Beloved readers, a short view back to the recent past…
A few weeks ago, we had a double-header: the Belgian and Hungary Grands Prix. Now I ask: do you know what went down? If not, let me refresh your memory…
Splashy Time At Spa
As expected, the Belgian Grand Prix was hounded by clouds and rain, which meant delays and numerous formation laps under the safety car. But still, it proved to be one exhilarating and shocking weekend.
Sprint Race
The sprint race saw Oliver Goethe on pole, with Amaury Cordeel in P2 and Leonardo Fornaroli in third. The Invicta Racing driver swiftly seized the lead at Turn 1 of the first lap. Meanwhile, his championship rivals Richard Verschoor, Jak Crawford, and Luke Browning got into a tussle in the same place.
Crawford squeezed Browning from the outside, also taking Verschoor out in the process. The championship leader managed to return to the pits, but had to retire the car due to the damage.
Cordeel was doing his best to chase Fornaroli, but contact with Victor Martins took him out of the race. Martins maintained second place until the last lap. Pole-sitter Goethe moved down to fourth, while PREMA Racing’s Gabriele Mini charged up to third.
Championship contender and feature race pole-sitter Alexander Dunne finished seventh, after being passed by Roman Stanek.
Red Bull junior driver Josep Marti finished fifth, while ART Grand Prix’s Ritomo Miyata rounded out the top 8 of the sprint.
Feature Race
Alexander Dunne converted pole to his third feature win of the season. Miyata and Stanek, who started second and third respectively, tried their best to take the lead from the Irish driver, but they were unsuccessful.
The heavier rains proved to make things more challenging for the drivers, resulting in spins and struggles. At Lap 21, MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe stopped with an issue. Because of this, the race was red-flagged and stopped altogether, and Dunne claimed the victory. Arvin Lindblad finished second, and Stanek third.
Hours later, however, penalties changed the results. Alex Dunne received a 10-second penalty after it was discovered that he failed to engage the start-up procedure. The Rodin driver dropped to ninth place as a result.
Arvin Lindblad was set to inherit the win, but he was disqualified from the race due to his car’s tyre pressures being below the limit defined in the Pirelli Technical Review.
Roman Stanek ultimately inherited the victory, with Miyata being promoted to second. Luke Browning completed the podium.
Josep Marti moved up to fourth, ahead of Leonardo Fornaroli. With Verschoor and Crawford out of the points, Fornaroli took the lead in the championship.
Fornaroli topped the standings with 125 points. Verschoor on 122, Crawford 116, Dunne 114, and Luke Browning 110. It could’ve been a six-way championship fight with Arvin Lindblad joining. He had moved to 109 but dropped back to 84 after his disqualification.
Roaring Hungaroring
Hungary was definitely Invicta Racing’s weekend. They blazed through the top of the teams’ and drivers’ standings, especially after a masterful performance from drivers Leonardo Fornaroli and Roman Stanek.
Sprint Race
Pole-sitter Josep Marti clinched his third win in the 2025 season in the Hungary sprint race, but his rivals surely made him work for it. He had to fend off his teammate Arvin Lindblad, who swooped in for second after Alex Dunne had a slow start.
The Rodin Motorsport driver, however, found the chance to retake the second position on Lap 19. He then hounded Marti for the remaining nine laps, giving some beautiful wheel to wheel racing.
But the Spanish driver prevailed and managed to hold on to the lead. Dunne finished second, while Jak Crawford did a daring overtake on Lindblad on the final lap for third. Lindblad finished fourth, but was pushed back to tenth place after a 5-second penalty for leaving the track and gaining advantage over Victor Martins on Turn 3.
Similarly, Luke Browning finished fifth, but dropped to P12 for the same offense on Martins on Turn 6/7. Hence, Martin inherited fourth place, with championship leader Fornaroli in fifth. To round up the points, Verschoor is in sixth, Goethe in seventh, and Beganovic in eighth.
Feature Race
It was a front row lockout for Invicta Racing, with Stanek clinching pole and Fornaroli in second. DAMS Lucas Oil driver Jak Crawford and HiTech TGR’s Luke Browning were on the second row.
After 15 laps, Stanek pitted with his teammate following on the next lap. Fornaroli successfully overcut and came out of the pits ahead of the Czech driver. However, Stanek soon caught up to him. To make matters worse for the championship leader, he was given a 5-second penalty for speeding in the pit lane.
But the Italian driver managed to gain a 7.2s gap on his teammate, claiming the victory.
Speaking of his teammate, Stanek held off Crawford in the last laps, making it an Invicta 1-2, with Crawford closing out the podium.
Championship Standings
This double-header delivered; it gave us surprises and good racing. Leonardo Fornaroli now leads the driver’s championship with 154 points. Jak Crawford stays in second with 137 points. Richard Verschoor drops to third with 135, Luke Browning rises to fourth with 125 points. Alexander Dunne trails behind him with 124 points.
Invicta Racing now sits on top of the teams’ standings with a whopping 231 points. Campos Racing dropped to second with 189, and HiTech TGR with 183. DAMS Lucas Oil is fourth with 163 points. In fifth place is MP Motorsport with 124.
Now, it’s time for the drivers and teams to take a well-deserved summer break. Time for them to rest and get refreshed! But truly, the break barely started, but we’re already here counting down the days until Monza.
Written by Jo.
Edited by Alexandra.
Featured image credit: Formula 2 on X
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