Roman Staněk is in his third season of Formula 2 competition, now competing for Invicta Racing after previously spending two difficult years with Trident. After three rounds in 2025, the Czech driver feels that he has a point to prove.

By Martin Lloyd

On occasion, Staněk has shown the speed to compete with the best in F1’s primary feeder series, such as when he won the Melbourne sprint in 2024 or qualified third at Monza in 2023. But in most of his 49 starts, Staněk has competed at the lower end of the field, scoring a total of 37 points since his debut in March 2023.

While racing with Trident, he finished 18th in the 2023 standings and 22nd in 2024, although he did not compete in the final three rounds of last season. He also raced with the Italian team in Formula 3 in 2022, finishing fifth in the championship and remaining in the title fight until the last round. Across three F3 seasons, he scored six podiums and took a win in the 2022 Imola feature race.

Staněk joined reigning teams’ champions Invicta over the winter in hopes of fighting at the front, where he feels he belongs.

“As a driver, many people underrate me, unfortunately,” Staněk told Feeder Series at a virtual roundtable ahead of F2’s fourth round at Imola. “I still haven’t been able to show the right speed that I think Invicta and myself have.”

While he has scored points on two occasions so far in 2025, Staněk was disappointed with his 17th- and 12th-place finishes in the Bahrain and Jeddah feature races. He currently sits 12th in the drivers’ standings thanks to two fifth places in the sprint races at Melbourne and Jeddah. The upcoming stretch of back-to-back rounds, which begins at Imola and also includes rounds at Monaco and Barcelona, could prove to be a springboard for the Czech driver. 

“There’s always been something, in the races, or with the tyre degradation, or with the qualifying in Jeddah, for example. I had very good speed in Jeddah in free practice and also in the first part of quali, but unfortunately I touched the wall. I lost a lot of confidence and my steering wheel was not straight. I started [quite far] backwards,” he said.

“I just need one good, clean weekend to show the proper speed.”

Staněk’s first outing with Invicta came in the post-season test at Abu Dhabi, where he finished 12th overall. His best lap time of a 1:35.992 was only 0.014 seconds off the best lap of teammate Leonardo Fornaroli, the reigning F3 champion.

“The team has been very supportive,” Staněk said. “My engineer said, when he opened the data laptop after the first test [in Abu Dhabi], ‘How come you finished P18 in the championship last year?’ I said, ‘Well, I know!’” 

Last year, Staněk qualified seventh at Imola, which proved to be his second-best qualifying result of the season. That, coupled with his sole F3 win at Imola three years ago, gives him hope for scoring his first feature race points of the season.

“I have another chance this weekend, and coming here to Imola, to my favourite track, a track that I know very well as I won here in Formula 3, gives me a good boost.”

Veteran MP driver Richard Verschoor leads the championship standings after three rounds on 53 points, ahead of Campos’ Pepe Martí on 41. Fornaroli has shown that Invicta have carried through the speed that took them to both championship titles in 2024. The Italian rookie currently lies third in the standings on 40 points, 32 clear of Staněk.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency