Following an intriguing F2 British GP Sprint Race, the top three took to a Press Conference, speaking to media outlets, including Pit Debrief. After starting P4, Stanek managed to lock in a double podium for Invicta Racing. Stanek came home third, while his teammate Fornaroli secured his maiden F2 win, and first win in over four years.
The top three debriefed the Sprint Race, their preparation ahead of the Feature Race, as well as their team and driver Championship positions.
A physically demanding race
Silverstone is both a physically demanding, and highly technical track. Despite this, Stanek acknowledged that he also had great fun. The combination of a good starting position, and a good start, allowed him to be attacking Montoya from early on. Although, he didn’t get past him.
Both Stanek and Montoya found it tough to overtake Kush Maini, remaining stuck behind him for a while. Stanek made his way past Maini, just a few laps from the race’s conclusion. While he was heavily defended against, Stanek is aware it is a Sprint Race, and looks ahead to tomorrow’s Feature Race.
“Well it wasn’t so tough, I mean physically a little bit because Silverstone is a is a tough track, but it was quite fun I have to say.
“I managed to get a good start. I actually tried to overtake Seb but I wasn’t able to do it, and then yeah, had quite a strong pace.
“It was quite difficult to overtake Kush so me and Seb we were both stuck behind him for a while, and then Seb, he overtook him and then I managed to overtake him also, I think two laps to the end.
“He defended a lot but I managed to open the DRS and stay close and stick it around the outside of T15 which felt quite nice. And yeah, really enjoyed that race.
“Shame that we started so, not so far back, but maybe if we could start a bit but it’s a Sprint Race you know so good that we start further up tomorrow.”
The threat of penalty
Throughout Stanek’s late race move on Maini, questions remained regarding whether he lawfully took that position. Many began to speculate whether a penalty would be handed to Stanek. He was not worried though. Stanek was certain he was ahead at the apex, and that it was in fact his corner.
Although he is unaware if he ran wide, stating he more than likely did. Stanek was incredibly relieved to get past Maini. Further relief appeared when no penalty was applied, Stanek aware he did not have a large enough gap to survive even a 5s penalty.
“No because I knew that I was ahead of him at the apex of the corner so I just kept it flat let’s say, on the exit of the corner.
“I don’t even remember if I ran wide, most likely yes. But he was defending the whole race a lot so I, it felt relieving you know, it was a relief to overtake him finally and even if I was having a five second penalty I don’t even know how much above I finished, maybe three, four seconds it wasn’t enough but no, I mean, I enjoyed that race.”
A decent points haul for Invicta Racing
The Invicta drivers both made it onto the F2 British GP Sprint Race podium. While Stanek finished in third, his teammate Fornaroli took the win. This brought home some crucial points for the team. Despite being in his third season of F2, Stanek continues to learn, and his credits his team wholly.
With all things said and done, Stanek remains incredibly grateful to represent Czech Republic, and represent them well.
“Yes since the beginning of the season I have to say it’s the team is amazing they’ve been very welcoming and supportive everyone actually.
“I enjoy so much and I learn although it’s my third season in F2 you know every day you keep learning new and new stuff and with these guys I’ve learned a lot so far.
“So yeah, I’m just very grateful that I can represent Czech Republic in this sport and be racing at the highest level of motorsport.”
The fight to overtake offline
With Silverstone’s wide track in mind, there are many potential lines to take, although not all work well. When overtaking offline, drivers encounter marbles all over. This creates a new struggle for the driver and their tyres, but creates a fun opportunity.
“I have very similar answer to Seb. Offline, obviously there is a lot of marbles, so we get to struggle if we want to overtake outside. It’s a bit difficult, a bit more of course, more difficult than overtaking on the inside”
Recent improvements within Invicta Racing
Recently we have seen incredible improvements within Invicta Racing’s performance, which Stanek credits to hard work. Despite most of the team’s hard work happening off track, and behind closed doors, the results are shown on track.
Large amounts of simulator work, mental health focus, and the basics of driving a race car, have boosted Stanek’s performance. Although he confirms he wasn’t missing information as such, Stanek also acknowledges the little details he has picked up. He continues to learn every day, and it is becoming clear that the work is paying off.
Despite all of this, Stanek believes there is still room for improvement, before we start to see consistent Invicta wins. He remains confident that we will see wins by the end of the year at the latest.
“We changed massively. We’ve just been working very hard, not only on track but also a lot, we mainly, the work is done outside of the racetrack. Then you just come on the race prepared.
“So we did a lot of work behind the scenes, from simulator through some mental health and how to drive a race car.
“I’ve been missing some, not some information, but some little details that helped me in the races especially. So yeah as I said, I try to learn every day as much as possible, and this team is being very supportive on this side.
“Maybe towards the end of the year we start winning races or maybe even earlier, I don’t know but at the moment we are we improved a lot, but there is still a room to improve.”
The state of the tyres throughout the Sprint Race
Potentially one of the greatest aspects of Silverstone, is the affect it’s cold weather has on tyres. From experience in recent years, Stanek had prepared himself for more tyre degradation, but was pleasantly surprised.
In comparison to those recent years, tyre degradation was far lower in the Sprint Race. Although, caution was still necessary, as a lot of stress on the front tyres will increase their degradation. The Sprint Race provided crucial insight into pace and tyres, and Stanek goes into the Feature Race well prepared.
“To be honest, I was expecting a bit more deg with my experience from the past years.
“No felt quite nice. Obviously it’s quite cold here, it is not hot and also you are stressing a lot the front tires so you have to be a bit careful with those.
“Yeah took it easy, uh sort of prepared myself for tomorrow. Now we’re gonna work on what to improve and uh yeah hopefully we can go faster tomorrow”
A long battle in the F2 British GP Sprint Race
Stanek was forced to play the long game when it came to position during the F2 British GP Sprint Race. While stuck in dirty air behind Montoya and Maini, Stanek needed to remain cautious he did not slide, or over heat the tyres.
DRS proved to be his best friend due to its sheer power through turn 15 with the help of headwind. This allowed Stanek to brake later and overtake Maini on the outside, after an incredibly long battle. Despite the length of the battle, Stanek did not want to make a silly move, and ruin his race.
Therefore, P3 was the best position that he was capable of.
“I enjoyed it quite a lot. You know, always in these battles on a track like this you have to make sure you are not destroying your tires. Because when you are in the dirty air it’s quite easy to slide and to overheat the tires, so you have to be very careful.
“In the end, the DRS was quite powerful into turn 15 because we had a lot of headwind, and I managed to to brake later than him and then to overtake him on the outside.
“It was a nice battle, it took me a bit too long, but also at the same time I didn’t want to do anything stupid, or crash or something.
“Uh yeah managed to to finish P3”
The meaning to a double podium
The drivers at Invicta have a long history of friendship, making this double podium special on a personal level. Stanek reflected on years of sharing hotel rooms with Fornaroli, and overcoming jet lag with laughs. Stanek credits the sheer speed of Fornaroli, commenting on the Italian’s F3 Championship win. Overall, Stanek is grateful for the partnership he has with Fornaroli.
“As Leo said, we know each other for three, four years. Three actually. We were also sharing a room in in Australia in 2022-23 when I was in F2 and F3 and we couldn’t sleep because we were jet lagged. We have a lot of funny stories.
“I mean he’s won the F3 championship so obviously he’s very very quick. There has been a lot of things that I learned from him, and I think we match pretty well as a teammate. So yeah, grateful that he’s my teammate”
Maintaining and gaining position in the Team’s Championship
Halfway through the 2025 F2 season, Invicta sits P3 in the Team’s Championship standings, a minimal three points behind MP Motorsport. They also remain just 21 points behind Championship leaders, Campos Racing, creating a tight Championship battle.
The goal remains to try their best, and see what performance they can pull out of the weekend. With this focus continued, Stanek hopes they will remain in contention for the Team’s Championship.
“It’s a bit early still, we have many races to go. As I said, we all try to do our best every day and every race, every session. I think if we just focus on the moment and do our best we will be able to be in the fight for the for the team’s championship”
The likely chance of rain for the F2 British GP Feature Race
The wild British weather commonly brings rain, and despite remaining largely dry across this weekend, the potential for rain in the Feature Race remains. Stanek has a history of performing well in the Silverstone rain, climbing from last to P8 in last year’s Sprint Race.
With the potential of rain looming, Stanek remains unfazed, understanding that should the rain appear, he will simply need to adapt, and do his best.
“I think from P4 is not so bad, because the visibility would be still quite. Last year here I came from P-last to P8 in the Sprint Race so it’s been quite good here for me in the wet.
“I don’t mind, you know in the end we cannot control it, so if it rains we just have to stick to it. We just have to adapt and do our best”
