Summer break has finally ended and Formula 2 is back! The drama-filled Monza weekend certainly didn’t disappoint in bringing us thrilling and exciting races. Here’s a rundown of what happened in the Temple of Speed:
FRIDAY
Practice
Friday arrived and brought practice with it, which Richard Verschoor from MP Motorsport dominated. Luke Browning and Alexander Dunne were second and third, respectively.
Paul Aron and Alexander Dunne pulled a double shift and drove in Formula 1’s first free practice. Dunne was in Oscar Piastri’s MCL39, ending the session in 16th place. Meanwhile, Aron subbed for Alpine’s Franco Colapinto, finishing in P20.
Qualifying
HiTech TGR’s Luke Browning got his first pole position in Formula 2 in Monza. The session ended with Richard Verschoor and DAMS Lucas Oil’s Kush Maini after him.
Alexander Dunne went out first, followed by Verschoor, who set a better pace. His teammate Oliver Goethe went faster still, until Maini beat his time by 0.082s. Red flags caused by Gabriele Mini and Cian Shields prevented them and the rest of the grid from coming out. The qualifying session resumed with just 17 minutes remaining.
This was when the Williams Development Driver delivered the best time of the session. Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli set out to beat Browning, but he stopped on track and brought out another red flag.
Soon later, green flags wave again, until Verschoor spun at the first Lesmo, hitting the barriers and bringing out the red flag. Since there were less than two minutes before the session ended, it was not resumed. Browning’s 1:32.390 was the fastest, leaving him on pole for the feature race.
The FIA deleted Verschoor’s fastest time as he was deemed the sole cause of a red flag during qualifying. This caused him to drop to P14 from second. Kush Maini graduated to second, while Invicta Racing’s Roman Stanek moved up to third.
The Sprint race starting grid saw Dino Beganovic on pole, Trident’s Sami Meguetounif in second and Fornaroli in third.
SATURDAY
Sprint Saturday was as event-filled as Friday. Championship leader and home hero Fornaroli won the sprint, with Arvid Lindblad and Joshua Duerksen with him on the podium.
Beganovic got away well, but Fornaroli soon overtook him for the lead. Arvid Lindblad tried to go for first, but the championship leader managed to hold him off until the last lap. The Campos Racing driver had to settle for second.
As for our previous pole sitter Beganovic, he incurred a 5-second penalty for breaching the Virtual Safety Car rules after Max Esterson retired due to an issue. As a result, he dropped down to P6.
This put AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen in third, with Richard Verschoor in fourth and Stanek in fifth. The rest of the top eight was filled by Gabriele Mini in seventh and Luke Browning in eighth.
Post-race penalties were handed to Alexander Dunne and Sami Meguetounif. Dunne was given a 10-second time penalty for forcing Kush Maini off the track during Lap 7. This saw him in P13.
On the other hand, a 5-second penalty was Meguetounif for forcing Dunne off the track by making contact. Since he wasn’t classified in the sprint race, his penalty was converted to a three-place grid drop to be served in Baku.
SUNDAY
Monza’s feature race brought Luke Browning’s maiden race win, with Joshua Duerksen in second and Pepe Marti rounding out the podium.
Browning started out great on soft tyres, but Oliver Goethe had the advantage of stopping earlier. He regained the lead when Arvid Lindblad hit Alexander Dunne from behind, bringing the safety car out. The Red Bull junior driver incurred a 10-second penalty for this incident.
When the race restarted, Roman Stanek looked to take the lead from the Williams Junior Driver, but Lindblad locked up and hit the Invicta driver, resulting in their retirements from the race.
Green flags waved again at Lap 14. Browning lost the lead to Joshua Duerksen, but another safety car due to Meguetounif spinning gave him the chance to advance to P1.
Browning and Duerksen had fought for the win until the last lap, but the British driver prevailed.
Pepe Marti took the final spot on the podium with a dive on Rafael Villagomez. The Spanish driver tried to move up to second place, but was ultimately unsuccessful.
Villagomez stayed in fourth, with Fornaroli in P5. Beganovic, Mini, Verschoor, Sebastian Montoya, and John Bennett completed the points.
As Lindblad failed to serve his penalty, it was converted into 5-place grid drop, to be served in Baku.
STANDINGS
Fornaroli is still the leader of the Drivers’ Championship with 174 points. Browning jumps to second with his maiden win on 153. Verschoor drops to third woth 144 points, only 7 points ahead of Jak Crawford. Alexander Dunne stays on fifth with 124 points.
As for the teams, Invicta Racing is still on top with 255 points. HiTech TGR is second on 223, with Campos Racing 10 points behind. MP Motorsport with 167 points and DAMS Lucas Oil with 163 points round out the Top 5.
Written by Jo.
Edited by Alexandra.
Featured image credit: motorsportweek.com
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