Fornaroli taking the positives from first Baku experience despite missing out on victory

22 September 2025

Leonardo Fornaroli was pleased to take two fifth place finishes from his first trip to Baku, even if the Invicta Racing driver was disappointed to miss out on winning the Feature Race.

The Championship leader narrowly missed out on pole to title rival Jak Crawford by 0.019s on Friday, but made up for it with a strong start on Sunday to take the lead into Turn 1.

After an impressive first stint, the Safety Car was called upon following Martinius Stenshorne’s crash into the barrier at Turn 1. Fornaroli, like rest of the Supersoft tyre runners, pitted for the Softs, but the Italian was forced to wait longer in his pit box and dropped down to fourth.

Fornaroli then made his way up to third on the road, but was down to fifth in the final classification after he was given a 10-second time penalty for causing a collision with Alexander Dunne.

Speaking after the Feature Race, the Invicta driver reflected on the entire weekend.

“For the first time here, I am very happy about the performance,” recapped Fornaroli. “Already in Free Practice we were looking quite strong and the two laps we did in Qualifying, we were able to adjust a lot of things and put a competitive lap on the board.

Fornaroli reflected on his incident with Dunne which saw him end up with a 10-second time penalty

“Yesterday was a bit up and down, my start and my first laps were quite good and then I struggled with a bit of pace in the first part of the race, and in the second one I was able to adapt to the conditions and catch up to the guys in front. I made some moves and finished P5.

“Today we were starting P2, I had a very good start, a very good first stint on the Options, we were looking very competitive, and when we went into the pitlane to box unfortunately, all the drivers behind me boxed, so we had to wait a lot in the pitlane and we lost four positions.”

Reflecting on the incident with Dunne, Fornaroli said: “The first laps on the Prime, I struggled a bit and lost a position to Alex, then two laps later, I didn’t want to go on the inside at T1.

FEATURE RACE: Crawford holds off Duerksen to take superb victory in Baku

“I was going to try a move later and unfortunately, I touched him. It was not intentional, I’m sorry for that, we got a 10-second time penalty, but still the pace was very nice.

“I was able to still finish P5, even with a 10-second penalty. It was very frustrating, I was hoping for a victory in the first stint and looking how the pace after the contact with Alex, I think we could have achieved a lot better.

“It’s some nice points, double P5, was hoping for more, but I will try to learn from my mistakes this week and arrive stronger at the next races.”

Fornaroli currently leads Crawford by 19 points heading into the final two rounds

Fornaroli is leaving the fourth race weekend in a row as the leader of the Drivers’ Championship, but with Jak Crawford’s victory on Sunday, the Italian is now just 19 points ahead of his DAMS Lucas Oil rival.

However, the Invicta driver has extended his lead over third placed Luke Browning to 27 points with two rounds to go. Fornaroli though is remaining calm despite how close things are at the top.

“It was very important,” said Fornaroli when asked about just scoring points for the Championship. “Also Luke unfortunately was out of the race, so I knew I had some opportunity to gain some points.

“Jak gained a lot on me, but still it will be a nice fight, I am looking forward to the next two rounds. But I am not worried. I am used to it.

“I arrived in Monza with one point last year and on the final day at one stage I was in P2. I will do a lot of sim, a lot of training, study all the races and hope for a nice weekend in Qatar.”

Fornaroli is looking forward to getting back to work and getting ready for Lusail

Fornaroli missing out on a win in Baku meant his streak of taking a victory at each of the last four rounds comes to an end, a record he now shares with 2021 Champion Oscar Piastri.

When asked about sharing that impressive feat with the current Formula 1 Drivers’ Championship leader, Fornaroli said: “It’s very nice to achieve the same results that he achieved.

“It’s nice motivation for me, he is the Championship leader in Formula 1, he is doing an amazing job, so I hope I can reach him in the future.”