Martins finally takes F2 qualifying spoils with Silverstone pole

Vyas Ponnuri
Jul 4
3 min read

Updated: Jul 7

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

Having endured the pain of missing out on several F2 pole positions by slim margins, ART Grand Prix's Victor Martins finally found himself on the right side in Silverstone, taking his first Formula 2 pole in 2025, ahead of Alex Dunne's Rodin Motorsport and DAMS' Jak Crawford in qualifying.

Martins took pole in Silverstone | Credit: Formula 2 via X

It was a stellar session for Martins, a former winner around the Silverstone circuit, as he dished out two extremely quick qualifying laps to keep ahead of the competition, and usurping Crawford's time to head deep into the 1:39s and take pole position.

Dunne missed out on pole by only 0.065 seconds, around the closest venue to his home nation, Ireland. Crawford, meanwhile, continued his momentum from the Austria feature to put his DAMS into third.

Another excellent qualifying saw Invicta Racing's Roman Staněk up in fourth, ahead of PREMA Racing's Sebastián Montoya, while Joshua Dürksen put his speedy AIX Racing up in sixth.

Championship leader Richard Verschoor finished a steady seventh on the road, ahead of Hitech TGR's Dino Beganovic, while Crawford's teammate Kush Maini and Invicta Racing's Leonardo Fornaroli rounded out the top ten.

AS IT UNFOLDED - A tricky Silverstone qualifying in F2

Crawford looked lightning quick in Silverstone for DAMS | Credit: Formula 2 via X

The DAMS duo of Kush Maini and Jak Crawford led the field of 22 drivers out for the 30-minute qualifying session around the Silverstone circuit.

However, it was PREMA Racing's Sebastián Montoya who set the initial benchmark time, a 1:41.225, before it was beaten by Hitech TGR's Luke Browning. Alas, their joy was brief, with championship leader Richard Verschoor setting a 1:40.777, perhaps marking a sign of the times to come.

However, it was ART Grand Prix's Victor Martins who set the quickest first lap, with a 1:40.710, looking to finally take the top spoils in a qualifying session in 2025. Amaury Cordeel put his Rodin Motorsport up to third.

Several drivers lost their lap times to track limits, including the likes of the Hitech duo of Browning and Dino Beganovic, Rodin Motorsport's Alex Dunne, Montoya's teammate Gabriele Minì, AIX Racing's Joshua Dürksen, Austrian sprint winner Pepe Martí, and Trident's Sami Meguetounif.

Maini radioed to his team after returning to the pits, asking them to check the car after running wide into turn 1. Trident's Max Esterson had a spin off Vale chicane, not setting any lap, while Martins' teammate Ritomo Miyata didn't emerge from the pits at all.

While Dunne, Browning and Beganovic restored their lap times, Cordeel's strong qualifying session came to an abrupt end. The Belgian driver endured a similar spin to Esterson's, spinning as he headed towards Club corner, and stalling the car. The stranded Rodin Motorsport car brought out the red flag, with marshalls swiftly clearing the car from the track.

Qualifying resumed at 15:12 local time (14:12 GMT), with Miyata now coming out onto the track for his first quick lap of the weekend.

The second round of laps, though, shuffled up the order, despite Martins finding a right of reply to wrest back top spot, and Dunne moving to second quickest, only 65 milliseconds behind. Crawford, who looked lightning quick in the first two sectors, set the first lap times into the 1:39s, initially setting the quickest time.

Invicta Racing's Staněk found a strong lap to go fourth, ahead of Montoya and Dürksen, while the likes of Maini and Arvid Lindblad put their cars into the top ten for the first time in the session.

With drivers having used up optimal tyre grip on their first laps, they would struggle to find any more time, as the clock ticked down to a close. The driver making the improvement was Staněk's teammate Leonardo Fornaroli, who found enough time to make it up to tenth on the road, putting himself onto reverse grid pole for the Saturday sprint.

Martins, though, finally found himself on the right side of the times on Friday, to take pole, while Dunne and Verschoor would resume their championship battle across the weekend, sitting second and seventh on the road.

A disappointing stat from the F2 weekend would see four British drivers sitting outside the top ten, including Lindblad, Browning, Van Amersfoort Racing's John Bennett, and the AIX Racing of Cian Shields.