Leo Fornaroli claimed his maiden F2 Feature Race victory at the 2025 Hungarian GP. It was an Invicta one-two with Roman Stanek in second, whilst Jak Crawford finished in third.
Fornaroli’s First Feature Race Win
“It was really, really hard,” admitted Fornaroli.
“The conditions of the track, they were not so good, so to warm up the tyres was quite dangerous because the chance of locking up or a wheel-spin was very high.”
For the first time this weekend, the drivers were dealing with mixed conditions.
With the track not drying uniformly, wetter sections of the circuit made it difficult to stray from the dry racing line.
Qualifying in second, it was an Invicta front row lockout, with teammate Stanek on Pole.
However, the Italian driver was able to take the net lead of the race after his mandatory pit-stop.
“After the pit stop, I managed to stay in front of Roman, even though he got very close to me, so there it was very difficult,” said Fornaroli.
“I knew something didn’t go good in the pit entry because I was 50 km/h a bit after the line, so I said, okay, maybe we’re at risk.”
Despite clinching the net lead, the championship leader received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit-lane.
“My engineer was not telling me anything, maybe to not scare me,” explained Fornaroli.
“I was asking “Are we in danger of something?” […] He said we have a five-second time penalty […] so I knew I had to push as much as I could.”
With an ongoing battle for second between Stanek and Crawford, Fornaroli was able to open the gap out-front, finishing 7.7 second clear of his teammate.
“It was very difficult to deal with the degradation because at the end I dropped a bit, but the clean air made some difference,” said Fornaroli.
“I saw that some cars were fighting, and I was saying “Please don’t touch, don’t do anything bad.” Luckily, nothing did happen, and we won the race and I’m super happy.”
The Championship Battle
Last year’s reigning FIA Formula 3 Champion is now 17 points clear in the overall Standings as he chases the title.
“As I saw from last year, a lot can still happen, but the potential is very good,” reflected Fornaroli.
“The equipment I have, and the team is amazing. I hope our pace will be strong until the rest of the year and we can fight for a title.”
Stanek Secures Second
Claiming his maiden Formula 2 Pole in Saturday’s Qualifying, Stanek was able to secure second after another consistent weekend.
“I will have to look back at what really happened there,” admitted the Czech driver when asked about the team’s strategy decision that ultimately aided Fornaroli’s win.
“I think Leo just made a simple overcut.”
Despite pitting on lap 15, ahead of Invicta Racing teammate Fornaroli, the overcut meant that the Italian driver was able to make the most out of the free air. He came out five-seconds ahead.
“When he was in front of me, I tried to catch him. I was close for a couple of laps, but then he was just better today.”
Although Stanek was able to catch Fornaroli, it was his battle with Crawford for second position that cost him time.
“I was struggling with my car balance a little bit, so I didn’t want to ruin the tyres. In the end, I think second place, and a one-two for the team is still very good.”
Stanek now sits in eighth in the overall Standings with 77 points, inheriting his maiden victory last weekend in Spa.
Crawford Clinches Third
‘Quite frustrated, to be honest,” admitted Crawford.
“I felt really good pace, I had a really slow stop, which hurt me a lot. I came quite close to Roman on the pit-entry, but I came out losing two seconds or three seconds, so I had to gain that gap again.”
In contention for the Championship, Crawford was able to close the gap to the Czech driver once again in the closing stages.
“I only had one opportunity [to pass], and it was a bit dirty on the inside. I just had a small lock-up, which put me a bit off-line,” recalled Crawford.
“Tricky to pass in these conditions, as we know but still really happy with the points, even though it’s not exactly what we want.”
Despite his frustrations, it has been a successful weekend for the American driver.
Qualifying in third for Sunday’s Feature Race, he was also able to climb from eight to third in Saturday’s Sprint Race.
Although the DAMS Lucas Oil driver admitted that he wanted to go into the summer break leading the Championship, he will have to settle for second, 17 points adrift.
Looking Ahead
Formula 2 returns in Monza on September 5-7, 2025.
Looking to maintain the momentum that they have built, the drivers reflect on how they will approach their summer break.
“Some relaxation because you need some time off, then the weeks before Monza, we’ll be back in the simulator to prepare everything as much as we could,” said Fornaroli.
“As Leo said, I think recovery is as important as training. Of course, some time off and trying to stay in shape,”agreed Stanek
“At home, I’m driving the simulator quite a lot, so I will just keep doing what I did until now and it should be fine.”
“Obviously, taking a bit of time off, both for me and the team because it’s been a really rough summer with a lot of hard work,” finalised Crawford
“It just gives us a good opportunity to work really hard for two weeks before Monza. Really looking forward to it.”
Featured Image Credit: Formula 2 via X
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