The 2025 FIA Formula 2 campaign got underway on Monday as F2 pre-season testing kicked off at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya. For some, it was a return to the track after the winter break, while for others, it was a chance to familiarise themselves with their new teams, or with the series as a whole.
A delayed start to the morning session
Unfortunately, there was a delayed start to the morning session, as heavy fog around the circuit prevented any on-track action for what would have been the first 45 minutes of the pre-season. When testing did eventually get underway, however, it was soon red-flagged. Rodin Motorsport’s Alexander Dunne, who will make his F2 debut in Australia after finishing 14th in the 2024 FIA Formula 3 championship, suffered a miserable start to his F2 career. He came to a halt at Turn 10 and required the recovery of his car.
These early delays saw teams continuing with their baseline setup tests late into the morning session. It was not until halfway through the session that a driver would put in a representative lap time. Trident’s Max Esterson set the early benchmark with a 1:29.252. This spurred the other drivers into action, with MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor soon going top with 1:27.340. Roman Staněk, who switched to Invicta Racing for the 2025 F2 season after an incomplete and disappointing 2024 with Trident, then lowered the benchmark to 1:26.734.
Martins shines in final hour of morning session
With only an hour left in the morning session of the opening day of F2 pre-season testing, ART Grand Prix’s Victor Martins went top of the timesheets with a 1:26.303. He soon dropped to second as Prema Racing’s Gabriele Minì claimed P1. His time of 1:26.227 put him 0.076 seconds ahead of Martins.
Minì’s teammate, Sebastián Montoya, who recently finished 17th in his second full F3 season with Campos Racing, slotted into third. MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe, however, pushed Montoya down to fourth with 45 minutes left. He slipped into second, getting within 0.50 seconds Minì’s top time.
With just 15 minutes left in the first session of pre-season testing, however, Martins reclaimed his place at the top of the timesheet. His time of 1:25.790 was the first in the 1:25s.
As the checkered flag waved, Martins held on P1, with Minì in P2, ahead of Goethe in P3 and Montoya in P4. Invicta Racing’s Staněk rounded up the top five, with Rodin Motorsport’s Dunne 0.015 seconds behind in sixth. In seventh was ART Grand Prix’s Ritomo Miyata, followed by Hitech TGR’s Luke Browning in P8, and the Campos Racing duo of Arvid Lindblad and Josep María Martí in P9 and P10 respectively.
Verschoor takes early lead in afternoon session
After ending the morning session 12th on the timesheet, MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor got the afternoon session underway, setting an early benchmark of 1:25.710. This was the fastest time of the day at that point.
No driver would be able to immediately challenge his hold on the top spot, however, as just ten minutes later, Trident’s Max Esterson beached himself in the gravel at Turn 5, red-flagging the session. The disruption was, fortunately, a short one, as minutes later, the green light was back on, after the successful recovery of the American’s car.
Despite the resumption of the session, however, Verschoor’s top time remained unchallenged as the session neared its midpoint. There was, however, another disruption. Dino Beganovic stopped in his Hitech TGR between Turns 6 and 7, bringing out the Red Flag with just over half the afternoon session left.
Following the recovery of Beganovic’s car, the session resumed, with teams testing out their respective run plans. That allowed Verschoor to hold on to his place at the top of the timesheet as the teams entered the final hour of the first day of pre-season testing.
Verschoor’s time remained quickest by almost half a second, with Hitech TGR’s Beganovic and Browning setting for P2 and P3. Beganovic’s time of 26.189 was 0.0479 seconds down on the Dutch driver’s, while Browning’s 26.258 was a further 0.069 seconds slower.
Prema Racing was the next team to launch a challenge. They, however, also fell short with Minì winding up 0.277 seconds off Verschoor’s top time. His time of 1:25.987 saw him slot into second. His teammate, Montoya, settled for fourth.
Lindblad claims top time of day
After holding on to the top time for the majority of the afternoon’s session, Verschoor dropped to third, after the Campos Racing duo of Lindblad and Martí put in a blistering lap each, setting the first times in the 1:24s. Lindblad’s 1:24.415 saw him claim P1, while Martí settled for P2, 0.3 seconds down on his teammate. The duo would hold onto their positions until the final 10 minutes of the afternoon session. With just over 15 minutes to go, the session was red-flagged, when Trident’s Sami Meguetounif came to a halt at Turn 2.
The session resumed with just about 10 minutes left and these 10 minutes would prove to be the most active of the day. The Prema Racing drivers were the first to improve their times, breaking up the Campos Racing 1-2. Minì went second with a 1:24.503, while Montoya settled for third with a 1:24.687. The Prema Racing 2-3 was, however, soon broken by Invicta Racing’s Leonardo Fornaroli who lifted himself up to third with a 1:24.592. This would be the last improvement of the afternoon, as another red flag was brought out. Meguetounif again found the gravel, though this time at Turn 4, with two minutes to go.
The premature end to the session saw Lindblad lead Minì and Fornaroli on the timesheets, with Montoya in fourth ahead of Martí in fifth. The Rodin Motorsport duo of Alexander Dunne and Christian Mansell ended the session sixth and seventh, ahead Browning in eighth and Staněk in ninth. Vershoor, who had led the session for the majority of the afternoon, rounded out the top 10, having failed to improve his time of 1:25.710.
Day 1 of F2 pre-season testing “a pretty decent day” for Lindblad
After completing the first day of F2 pre-season testing, Lindblad described the day as having been “pretty decent” and noted that his confidence and comfort in the car had improved.
“Overall a pretty decent day. I think I have made a step forward from Abu Dhabi. I’m already feeling a bit more confident and comfortable in the car.
Despite this and his good performance during the day, he stated that he needed to avoid developing a sense of “complacency” and would continue his hard work over the remaining two days of testing to prepare himself for the season opener in Melbourne.
“Today’s gone reasonably well, but there’s still a lot of things I need to work on. It’s testing, so I cannot get any sense of complacency, so I am going to be working really hard over the next two days to try to maximise the learning.
“We have two more days of testing, so we are going to really focus on that to try to put ourselves in a good position for Melbourne.”
