Written by Vyas Ponnuri
"You start where you left off" certainly seemed to be the old adage at Formula 2's season opener in Melbourne in 2025. It was a story of two different seasons, but Joshua Dürksen proved the common denominator, standing on the top step of the podium once again, taking the opening race win in 2025.
Behind, reigning Formula 3 champion Leonardo Fornaroli too picked up from where he left off last year, grabbing his first podium for Invicta Racing in second, ahead of Luke Browning, the Hitech TGR racer grabbing his maiden rostrum finish in F2 in third.
Following the trio of podium finishers were Richard Verschoor, taking MP Motorsport's first points of the year in fourth, ahead of Fornaroli's teammate Roman Staněk, who impressed in fifth. He would finish just ahead of the two PREMA Racing cars of Sebastián Montoya and Gabriele Minì, with Pepe Martí taking the final point on offer in eighth for Campos.
Outside of the points scorers were Rodin Motorsport racer Alex Dunne and the other Campos car of Arvid Lindblad, rounding out the top ten but failing to secure any points, with only the top eight scoring in the sprint.
An exciting and promising start to the F2 season for AIX Racing, though, with their star from 2024 hitting the high note from race one in 2025, and it certainly remains to be seen if this opening victory is just the start of something truly big for both Dürksen and AIX Racing.
AS IT UNFOLDED
It was Fornaroli who started the 23-lap sprint from pole, ahead of Dürksen and Browning. However, the biggest switch in the order would occur just after the five red lights went out.
The AIX racer surged ahead off the line, gaining the race lead as the pack headed into turn 1. Fornaroli and Browning settled for second, while ART's Victor Martins came off worse in a three-way scrap behind, losing places after being shoved wide at turn 1.
He wouldn't be the only one losing positions on lap 1, turn 1 though; Alpine junior Kush Maini, recently promoted to a test and reserve role at the French outfit, found himself dropping back after going slightly wide into the fast right hander. He would drop to the rear of the field, marking the start of a tough Saturday for DAMS.
While some teams found the sprint to be memorable, others encountered trouble during the course of Formula 2's season opener. Martins, in a bid to claw back lost ground, made an unforced error into turn 5 on lap 2, clouting the outside barrier as he chased after teammate Ritomo Miyata.
The contact caused Martins' steering arm to get disconnected, forcing him to retire from the race, and bringing out the first intervention of the race, a Virtual Safety Car (VSC).
This delay wouldn't last long, with the VSC taken off shortly after, but both Invicta cars faced plenty of pressure from behind, with Fornaroli forced to defend a charging Browning behind, while Staněk behind withstood pressure from Ferrari junior Dino Beganovic.
DAMS' day would go from bad to worse, with Jak Crawford retiring from the race on lap 4 due to a technical issue. Maini, meanwhile, had struggled to make up ground in the race.
Max Esterson's spin into the barriers at turn 6 triggered the first safety car period of the race on lap 6, the American spinning into the barriers at the fast right hander as he tried to chase after points. With the car stuck in a corner difficult to approach, a lengthy safety car delay ensued, with racing underway only on lap 11.
Dürksen, meanwhile, who had seen his gap to the rest eroded, built up a buffer, once again breaching the one-second DRS gap to Fornaroli with relative ease. Just as he looked to extend his gap to over two seconds, though, his run would be interrupted, with the second safety car intervention of the race on lap 14.
Trident's rookie Sami Meguetounif experienced a similar spin at turn 10 to that of Beganovic two laps prior, except this one with deeper consequences, as he was out of the race, to cap off a miserable sprint for the Italian team, with neither driver finishing.
A quick intervention and speedy work saw normal racing action resume on lap 17, with Fornaroli keeping his Paraguayan rival ahead in touch. However, this would only be brief, as Dürksen opened up the gap once again, breaking the one-second DRS barrier with ease, leaving the Invicta racer to fend off from Browning behind.
Behind the leading duo, there wouldn't be much change for position, except for Dunne moving past Lindblad for ninth on the road, capping off his charging comeback from 16th on the grid.
Yet, nobody would be able to stop Dürksen and AIX Racing from taking the opening victory of 2025, with the Paraguayan opening up a gap of over two seconds in a stop-start race featuring three interventions. The traditional celebration followed, with the Paraguayan holding his country's flag aloft, taking them to the top step of the podium once again.
Full results for the sprint race:
Joshua Dürksen (AIX Racing)
Leonardo Fornaroli (Invicta Racing)
Luke Browning (Hitech TGR)
Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport)
Roman Staněk (Invicta Racing)
Sebastián Montoya (PREMA Racing)
Gabriele Minì (PREMA Racing)
Pepe Martí (Campos Racing)
Alex Dunne (Rodin Motorsport)
Arvid Lindblad (Campos Racing)
Ollie Goethe (MP Motorsport)
Ritomo Miyata (ART Grand Prix)
Rafael Villagómez (Van Amersfoort Racing)
Dino Beganovic (Hitech TGR)
Amaury Cordeel (Rodin Motorsport)
Kush Maini (DAMS Lucas Oil)
Cian Shields (AIX Racing)
John Bennett (Van Amersfoort Racing)
DNFs:
Sami Meguetounif (Trident) - Lap 14
Max Esterson (Trident) - Lap 6
Jak Crawford (DAMS) - Lap 4
Victor Martins (ART Grand Prix) - Lap 2
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