Formula 2 report: Browning wins at Monza to ignite late title bid

Olli Goethe actually overtook the Brit a few laps in, but he pitted before Red Bull hopeful Arvid Lindblad had punted Alex Dunne into the barriers at turn four. This brought out the first safety car, which punished early pitters Goethe, Jak Crawford & Richard Verschoor, while handing Browning the lead.

Virtually every other car then pitted—except (bizarrely) for Lindblad, who stayed out with a broken front wing. On the restart, the inevitable happened. Lindblad clattered into second place, Roman Stanek, taking them both out of the race. Not long after, Sami Meguetounif spun backwards through turn one to cause a third safety car, but Browning held his nerve.

He fought off a late advance from Dutchman Josh Durksen to clinch his first-ever F2 victory, taking him to within 21 points of championship leader Leo Fornaroli, with just three rounds to go.

Sunday’s feature race was entertaining from the off, as Kush Maini bogged down off the front row of the grid and got swamped by the pack, before being pushed onto the gravel by Lindblad. Maini then returned the favor, pushing Dunne wide at turn one, as home favorite Fornaroli struggled in the early stages, going wide at turn four and losing a place to fellow title chaser Crawford.

Things got even wilder when the first safety car came out. Monza is arguably the toughest place to do a restart on the F2 calendar, and Browning tried toying with the pack—causing Kieran Shields to run wide onto the grass anticipating a resumption. As it turned out, this tactic didn’t work! Durksen snatched the lead off the second restart and seemed on course for victory.

However, Megeuetounif’s dramatic spin backwards through turn one caused yet another safety car, bunching up the pack. After the final restart, Crawford scrapped with Gabriele Mini, and Pepe Marti fought with Rafael Villagomez, but it was Browning who really capitalized, taking back the lead before storming down the road for an impeccably timed victory.

Speaking after his first win, Browning said: “It’s amazing. I think we’ve now got to keep this mindset going into the next race. It’s the Championship we’re after, not just a race win, but it does feel very, very cool to achieve.

“Especially after taking such a big step from where we were in the sprint race to where we were today. Just very, very grateful to the team. But just because we had a good weekend this time around doesn’t mean it’s going to be easy next weekend. So, we’ll keep focused on Baku and going forward.”

During the main event in this year's Italian Grand Prix, Ferrari didn’t give the Tifosi much to cheer. But home hero Fornaroli made a much better fist of it during the reverse grid sprint race.

Ferrari-backed Dino Beganovic blocked Megeuetounif off the start, opening the door for Fornaroli to steam down the inside into turn four. Critically for his race, Lindblad held off Durksen, who ended up dicing with Stanek, swapping places back and forth. Dunne then pushed Maini off at Curve Grande, triggering an early safety car.

On the restart, Fornaroli suffered a massive lockup and ran through the chicane. But the Italian F3 champion gathered himself, resumed his pursuit, and took the lead a few laps later. After a shocking start, Megeuetounif then proceeded to hit the sausage curb at turn two, taking Dunne with him into the gravel trap, in a mistake that could be costly for the Irishman’s title hopes.

Towards the end, Verschoor kept himself relevant in the championship battle by fighting his way up to fourth. At the front, Lindblad also took second from a very compliant Durksen. But Fornaroli was the man of the hour—he kept a chasing Lindblad at arm's length to take victory on home soil.

Fornaroli said: “It’s super nice. It was a great race. I am happy we showed a really nice pace. Unfortunately, yesterday we had an electrical issue in the qualifying, so I couldn’t do my run. Happy we showed that we are quite quick.

“It was not easy when I found myself P1; I had Arvid behind basically the whole race,” the Italian added. “He was in DRS the whole time. I had to drive perfectly without any mistakes; otherwise, he was going to catch me. We managed to take it, and I am happy with this one.”

Fornaroli leads Verschoor in the Formula 2 standings heading into the final three rounds, with 50 points covering the top five. The action resumes during the next Formula 1 event in Baku from September 19 to 21, 2025. [Quotes by Formula 2].