Leonardo Fornaroli Race Debrief: Starting off with silverware in Melbourne

25 March 2025

Leonardo Fornaroli got his first full FIA Formula 2 campaign underway in Melbourne with Invicta Racing and the Italian secured a trophy at the first opportunity.

P2 in the Sprint Race was a positive step in his adaptation to the Championship, but the reigning FIA Formula 3 Champion was honest in his assessment of his maiden weekend in the Invicta cockpit.

Here is what he made of Round 1in in Melbourne, Australia.

“Unfortunately, I lost the lead before Turn 1, but actually my start wasn’t too bad. I was quite happy with it because I was expecting to lose two or more positions, but watching it back my start wasn’t too bad compared to all the others.

“It was just that Joshua had an incredible start. So, I lost the lead, and tried to fight it back during the first lap and later in the race, but we also lacked a tiny bit of pace to be able to fight with him.

“Apart from that, everything went well. We had a smooth weekend, made no mistakes and I was quite happy with the pace. I was able to defend P2 as well from Browning behind, so I was quite happy about the Sprint Race.

“The Feature Race was unfortunately cancelled due to the heavy rain. It’s a shame because I think that the pace was good, and there was a good chance to fight back through the field and score some good points. But it was absolutely the right decision. It was too dangerous to race in those conditions.

Fornaroli captured his first piece of F2 silverware at the first attempt with P2 in the Sprint

“I learned a lot of new things, because in testing you can test whatever you want, but it’s never like that on the weekends.

“In Qualifying, I learned that even if you are in a very good position after running on the first set of tyres, you have to maintain that level of concentration because anything can happen still.

“If you’ve only got once chance left, like what happened to me, just say calm and drive a clean lap. Don’t try and set the new track record, like I tried to do.

“Also in the races, it was good to learn about how to manage the thermal degradation, how to manage more the tyre deg, and how to stay behind someone while in dirty air. I learned a lot about those things so I’m happy.

“It would have been very helpful to also have the Feature Race because I’ve never driven an F2 car in wet conditions, but we’ve still got 13 rounds to go, and that’s plenty of time to learn more about that.”

Up next is in-season testing in Bahrain where he and the other 21 drivers will be eager to learn as much as possible ahead of the remainder of the 2025 campaign.