RACE ANALYSIS: Crawford’s perfect timing and Browning on the charge

There was action everywhere you looked on Sunday in the FIA Formula 2 Feature Race, as Jak Crawford claimed his second Feature Race win of the campaign.

Further back, Luke Browning drove a fine race as he climbed up the order to complete the podium and remind everyone of his Championship credentials.

We look at their races and how impressive they were on Sunday.

CRAWFORD RIGHT ON TIME

The moment the race was won came as the Virtual Safety Car was deployed on Lap 23 of the Silverstone Feature.

Crawford was able to dive into the pit lane and make his mandatory pit stop despite the VSC being out by the time he arrived in his pit box to be serviced.

So how did the DAMS Lucas Oil driver satisfy the rules and take what turned out to be a race-winning decision?

Ordinarily, drivers would have to be in the pit lane before any Virtual Safety Car deployment to satisfy the regulations pertaining to mandatory pit stops not counting under VSC conditions.

For the Silverstone round, the Race Director’s pre-event notes stated that the bollard ahead of the pit entry line would be considered entering the pit lane.

Some quick thinking and understanding of the rules as well as the situation they found themselves in, Crawford and DAMS used that to their full benefit, able to duck into the pit entry and crucially to the right of the bollard before the VSC was deployed.

It meant his move constituted a legal stop, satisfying the mandatory pit stop rules and netting him a crucial gain in terms of time, with the VSC time loss a lot lower than a stop under full racing conditions.

His decision meant he went on to win his second Feature Race of the 2025 campaign, and results elsewhere from rivals meant he rocketed up to second in the Drivers’ Championship.

Going into Spa-Francorchamps and Round 9, Crawford has more than thrown his hat into the title fight ring. He is now a major contender.

BROWNING PUTS ON A SHOW

Where to start with Luke Browning’s superb fightback from 12th on the grid to a home race podium?

The weekend got off to a promising start as the pace from himself and Hitech TGR in Free Practice indicated he could well be in the hunt and the pole position battle. Things didn’t pan out that way, and a start outside the top 10 in both races was far from ideal.

A Sprint Race that ended where he started did little to lift spirits, but the downpour on Sunday opened an opportunity up and he would not be denied.

Lights out and the Hitech driver was on the move immediately, rounding Leonardo Fornaroli at Turn 3 on the outside before diving to the inside of Kush Maini at Turn 4 through all the spray.

It would have been interesting to see where Browning would have ended up

Into Brooklands and he cleared teammate Dino Beganovic on the outside and set about immediately harrying Arvid Lindblad through Luffield.

Lap 2 and he made a lunge to the inside of Turn 3, but a strong run through Maggotts and Becketts put Lindblad on the defensive into Stowe, and Browning wouldn’t be denied. The Williams junior driver completed the move with a switchback into Club corner to make it eighth entering Lap 3.

Browning was going from strength to strength and completed arguably the move of the year on Richard Verschoor into Copse corner. The Hitech man set up an audacious switchback, diving late to the inside to complete the pass through the high-speed right-hander in treacherous conditions.

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

Lap 5 and he was immediately onto the back of Montoya, and he left the PREMA Racing driver powerless at Turn 5 with a switchback he’d set up two corners earlier to move up to sixth.

Roman Stanek was next, as both Joshua Duerksen and Browning cleared the Invicta Racing driver on Lap 9.

Duerksen put up a fight, but his defence of fourth ended on Lap 12 as the Briton cleared him at Luffield.

Here was where Browning’s true pace was revealed, as after lapping in the low 2:04s for much of the race, he immediately fired in low 2:03s, over a second quicker than the leaders Crawford and Alexander Dunne could manage in free air too.

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

The final pass came against fellow Williams Development Driver Victor Martins after the Hitech driver tracked him down and finished off a move at the same corner on Lap 18 to take the final spot on the podium.

Once more, the Hitech driver was on a charge, lapping up to a second quicker than the race leaders once again in free air from between 0.7s and 1.2s in the closing stages.

Had the race run without a Safety Car intervention, and with Crawford and Dunne beginning to battle out in front, it would have been interesting to see where Browning would have ended up by the chequered flag.

While it wasn’t the home win he’d been after, it was one of the most impressive performances of the 2025 season to date.