Alex Dunne returns to the top of the standings, but Arvid Lindblad and Richard Verschoor are the ones to triumph throughout the 2025 F2 Spanish GP weekend.
Plot Twists and Domination in the 2025 F2 Spanish GP Round
Barcelona marks the end of the first F2 European triple-header, with surprises and changes in the final standings. Richard Verschoor and Arvid Lindblad split the victories of the weekend, with a double podium for the Dutchman and a dominant performance for Lindblad during the Feature Race.
As expected, the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya was the stage for various battles, sometimes exceeding the limits, along with impressive performances by some drivers that solidified their positions in the standings.
Arvid Lindblad Gets Pole Position and Victory
Arvid Lindblad has been the subject of speculation regarding Red Bull’s future. The Briton has been part of the Red Bull junior program since 2022, when he debuted in single-seaters.
Since the signing, Lindblad has shown great speed in various championships he competed in, but what he seemed to lack was consistency. This prevented him from winning both Italian F4 and F3 titles, even if he delivered impressive performances.
In 2025, he stepped up to F2 with Campos Racing. Despite a slow start in Melbourne, he turned it around in Bahrain. Jeddah, a circuit unknown to him, saw him qualify fifth and win on Saturday.
His first pole position came in Barcelona, crossing the line 0.245 seconds faster than Sebastian Montoya. With high temperatures and the always-present traffic, his time was impressive.
At the 2025 F2 Spanish GP, in the Feature Race, he took victory after Montoya could not close the distance. After pit stops, the Briton secured the win under safety car conditions, with a fair advantage.
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Strategy and Safety Car Decisions Play a Crucial Role
As we know, a safety car can change a race’s outcome. Depending on when it is brought out on track, it could advantage the leader or drivers who are yet to pit.
This is what happened during the Sprint Race at the 2025 F2 Spanish GP. In the last lap of the race, the two Prema Racing drivers collided, with Gabriele Minì stopping on track due to the damage to his car. This triggered the safety car condition, prompting the drivers at the back of the field to respond with a pit stop, switching to soft tyres.
This situation completely altered the outcome of the race; Crawford was cruising in front, together with Browning and Fornaroli, but their pace was not enough to prevent the drivers with fresher tires from overtaking them. Therefore, Richard Vershcoor, Alex Dunne, and Rafael Villagomez, the first to pit and the one closer to the top group, took their places and ended the race in the top 3.
This was an unexpected result for the three drivers, but one that, again, especially after Monaco, shows how much strategy and a dose of luck with the safety car timing could change a race’s outcome.
During a press conference, LWOS asked the Top 3 drivers in the Sprint Race their opinion on the performance of the tires, being this is a strong topic in Barcelona every year.
“As you could see at the end, the difference with the hard and the soft was very big. The hard it looks like they work a bit less well in the heat and the soft do work better in the heat. On the other hand, I don’t really have the feeling that I pushed the tires at the beginning because I was just stuck in the DRS train. I think every driver was like six, seven tenths behind each other and we were just waiting for something to happen. Then the safety car happened and we could really see the difference between tires. So I think all the teams and drivers are learning from that as well. And that’s why I think tomorrow will be another interesting race.” – Richard Verschoor to LWOS
“I think in terms of feeling, both compounds aren’t bad. The spread between hard and soft is probably a bit big, to be honest. As drivers and as rookies especially, the jump when we have the hard and the soft is almost two and a half, three seconds sometimes, which is a really big jump and can be difficult to adapt to sometimes. Also, if you look at the end of race, the tyre difference was insane. I haven’t been in that situation before, so I didn’t really know what to expect. I said to myself, if we manage to finish at least in the top 10 and get some points, I’ll be happy. And I think within three laps, I was already in the top three. I was pretty surprised at the Delta and the difference. But all in all, I think both compounds aren’t bad, but I think they’re just probably a little bit far away from each other in terms of deficit.”– Alex Dunne to LWOS
“Like in Bahrain we’ve seen when it’s quite hot we start struggle quite a bit. Like they said, today the delta difference was pretty big, also because you’re at the end of the race. So if you put in a fresh set of softs with a lighter car, then you’re gonna get something like this. For us, we struggle a little bit in the hards, so it was only about surviving and trying to get a read of the balance for tomorrow’s. Then the safety car came in, we’re lucky and that’s what we end up with.” – Rafael Villagomez to LWOS
Montoya’s Improvements with Prema Racing
Sebastian Montoya has found speed in the European rounds so far. In Imola, he qualified on the front row, but a stall during the formation lap meant he had to start the race from the pit lane. Nevertheless, he and Prema worked well with the strategy, and the driver finished eighth, collecting points.
In Monaco, the same issue happened again on Sunday. It was a race that seemed destined to be spent at the back, but ended with him on the podium. His performance in the final round of the European triple header was nothing less, and, after locking a position on the front row in qualifying, he ended the 2025 F2 Spanish GP weekend with a second-place position, his best result so far.
Montoya is collecting impressive results that could turn his season around easily if he maintains this performance throughout the rest of the season.
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Dunne’s Back on Top, but Verschoor Is Not Far Away
Thanks to Alex Dunne’s Sprint Race podium and his fifth-place finish on Sunday, he managed to regain the championship lead from Browning. The Briton slid back to fifth position, collecting only three points from the Spanish round.
Behind Dunne, at only three points of distance, is Richard Verschoor, recovered from the seat back in Imola and Monaco. In addition, Arvid Lindblad makes a significant jump in the standings with his win, climbing to third place while Leonardo Fornaroli falls to sixth.
The FIA Formula 2 Championship will be back from June 27th to 29th at the Red Bull Ring.
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Main Photo
Credit: IMAGO / PsnewZ
Recording Date: 01.06.2025
