Fornaroli ‘super happy’ with Invicta’s F2 qualifying in Hungary, aiming to further his championship lead

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli attempted a different strategy to the rest of the grid, one that eventually fetched him second on the road in Friday’s qualifying. It was a result the Italian racer was “super happy” about, as he spoke of working with teammate Staněk over the weekend. 

Fornaroli secured second on the road with a unique strategy in qualifying | Credit: Formula 2 via x

In striking contrast, Fornaroli sat in the pits, waiting as the rest of the grid went around the Hungaroring circuit to set their fastest lap times. Knowing the tight and twisty nature of the Hungarian venue, often referred to as the ‘Monaco without walls’, the Invicta racer set out onto the track after ten minutes had elapsed during the session. 

His first lap reflected the trend across the session, with Fornaroli’s quickest lap eventually putting him ahead of his Czech teammate, but he would immediately lose his best lap due to track limits, after slithering wide on the exit of Turn 1. 

Setting off on another lap, Fornaroli was able to net fourth on the road, bookending a top four featuring only Invicta Racing and MP Motorsport cars. 

While he would return to the pits just as the rest of the grid emerged on the track for their final flying laps, Fornaroli would come back out to set his final lap with five minutes to go. Having completed two warm-up laps, he would set off for his quickest lap with just 47 seconds left on the clock. 

Despite going quicker than his teammate into the first sector, Fornaroli scrubbed off time through the technical corners in the middle sector, ultimately setting a lap time good enough for second on the road. 

Speaking on the team’s split strategy that helped achieve the biggest result, Fornaroli insisted on keeping it simple. 

“It worked pretty well,” Fornaroli mentioned, referring to his strategy in the 30-minute session. “Yeah, with the team, we just make things simple. We don't want to complicate things too much, and it seems it's working,” he concluded. 

When asked about his result, Fornaroli was left wondering how he had lost time to his teammate through the final sector on his fastest lap. 

“Yeah, it's a very nice result, super happy about our performances, I mean 1-2 we showed that we are very strong,” Fornaroli said, speaking after Invicta Racing secured their first 1-2 in qualifying since the Bahrain round in 2024.  

“A bit of a shame to see what happened in sector three of my fastest lap, still not sure what happened, I still have to see data with my engineer, but anyway, super happy for Roman in P1 and anyway it's a very nice result,” Fornaroli concluded. 

When asked if he saw a noticeable deficit to teammate Staněk across his lap, Fornaroli mentioned the difficulty in getting together the quick laps, and his deficit in the final sector. 

“It all starts in the simulator on Wednesday. Me and Roman (Staněk) are working very well and finding very well in the simulator, so it has been a great help.

“Qualifying are always very close. Also, you don't have many laps, so you need to extract the best, but you have also to drive clean, because if you do make a mistake, it's going to be over. 

“Then, for sure, I missed the opportunity to put position. We lost a bit too much in sector 3. I still have to see what happened, but anyway, I'm happy with today,” Fornaroli mentioned. 

When asked if having his teammate ahead would be an issue in executing his optimum race strategy, the Italian was quick to disagree, stating his team would still nail their race strategy spot on.  

“ No, it doesn't create any issues, I mean yes, he's my teammate, but he's like another driver, of course, we're going to respect each other a bit more (on track), but the strategy is not gonna change,” Fornaroli said. 

Fornaroli currently leads the standings in his maiden F2 season | Credit: Formula 2 via X

Tyre management will certainly be a topic of major question all the way through the pair of races, with the 2024 sprint seeing drivers run out of tyres and forced to pit, to finish the sprint race. It reflects the general nature of the Hungaroring, with the tyres past their peak level of grip as the drivers reach the winding corners of Turns 13 and 14. 

The higher tyre degradation will certainly affect how the race strategy plays out on Sunday, with the soft and medium tyres available over the weekend, as opposed to soft and hard tyres in 2024. 

“I wasn't able to do consecutive push laps today, but already towards the end of the lap, I was feeling some overheating on the tyres, so tomorrow (Saturday) is going to be very important, to be able to manage everything at the start to be able to be quick at the end. 

“We already did some stuff on the simulator, and we're going to study some past races to be prepared tomorrow,” Fornaroli mentioned, speaking of the work behind the scenes to ensure the team remains well prepared for the weekend’s races. 

Fornaroli has been a critical element in Invicta Racing’s recent success, grabbing two sprint victories and three further podiums on his way to the championship lead. His points tally has also contributed to Invicta Racing’s position at the head of the constructors’ standings. 

“Just hard work, I guess,” Fornaroli said, speaking to DIVEBOMB about the important factor aiding the team’s success. “As I said before, we have done a very good job in the post-season testing and the pre-season testing. Lots of laps in the simulator, lots of simulations. We both (Fornaroli and Staněk) did a great job. So yeah, just at work, giving everything to achieve good results and the team as well,” he concluded. 

When asked if he felt any pressure leading the F2 championship, Fornaroli instead mentioned he would prefer to ‘use the occasion’ of being the leader and maintain his position atop the standings. 

“No, I like to be in P1, I mean it's a nice feeling and we have to, how do you say, we have to use this occasion,” the Italian racer said. 

With a slim two-point lead, Fornaroli will certainly be looking to build the gap atop the championship standings in Hungary, before the F2 grid heads off into what will be their annual summer break.