Zandvoort and Monza will be dropped for 2026, but it will continue to be a 24-race calendar split into eight rounds as long-time Formula 1 venues Barcelona and the Red Bull Ring join.

The first F1 track on the calendar is Silverstone, which will host the domestically located season opener on April 25/26.

Spa hosts round two on May 30/31, then there is another break before the championship races at the Hungarian Grand Prix-hosting Hungaroring on July 4/5.

The teams head into the neighbouring Austria the next week for the inaugural visit to the Red Bull Ring on July 11/12, then Silverstone is returned to for round five on August 1/2.

Making it three British tracks in a row, and all on their full Grand Prix layouts, is Donington Park (September 5/6) and Brands Hatch (September 26/27).

The finale is at Barcelona, a venue many GB3 teams have tested at and drivers have also raced or tested at during their careers, on November 7/8.

The post GB3 to explore more international ground with races in Austria and Spain appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Fotospeedy

Euroformula had three different winners in round six at the Red Bull Ring.

There were two practice sessions on Friday, and BVM Racing’s Tymek Kucharczyk set the pace by 0.189 seconds over Motopark’s Jose Garfias.

It marked the debuts of Alessandro Famularo (BVM), Formula 4 Central European Zone race-winner Lucas Viisoreanu (Motopark), single-seater rookie Ricardo Baptista and Francisco Soldavini (both Nielsen Racing). Soldavini is a race-winner in the Ultimate Cup Series’ Formula Cup for Formula Regional cars.

Qualifying took place on Saturday morning, and it was closely fought with 0.086s covering the top three. Kucharczyk was quickest, claiming pole by just 0.054s over Motopark’s Michael Shin.

Yevan David was third, and Motopark team-mate Diego de la Torre was 0.22s off pole in fourth. A second covered the top eight, with Famularo the second-best non-Motopark driver in seventh.

De la Torre burst into the lead at the start of race one, and at turn three Garfias demoted David to fourth. Shin tried reclaiming the lead at turn four, and got it after the corner as de la Torre went off. He ended up with a 1.1s lead over Garfias, with de la Torre rejoining in third ahead of Kucharczyk, Nielsen’s Ed Pearson and Motopark’s Everett Stack.

Kucharczyk overtook de la Torre on the inside of turn three on lap three, but de la Torre swept back past not long after. David meanwhile continued his descent. The fight for third heated up again on lap 10, with two passes and then an off for Kucharczyk.

But then de la Torre had an off at the end of lap 12 and Kucharczyk was gifted third. He went chasing Garfias, and repeatedly tried overtaking him through the last five laps. Garfias was always better under braking and stayed ahead. Shin meanwhile was 7.5s up the road celebrating victory.

David finished sixth behind Stack, so had reversed-grid pole for race two which he led lights to flag. Kucharczyk jumped to second at the start, but Stack reclaimed the spot on the outside at turn three. Shin overtook Garfias for fourth, then little happened until a backmarker clash triggered a safety car period.

On the lap seven restart David sprinted away, while Shin was on the attack then defence. On lap 11 he gained a place as Kucharczyk tried passing Stack at turns three and five but locked up. Shin went side-by-side with Stack on lap 12, and got him into turn one a lap later.

Stack went off and then came under more pressure from behind. A failed overtake by Kucharczyk at turn five on lap 17 allowed Garfias to get past briefly, and the squablled on the penultimate lap too. They moved ahead of Stack when he got a five-second track limits penalty.

In race three, Stack converted reversed-grid pole into a maiden victory. David got a puncture at the start by sweeping across de la Torre, and Garfias and Shin were second third. Kucharczyk rose to fourth on lap two, and the top four ran as a group.

On lap 11, Garfias took the lead after Stack put a wheel off exiting turn five. Kucharczyk overtook Shin a lap later, and on lap 13 Garfias locked up at turn three and dropped back to second. He had to be defensive thereon, while Stack pulled away.

Garfias succeeded, and Shin was demoted to fifth by a five-second penalty for jumping the start. De la Torre’s track limits penalty dropped him one spot to eighth.

Results round-up
Race 1 (20 laps)
1 Michael Shin Motopark 28m24.868s
2 Jose Garfias Motopark +7.254s
3 Tymek Kucharczyk BVM Racing +7.612s
4 Diego de la Torre Motopark +11.094s
5 Everett Stack Motopark +12.269s
6 Yevan David Motopark +14.143s
7 Ed Pearson Nielsen Racing +14.644s
8 Alessandro Famularo BVM Racing +18.743s
9 Luca Viisoreanu Motopark +28.469s
10 Francisco Soldavini Nielsen Racing +32.088s
Pole: Kucharczyk, 1m23.501s
Fastest lap: Shin, 1m24.484s

Race 2 (20 laps)
1 David 30m21.610s
2 Shin +5.135s
3 Kucharczyk +15.813s
4 Garfias +16.018s
5 de la Torre +17.010s
6 Pearson +18.470s
7 Famularo +18.737s
8 Stack +20.479s
9 Viisoreanu +30.967s
10 Soldavini +40.961s
FL: Shin, 1m24.188s

Race 3 (20 laps)
1 Stack 28m32.101s
2 Garfias +2.184s
3 Kucharczyk +2.773s
4 Pearson +4.702s
5 Shin +8.171s
6 Famularo +11.221s
7 Viisoreanu +21.628s
8 de la Torre +22.272s
9 Soldavini +24.371s
10 Ricardo Baptista Nielsen Racing +51.474s
FL: Kucharczyk, 1m24.789s

Championship standings
1 Kucharczyk 277   2 Shin 267   3 David 246   4 Garfias 241   5 Pearson 173   6 Stack 155   7 Barrichello 149   8 de la Torre 123   9 Shawn Rashid 41   10 Finley Green 31

The post Euroformula has three different winners in trip to Red Bull Ring appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ACI Sport

Pedro Clerot won the second Formula Regional European Championship race at the Red Bull Ring, as Freddie Slater reclaimed the points lead.

Starting from pole position, Van Amersfoort Racing’s Clerot immediately went right to cover off Enzo Deligny and then defended the inside from the R-ace GP driver at Turn 3.

Further back, Matteo De Palo, having started from 11th, found himself taking to the grass in avoidance and losing places after Akshay Bohra aggressively swerved from right to left.

Sustaining damage, the Trident driver – who had taken the points lead with his race one win on Saturday – would later visit the pits twice and finish unclassified, three laps down, for his first non-score of the season. Post-race Bohra was given a five-place grid penalty for forcing De Palo onto the grass.

Jin Nakamura got down the inside of Rashid Al Dhaheri to take third place on lap one, and was followed through by Evan Giltaire.

ART Grand Prix driver Giltaire was on the tail of R-ace GP’s Nakamura and looking for his first podium finish since the Misano season opener when he was given a five-second penalty for jumping the start – as was Trident’s Ruiqi Liu.

Slater meanwhile had gone wheel-to-wheel with Al Dhaheri through Turn 7 on lap three, taking advantage of his Prema team-mate putting two wheels in the gravel to pass him around the outside.

Up front, Clerot pulled away from Deligny to win by 2.771 seconds and record his second win of the season. Toyota junior Nakamura shook off Giltaire on the way to securing his maiden FREC podium.

Slater couldn’t find a way past Giltaire on track, but fourth place puts him three points in from of De Palo at the top of the standings with three rounds remaining.

Giltaire would be classified seventh, dropping behind the Prema trio of Slater, Al Dhaheri and Jack Beeton.

Five-second penalties for exceeding track limits were handed to Kenato Le, Giovanni Maschio and Alex Powell, with Saqer Al Maosherji receiving 15s of penalties.

Race results (22 laps)

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Photo: ACI Sport

Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Clerot narrowly claimed pole for Formula Regional European Championship race two at the Red Bull Ring.

He was in group B, which headed out first in Sunday morning’s qualifying session. The first flying laps came in on drivers’ fourth laps, and Clerot led the way with a 1m26.347s.

ART Grand Prix’s Evan Giltaire and Kanato Le were second and third, with Prema’s Rashid Al Dhaheri was the only other driver in the 1m26s.

Next time by Giltaire set a 1m25.831s to pip Clerot by 0.152 seconds, and Al Dhaheri also broke the 1m26s barrier.

Al Dhaheri was next to the top, posting a 1m25.456s to lead Giltaire by 0.121s. Trident’s points leader Matteo De Palo went third fastest, and Clerot improved to 1m25.921s in fourth.

De Palo got within 0.184s of Al Dhaheri’s benchmark and Sainteloc Racing’s Nikita Bedrin set a 1m25.918s in fourth with theie seventh laps, then Clerot went fastest by 0.038s next time by. Trident’s Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi now occupied fourth with a 1m25.628s and Bedrin improved but was sixth.

There was time for two more laps, and on his penultimate effort Clerot lowered the pace to 1m25.212s. Al Dhaheri was 0.166s back, and Prema’s Jack Beeton was 0.366s behind in fourth.

Giltaire’s final-lap improvement was deleted for track limits abuse but he remained third, as Clerot found a further 0.083s to claim provisional pole. Le and G4 Racing’s Saqer Al Maosherji were the only other improvers in ninth and 13th, and De Palo ended the group in sixth.

There was a pitlane incident involving CL Motorsport’s Newman Chi and Sainteloc’s Tim Gerhards at the start of group A, and Sainteloc’s Yaroslav Veselaho was the pacesetter after the first flying laps as he ran in clear air ahead of everyone else.

Many drivers had laptimes deleted for track limits abuse through the final two corners, a recurring offence for Prema’s title contender Freddie Slater.

After five laps were in, Enzo Deligny and Akshay Bohra were the only drivers in the 1m25s and Jin Nakamura completed an R-ace GP 1-2-3. Race Performance Motorsport’s Reno Francot was fourth, and Slater was 12th.

Deligny improved to 1m25.309s on his sixth lap, leading Nakamura by 0.318s and Bohra by 0.607s. VAR’s Hiyu Yamakoshi got into fourth, just ahead of Francot.

Slater’s seventh lap did count, and his 1m25.308s sent him from last to first. Nakamura and Bohra improved to 1m25.511s and 1m25.787s in third and fourth, and R-P-M’s Ean Eyckmans was fifth.

Few set personal bests on their eighth lap, but Bohra, Yamakoshi and team-mate Dion Gowda did in fourth, fifth and sixth.

Slater’s next laps were deleted, as Francot returned to the top six. Eyckmans briefly got back ahead before his laptime was deleted, and there was change at the top after the chequered flag. Nakamura set a 1m25.246s to go fastest, which Deligny beat by 0.104s. However it was 0.013s shy of Clerot’s benchmark, so he held on to pole.

Francot set a 1m25.483s to end the group in fourth, and Yamakoshi’s 1m25.694s put him sixth and alongside De Palo in 12th on the grid. Slater will start sixth.

Qualifying results

The post Clerot clinches FREC race two pole ahead of Deligny at Red Bull Ring appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ACI Sport

Trident’s Matteo Palo took the Formula Regional European Championship points lead by winning race one at the Red Bull Ring.

He had moved closer to the top of the standings pre-weekend as Prema’s erstwhile points leader Freddie Slater was disqualified from second place in the previous race at Imola due to a technical infringement relating to his wheels.

De Palo started from pole and was not challenged for the lead at any point, winning by 2.95 seconds.

R-ace GP’s Akshay Bohra started second, and Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Clerot was third but went off at the opening corner and rejoined alongside Sainteloc Racing’s Nikita Bedrin. They swapped places ar turn three, then R-ace’s Enzo Deligny dived down Clerot’s inside at turn five.

The safety car was then summoned due to chaos at turn three. CL Motorsport’s Enea Frey was spun around by contact with Prema’s Jack beeton and he ended up in the path of Race Performance Motorsport’s Giovanni Maschio. Newman Chi slowed to a near stop to avoid hitting him at the apex, but G4 Racing’s Saqer Al Maosherji ploughed into his rear and pushed all of them forward. Al Maosherji was able to reverse out of the incident.

Before racing paused, Slater climbed from 18th to 12th, and R-ace’s Jin Nakamura went from 28th to 19th.

Bedrin dived down the inside of Bohra at turn three on the lap five restart, and Deligny overtook him on the inside of turn five. Bohra then had to get defensive against Clerot, whose next attempt at a move was on lap 13. He tried the inside of turn three and succeded, with Bohra unsuccessfully attempting to get back past at turn five.

There was more action ahead on lap 19 of 21, as Deligny looked to the outside of Bedrin at turn three then swept to the inside but both went off.  They battled through the next two corners, and Bedin stayed ahead.

Slater made up one spot on lap six, but got no further. Nakamura gained two places on lap five, another two on lap six, and one on lap seven.

His next bit of progress was on lap 10, clearing ART Grand Prix’s Taito Kato, and he overtook VAR’s Dion Gowda on the lap after. Up the road was Slater, who he passed on lap 12, then he entered the top by slipstreaming past CL’s Michael Belov on lap 14.

There was a big gap to R-P-M’s Ean Eyckmans, but Nakamura was able to clear him by lap 17 and he also got by ART GP’s Evan Giltaire before the end of the race.

Race results (21 laps)

The post De Palo into FREC lead with Red Bull Ring win, Nakamura goes on charge appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: ACI Sport

Matteo De Palo pipped Pedro Clerot to pole for the first Formula Regional European Championship race at the Red Bull Ring by 0.01 seconds.

Both drivers were in group B, and had the benefit of a grippier track than group A that headed out first.

Sainteloc Racing’s Tim Gerhards and Yaroslav Veselaho set the pace early in group A, eventually being beaten when drivers completed their fourth laps. R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny posted a 1m28.745s to go fastest, with Gerhards pushed down to sixth.

He returned to the top next time by, setting a 1m28.453s that was beaten by Van Amersfoort Racing’s Hiyu Yamakoshi before he had his effort deleted for track limits abuse and dropped to 13th.

R-ace’s Akshay Bohra then set a new 1m26.918s benchmark, edging CL Motorsport’s Michael Belov and Deligny. Gerhards was shuffled down to eighth, and with his next lap could not recover places despite improving.

When the top three crossed the line to complete their sixth laps, Deligny moved to the top with a 1m26.363s, Bohra improved to 1m26.624s and Belov to 1m26.862s. Race Performance Motorsport’s debutant Reno Francot moved up to fourth.

Deligny then lowered the pace to 1m26.247s, leading Bohra by 0.144s. Belov was demoted to fifth by Francot and Yamakoshi.

Few drivers improved on their eight laps, with Bohra setting a 1m26.157s to edge ahead of Deligny by 0.014s.

Only half of the pack got their next lap in before the chequered flag waved, and Bohra lowered the pace again to 1m26.008s. Deligny and Yamakoshi were just 0.024s and 0.032s behind, with Francot fourth and Prema’s championship leader Freddie Slater down in sixth. Belov improved but was only eighth, however like the top two he could do another lap.

Bohra reinforced top spot with a 1m25.981s lap at the end, while Deligny and Belov failed to improve. The latter gained a place though as Slater’s fastest lap was deleted, consigning him to 18th on the grid.

CL Motorsport’s Enea Frey was fastest at first in group B, then Trident’s De Palo and Sainteloc’s Nikita Bedrin came to the fore on the third laps as runs of successive improvements actually proved harder to come by.

Bedrin posted a 1m27.97s next, leading Trident’s Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi by 0.024s before VAR’s Clerot — who had clean air and was later to complete his laps than his rivals — went fastest by a huge 0.744s. De Palo improved but was fifth behind Prema’s debutant Alex Powell.

Clerot improved by a second next time by but his laptime was deleted for track limits abuse and he dropped to 11th as everyone else improved. De Palo now occupied first place with a 1m26.372s, ahead of Rashid Al Dhaheri and Bedrin.

A 1m25.773s put Clerot on provisional pole with his sixth lap, 0.47s ahead of Bedrin who had a small pace advantage over Al Dhaheri and De Palo.

De Palo set a 1m26.051s to go second fastest with four minutes to go, 0.103s ahead of Bedrin, and on his next lap claimed pole with a 1m25.709s.

Clerot got very close to that benchmark in the final minute, with Bedrin setting a 1m25.875s tocrise to third. He improved again after the chequered flag, lapping 0.081s shy of pole, and Al Dhaheri went fourth fastest to be Prema’s top driver.

Qualifying results

The post De Palo on pole, Slater 18th in qualifying for FREC Red Bull Ring race one appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: FREC

R-ace GP’s Enzo Deligny was quickest in Formula Regional European Championship practice at the Red Bull Ring on Friday.

The day was split into two 50-minute sessions, and in FP1 there were 11 different drivers who spent time on top.

Trident’s Nandhavud Bhirombhakdi, G4 Racing’s Edu Robinson, Race Performance Motorsport’s Giovanni Maschio and the Sainteloc Racing trio of Nikita Bedrin, Tim Gerhards and Yaroslav Veselaho all occupied first place at points before a representative pace was set, although it was Bedrin who was the first driver to post a sub-1m30s lap.

Bhirombhakdi swiftly beat him, then three successive personal bests from Bedrin brought the pace down to 1m27.836s.

That benchmark stood for four minutes, before Prema’s Freddie Slater set a 1m27.671s then made a big improvement to 1m27.028s on his next lap.

A few minutes later Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Clerot set a 1m26.783s, which stood as the fastest lap at the session’s halfway point through to the final nine minutes when a flurry of improvements came in across the field.

Bhirombhakdi beat Clerot by 0.019 seconds, then Bedrin moved ahead by 0.087s. R-ace’s Jin Nakamura was next to be on top, by 0.324s.

Trident’s Matteo De Palo, who is Slater’s main title rival, went quickest with just over seven minutes to go and became the first driver in the 1m25s on his following lap.

His 1m25.981s looked tricky to beat, but Clerot was able to do it by 0.023s and after the chequered flag waved Deligny snatched top spot by 0.121s. De Palo improved to 1m25.974s in third, and Slater was just 0.021s slower in fourth.

ART Grand Prix’s Evan Giltaire went fifth fastest late on, demoting Nakamura who like Deligny set less than 15 laps while most drivers did more than 20.

Bedrin and Bhirombhakdi ended FP1 in ninth and 21st place, and R-P-M’s Reno Francot was the top debutant in 14th.

Nobody improved on their FP1 pace in FP2. Veselaho and Maschio were quickest again initially, with Francot and Veselaho also topping the times before Gerhards posted a 1m29.005s.

Maschio immediately responded with a 1m28.184s, then R-ace’s Akshay Bohra lowered the pace in four successive laps. After two further laps without gains, he then improved again to 1m27.372s.

Slater toppled him by 0.001s as the session’s second half began, and improved to 1m27.263s on his next lap.

That stood as the FP2 benchmark for 15 minutes, with Maschio demoting Slater to second by 0.032s with just over eight minutes left of practice.

A few minutes later Gerhards went quickest by 0.131s, and surprisingly was not bettered. Giltaire got within 0.031s of his pace, and Francot was impressively just 0.128s off the top in fourth place.

Prema’s Alex Powell, after being 26th in his first ever practice session, was 0.25s slower than Gerhards in sixth. There was 0.023s between him and Deligny in 11th, and a second covered the top 26.

Free practice results

The post Deligny quickest in closely contested FREC practice at Red Bull Ring appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: F4 ME

Enzo Deligny topped Formula Regional European Championship’s pre-event test session at the Red Bull Ring, ahead of a round in which four drivers will debut.

Akcel GP will be absent from the grid, with the team concluding its time in FREC this year after doing half of the rounds.

Its regular driver Saqer Al Maosherji will remain in the paddock though by switching to G4 Racing for the rest of the season.

The Kuwaiti driver is currently 30th in the championship, with two 19th places his best race results.

CL Motorsport is expanding to three cars this weekend, after initially looking like it would only have one entry. Zachary David has a clashing racing commitment Super Formula Lights, so Newman Chi has been signed to substitute for him in the #9 car, while fellow Formula 4 graduate Enea Frey completes CL’s line-up.

Chi and Frey sit seventh and 19th in the Italian F4 standings at present with Prema and Jenzer Motorsport respectively, and in E4 Frey is 10th and Chi is 11th after round one.

Frey started 2025 by coming ninth in Formula Winter Series, while Chi was ninth in F4 Middle East. His team-mate Alex Powell was championship runner-up, and is currently fourth in Italian F4.

Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior Powell will be sticking with Prema as he also makes his FREC debut in Austria in the car previously raced by Doriane Pin.

The final change is at Race Performance Motorsport, where Reno Francot is replacing Enzo Yeh. No explanation has been given for Yeh’s absence.

Francot is currently third in E4, sixth in Spanish F4 and 12th in Italian F4, and earlier this year came fifth in F4 Middle East and 12th in the Spanish F4 Winter Championship.

FREC’s Thursday afternoon test session at the Red Bull Ring ran for three hours, and Chi initially set the pace. He traded top spot with Frey too before R-ace GP’s Deligny posted a 1m28.451s to go fastest.

Frey beat that by 0.245 seconds, then Trident’s Nandhavud Bhirmobhakdi and Matteo De Palo were next to lower the pace.

Deligny responded by breaking into the 1m27s, which Prema’s Freddie Slater and De Palo then also managed to do. Top spot returned to Deligny by 0.027s a few laps later, then Francot beat him by just 0.006s.

His 1m27.616s lap stood as the benchmark for 22 minutes, eventually being beaten by Slater. He improved on his next two laps after that to lower the pace to 1m26.755s, then made another gain of 0.129s three laps later.

Slater headed back out at the end of the second hour for some flying laps and improved by further 0.033s. He continued to be the fastest driver for another 25 minutes, and it took a 1m26.446s from Deligny to usurp him.

With less than 14 minutes to go, Slater got within 0.024s of Deligny, and a few minutes after that Van Amersfoort Racing’s Pedro Clerot lapped 0.103s shy of Deligny’s pace. A second covered the top 19.

Test results

The post Deligny tops Red Bull Ring testing as four debutants join FREC field appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Halfway through F2’s season, disparity between teams’ qualifying and race pace has set up a great title fight

Since the Dallara F2 2024’s introduction, Formula 1’s primary feeder series has become less predictable and the championship table has been less representative of teams’ competitiveness let alone the difference between drivers’ abilities.

There have been different approaches to getting the most out of Formula 2’s current chassis, and the upheaval of the pecking order that took place during the first year of its use has roughly continued into 2025.

Last weekend’s Red Bull Ring round marked the halfway point of the season, and the track was a perfect example of set-up variation. The high-speed, undulating corners mean downforce should be the priority, but most of the connecting parts are also acceleration zones so straightline speed is key too and that required low drag to be prioritised instead.

The influence of engine power and aerodynamics, particularly downforce since it is a low-pressure area underneath the car compared to the higher pressure air above, also takes on a different value at the Red Bull Ring since the circuit is at high altitude where air pressure everywhere is lower.

After filling the top three places in qualifying, Invicta Racing’s Leonardo Fornaroli, ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins and MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor spoke to media including Formula Scout about the set-up differences currently seen in F2.

“I’ve been in a few different teams, and it’s true that there are many different philosophies in between teams,” said Verschoor.

“Some people focus more on the mechanical grip of the car. Some teams focus more on the downforce. So far I’ve been very strong on all the tracks that require a bit more downforce from the car. But you can see it from different teams, how they are performing. If it’s one car only on top or if there’s two cars in the front.”

Absolute pace

Third-year F2 driver Martins said ART GP has “been really strong in qualifying”, and the data backs that up as on average he is the quickest driver on single-lap pace in 2025.

“I felt really comfortable reaching the limits with the car and I’m extracting the most out of it. So definitely the car suits me for qualifying. And in the race I feel also like the [pace] was really strong. Some tracks we had a bit more tyre degradation, so maybe we are more aggressive on certain things.”

He added: “I will just try to maximise what I have every time, and give the team some good feedback to just focus on the right things. But definitely we have different philosophies [between teams].”

Martins noted that once he and his engineers are able to spot where rivals are quicker in different types of corners, it is not a case of trying to emulate their pace through going into the unknown on set-up but rather “you need to adapt to the car you have and stick with [your philosophy]”.

Fornaroli, an F2 rookie who has two poles already, has found Invicta revises the set-up more around its drivers than the other way around. ART GP’s comparative rigorousness may be due to Martins’ experience and past success in F2, since he knows better how to revise his driving to maximise to suit the parameters the car is set up to.

However it’s also down to ART GP prioritising set-ups that put Martins as far up the grid as possible, with a race pace cost. Cars can not only be optimised towards the grip levels of one tyre compound over another, but also based on what feedback a compound provides in qualifying – where there can be cooldown laps between flying laps – rather than over a whole stint.

Since Pirelli does not bring all compounds to every round, some data to inform set-up choices can only be accumulated later in the season and at a point where racing on two or three weekends in a row puts time constraints on what can be learned away from the track.

“[Invicta] have a very open mind. They work very well with the drivers,” explained Fornaroli. “They’re happy to follow their requests, with the car. And we are always super strong in qualifying. It was always very comfortable with the car. Sometimes we struggled a bit in the high-deg tracks, especially in the sprint race, but then in the feature race we were always doing a very good step forward.”

In response to another question in Austria, Verschoor explained how driver feedback is converted into set-up changes by MP.

“After free practice, you just say what you think about the car, about how the car’s handling, and what you would like to improve. And then it’s kind of up to them. Of course you do it in speaking together, but it’s up to them then in what to do with the car. Because there’s many, many things you can change on an F2 car. More than many people think.

“Usually they ask me ‘oh, you have the same car, the same engine, and the gearbox, so it should be all the same’. But there’s actually a lot you can change, and any change you do has a positive and a negative. So that’s why the communication is very important because I know from my experience certain things on the car to change them, which I like, and some of them I don’t like. That’s why I like the fact that the team is really trusting in my feedback, and I think that helps us moving forward much quicker.”

Martins has not topped qualifying overall this year, although was quickest in his group in Monaco, yet with the exception of Barcelona has been within 0.15% of the pole pace at every circuit. He was 15th fastest at Barcelona, behind his frequently struggling team-mate Ritomo Miyata, and that lowered his average feature race grid position from 2.0 to 3.86 and his average deficit to the pole pace from an incredible 0.055% to 0.161%.

That latter figure is still the benchark though, and puts him in good stead for Silverstone this weekend. Last year a driver had to be within 0.253% of the pole pace to qualify second, and it just happens that Martins was on the front row in 2024.

Rolling race pace average

But at this point last season he was 17th in the standings, had completed the least laps of any full-time drivers, and was the 12th fastest driver on average when it came to one-lap pace. The benchmark driver, marginally, was MP’s Dennis Hauger and he was seventh in the points at the time. He ended the season in 11th while Martins rose to seventh in the points table.

Right now, Martins is ninth in the standings and also ninth on the other important performance metric: race pace.

Once again, he is being let down by a lack of race running. The Melbourne feature race he was supposed to start on pole for (after Prema’s Gabriele Mini got a grid penalty) was cancelled, he crashed out on lap two of the sprint race the day before and in the Monaco feature race he led the field into the opening corner where he was hit out.

Despite his super strong qualifying form, he has only scored 35 points in feature races this season. A third place finish in Jeddah, his only podium of 2025, contributed 15 of those points and only last weekend did his combined score from the other feature races surpass that.

Bad luck and mistakes aside, Invicta has had a similar issue with a car generally set up for qualifying success, ill-equipped for the pack racing common in sprint races and then only strong on one tyre compound in the feature races.

Fornaroli, on average the third fastest driver in 2025 on one-lap pace, very rarely has the pace to move forward in races but because he starts so high up a relative lack of race pace (he’s 11th fastest on average) is masked and therefore he still brings home a healthy amount of feature race points and on four occasions has come seventh (worth two points) in the sprint races.

Invicta team-mate Roman Stanek is on average the ninth fastest driver on single-lap pace, with no other team having both of their drivers that high up. But Stanek is 16th on the rolling race pace average, and almost doubled his 2025 points tally last weekend with third place and the fastest lap in the sprint race then coming eighth the next day.

Laps led (excl. safety car periods)

1 Crawford 57   =2 Duerksen & Verschoor 46   4 Maini 40   5 Dunne 38   6 Fornaroli 24   7 Lindblad 22   8 Marti 20   9 Beganovic 13   10 Montoya 8   11 Browning 3   =12 Martins & Miyata 2

Podiums

=1 Browning & Verschoor 5   =3 Crawford, Dunne & Fornaroli 4   =6 Lindblad & Marti 3   =8 Beganovic, Montoya & Duerksen 2   =11 Martins, Mini, Maini, Villagomez & Stanek 1

Race laps completed

1 Stanek 363   2 Goethe 362   3 Maini 361   4 Fornaroli 358   5 Dunne 347   6 Verschoor 344   7 Lindblad, Browning & Beganovic 336   10 Montoya 335   11 Marti 333   12 Cordeel 332   13 Villagomez 329   14 Duerksen 326   15 Martins 325   16 Esterson 319   17 Bennett 316   18 Crawford 309  19 Miyata 307   20 Meguetounif 305  21 Shields 300  22 Mini 297

[Teams] Laps led (excl. safety car periods)

1 DAMS 97   =2 AIX Racing & MP Motorsport 46   4 Campos Racing 42   5 Rodin Motorsport 38   6 Invicta Racing 24   7 Hitech GP 16   8 Prema 8   9 ART Grand Prix 4   10 Trident 12x 2nd   11 Van Amersfoort Racing 17x 3rd

[Teams] Race laps completed

1 Invicta 721   2 MP 706   3 DAMS 670   4 Rodin 679   5 Hitech 672   6 Campos 669   7 VAR 645   =8 Prema & ART GP 632   10 AIX 626   11 Trident 624

He would have to double his points haul again and then score some more to even reach Martins in the standings, and it’s not like he has been without the opportunity to since Stanek has completed more laps in races this year than anyone else.

“I’m very happy that we finally managed to get some silverware, but also at the same time I think it’s we could have had this already before,” Stanek said after taking his first podium of 2025.

For the second half of the season, being consistently competitive is his target. But applying that to single-lap pace and his long-run averages is easier said than done.

“I have a feeling that in F2 qualifying and the race, they are two different sports. Because one time you drive completely on the limit, and the other one you just have to take care of the tyres like a little baby in the hands.

“[I’m] just trying to improve my race pace overall, which is going in the right direction. I know it’s my third year in F2, but the level is very high.”

There are some drivers whose race pace has been better than their qualifying pace, and put them in a higher placing. Verschoor now leads the championship by 24 points, but is the sixth fastest driver on one-lap pace so far. Without a lap one retirement in the Monaco feature race, he would have been gaining on average more than 2.5 places per race.

While his latest win in the Red Bull Ring feature race was a conventional one, he was victorious in the Jeddah feature race by using the alternate strategy of a long first stint on the medium compound tyres then making a very late switch to Pirelli’s supersoft rubber. The day before a five-second penalty had cost him the sprint race win, and he was the fastest driver over a 10-lap run on both days.

The only other driver to be the benchmark on race pace more than once this year is DAMS’ Jak Crawford, and he did at Barcelona where Verschoor’s other victory came. In the sprint race, Verschoor pitted from eighth during a late safety car period and with a grip advantage on a circuit that was punishing the tyres he charged through to the front.

Crawford had led almost the whole race and finished fourth behind two other pitters, then the next day he was fourth again but was rapidly closing in on second and third before a safety car period that ran to the end.

While Crawford has taken two wins and finished no lower than sixth in the last eight races he has contested, he didn’t score in the first two rounds and is behind 17 drivers in race laps completed.

The American, another of the third-year drivers whose experience of the previous F2 car seems to have served them well in the races where tyre management has been most prominent, is third in the standings, eighth on single-lap pace, seventh on race pace and has comfortably led more racing laps than anyone else.

There are two rookies who also need to be mentioned: Campos Racing’s Arvid Lindblad and Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne.

Based on the data, it looks like Campos has done the best job of getting up to pace quickly with the new Dallara F3 2025 car in the FIA Formula 3 Championship and similarly did the same in F2 last year.

There’s been some silly rookie errors by Dunne and Lindblad, but both have been so fast that their names have become buzzwords in the F1 paddock and are both now participating in tests and free practice sessions at the top level.

Dunne is Martins’ closest rival in single-lap pace, and similarly the only time he has topped qualifying was in his Monaco group. He denied Martins pole by 0.003 seconds.

Photo: Red Bull

Lindblad is the fourth fastest on average, and had pole at Barcelona but took a while to find out how to extract the maximum from the car and navigate busy sessions as he qualified 14th and 16th in the first two rounds.

He took to races immediately though, aided by the competitiveness of Campos’s package. The 17-year-old finished on average six places higher than he started across his first four races, and his race pace has been the best in the field so far.

Dunne’s disqualification from the Red Bull Ring feature race due to excessive plank wear means his pace en route to second place on-the-road is not included in his average, but the 19-year-old is still sixth overall.

Having gone into last weekend first and third in the points table, Dunne and Lindblad left it in second and sixth. How they handle the heat — of the title fight, the glare of the F1 media machine and with Pirelli’s delicate tyres while racing in a European heatwave — in the months ahead will determine whether they remain the two names with the most attention or if those mentioned further up become hotter property through their F2 performances.

The post ‘Qualifying and races, they’re two different sports’: F2 2025 data analysis appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Leonardo Fornaroli’s overcut strategy contributed to him losing Formula 2’s Red Bull Ring feature race after starting on pole, but he does not regret his pitstop timing.

The Invicta Racing driver revealed to media including Formula Scout that it was his decision to pit on lap eight of 40, which was the furthest anyone who started on the supersoft compound tyres.

ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins had pitted from third on lap six, and MP Motorsport’s race winner Richard Verschoor switched to the soft tyres at the end of lap seven.

“[Pitstop timing] is something that changes a lot depending by what’s happening. [Invicta] told me that there was some mess in the pitlane, so I wanted to avoid what happened in Imola. Because we all pitted at the same time, I got stuck for a long time and lost like three positions.

“I was feeling good. So I said ‘okay, I’m going to go one lap longer’. At the end, it was not the right decision. But I’m happy I took it. I wanted to go, I felt good. It was not the best decision, but it’s okay. As I said, it’s experience.”

Martins, Verschoor, Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne and Campos Racing’s Pepe Marti all successfully undercut Fornaroli. Although he moved back up to third on-the-road (which became second once Dunne was disqualified), he finished almost 10 seconds behind Verschoor who could better manage his pace in clear air.

“I’m quite happy with our performance. Looking on my prime stint, I lacked some pace compared to Richard and Alex, so there is definitely some things to improve. But I’m happy about my first stint. I had a good start, remained on the lead. I had always a nice gap to P2.

“Then I decided to play a bit more the longer game. But now, looking back, I think it was better to pit one lap earlier. But it’s okay, still P3, was a nice fight with Pepe and Victor, and experience in the pack.”

A key moment in Fornaroli’s second stint was his outlap, as he exited the pits ahead of Dunne and Marti but quickly dropped behind them.

“It was a bit more difficult than what I expected. First of all, I didn’t want to crash on pit exit, which is actually very easy [to do],” he explained.

“Then with cold tyres, on a circuit that requires some big braking zones, it’s very easy to lock up, have a flat spot or go in the gravel. So I really didn’t want to make a mistake, and just bring my tyres in temperature. But I was a bit too cautious, and I had Pepe and Alex just behind me with hot tyres.”

Neither driver pulled away once ahead of Fornaroli, meaning he was able to utilise his fresher rubber later on after remaining in DRS distance of the pair. He overtook Marti on lap 14, and they both cleared Martins with five laps to go.

The post Fornaroli doesn’t regret race-losing pitstop timing and outlap in Austria appeared first on Formula Scout.