F2 – Grand Prix de Monaco – Sprint: Maini wins, Lindblad loses podium for penalty

Kush Maini claimed his first victory of the 2025 season during the Formula 2 sprint race in Monaco. The Indian driver from DAMS Lucas Oil capitalized on his reverse grid pole position to triumph over Gabriele Minì. Luke Browning stepped onto the podium thanks to a penalty given to Arvid Lindblad.

Chaotic departure and initial incidents

Excellent at the start, Maini maintained his first place at the green light. His front-row companion, Luke Browning, did not have the same success. The Briton from Hitech GP missed his take-off and was relegated from second to fifth position by the first corner. This drop opened the way for Gabriele Minì, who climbed to second position.

The hierarchy evolved again at the Mirabeau turn, where Arvid Lindblad attacked Jak Crawford to take third place. The maneuver by the British Campos Racing driver resulted in contact that sent the American DAMS driver into trouble, causing him to lose two positions to Browning and Lindblad. The stewards quickly announced an investigation into this incident.

The decision will come in the fifth round, and Lindblad will receive a ten-second penalty, as the stewards deemed him responsible for the collision. This sanction already disrupted the course of the race as Browning was then virtually on the podium.

Campos’ strategy in response to the penalty

Notified of his penalty, Lindblad and Campos Racing changed their approach. Rather than exhausting themselves in futile battles with the leaders, the Briton was instructed to moderate his pace and save his tires. The aim was to gain clean air to attack in the final laps and minimize the impact of the penalty.

This approach seemed to be paying off until the twelfth lap. Lindblad was indeed 9.4 seconds behind Minì, but the gap was gradually closing. However, the race was about to take another twist.

In the twelfth lap, Joshua Duerksen and Oliver Goethe collided at the entrance of the Grand Hotel hairpin while disputing the tenth place. The Paraguayan from AIX Racing ended up in the barriers, triggering the intervention of the safety car which neutralized the race for three laps.

Neutralization and turbulent recovery

This neutralization erased all the gaps, regrouping the drivers behind the leader. Despite these twists, the race quickly refocused on a duel between Maini and Gabriele Minì after the restart on the fifteenth lap. The Indian immediately distanced himself to escape the DRS zone, widening the gap to one and a half seconds. But the Italian from Prema Racing quickly responded by setting the fastest lap on the sixteenth lap, reducing Maini’s lead to just four-tenths. He remained threatening thanks to the DRS and kept the pressure on the DAMS driver.

Little by little, the two drivers managed to distance the rest of the pack by more than eight seconds, running their own race. Behind them, Lindblad was holding a solid third place on the track, but he knew his penalty compromised his chances of a podium finish. Moreover, the advantage he had started to build before the safety car due to his tire-saving strategy had vanished with the neutralization.

Meanwhile, other contacts occurred in the race. Indeed, Oliver Goethe attempted a daring overtake on Victor Martins at the Rascasse on the fourteenth lap, but the maneuver resulted in a collision that damaged the Frenchman’s front wing. Goethe will receive a ten-second penalty for this action, while Martins will be forced to retire from the race.

A tense race end

The last ten laps offered a high-flying spectacle. Minì came back to within two-tenths of Maini on the twenty-fourth lap, but the DAMS driver counterattacked by setting his personal best time to reclaim a 1.3-second lead. Meanwhile, Lindblad had been ordered to attack on the twenty-second lap and began his comeback after preserving his tires.

The 17-year-old driver chipped away at the gap of more than ten seconds that separated him from the leading duo. Four laps from the finish, only 5.2 seconds separated the top three, with half a second between Minì and Lindblad. But his penalty severely compromised his podium ambitions.

Minì tried to hold his ground by setting a personal best, but Lindblad kept closing in. The pressure was at its peak for the Italian, who had to both defend his position against the Briton and hope to catch up with Maini.

Victory for Maini

On his side, Maini continued to manage his lead to win with a 3.7-second advantage over Minì. The Indian driver clinches his second victory in Formula 2, the first since 2023. Behind, Lindblad crossed the line in third position, but his penalty relegated him to eighth place. It is therefore Browning who took the last step of the podium, a consolation after his missed start.

Crawford finished fourth despite his first lap troubles, ahead of Richard Verschoor, Sebastian Montoya, and Leonardo Fornaroli. The end of the race was marked by a series of personal bests that tightened the points standings.

In the overall standings, Alexander Dunne remains in the lead with 65 points, but Luke Browning is just one point behind with 64 points. Richard Verschoor completes the provisional podium with 59 points, followed by Leonardo Fornaroli (54 points) and Arvid Lindblad (46 points). On the teams’ side, Hitech TGR leads with 93 points ahead of Campos Racing (87 points) and MP Motorsport (71 points).

Today’s main race will see Alexander Dunne start from pole position, with Victor Martins alongside him on the front row. It’s an opportunity for the championship leader to widen the gap or see his pursuers close in further. The start will be at 9:40 a.m.