Richard Verschoor wins ahead of Jak Crawford and Victor Martins after making the alternate strategy work in the F2 Feature Race for the 2025 Saudi Arabian GP.
As It Happened
Jak Crawford led the field down into Turn 1 ahead of Victor Martins and Leonardo Fornaroli. Crawford had a great start, continuing to lead after the first few corners. Pepe Martì got a better launch than Alex Dunne, getting past him on their way to Turn 1. The entire field made it out of Lap 1 unscathed.
Richard Verschoor and Roman Stanek were on the medium tyres in the top ten while others were on the softer tyres. Martì overtook his teammate Lindblad for sixth position, and Minì was close behind. Just about every driver was in the DRS of the car ahead.
Further down the field, Sebastian Montoya was starting to make moves. He improved up to 13th. Durksen also made up positions early on.
Race leader Jak Crawford broke the DRS to Martins behind. Luke Browning was hunting down Fornaroli for third place, but there seemed to be problems with DRS. Browning was in the DRS of Fornaroli, but he was not using the DRS. It looked like other drivers in the field weren’t using DRS either as a result of a possible issue with the DRS system.
Fornaroli went wide after a lock up, letting Browning get right behind. The DRS was up and running again, and Browning overtook Fornaroli down the start-finish straight. The overtake also opened the door for Dunne behind to also get past Fornaroli, demoting him to fifth position. Fornaroli was the first to pit along with Martì, Minì, and a few other drivers. Martì had a rough stop, but he was still released ahead of Minì.
John Bennet heavily damaged his front wing, leaving debris all across the track. There was speculation of a Safety Car, yet many drivers pit, including leader Jak Crawford and Alex Dunne. The drivers who pit for the medium tyres were struggling to warm them up.
Victor Martins pit from the race lead, and he came out ahead of Crawford. However, he had cold tyres and Crawford was pressuring Martins. He was trying for an overtake when race control called a Virtual Safety Car for the debris, effectively giving Martins the time to warm up his tyres.
Virtual Safety Car
Just before the VSC, Dunne went wide in an attempt to overtake Browning and went off track. He rejoined by cutting directly in front of Browning, and he was told to give the position back when we went back to green.
We were back to green flag racing in Lap 11, and Crawford was determined to get the net race lead. Crawford and Martins were side-by-side through the first few corners, and Martins just managed to hold on. They were still in 9th and 10th since the drivers on the alternate strategy, led by Verschoor, were ahead.
The next lap, Crawford overtook Martins on the start-finish straight for the net lead. Martì was also making moves, overtaking Dunne and making it stick despite DRS. Minì was close behind, ready to follow suit.
Williams Academy driver Luke Browning was next on Martì’s list, attempting an overtake at Turn 1. Browning was able to hold position, but there were many fast cars close behind. Richard Verschoor at the front of the field was setting great lap times to keep himself in contention for good points after he pit.
Many Battles in the Field
Martì tried to go around the outside of Browning into Turn 1, but Martì was pushed wide and couldn’t make it stick. The next lap, Martì got the move done. Alex Dunne almost followed, but Browning kept him behind after going off track. Out front, Verschoor built a five second gap to Maini in second and was driving faster than out net leader Jak Crawford.
Lindblad caught up to the back of Minì and the group squabbling with Browning. The whole group slowed themselves down battling for position, and they were now under pressure from Verschoor’s pace.
Dunne received a five-second penalty for forcing another driver off track. Meanwhile, Verschoor was 25 seconds ahead of Crawford. With new tyres, he could put pressure on Crawford for the win. Goethe, Verschoor’s teammate, was the first driver on the alternate strategy to pit.
Prema driver Gabriele Minì was putting Dunne under pressure once again. However, they seemed to settle into position. Verschoor continued to take time out of the pack on the optimum strategy, driving himself into contention for the win.
Verschoor Fights for the Win
On Lap 24 of 28, Verschoor pit from the lead of the race. He came out behind Crawford and ahead of Victor Martins. But, Martins had the tyre temperature Verschoor didn’t. It was touch-and-go, but Verschoor kept Martins behind. With four laps left, he had three seconds between himself and Crawford in the net lead.
Luke Browning was getting closer to Pepe Martì again. A few places behind, Lindblad finally overtook Minì into Turn 1. Verschoor brought the gap down under two seconds within a lap on those faster super soft tyres. One lap later, Verschoor was in Crawford’s DRS. The American had to hold on for two laps.
Verschoor cruised past Crawford for the lead as they started the final lap of the race. After being denied the victory yesterday, Verschoor took his first win of the season from ninth on the grid.
Richard Verschoor wins with the alternate strategy in the F2 Feature Race for the 2025 Saudi Arabian GP ahead of Jak Crawford and Victor Martins.
Photo Credit: Red Bull Content Pool
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