In a thrilling turn of events in the inaugural round of the 2025 Formula 2 season at Melbourne, Australia, Prema Racing’s Gabriele Mini has been stripped of his pole position. This unexpected twist sees Victor Martins ascend to the coveted pole position for the Feature Race. Richard Verschoor, thanks to Jak Crawford’s multiple 10-place grid penalties, has been promoted to second place.
The drama unfolded when Mini was called to the Stewards for allegedly impeding the DAMS Lucas Oil racing driver at Turn 4. Upon investigation, the officials concluded that Mini had indeed obstructed Crawford. As a result, Mini was slapped with a three-place grid penalty for both races per the 2025 rule changes.
Consequently, Mini will now be starting the Feature Race from fourth position. Roman Stanek finds himself promoted to third place, while the Invicta Racing driver ascends to third, thanks to Crawford’s grid-drop and a similar penalty levied on Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne. This penalty was a fallout of a scandal from pre-season testing.
A wave of penalties swept over the grid, affecting drivers like Kush Maini, Amaury Cordeel, Sami Meguetounif, and Max Esterson, who all received 10-place grid penalties for both races. The teams they represent, Rodin, DAMS, and Trident, were found guilty of illicitly installing an air pressure sensor by drilling spec parts to measure aerodynamic loads during pre-season testing.
The consequential grid penalties have resulted in promotions for Hitech pair Dino Beganovic and Luke Browning, now in fifth and sixth places respectively. Joshua Durksen will take off from seventh for AIX Racing, followed by Leonardo Fornaroli for Invicta in eighth, Sebastian Montoya for Prema in ninth, and Ritomo Miyata for ART rounding off the top 10.
The Sprint Race will see Fornaroli start from pole, Durksen in second, and Browning in third. Notably, Mini, Crawford, and Dunne have all dropped outside of the top 10 for the Sprint Race.
This dramatic reshuffling of positions comes after Mini’s victorious maiden F2 pole in Melbourne, ahead of Victor Martins. However, the racing world is known for its unpredictability, as seen in this latest pole position inheritance by Martins following Mini’s penalty. This certainly adds a new level of intrigue as we head into the racing season.
