Victor Martins took the lead at the start of the Qatar Formula 2 feature race and didn’t look back, going on to take his first feature race victory in more than two years. In that time frame, Leonardo Fornaroli has become an F3 and now F2 champion, dealing the final blow to his rivals’ championship hopes with his second-place finish ahead of Alex Dunne. Feeder Series spoke to the top three finishers after the race. 

By Calla Kra-Caskey

Just under two hours after the Qatar feature race’s finish, F2 rookie Fornaroli is this season’s champion – but should the stewards find Arvid Lindblad guilty of going unnecessarily slowly during the race’s safety car period and give him a penalty, Richard Verschoor will be promoted back into contention by the slimmest of margins.   

It’s all possible because Martins took the lead at the start and stayed cool as alternate strategies and a mid-race safety car shook up the field, eventually winning by just over a second.

At the beginning of the year, third-year driver Martins called the 2025 F2 season his “last chance” to prove himself for F1. Things didn’t work out his way across the year, but he certainly proved he’s still fast in the Qatar feature race.

“It’s been a tough season,” the ART Grand Prix driver told Feeder Series after the race. “This was definitely the year to put everything together, showing my full potential to go and get an opportunity in F1. 

“I joined Williams. The support I got this year from them has been great. They gave me a chance to do FP1. I showed what I have to show during this FP1, I think. I was super happy and proud of myself during that session. After I got some TPC days – they all went really well. So in terms of what I had to show for my potential to get an opportunity one day in F1, I think I have no regrets. I’m super proud of that.”

There’s now just a weekend left in his F2 career, and Martins will continue with the mindset he’s had since he realised the title was out of reach. 

“The goal was to be there always, fighting for the title, and get it. For sure it’s not where we are, we are quite far from that,” he said. “But definitely from the moment I felt it’s not possible, what I had to do is forget about it, trying to maximise myself in the car, putting everything together. 

“At some point there’s been things in the race where I cannot explain – I think no one could explain it. And that’s it, sometimes you need to accept and move on to the next stage.… For sure it feels good to win this weekend, and there is a next one coming in Abu Dhabi.”

When the race finally started – with a 10-minute delay due to a heavy crash in the Porsche Carrera Cup Middle East support race prior – Martins got a better getaway and took the lead from Invicta Racing polesitter Fornaroli ahead of the first corner. Roman Staněk held third, while Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne went down the inside of qualifying pacesetter Oliver Goethe at Turn 2. The MP Motorsport driver took a trip through the gravel but rejoined at pace in fifth. 

“I got anti-stall starting for the formation lap, which was quite scary. Luckily the anti-stall worked. So we went a bit too safe with the clutch for the start, and Victor had a much better start than me,” Fornaroli said. 

Martins looked racy from the beginning, getting more than a second ahead of Fornaroli by the end of the second lap and nearly three seconds ahead after the third. 

On lap three, Prema’s Sebastián Montoya made a pass on the main straight to reclaim his starting position of sixth from Nikola Tsolov, who had overtaken him at the start. 

Outside championship challenger Dunne then passed Staněk around the outside of Turn 1 on lap five after the Invicta driver dipped a wheel in the runoff at the exit of Turn 16. That move put Dunne third, just behind Fornaroli.

Fornaroli, Dunne, Montoya, sprint race winner Verschoor, Joshua Dürksen and Ritomo Miyata ducked into the pits at the first opportunity after lap six to get rid of their soft tyres and switch to hards. 

Martins pitted on the next lap from the lead – as did the rest of the soft-tyre runners, leaving Hitech’s Dino Beganovic in the lead from Lindblad and John Bennett. The ART driver’s pit stop was noticeably slow, but he managed to get back on track more than two seconds ahead of Fornaroli. Meanwhile, his ART teammate Miyata ducked back into the pits with an issue and retired. 

On lap 13, Verschoor made a move of his own on Staněk, once again going around the outside at Turn 1 to take 14th on track and seventh of those on the main strategy. Browning, meanwhile, passed Bennett for third on track and among those on the alternative strategy the next time around. 

Goethe slowed to a halt on lap 15, pulling off the road between Turns 9 and 10 and parking on an escape road. His stoppage was originally managed by local yellows before a safety car was called, erasing the 10-second lead Beganovic had built. 

Lindblad, Cian Shields and Kush Maini opted to take the cheap pit stop. Lindblad, who started 17th, emerged third of those who had already stopped, but he would have to endure 16 laps on rapidly degrading soft tyres. In the meantime, Dunne in eighth and Tsolov in 10th were handed five-second penalties for unsafe releases. 

“[Talking] to our team manager who does the lollipop before the race, I said, ‘Because of where we are in the pit lane, if we’re in the position where you need to be aggressive and risk an unsafe release, then just do it, and I’ll manage the rest myself,’” Dunne said. 

“That’s what we did today, and in the end, it worked pretty well.” 

The race restarted on lap 17 before the field had fully bunched up. Beganovic jumped at the restart and began to stretch his lead again despite driving on much older rubber than most of his rivals. 

There was little overtaking for the next 10 laps. On lap 27, Dunne passed Lindblad down the inside of Turn 1, taking seventh on the road – and a net third. 

Beganovic pitted at the end of that lap, but Browning, Bennett and Van Hoepen stayed out in hopes of a safety car. The Swede emerged in 12th, just behind Staněk, ending a monstrous stint on hards on which he’d built up another six-second lead despite the safety car intervention. 

At the end of lap 28, Van Hoepen locked up into Turn 16, finally allowing Martins by, and pitted immediately after, putting Fornaroli within a second of the ART driver. Browning and Bennett finally pitted for their soft tyres a lap later, with the former emerging in 10th.

Martins was promoted back to the lead, with Fornaroli unable to get within a second and earn the right to use DRS. Still, while the Frenchman maintained his lead to the flag for his first feature race victory since the 2023 Silverstone round, second place for Fornaroli with Crawford outside the points in 11th was enough to make the 20-year-old Italian the drivers’ champion for 2025. The 2024 F3 champion has 211 points to Crawford’s 170, with 39 on offer at the season finale in Abu Dhabi.

“It’s been a long season,” Martins said after the race. “We have been waiting for that to happen. We were always up there trying to get it done earlier this season. I think this weekend we felt we had it on the table. Then it was all a matter of putting everything together. Today from start to finish, everything was under control on my side and the team’s side.”

“I think we just delivered the job we needed to do to get this win, but definitely it feels good to be back on the top step,” he added. “Definitely on softs we were flying, and then on hards, it’s just a matter of managing the traffic.” 

Dunne’s penalty, meanwhile, wasn’t enough to drop him off the podium. He was classified 1.264s ahead of Lindblad, who gained a field-high 13 positions with his soft-tyre gamble.

“The first 10 seconds after the race, I was extremely happy because for the last five laps of the race my engineer was telling me the gap to the cars behind and I was pushing 110 per cent for the last five laps to try and get a five-second gap to stay on the podium,” Dunne said. 

“But then once I calmed down again, then I realised the championship was done. I think then, of course, I was a little disappointed, but Leo’s done a very good job this year and he fully deserves it.” 

Lindblad’s fourth place is pending the outcome of the stewards’ investigation. Montoya finished fifth and Verschoor 3.659s behind Lindblad in sixth, provisionally just missing out on extending the championship another round as he sits level with Crawford on 170 points.

Newcomer Tsolov took seventh ahead of Staněk, while the Hitech duo of Beganovic and Browning rounded out the points on the alternate strategy. Beganovic also took home the extra point after setting the race’s fastest lap, a 1:38.516, on lap 29. 

In the teams’ championship, Invicta currently lead the field with 296 points. Hitech is 35 points down, with their chance to make a big comeback on the alternate strategy dented by the safety car. Meanwhile, a double points finish for Campos means they’re just still in contention, 57 points off the lead, with 65 on offer in Abu Dhabi. 

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency