Arvid Lindblad won the Jeddah Formula 2 sprint race at just 17 years, 8 months and 11 days of age, beating Théo Pourchaire’s previous record for being the youngest F2 winner by 21 days. The victory came after Richard Verschoor, who had led the entirety of a race, was dropped to fourth by a penalty for forcing another driver off track. 

By Calla Kra-Caskey

Verschoor started from sprint pole ahead of Gabriele Minì and Pepe Martí after 10th-place qualifier Roman Staněk received a three-place grid penalty for both races for impeding Alex Dunne during qualifying. 

At the start, Verschoor maintained his lead while Martí passed Minì for second and Lindblad made it from sixth to fourth. Further behind, Cian Shields collided with Rafael Villagómez entering Turn 1 and stopped on track, prompting a virtual safety car at the start of lap two.

At the restart on lap three, Lindblad caught up to Minì and passed him in the final corner, putting himself into the podium places. 

Martí took the lead from Verschoor by going around the outside of him at the first chicane on lap four, but Verschoor took the lead back with the same move a lap later. On exit, however, he was judged to have pushed Martí off track, for which he would receive a five-second penalty later in the race. 

On lap eight, Martí went wide at Turns 8 and 27, falling to fourth as Lindblad and then Minì got past. Although he was able to pass Minì with DRS at the beginning of lap nine, Martí said in the post-race press conference that he ‘cannot afford mistakes like the one today going forward’. 

In the following laps, Minì cut the first chicane several times while attempting to defending his position from Dunne and Staněk, both of whom passed him. On lap 16, Jak Crawford attempted to pass Minì for sixth at the chicane but locked up and spun, causing a safety car period. 

Ritomo Miyata and Villagómez at the back of the pack chose to switch to supersoft tyres, although neither of them made it into the points. Verschoor maintained his lead on the restart with three laps remaining and quickly broke out of DRS range, while Martí caught up to the back of Lindblad but could not pass him. 

After Verschoor’s penalty was applied, Lindblad won by 0.578 seconds from Martí. They were joined on the podium by Alex Dunne. Behind fourth-placed Verschoor, who set the fastest lap, Staněk, Minì, Leonardo Fornaroli and Victor Martins also scored points. 

“I still wanted to try and win on track, but he was just a bit faster in the last couple of laps,” Lindblad said of Verschoor’s penalty. “So [it was] not the way I want to win.”

In addition to becoming F2’s youngest winner, Lindblad is the only rookie to have won in Jeddah since Oscar Piastri did it the year the track was introduced to the calendar. The 17-year-old, whose first full year in single-seaters was in 2023, is no stranger to learning new tracks quickly. 

“I’m still quite young and inexperienced, so I feel like every year I’m learning new tracks. On that side, I don’t think there was anything new. Like I said, I’m used to learning new tracks and not having much time to deal with it,” he told Feeder Series. “[It’s about] a lot of preparation in the sim and with the team, and just sort of sending it when you have to.” 

Both Campos drivers had their best qualifying result this season on Friday, and they will line up fifth and seventh for tomorrow’s race. Even after today’s 1-2 finish, the first in Campos F2 history and their first in the second tier since 2016, they believe there is more to be unlocked. 

“I still think we have a little bit of work to do tomorrow because Richard was really strong, but it gives me a lot of confidence,” Lindblad said. 

“We still have a bit to improve in the car. I think we’re not the quickest. Certainly Richard was far ahead of us today. I think we have to do a small step forward for tomorrow,” Martí added. “I’m very certain we can challenge for a very good result.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency