Quali talk: Martins looking to carry on strong form as rookies revel in early Imola success

Written by Vyas Ponnuri

An exciting Imola qualifying left many on the edge of their seats, with barely a hair's breadth separating the top three at the end of qualifying. The underlying trend saw several Formula 3 rookies rise to the fore, with as many as seven of the top ten being F3's graduates from the class of 2024.

Beganovic claimed his first F2 pole | Credit: Formula 2

Beganovic, Montoya: "Simulator and weekend preparation key to success"

The upcoming stretch of weekends kicks off familiar territory for the Formula 2 grid, with both F2 and F3 racing across European circuits every year. This offers the best chance for the F3 graduates stepping up to find their groove and ignite their seasons.

With seven in the top eight being F3 graduates from last year, and the front row locked out by two rookies, it was a strong showing from the rookie class, with drivers quickly getting up to speed around the fearsome Imola circuit.

The trend carried over from practice into qualifying, the sole session on Friday seeing Alex Dunne and Arvid Lindblad top the free practice session, with both drivers eventually setting the third row of the grid for Sunday's race.

Lindblad finished second in free practice, starting sixth for the race | Credit: Dutch Photo Agency / Red Bull Content Pool

"In the end, it's always nice to come back to track you know well. It's special for me because I have very good memories from here," Beganovic said, speaking of his love for Imola. While his status as a Ferrari junior brings fanfare and fervour, Beganovic has on-track success too. The Swede took first and second in the 2022 Formula Regional European Championship (FRECA), kicking off a run of form that culminated in a title victory later that year.

However, he was quick to highlight the importance of preparation work put in before the event, a crucial factor driving his success at every venue F2 visits in 2025.

"At the end of the day, we do a lot of preparation in the simulator with the team. I think a clear thing is me watching my first F2 qualifying in Qatar, never driven the track or the car before as a rookie to jump in," Beganovic said, speaking of his debut F2 weekend when he qualified an exceptional fourth.

The short turnaround between practice and qualifying makes prior preparation and event readiness key, as drivers look to put in their hours on the simulator to the best effect on the track.

"So in the end being familiar it helps but it's not the key. It's I think mainly the preparation you do before the event that that is really important especially in F2 and F3 as you have very little time to adjust," Beganovic concluded.

Second-placed Sebastián Montoya backed up his companion's words, speaking of hours on the simulator and prior preparation being key to success on the track in F2.

"Yeah, I think as Dino (Beganovic) said, obviously the simulator helps quite a lot, and the team does a really good job to prepare us as best as we can for the event," Montoya said.

The gap between the rookies and experienced drivers has certainly narrowed, with two of F2's four poles in 2025 going to rookies, while rookies have also shared two of the five F2 victories in 2025, a factor Montoya highlighted.

"Obviously if you check this year, the rookies have been on pole a couple of times already, and they've been in the fight every weekend," the PREMA racer said. "But the level of the drivers that were in F3 last year, and have graduated this year, some have experience, some don't, but they've always been straight on the pace.

"So yeah, it's a lot of work, a lot of hours in the sim and it's a lot of preparation and yeah, it pays off when you get to the job," he concluded.

Both drivers will start on the front row for Sunday's 35-lap feature race, while they will be chasing points for Saturday's 25-lap sprint.

Martins "enjoyed" qualifying despite narrowly missing out on pole

Martins remained a firm favourite for pole | Credit: Formula 2 via X

If you were to bet on a pole-sitter halfway into qualifying in Imola, ART's Victor Martins would have been your best pick. The odds were high when the Williams junior nailed his first two qualifying laps, sitting a whopping 0.382s clear of the rest after the first 15 minutes of running.

"Yeah, I was definitely enjoying it a lot," a delighted Martins expressed. "Lap one was good. I knew I had a bit of time in my pocket because of of a few mistakes. Then lap two was a really good lap," the ART racer expressed, speaking of the 1:27.424 lap that perched him atop the leaderboard for a significant chunk of the session.

An important skill in a jam-packed and moving series of F2's calibre is keeping calm, and Martins is quick to credit ART's pit wall for efficient communication, a major factor in nailing the qualifying laps on Fridays.

"I really stayed calm, I tried to use my experience from the past to stay focused, you know, keep a routine, maintain good communication with the team if we want to make changes to the car or not," Martins expressed, giving due credit to those on the pit wall for their inputs.

The Frenchman hasn't struck gold just yet in one-lap pace in 2025, having qualified second on the grid for each of F2's three weekends. On each day, the margins remained narrow, with only a tenth separating him from the pole-sitter, while Crawford pipped him to pole by a mere 0.022s in Jeddah, before only six milliseconds separated him and Beganovic in qualifying around Imola.

Despite being the nearlyman in qualifying this year, Martins insists the pace is still there, evidenced by his qualifying record in 2025 and sixth in the championship standings.

"For sure, we are clearly there with regards to pace. I feel like we deserve a little bit (more pace) but it definitely doesn't take out anything from from these guys, they too deserve it. And I have been already in that situation and and also in the opposite one," Martins said.

Despite not doing a second lap, Martins ended the session third, backing his lightning pace going into the weekend's races.

"I'm happy, because in the end I didn't do a lap but then I'm still P3 which that means the pace was really good," he said.

"And we deserve that one, because even if you're not really lucky, you are up there when you maximise everything.

"Sometimes it's really harsh and you have no laps, but definitely today we can be proud and happy with what we did because we we deserve it. And definitely it's a good start to the weekend. We will use it," Martins expressed, speaking of the desire to grab his first win of 2025.

Formula 2 embarks on its 25-lap Imola sprint race on Saturday, live at 14:15 local time (13:15 BST).