Formula 2’s season finale and Formula Trophy’s second of three rounds will accompany the final showdown that concludes a thrilling 2025 F1 season. Feeder Series previews the junior single-seater action ahead.

By Feeder Series

Look, we get it. Feeder series racing probably isn’t top of mind this weekend, not with F1’s first three-way title decider in 15 years happening this weekend at the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. We’ll be watching that as keenly as you are, but if you’re here already, you’ve got plenty of reasons to stay with F2 and Formula Trophy both on the support bill for the grand prix, the former for its own season finale.

As often happens at the end of the year, a number of F2 drivers will get to sample F1 machinery in free practice. Jak Crawford and Cian Shields will drive in F1’s first free practice session for Aston Martin, while Browning will replace Alex Albon for Williams. Arvid Lindblad will drive Yuki Tsunoda’s Red Bull in the session after being confirmed for a 2026 F1 seat with sister squad Racing Bulls earlier this week. Paul Aron, F2’s third-place finisher last year, will step in for Pierre Gasly at Alpine.

And as one world championship ends, another will begin, with Formula E heading to São Paulo for the opening round of its 2025–26 season. F2 alumni Felipe Drugovich and Pepe Martí – the 2025 Campos Racing teammate of soon-to-be F1 graduate Arvid Lindblad – will be making their full-season debuts for Andretti Global and Kiro Racing Co. respectively.

Further down the ladder, F4 Saudi Arabia returns to Jeddah for its final round on Friday and Saturday. With Adam Al Azhari and Scott Kin Lindblom both competing in Formula Trophy, Kit Belofsky’s championship title is secured, and he will be looking to add to his tally of three wins and three further podiums now that the most important battle is settled. Two drivers, Payton Westcott and Red Bull junior Christopher El Feghali, will make their series debuts, and Nina Gademan and Ary Bansal will also return to the field.

Additional reporting by Calla Kra-Caskey and Mitchell Ash

1. F2: Round 14, Abu Dhabi
2. Formula Trophy: Round 2, Abu Dhabi

F2: Round 14, Abu Dhabi

Circuit: Yas Marina Circuit, 5.281 km

Schedule: All times local (UTC +4)

Friday 5 December

• 11:05–11:50: Free Practice
• 15:00–15:30: Qualifying

Saturday 6 December

• 16:15–17:00: Sprint race (23 laps)

Sunday 7 December

• 13:15–14:15: Feature race (33 laps)

How to follow: All sessions will be live-streamed on F1 TV, but fans can also follow them live via the series’ live timing service. Local viewing information can be found here.

Weather forecast: Partly cloudy on Friday; sunny on Saturday and Sunday.

What to know: Leonardo Fornaroli may have sealed the F2 championship last time out in Qatar, but with four drivers still in contention for the runner-up spot and the teams’ title hanging in the balance, there’s still plenty at stake. 

Richard Verschoor and Jak Crawford are tied on 170 points apiece, while Luke Browning is just behind on 162 points. Alex Dunne trails the trio on 149 points. Invicta Racing lead the teams’ championship on 296 points, while Hitech and Campos attempt to challenge them from 35 and 57 points down with 65 remaining. 

Last year, eventual champion Gabriel Bortoleto took a podium in both Abu Dhabi races. He’s since graduated to F1, but Verschoor and Joshua Dürksen, with whom he shared the feature race podium, will look to repeat their 2024 performances and continue their strong late-season form. Dino Beganovic took third in last year’s sprint during only his second F2 weekend. 

There is one driver change in the field, with F3 graduate Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak (#23) making his F2 debut with Trident, replacing James Wharton. The 20-year-old Thai driver, who joined Trident for the Macau Grand Prix last month, will continue in F2 next year with ART Grand Prix.

Report by Calla Kra-Caskey

From the press: Arvid Lindblad, currently sixth in the F2 standings, will step up to F1 next year with the Racing Bulls team and will become one of the premier category’s youngest-ever drivers when he makes his first start. But who really is he, and what about the young Briton has stood out to Red Bull? Read our deep dive on his career here.

You can also read our takeaways from the previous round here.

Formula Trophy: Round 2, Abu Dhabi

Circuit: Yas Marina Circuit, 5.281 km

Schedule: All times local (UTC+4)

Friday 5 December

• 08:45–09:30: Free Practice
• 15:55–16:25: Qualifying

Saturday 6 December

• 12:25–12:55: Race 1

Sunday 7 December

• 11:20–11:50: Race 2

How to follow: Races will be streamed trackside at Yas Marina but will not be shown publicly. Live timing is also not publicly available.

Weather forecast: Partly cloudy on Friday; sunny on Saturday and Sunday.

What to know: Formula Trophy’s second round will be held at the Yas Marina Circuit this weekend, supporting F1’s Abu Dhabi Grand Prix. As it stands, Theo Palmer of Hitech leads the championship on 51 points, eight ahead of Mumbai Falcons rookie Alp Aksoy. 

Palmer and Aksoy took one win each in Dubai last weekend, the latter also crossing the line first in race one but receiving a 10-second penalty for a false start. Payton Westcott, sixth in the standings, also took a victory from reverse-grid pole in race two. Westcott will be replaced by Williams junior Oleksandr Bondarev (#27) at Mumbai Falcons this weekend while she competes in F4 Saudi Arabia’s season finale.

This weekend, there will be one qualifying session Friday evening, with the fastest lap setting the grid for race one and the second-fastest laps doing the same for race two. With two races in each of the next two rounds, only 100 more points are up for grabs in this compact championship, meaning that every position gained is crucial. 

In addition to Bondarev, two other F4 veterans and two rookies will be joining the grid from this weekend onwards. Australian 17-year-old Nicolas Stati (#15), who finished eighth in Formula Trophy UAE last year, will return to the championship with AGI Sport ahead of his planned 2026 campaign in Indy NXT with Cusick Morgan Motorsports. 

Evans GP, meanwhile, will line up 16-year-old Vietnamese driver Ben Anh Nguyễn (#37), who finished seventh in F4 SEA earlier this year with rival team BlackArts Racing. Nguyễn will be joined by Lucas Pasquinetti (#22). The Swiss teenager will be making his single-seater debut after competing occasionally in Italian karting events this year.

At X GP, the sister team of Xcel Motorsport, Jia Zhanbin will be replaced by Jarrett Clark (#65). The 15-year-old British-Australian driver finished eighth in the Ginetta Junior Championship this year and will compete in British F4 with Virtuosi Racing next year.

Report by Anabelle Bremner

Read the previous round’s report here.

All times and forecasts listed above are subject to change. For the most up-to-date information, follow each series’ websites or social media pages.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency