What We Learned: Some of the key talking points from the Silverstone weekend

8 July 2025

Round 8 of the 2025 FIA Formula 2 season at Silverstone is done and what a few days of racing it was, with Jak Crawford coming out on top in a very wet Feature Race.

This came a day after Invicta Racing’s Leonardo Fornaroli sealed his first F2 victory in the Sprint, while many other teams and drivers impressed at the British venue.

Hatton: Sunday turnaround at Silverstone a huge boost for Hitech TGR

So, as we continue to debrief all the action, let us look at what we learned over the weekend.

CRAWFORD AND DAMS RIGHT IN THE FIGHT

After a difficult opening two rounds in Melbourne and Sakhir – where they scored no points – Crawford and his DAMS Lucas Oil team have been brilliant at the last six race weekends.

The American driver has scored 116 points in that span, achieving three victories, and with the first two being Sprint wins, his Silverstone Sunday triumph would have been exactly what he was looking for heading into the second half of the year.

Crawford and DAMS finished first on the road at the same race last year before a five-second penalty dropped him to third.

Crawford achieved his third win of the season at Silverstone

But this gave them a lot of confidence of winning at the British venue this time around, and Crawford did in phenomenal style too. He showed strong pace throughout the three days, before a mega start from third in the Feature put him first before they got to Turn 1.

From then on, Crawford managed things expertly, defended well from Alexander Dunne and made great decisions under pressure, especially when it came to knowing the right time to pit, and it means he now heads to Spa-Francorchamps second in the Standings.

HITECH ARE BACK

After a fast start to the season that included six podium finishes in the opening five rounds, Hitech TGR’s results had taken a slight dip recently.

FEATURE RACE: Crawford in stunning form to seal victory through Silverstone rain

This was due to a variety of reasons, with a couple of DNFs, as well as tough Qualifying outings in Spielberg especially, that left both drivers with a mountain to climb in the races.

But through it all, both Luke Browning and Dino Beganovic were confident that the pace had been there, and we got a very good showing of that at Silverstone.

The former started in P12, while the latter had a slow start from eighth that dropped him to 10th, but both were flying in the wet conditions, picking off their rivals together.

Browning and Beganovic were in great form for Hitech during the Feature Race

In the end, Browning finished third, with Beganovic just behind him in fourth, and after a difficult couple of rounds, this result was much needed for both drivers and the team.

Confidence will now be high heading into the remaining rounds, as both look to make a run at the Formula 2 title.

FORNAROLI’S BIG DAY

Arguably no driver had been as consistent over the last two years in F2 and F3 as Fornaroli. But despite that, the Invicta rookie had not won a race.

Since the start of the 2024 F3 season, the Italian had achieved 10 podium results going into Round 8, but none of them were on the top step, although he did seal the title in the third-tier last year.

This was not to say Fornaroli had not had his chances, having started from pole a fair few times, but for several reasons, the win had just escaped him.

Fornaroli achieved his first win since 2021 at Silverstone this weekend

But not on Saturday, as he fought back after losing the lead from pole and made a daring move at Luffield on Kush Maini to retake P1.

From then on, Fornaroli managed things expertly out in front, keeping his tyres in good condition to resist any late attacks from Sebastián Montoya.

It gave Fornaroli a first win since his 2021 Italian F4 campaign, and he will hope that this opens up the door to more victories moving forward, as it will also help his title aspirations – given his fourth in the Standings on 104 points, 18 points adrift of top spot.