The 2025 FIA Formula 2 season roared to life in Melbourne, with Joshua Dürksen securing a commanding win in the Sprint Race at the Australian GP. The Paraguayan driver, who ended the 2024 season with a Feature Race win in Abu Dhabi, continued his momentum by claiming the first victory of the new campaign.
Due to the cancellation of the Feature Race, Dürksen now maintains the lead in the Formula 2 Championship standings.
A chaotic start to the Sprint Race
The grid for the Sprint Race was set by reversing the top ten qualifiers, placing reigning Formula 3 champion Leonardo Fornaroli on pole alongside Dürksen. However, the build-up to the race was anything but routine. A shakedown session was hastily arranged after multiple teams reported power issues in practice and qualifying, allowing them additional time to troubleshoot and adjust their setups. Furthermore, some drivers suffered grid penalties for their teams’ use of illicit sensors during testing, shuffling the starting order further.
When the lights went out, Dürksen wasted no time seizing the lead from Fornaroli. Meanwhile, Victor Martins’ race came to an early end after a Turn 5 spin on Lap 2, triggering a Virtual Safety Car. Once racing resumed, Dürksen steadily built a gap, demonstrating the same composure that had carried him to victory in Abu Dhabi.
Managing the chaos
As the race unfolded, multiple incidents led to two full Safety Car deployments. Max Esterson’s crash on Lap 6 and a later collision between Sami Meguetounif and Rafael Villagómez on Lap 15 bunched the field together, forcing Dürksen to repeatedly defend his lead on restarts. Despite mounting pressure from Fornaroli, Dürksen managed each restart flawlessly, pulling away to establish a comfortable buffer each time.
Reflecting on his performance, Dürksen acknowledged the challenge of maintaining his advantage through the interruptions:
“No, it was all under control. I think the first Safety Car restart, I felt pretty good, but on the second one, I knew Leo [Fornaroli] would know my strategy. So then I felt, of course, a bit more pressure, because I knew maybe I wouldn’t make such a big gap. But still, it was all fine.”
The Paraguayan driver eventually took the chequered flag ahead of Fornaroli and Williams Academy prospect Luke Browning, who completed the podium.
Dürksen’s win and the significance of Hispanic representation in motorsport
Dürksen’s triumph is particularly significant given the limited representation of Hispanic and Latin American drivers at the highest levels of motorsport. While Formula 1 has a storied history with Latin American greats such as Ayrton Senna, Juan Manuel Fangio, and Nelson Piquet, recent years have seen fewer drivers from the region reaching the pinnacle of the sport.
Before Franco Colapinto replaced Logan Sargeant last year, Sergio “Checo” Pérez was the sole Latin American driver on the Formula 1 grid, carrying the hopes of an entire region with each race. The Mexican has solidified his status as the most successful driver from his country, with six Grand Prix victories to his name. His rise, as well as Colapinto’s rapid rise to fame, has played a key role in growing F1’s popularity among Latin American fans, a trend that Dürksen’s success in Formula 2 could further bolster.
Dürksen himself is aware of the impact his achievements can have on Paraguayan motorsport. Speaking to Pit Debrief after the Sprint Race, he said, “I don’t know if you have watched the comments, but probably you just see full of Paraguayan flags everywhere. And it’s just very special.”
“Even more because this year we’re having the World Rally Car Championship in Paraguay as well. Just to feel the support of all the fans, it’s just great. Even on my bad days, they’re still pushing me, and it’s just really nice.”
A Brazilian driver in Formula 1
While Dürksen proudly flies the Paraguayan flag, Gabriel Bortoleto is also carrying the hopes of an entire nation. The Brazilian driver’s rise through the junior ranks have been nothing short of remarkable, becoming the first driver to win back-to-back FIA Formula 3 and Formula 2 titles.
His success earned him a 2025 Formula 1 seat with Kick Sauber, making him the first full-time Brazilian F1 driver since Felipe Massa’s retirement in 2017. Following in the footsteps of icons like Ayrton Senna, Nelson Piquet, and Emerson Fittipaldi, Bortoleto represents the next chapter of Brazil’s deep-rooted motorsport legacy. His presence in F1 brings renewed excitement for Brazilian fans, who have long awaited another homegrown star at the pinnacle of the sport.
What the future holds for Dürksen
With a season of F2 experience now under his belt, Dürksen is setting his sights on consistency and further success:
“For sure, this previous experience helps a lot, because now I can learn from the many rookie mistakes I’ve done last year. I remember in Australia, I’ve done some which I made sure to not repeat this year.”
His impressive start to 2025 suggests he could be a serious contender for the championship. As the season progresses, all eyes will be on Dürksen to see if he can continue this form and take another step toward becoming Paraguay’s first Formula 1 driver.
