Leonardo Fornaroli beat Victor Martins to pole position in Formula 2’s qualifying session at the Red Bull Ring Friday afternoon by just 0.014 seconds, with Richard Verschoor a further 0.010s behind. Feeder Series spoke to the top three about the tight qualifying margins this year. 

By Calla Kra-Caskey

The Spielberg F2 qualifying session was the fourth this season in which pole was decided by less than 0.025s and the third with the top three split by less than a tenth.

All of the top three agreed that the 10-corner, 4.326-kilometre Austrian circuit plays a role in condensing the field. But they also said that the generally high level of the field and second year with the current generation of F2 cars helps.

“[On] this track, there are only seven corners where you can make the difference. A bit of tow is involved as well,” Verschoor told Feeder Series in the post-qualifying press conference. “[It’s] more difficult to make the difference, but I think it’s quite nice to have [such] little gaps.” 

“In such a short track like Red Bull Ring, the gaps are always very close,” Fornaroli said. “But during all the year the gaps are very close because [of] the level this year. It’s so high that it’s very difficult to make the difference in the performance.”

Fornaroli’s Austria pole position makes him the only driver to take multiple poles so far this season. Martins, meanwhile, has been by far the most consistent driver on Fridays, qualifying in the top three every round bar Spain. 

“For sure the track layout, the track itself makes it really close for everyone,” Martins said. “Also the second year with the cars, so for sure the teams are getting up to speed. They know the window of the car, where to work on, what to improve, to give the driver the best setup of the car in quali. 

“Then I think the pure competition of the championship, the level of the drivers. Since a few years now it’s really close.”

“The level of the teams and drivers has been very high,” Verschoor agreed. “Of course it’s also the second year of this generation car, where all the teams get more data and get a bit closer to the limit. And as well as the drivers, they are on a very high level.”

Fornaroli took provisional pole early in the qualifying session, ending up just 0.001s ahead of Martins after both drivers had completed their first flying laps. He extended his lead to 0.177s over Joshua Dürksen with his second flying lap, with Martins third as the drivers pitted for a second set of supersoft tyres. 

Drivers’ second runs started coming in with five minutes remaining in the session. Verschoor took provisional pole with a lap of 1:15.253 before Martins beat him by 0.010s. Fornaroli, whose first flying lap left him a provisional third, opted to go for another flying lap and set a 1:15.229, good enough for pole. 

Several drivers were caught out in the final two corners, including Verschoor, who was on course to improve during his final lap before going into the gravel at Turn 9 and losing his time. His off occurred directly in front of Gabriele Minì, who was then incapable of improving upon the lap that had put him fourth in the order. 

“There was a bit more on the table,” Verschoor said after his best qualifying result of the season. “Somehow not being able to improve on the second lap like Forna was doing the whole day is definitely something we’ll look at.”

Red Bull junior Arvid Lindblad, currently third in the standings, also lost a lap after running deep at Turn 10 and skirting the gravel earlier in the session. He finished the session 12th, his worst qualifying position since round two in Bahrain.

Championship leader Alex Dunne struggled early in the session and ended the first runs 18th. He bounced back in the second runs to end up seventh, though he was outqualified by Rodin teammate Amaury Cordeel, who was 0.026s faster in fifth, for the first time this season. 

Roman Staněk and Dürksen ended the session in sixth and eighth, while Pepe Martí in ninth and John Bennett in 10th will start the sprint race from the front row. Sebastián Montoya was just two thousandths off Bennett in 11th. 

As in F3, the top 10 qualifiers were all covered by three tenths of a second, and Martins doesn’t expect to see the tight margins change. 

“We will see for the next few rounds really close qualifying for sure with the tracks that are coming,” he said. 

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency