The F2 weekend in Austria proved to be both positive and negative for Leonardo Fornaroli, with a P16 in the Sprint Race, and a P2 in the Feature Race. After the Feature Race’s conclusion, Fornaroli spoke in a Press Conference, which was attended by Pit Debrief.
He reflected on his weekend, as well as his season thus far, commenting on whether expectations have been met.
A reflection on performance
“I’m quite happy with our performance. And looking on my prime stint, I lacked some pace compared to Richard and Alex. So there’s 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 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 back.”
A misjudged pit stop
“No, it’s something that changes a lot depending on what’s happening. They told me that there was some mess in the pit lane, 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 my position.
“So I was feeling good. So I said, okay, I’m gonna go one lap longer. But in 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.”
Improvements following Barcelona
“I knew I needed to score as many points as possible. Of course, yesterday was very unlucky with the last lap.
“I really wanted the win, but still, we scored two points on Friday, 15 today. So it’s okay. And we have Silverstone already next week.”
Turn 3 proved tricky across all series
“Yeah, you know, it’s a tricky corner. You’re coming very quick from a very long straight and you don’t see very well the exit because it’s going uphill. I mean, we have a good example from yesterday.
“So Gabi hit him and I had nowhere to go. So that’s the main point, coming very quick and it’s uphill, so you don’t see much on the exit.”
Attempting to join the Championship battle
After the F2 round in Austria, Fornaroli has secured P4 in the Championship standings, just two points behind Crawford. Previous weekends have not gone the way Fornaroli or Invicta would have liked. Austria felt like a turning point, with his biggest points haul yet.
“No, it’s going pretty well. For sure, we had some unfortunate events that prevent us to stay now in the fight for top three, but after this weekend, I scored good points. So I will give my best now to try to reach these two guys.”
Heading into the 2025 F2 season, Fornaroli didn’t hold many expectations. This was his first year in the series, first year with Invicta, and a brand new car. Since day one, especially pre-season testing, Fornaroli felt good with the car and team. Melbourne was a great shock for the driver, when nothing went the way it had in testing.
Despite these ups and downs, both Fornaroli and the team are looking strong, and continuing to improve.
“To be honest, I didn’t have many expectations, because it was the first year with a non-Italian team. First year in Formula 2, a new car, everything new for me. But since the first day, I felt very good with Invicta.
“As I said on Friday, they worked very well with the drivers, so I knew we could have achieved good results. After the post-season test and pre-season test in Abu Dhabi and Barcelona, I was 100% confident, because I had many things to improve on. But they went to Melbourne, and in Quali and the Race 1, the pace was very good.
“So, still, we’re looking very strong. Despite all the things that happened, we’re now P4 in the championship. It’s good, I’m happy, but I want to do a bit more.”
A positive result after rounds of trouble
With the previous rounds hosting misfortune for the Italian driver, Austria’s F2 round brought relief. With pole position secured on Friday, it all came down to Saturday and Sunday. Battling F2 veterans, Martins and Marti, a challenged was presented to Fornaroli.
Despite their seasoned experience, Fornaroli remained confident and fought his hardest. Some points proved difficult, although he managed to gain position back on both drivers.
“No, I needed a good result, as I said before, after all the unlucky things that happened in the previous rounds. But fortunately, I was starting on pole, so I wanted really bad to win.
“I knew I could have done it, but I gave everything, but still there are some things to improve. No, the battle with Victor and Pepe was fun, but difficult, because Victor has a massive experience. He played very well, he was a bit smarter than me.
“Also, Pepe overtook me, so that was a bit difficult, but luckily, they touched a bit before, so Victor went wide. Then I was side-by-side with Pepe, and I knew it was basically one of the last chances to go in front of him. So, happily, I also took back P3.”
Pit stop ruined position – an attempt to regain position
During the F2 Feature Race in Austria, Fornaroli made an attempt to run longer on his set of tyres. This resulted in him missing the ideal pit window for his specific race. As a result, the Italian lost multiple positions during this stop, and was forced to fight to regain them.
Reflecting on his battle back up for position, he can acknowledge that he was disadvantaged greatly by his cold tyres. This remains something he will continue to work on.
“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. Then you can go.
“And then with cold tyres in a circuit that requires some big braking zones, it’s very easy to lock up, have a flat spot or, I don’t know, go in the gravel. So, I really didn’t want to make a mistake and just bring my tyres in temperature.
“So, yeah, I was a bit too cautious and I had [Marti] and Alex just behind me with hot tyres, unfortunately, they overtook me. So, when I come back, I will study what I could do better in that outlap.”
