Roman Stanek has been handed the victory in the Formula 2 Feature Race at Spa-Francorchamps after Alex Dunne received a post-race time penalty and Arvid Lindblad was disqualified following technical checks.

The decisions made by the stewards reshuffled the order following an intense battle under tricky wet-weather conditions.

Dunne led from start to finish but came under investigation by the stewards for allegedly failing to engage the start set-up procedure at the beginning of the formation lap.

He was deemed guilty of the infringement and handed a 10-second time penalty, bumping him down the order to 10th.

A document released by the FIA stated: “According to the Report of the Technical Delegate, the data from Car 17 shows that the driver did not engage the start set-up procedure for the formation lap as required by the F2 2025 System User Manual.

“The team manager stated that the race director had announced that the formation laps will be behind the Safety Car and the start of the Race will be rolling start.

“Based on this information, they had decided not to activate the set-up procedure. The driver said that he had asked the team for confirmation, and team told him not to engage the
start set-up procedure.

“Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards determined that Car 17 was in breach of Article 1.6.1 of the FIA Formula 2 Technical Regulations and Article 11.15 of the F2 2025 System User Manual, and impose a 10 second time penalty in accordance with the 2025 FIA F2 penalty guidelines.”

Lindblad disqualified over technical breach as Fornaroli claims F2 championship lead

Lindblad would have taken the Feature Race victory, but he was punished for having too low tyre pressures in all four tyres.

A document stated: “The Team accepted the FIA Technical Delegate’s measurements and acknowledged that it followed that Article 10.4.3 of the Technical Regulations had been breached in this case.

“The Team Representative also stated that he was present during the tyre checking and had no objections with the measurements. Having considered the matter extensively, the Stewards determined that Car 4 was found to be technically non-conformant with the F2 Technical Regulations, and, consistent with the established precedent, disqualify Car 4 from Race 2.”

Stanek claimed the second victory of his F2 career, while Ritomo Miyata secured his maiden podium in the series with an impressive drive to second place.

Luke Browning completed the podium amid the post-race chaos, rewarded for a strong charge through the field.

The Hitech driver started 12th on the grid and secured his sixth podium of the season, further boosting his championship hopes.

The final classification saw several drivers promoted due to the penalties, including Leonardo Fornaroli, who moved up to fifth.

That result was enough to hand the Italian the championship lead by just three points over Richard Verschoor.

READ MORE — Alex Dunne conquers rain-soaked Spa to claim F2 Feature Race victory and take championship lead

The post Roman Stanek inherits F2 Spa Feature Race win after Alex Dunne penalised and Arvid Lindblad disqualified appeared first on Motorsport Week.

Red Bull junior, Arvid Lindblad, denies being in talks with the team to potentially replace Max Verstappen at the British Grand Prix despite recently getting a Formula 1 superlicense exemption.

After his clash with George Russell in Barcelona, the Dutchman is just one penalty point away from accumulating a race ban.

Verstappen and Red Bull’s predicament was a talking point throughout the Canadian Grand Prix weekend. That said, the 27-year-old stayed away from controversy, and lives to fight another day.

The FIA mandates a single race ban in the event that a driver accrues 12 points on their license over a 12-month period.

Therefore, if the four-time World Champion has a clean race weekend at the Austrian Grand Prix, the two points added to his license for his incident with Lando Norris last year will be lifted, giving him some breathing space.

However, if he does incur a penalty at the Red Bull Ring, the Milton Keynes-based team will need to look for a replacement driver to take his place at the British Grand Prix.

17-year-old Red Bull prodigy Lindblad is a firm candidate to fill in for the Dutchman, having recently received his superlicense from the FIA, but he asserts that his superlicense is a mere “coincidence” and not part of Red Bull’s plans to accommodate for a potential race ban for Verstappen.

“I mean, the Super Licence was requested in February. So I think it’s much more of a coincidence that it’s kind of been approved at a time when Max is a bit on the edge with the points,” he said.

“But I don’t know what the plan would be if something were to happen.

“I don’t know. I haven’t been involved in those conversations.”

Lindblad flattered by Verstappen comparisons

The 17-year-old will most likely be drafted into one of the Racing Bulls seat with either Liam Lawson or Isack Hadjar getting the call up to race alongside Yuki Tsunoda in case Verstappen is ruled out in Silverstone.

This would turn out to be a handy audition for Lindblad who is being suggested to have a full-time seat with the Faenza-based squad from next year onwards after impressing Red Bull advisor Helmut Marko with his exploits in the junior formulas.

The Austrian might have forsaken the search for a new-age Verstappen but is confident that Lindblad is going to be Red Bull’s next big star and world champion.

But what does the 17-year-old himself think about these comparisons?

“I don’t know, I mean, it’s hard to really compare me. I’m still a lot younger than Max,” he explained.

“It’s nice to get a comparison to a four-time World Champion, but I think it’s hard to really compare us.

“I’m just very focused on doing my best, driving fast and fighting hard. And maybe on that side you could say that there’s some similarities, but I think all drivers are like that.”

READ MORE — How Nico Hulkenberg came close to partnering Max Verstappen at Red Bull

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