What to Watch For: Storylines to look out for at Round 3 in Jeddah

17 April 2025

It’s the second round of the first back-to-back of the season, and the paddock has made its way to Jeddah after a scorching hot weekend both on and off the track in Sakhir.

The next test for the drivers is the tight, high-speed street Jeddah Corniche Circuit, where we can expect plenty of wall-to-wall action.

So, before we get going for Round 3 of the 2025 campaign, here are some storylines to keep an eye on this weekend…

WHAT NEXT FOR RODIN?

For the second consecutive year, Rodin head to Jeddah fresh off a very successful weekend in Bahrain, with Alexander Dunne having won the Sakhir Feature Race.

Last season, Rodin completed a historic double with Zane Maloney in Bahrain, winning both the Sprint and Feature before heading to Jeddah for the next round.

However, they could not replicate that success in 2024 in Jeddah, as they struggled in Qualifying and both of their cars ended up outside of the top 10.

Dunne claimed the Sakhir Feature Race victory for Rodin in Round 2

Maloney though, did end up finishing fourth in the Sprint and seventh in the Feature Race, so they were able to show that they had the pace.

This year, they will be hoping to qualify well and so far, Dunne especially has been very good on a Friday, qualifying fifth in Melbourne and fourth in Bahrain.

RACE ANALYSIS: How Sakhir became Rodin Motorsport territory once again

On top of that, Amaury Cordeel achieved the second-best result of his Formula 2 career in Jeddah last year when he finished fifth, meaning that both drivers and team should feel confident going into this weekend.

PREMA RETURN TO A HAPPY HUNTING GROUND

After a very impressive in-season test for the Italian outfit, where Gabriele Minì set the fastest time, it was a surprise to many that PREMA left Bahrain with just four points.

Historically, the Sakhir venue has not been a successful track for PREMA, but a strong three days of running had given them plenty of confidence going into the weekend.

However, the positive of a back-to-back is that you have a chance to put things right immediately, and if PREMA could choose one track to go to after a difficult weekend, Jeddah would have been high on the list.

Oscar Piastri won the first Jeddah Feature Race with PREMA back in 2021

That is because they have a very good history there, extending back to its introduction to the calendar in 2021. Oscar Piastri took pole that year before winning both the second Sprint Race and the Feature.

Since then, Oliver Bearman qualified on the front row in 2023, before his teammate Frederik Vesti won the Feature Race. The Briton was also fastest in 2024 before withdrawing to deputise in Formula 1 for Scuderia Ferrari.

GALLERY: Some moments you might have missed from Round 2 in Sakhir

So, it’s a track they clearly like which could be a positive sign for PREMA and their drivers, Minì and Sebastián Montoya.

VAR IN FORM

Van Amersfoort Racing had a positive Sakhir round, as Rafael Villagómez qualified in P8 – his best Qualifying result in Formula 2 – while John Bennett was in P13, just 0.064s off a place in the top 10.

Villagómez was also competitive in both races, finishing sixth in the Sprint, and just outside of the points in the Feature, showing that the pace of both driver and car is strong.

This bodes well for VAR as they return to Jeddah, a venue where they dominated last year with Enzo Fittipaldi winning on Sunday by 7.8s.

Villagómez and VAR had a good Sakhir weekend scoring their first points of the season

In addition to that, Villagómez also achieved his maiden points finish in F2 in the same Feature Race, ending up in P9, so he will be feeling very confident coming into the weekend.

But so will the team as a whole, as it is clear that after a tough opening round in Melbourne – where both drivers qualified towards the back of the field – they have taken steps forward.

Luke Browning’s Sakhir Debrief: A special weekend in the desert

Whether it means they will be victorious once again in Jeddah remains to be seen, but their form and previous success at the track should make them cautiously optimistic about their chances.

CAN ANYBODY STEAL A MARCH?

It is very tight at the top of both the Drivers’ and Teams’ Championship, so this begs the question as to whether anybody can open up a gap on their rival or could someone else join the party.

Such is the competitiveness of the field that on any given weekend, any team or driver could have success. For example, Leonardo Fornaroli qualified 10th in Melbourne but was on pole in Bahrain.

The Invicta Racing rookie now leads the Drivers’ Standings on 26 points but is just a point ahead of Dunne and Luke Browning, while Josep María Martí and Richard Verschoor round out the top five on 23 and 21 points.

Browning, Dunne and Fornaroli are currently the top three in the Drivers' Standings

All five of those drivers will be hoping to build an advantage at the top of the leaderboard, but they are several others who will be looking to join the party.

Dino Beganovic and Victor Martins are just behind on 12 points, and both have shown plenty of potential this year, the former taking a podium in the Sakhir Sprint, while the latter was on pole in Melbourne.

Joshua Duerksen on 11 points also won the Sprint Race Down Under and felt he had more potential than he showed in Bahrain.

But there are also a whole host of drivers behind them who could reignite their seasons and the final flyaway round before a return to Europe could be the perfect place to do so.