Formula 2 report: Fornaroli streaks clear with Hungary win

With Invicta Racing dominating a wet-dry race, Fornaroli appeared to leapfrog teammate Roman Stanek in the pit stops. Initially, it was thought the Italian had delivered an amazing in-lap, but it soon transpired that he’d locked up on pit entry and sped in the pit lane.

Not to be denied, Fornaroli fought back. As Stanek battled with title contender Jak Crawford, he began to fall behind, allowing the reigning Formula 3 champion to pull seven seconds clear. After the race, Fornaroli revealed that his race engineer didn’t actually tell him about the penalty, only that his lead was in danger, prompting him to push.

Fornaroli said: “I knew something didn’t go right with the pit entry because I had 50 kilometers per hour a bit after the line. My engineer wasn’t telling me anything, maybe to not scare me, but I wanted to know to be able to push a bit more or not.

“So, I was asking, ‘Are we in danger or something?’ He said, ‘Yes, maybe the other drivers are on the opposite strategy,’ and said only that. He didn’t say anything, only that. So that was with 13 laps to go at the time. I knew I had to push as much as I could.

“I was praying every lap, I was watching the big screens if something was happening, and in the last three laps, I actually saw that some cars were fighting, and I was saying, ‘Please don't touch, don't do anything bad.’ Luckily nothing happened, and we won the race, and I’m super happy.”

For much of this season, experienced MP Motorsport driver Richard Verschoor and McLaren junior Alex Dunne have been title favorites, but that has all changed in Hungary.

Fortunately for Invicta, the Feature Race began with a rolling start, so there was no real challenge to their 1-2 position in the opening stages. Fornaroli then did brilliantly to streak into an unassailable lead after making a pitstop error and follow up last week’s Sprint victory with his first win in F2’s main event. He’ll take some catching in the closing rounds.

Behind the Italian, wet conditions caused havoc down the field. Victor Martins drove straight off the road on lap three, while Ritomo Miyata spun out trying to overtake Dino Beganovic.

After the race’s second VSC, Red Bull hopeful Arvid Lindblad pulled off an audacious double overtake on Olli Goethe and Josh Durksen, but that wasn’t the end of it. The race’s pit stop phase saw the undercut work brilliantly and split the field. Suddenly, Luke Browning was all over Crawford, Pepe Marti dropped through the order, and Lindblad fell back too.

In the closing stages, Lindblad retook Goethe after a multi-corner battle, and Crawford sent it on Stanek into turn one, only to flat spot his front tyre and concede the position. With Dunne down in ninth and Verschoor in fifth, this left Fornaroli free to extend his title lead. He may not have known about his penalty, but the 20-year-old's performance was outstanding nonetheless.

Heading into Saturday’s Sprint, all the talk was about impressing ahead of the summer break, and Marti duly delivered. Lindblad stormed past Dunne off the start and tried to take the lead from Marti around the outside, but the Spaniard held on at turn two.

Gabriele Mini then hit Stanek, spinning him out of contention. While Crawford and Vercschoor made places—and Lindblad stayed within DRS of Marti, challenging him for position in the initial stages—the likes of Dunne backed off to save their tyres. Campos continually warned Lindblad not to push too early, and the resulting lack of grip ruined his race later on.

Like Lando Norris’ win later in the weekend, the Sprint was a bit of a slow burner. But as the tyre differential took hold, drivers started to make moves. Dunne dived past Lindblad for second, and Martins tried something similar, only to be pushed wide and lose a position to Crawford, who snuck past into fourth. Lindblad’s defense earned him a penalty, but he was already out of contention for the win.

Sebastian Montoya broke down with just a few laps to go, giving Crawford his own shot at Lindblad off the restart. Though the Brit held on for two laps, he finally succumbed to the pressure on the final lap. Browning also overtook fellow Williams Academy driver Martins, while Fornaroli fought off Verschoor, but it was Marti’s day—as he pipped Dunne to win his third Sprint of the year.

Each Formula 2 weekend, drivers have the chance to win a whopping 39 points, so the title race is far from over. Dunne was stripped of victory in Spa, taking his total points lost to penalties this season up to a scarcely believable 44. Surely he’ll be in the mix for the final four rounds.

Like Fornaroli, Crawford has also picked up his form in recent races—he even arrived in Hungary claiming that his goal was to enter the summer break at the top of the standings. Bold stuff! Marti and Lindblad are a little way back, but Verschoor and Browning are still well in the mix themselves and already pulled off outstanding comebacks earlier in the year.

So, it’s all to play for when the season resumes in a month's time. Formula 2 misses the next F1 weekend in Zandvoort, instead resuming in Monza from September 5-7, 2025.