Prema Racing driver Gabriele Mini has been stripped off his pole position for the opening round of the 2025 Formula 2 season in Melbourne, Australia.
Victor Martins will now start the Feature Race from pole, with Richard Verschoor promoted to second place due to Jak Crawford’s multiple 10-place grid penalties.
The Italian racing driver was summoned to the Stewards for impeding the DAMS Lucas Oil racing driver at Turn 4.
The officials concluded that Mini had obstructed Crawford, leading to a three-place grid penalty applicable to both races as part of the 2025 rule changes.
Mini, therefore, will start the Feature Race from fourth as Roman Stanek is also promoted into third place.
The Invicta Racing driver inherits third due to Crawford’s grid-drop and the same penalty being applied to Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne as part of a scandal from pre-season testing.
The two drivers, along with their team-mates Kush Maini and Amaury Cordeel, plus the Trident duo of Sami Meguetounif Max Esterson, have been handed 10-place grid penalties for both races.
Rodin, DAMS and Trident were all found guilty of having an air pressure sensor installed by drilling spec parts to illegally measure aerodynamic loads in pre-season testing.
Hitech pair Dino Beganovic and Luke Browning are promoted to fifth and sixth respectively because of the grid penalties handed out.
Joshua Durksen will start from seventh for AIX Racing, Leonardo Fornaroli in eighth for Invicta, Sebastian Montoya ninth for Prema, and Ritomo Miyata rounding off the top 10 for ART.
Fornaroli will start the Sprint Race from pole, Durksen second and Browning third.
Mini, Crawford and Dunne all drop outside of the top 10 for the Sprint Race.
READ MORE: Gabriele Mini grabs maiden F2 pole ahead of Victor Martins in Melbourne
