A challenging weekend marked the start of the new FIA F2 campaign as Sunday's race was canceled due to torrential rain, and both Campos Racing cars were affected by power cuts on Friday. Lindblad finishes in the top ten in his debut in the category
The opening weekend of the 2025 FIA Formula 2 season at the Australian Grand Prix venue was defined by two key events that disrupted plans for the entire paddock in Melbourne. The power issues experienced on Friday, affecting several cars, including the Campos Racing single-seaters driven by Pepe Martí and Arvid Lindblad, and the torrential rain that fell before Sunday’s race, which led to its cancellation, shaped the entire weekend on track. As a result, this round offered few conclusions due to the unusual circumstances.
As mentioned earlier, Friday was marked by power issues in some cars, affecting both free practice and qualifying. In the morning, during their first outing on the Australian asphalt, both Campos Racing drivers became aware of these issues in free practice, which were later confirmed in qualifying. Consequently, Lindblad was unable to improve on a time of 1m30.089s, despite having set the best times in the first two sectors at one point, putting himself in contention for pole position before his lap was compromised in the third sector due to the aforementioned issues, ultimately dashing his hopes. Barcelona’s Martí recorded a best time of 1m30.271s, placing him 16th on the timesheets, two positions behind Lindblad.
The FIA Formula 2 organization urgently introduced a software update for Saturday, which necessitated a 15-minute shakedown before the first race to ensure that the power issues had been mitigated as much as possible.
The 23-lap sprint race saw Lindblad and Martí starting from 10th and 11th place, respectively. When the lights went out, both drivers completed a clean first lap and climbed up the order. By the end of the first lap, Lindblad was running in eighth, with Martí just behind. Soon after, Martí and Lindblad swapped positions just before two Virtual Safety Cars were deployed due to separate incidents. The two Campos Racing drivers engaged in exciting battles with Gabriele Minì and Ritomo Miyata, with the race remaining stable in terms of positions until a full safety car was deployed on lap 14. After three laps under neutralization, the race restarted on lap 17. With minimal changes until the finish, Martí crossed the line in eighth place, securing the final point, while Lindblad finished tenth.
Sunday’s feature race, which included a mandatory pit stop, was initially delayed in hopes that the rain would ease. However, after running behind the safety car, race control decided to cancel the event due to the large amount of standing water on the track, making competition too dangerous under such conditions.
The championship will now take a break until the next round, scheduled for April 12-13 at the Bahrain International Circuit in Sakhir.
Photos: © Dutch Photo Agency
