The eight round of the 2025 FIA F2 Championship got underway at the iconic Silverstone circuit of the British GP. The weekend chaos started early with the heavy rain, and the competitive nature of the field showed as the drivers were immensely close in qualifying and both races. With the changing weather of the weekend, it forced the drivers to adapt quickly to the mixed conditions.
Winners of the F2 British GP Weekend
Jak Crawford
The DAMS Lucas Oil driver had a brilliant weekend that bumped him up to second in the F2 Championship with 116 points the American driver is only 6 points behind Richard Verschoor. Crawford claimed his third win of the season by charging through the field in the treacherous conditions around the Silverstone circuit.
After qualifying P3, the American driver had an excellent start at the feature race, flying between the two cars on the front row and securing the lead off the line. This early move proved to be crucial. While most of the race might have looked comfortable for the DAMS driver, the pressure was boiling during the last few laps. With Alex Dunne gaining pace and creeping closer, the American needed to race smart to keep him behind.
Additionally, Crawford was under investigation as he moved into the pits closely to the time the VSC was called. There was plenty of talk about the move and if the driver reached the pit entry before or after the VSC was called. In the end, it was found that Crawford went into the pits before the call, and there was no penalty. The Aston Martin development driver left the weekend with 28 points secured after his impressive drive in the feature race and solid effort in the sprint.
Luke Browning
Browning’s Silverstone weekend started rough however he ended round 8 on a high on home soil. Despite a disappointing qualifying forcing him to line up 12th on the grid, and a penalty after the sprint race knocking him from a P7 finish down to P12, the driver managed a strong turn-around.
In the feature race, the British driver had a brilliant launch off the line which gained him three places. The Hitech driver fought several battles throughout the race, notably against Arvid Lindblad, which forced the Brit to get his elbows out in the rain-filled race. By Lap 19, the Williams junior had successfully climbed his way to podium contention.
Fighting his way through the field in tumultuous conditions, Browning stormed to a podium finish and grabbed P3. After a difficult race last year in F3 at Silverstone, Browning reached redemption with his brilliant performance this weekend.
Leonardo Fornaroli
Leonardo Fornaroli might have qualified tenth, however that put him exactly where he needed to be for the Sprint Race as the reverse grid line-up landed him with reverse pole. The beginning of the sprint forced Fornaroli to go all out, as he lost pole through the first corner to Kush Maini. The Invicta driver attacked the tiny gap Maini left open to take back his position as race leader, and from there on he pushed to create a gap behind him.
The young Italian soared to his first victory in Formula 2, winning the sprint race at the British GP. Fornaroli walked away from the weekend with a strong 18 points. The rookie currently lies fourth in the F2 Championship with only 18 points separating him from the leader, Richard Verschoor.
Losers of the F2 British GP Weekend
Victor Martins
While Victor Martins’ weekend began on a promising note with the Frenchman grabbing pole in qualifying, it quickly turned sour. In the sprint race, the Williams junior spent most of his time battling for positions at the lower end of the top ten. After one of many brawls with Browning, the two made contact which put the Frenchman further back. Martins finished the sprint race in P9, before Browning’s penalty was applied.
Next was the feature race, which only made the weekend worse for the ART driver. The race begun with a poor start from Martins which immediately lost him the race lead. While the Williams junior appeared to have a the possibility of a promising end of the race, the driver got unlucky once again. When being forced to battle his way back into podium contention, Martins made contact. The contact immediately sent him tumbling down the order on the last two laps of the race. In the end, the Frenchman struggled with front wing damage which forced him to retire.
Gabriele Minì
Gabriele Minì experienced a weekend to forget at the British GP. The PREMA driver lined up sixteenth on the grid after a disappointing qualifying. While he had a great launch of the line in the sprint race which quickly earned him twelfth place, the promising start came to an end. Already on Lap 9 he fought an intense battle with Alex Dunne as he attempted to go round the outside of the McLaren junior in Turn 4. As he was right behind Dunne, he suffered when Dunne had a lock up which ultimately pushed Minì into the grass. From there they made contact which led to a damaged front wing for the Alpine Academy Driver. He was later hit with a 10-second penalty for the incident, and eventually finished the race P14.
Moving on to the feature race, the disappointment only increased as the race ended prematurely for the Italian. The rain heavy race had the driver scrambling to climb into the top ten from sixteenth on the grid. Unfortunately, the PREMA driver did not reach the top ten at any point in the race, despite attempting to battle his way through the field in the wet. The Alpine Academy driver pit for slicks on Lap 22, which immediately had him spinning out of the pits due to a still wet track. He went into the side of Oliver Goethe in Turn 3 as he could not control the cold slick tyres on the wet track. The damage from the collision landed him into the gravel and he retired from the race.
Ritomo Miyata
Ritomo Miyata has been experiencing a rather unfortunate weekend at the British GP. Already in early on during Friday’s qualifying session, the ART driver struggled as he could not leave the pit lane while the team were scrambling to try to get going. While he did attempt to get out on track when there were 15 minutes left of the session, it did not last long as the young driver was forced to return to the pits. The team later revealed that there was a mechanical issue with the car that led to the problems which left Miyata without a lap time set.
As the Japanese driver started the sprint race from the back of the pack, all he could do was attempt to fight his way through. After a poor start where he did not gain any positions, it became a rather uneventful day. On Lap 14, the ART driver had an incident with Cordeel in which he ended up with a 10-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining an advantage. As he was unable to progress during the race, he finished P20. The feature race ended up being equally as unfortunate for the ART driver. Starting from the back of the field again, Miyata was able to gain a few positions during the mixed conditions race. However, it was unfortunately not enough to put him in the points, as he finished P15. The ART driver can only hope for a better weekend next round in Belgium.
