Arvid Lindblad claimed his maiden Formula 2 victory in a dramatic and action-packed Sprint Race at the Saudi Arabian GP. The young Brit capitalised on a late penalty for Richard Verschoor, who had led for much of the race before being demoted.
Campos Racing celebrated a remarkable one-two finish, with Josep María Martí taking second and Alex Dunne rounding out the podium in third. With bold overtakes, strategic DRS moves, and a mid-race Safety Car shaking up the order, the race delivered all the hallmarks of classic F2 chaos.
What happened before the Sprint Race?
Jak Crawford secured pole position for the Feature Race at the Saudi Arabian Grand Prix with a stellar 1:43.579 lap, narrowly edging out Victor Martins and Leonardo Fornaroli. Martins had set the pace earlier in practice, but the ever-unpredictable Formula 2 qualifying session at the challenging Jeddah Corniche Circuit proved a fierce battle.
While Crawford takes pole for the Feature Race, Roman Staněk, who qualified tenth, would have started from pole for the Sprint Race due to the reversed grid format – but he got penalised for impeding Alex Dunne.
Richard verschoor will start the Sprint Race from Pole, with Minì next to him.
Lights out for Formula 2 in Jeddah
After a brief delay in the formation lap due to technical difficulties with the broadcast, the green light was given for the sprint in Saudi Arabia.
Verschoor pulled away from Miní, who fell back to third place behind Pepe Martí.
Cian Shields at the rear of the field failed to make it through Turn 1 and crashed into the wall. Because Shields’ AIX had to be removed from Turn 1, a brief Virtual Safety Car phase followed.
Arvid Lindblad moved up from sixth to fourth place in the opening lap.
Green light after the VSC phase
With the return to racing conditions in Saudi Arabia, Martí was right behind Verschoor and managed to pass him on lap four with a hard overtaking manoeuvre.
Lindblad had overtaken Minì for third place shortly before.
On lap 5, Verschoor managed to regain the lead and pulled away to almost a second ahead of the Campos driver.
Verschoor held a 1.2-second advantage and, crucially, was out of DRS range from Martí behind. However, every driver from third back to ninth had DRS on the car ahead.
Lindblad was right on his team-mate’s rear wing, and Martí was forced to defend into Turn 1. Staněk faced similar pressure from Minì at the first corner, but the top five remained in the same order.
Martí then made a mistake in the first sector, allowing Lindblad to move through into second place. At Turn 27, Martí ran wide, and Minì took advantage to relegate the Spaniard to fourth.
Using DRS, Martí managed to fight back and retook third place at Turn 1. Shortly after, Staněk made a lunge down the inside of Minì at Turn 27 for fourth position, but he dropped back to sixth again.
Amid the chaos, Alex Dunne capitalised and sneaked through to claim fourth place before the halfway point of the Saudi Arabian GP sprint race, slipping between Martí and Minì.
Second half of the Saudi Arabian GP sprint race
At the halfway point of the race, Lindblad had begun to move into Verschoor’s advantage. The gap had reduced to 1.8 seconds.
After several laps spent trying to clear the PREMA driver, Staněk finally completed the overtake on Minì at Turn 1.
Minì took the first corner at the Saudi Arabian GP track a little off the track a few times, which is why this ended up with the race directors due to gaining an advantage.
Not much happened at the back of the field – Dürksen made up five places in 16 laps, while Goethe, who had dropped from P11 to P13, fought his way back to P12.
On lap 14, Verschoor responded to the pressure from Lindblad and managed to extend his lead once again, increasing the gap to 1.9 seconds.
Yellow Flag – Safety Car – Crawford’s out!
Crawford moved ahead of Fornaroli for seventh place using DRS into Turn 1 on lap 15. However, shortly after, he attempted a move on Minì at Turn 1, but the two made contact. As a result, the DAMS driver dropped down to 21st position.
Crawford was unable to get going again, and his car came to a halt at Turn 2, requiring recovery.
The Safety Car was subsequently deployed.
Even though there were no mandatory pit stops, some drivers, with the exception of Bennett, drove into the pits to get a new set of tyres. Due to the accident in turn 1, all drivers were directed through the pit lane, with only Bennett continuing on the track – this should result in a penalty.
Final laps
On lap 18, Verschoor held onto the lead into Turn 1, though Lindblad had a promising opportunity to attack, having regained momentum following the earlier Safety Car period.
By lap 19, DRS had been re-enabled, and Lindblad was on the verge of falling out of range of the race leader. Further down the order, Fornaroli made his way up to sixth place with a tidy move on Minì at the first corner.
However, the race took a dramatic turn when Verschoor was handed a five-second time penalty for forcing another driver off the track; an infringement that would strip him of the win.
Arvid Lindblad crossed the line second on the road but was promoted to victory, claiming his maiden Formula 2 win. Martí followed him across the line, securing second place and making it a stunning Campos Racing one-two. Alex Dunne completed the podium in third place.
Verschoor’s penalty dropped him to fourth, ahead of Staněk in fifth, Minì in sixth, Fornaroli in seventh, and Martins, who claimed the final point in eighth.
Final Results
- Lindblad
- Martí
- Dunne
- Verschoor
- Staněk
- Minì
- Fornaroli
- Martins
- Browning
- Maini
- Goethe
- Dürksen
- Montoya
- Cordeel
- Beganovic
- Meguetounif
- Villagomez
- Miyata
- Esterson
- Bennett
DNF: Shields, Crawford
