Richard Verschoor delivered a commanding performance in the Feature Race at the 2025 Austrian GP, claiming his third win of the season and seizing the lead in the FIA F2 Championship. Although Leonardo Fornaroli launched well from pole and led through Turn 1, Verschoor quickly found a way past at Turn 3 and never looked back. Victor Martins, who started second, could not match the frontrunners and settled into third early on.
Meanwhile, Alex Dunne, who had entered the weekend as the points leader, made limited progress from seventh on the grid. Despite fighting hard in the opening laps and overtaking rivals like Fornaroli and Martí, his efforts ultimately came to nothing following post-race scrutineering.
Pit‑stop phase shakes the running order
As the first round of pit stops began around lap seven, the race order began to shift significantly. Martins, Martí, Jak Crawford, and Dino Beganovic pitted early in an attempt to undercut those ahead. Verschoor responded soon after, along with several others including Ollie Goethe and Arvid Lindblad. The undercut proved successful for Verschoor, who regained the net lead shortly after rejoining the track.
Fornaroli, who delayed his stop by a lap, lost ground to both Verschoor and Martins during this phase. The Italian rejoined behind them but soon became embroiled in a fierce scrap for the podium with Martí and Dunne.
Dunne disqualified after technical breach
After the chequered flag, the stewards disqualified Alex Dunne for excessive plank wear on his Rodin Motorsport car. Measurements showed the front plank fell below the permitted 4mm limit at two points. With no satisfactory explanation from the team and no evidence of an exceptional incident, the stewards applied a standard disqualification under Article 3.2.2 of the Technical Regulations.
As a result, all drivers who had finished behind Dunne were promoted by one position. The disqualification cost him crucial points and removed what would have been a valuable second-place finish from his tally.
Further penalties add to the drama
John Bennett received a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Sebastián Montoya at Turn 3. The stewards deemed Bennett predominantly at fault, and the penalty dropped him from 13th to 14th. In a separate incident, Lindblad was penalised 10 seconds for contact with Goethe on the final lap, though the effect on his position was minimal.
Title race reshaped
With Dunne losing all points from the Feature Race, Verschoor now leads the championship by 24 points. Crawford moves up to third in the standings after being promoted to fourth in the final classification. Fornaroli, who completed the podium, also climbed into the top four. Luke Browning, who delivered an impressive drive from 17th to sixth, remains firmly in contention.
Ultimately, the disqualification proved costly for Dunne, whose championship momentum suffered a severe setback. As the season moves forward, the margin for error remains razor-thin, both in wheel-to-wheel combat and in technical compliance.
2025 F2 Championship Standings after Austrian GP Sprint Race
- R. Verschoor – 114 points
- A. Dunne – 90 points
- J. Crawford – 88 points
- L. Fornaroli – 86 points
- L. Browning – 83 points
- A. Lindblad – 79 points
- J. Martí – 67 points
- S. Monoya – 53 points
- V. Martins – 49 points
- D. Beganovic – 31 points
- R. Staněk – 23 points
- K. Maini – 21 points
- G. Minì – 21 points
- J. Dürksen – 19 points
- O. Goethe – 12 points
- R. Villagómez – 10 points
- R. Miyata – 6 points
- A. Cordeel – 2 points
- S. Meguetounif – 2 points
- M. Esterson – 0 points
- C. Shields – 0 points
- J. Bennett – 0 points
