Academy Report: Luke Victorious in Italy

Luke Browning will forever see Monza as a memorable venue after he took his maiden Formula 2 win in Sunday's Feature Race to close in on championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli.

It was the first F2 race since the summer break, and Italy also saw the conclusion of the Formula 3 season in an all-time classic race for the third tier.

Here is how Luke, plus Victor Martins and Alessandro got on in support of the Italian Grand Prix.

Luke has not been a stranger to the podium since his full-time start in F2 this year, picking up seven trophies earlier this season.

He went one better in Monza, though, after taking pole position on Friday by a whopping three tenths, and converting it to victory in a hard-fought Sunday drive.

Even though he stormed to a P1 start, Monza is not the easiest track to retain a lead when you don't have a slipstream like the cars following you, and Luke had to contend with hard charges and multiple Safety Cars to secure his win.

P2-starting Kush Maini made the opening laps easier after the Indian racer's slow start had our British hopeful heading to Rettifilo unopposed.

Ollie Goethe kept close, though, and used DRS to steal the lead before taking an early pit stop to remove the Supersoft tyres all drivers were using.

That proved a pivotal error, though, as a Safety Car slowdown soon followed to allow Luke a cheap pit stop and a return to P1.

Any green flag running would have to wait, as incidents under SC conditions triggered another Bernd Maylander appearance just as he peeled into the pit lane.

The Lap 13 restart didn't go to plan, however, as Joshua Durksen powered by into Turn 1, just as another crash caused a third Safety Car appearance.

Luke kept close to Durksen when the race resumed four laps later, almost broke out of DRS range from P3 behind.

Keeping close to the Paraguayan leader, Luke regained the lead on Lap 19 and did not look back; he crossed the line with a 3.5s gap to P2.

A further point in Saturday's Sprint Race for a P8 finish could prove pivotal come the Abu Dhabi finale as Luke challenges for the title in his rookie season.

That's a full year of F2 racing under Luke's belt now as he prepares to head to Baku, the site of his debut in the championship one year ago.

He scored points with a P7 finish there last year, so will be hoping for another strong weekend in 2025 armed with local knowledge.

The Azerbaijan F2 trip comes over September 19-21.

Monza did not go to plan for Victor, who suffered a zero-point trip to the Temple of Speed after tangles in both the Sprint and Feature races.

Qualifying in P12 had our French F2 representative 0.050s away from a reverse grid pole position and starting in the mid-pack over both days.

A front wing end plate flew off his ART car on the opening lap of Saturday's Sprint exiting the second Lesmo when battling with Richard Verschoor, and Victor dropped to P14.

The early Safety Car didn't help, and Victor lost more places to drop to P16, and he eventually stopped for a new front wing on Lap 12 that effectively ended his Saturday hopes, and he crossed the line in P19.

Sunday was looking better, and a fight up to P8 by the Roggia chicane against Pepe Martí was the reward for brave driving.

More positions followed as he went wheel-to-wheel with Arvid Lindblad and Martí into Ascari, and Victor had reached P5 when the Safety Car emerged when Lindblad crashed with Alex Dunne.

Sadly, Maini hit Victor on the restart, and he brought his broken car back to the pit lane to retire and end his Monza trip without any more points.

It's back to Baku for Victor, too, and it's a circuit that he enjoyed last year, taking a P2 finish in the Feature Race after a P3 qualification.

He'll hope for more of the same in 2025 as F2 enters its final three rounds.

That's a rookie season of Formula 3 racing complete for Sandro, and he ends the season joint P9, with another haul of points after a busy few days in Monza.

Taking P4 in Qualifying's group A ensured a start in the upper positions for both races, and Sandro was just 0.057s away from a front row start after his impressive Friday pace.

He slotted into P6 over the opening lap of the Sprint Race before a Lap 1 Safety Car appeared to prevent any passing opportunities.

Battling with Tuukka Taponen, Roman Bilinski, Ugo Ugochukwu, and Noel Leon throughout saw Sandro yo-yoing through the point-scoring positions in a pass-or-be-passed scrap when the green flag racing resumed.

A late Safety Car bookended the Sprint, and Sandro was almost pushing Matías Zagazeta at the restart before crossing the line in P7, which later turned to a P6 in the final classification.

The non-stop fighting and Safety Car slowdown continued into Sunday morning, where F3 staged a frenzied 22-lap fight to the flag.

Sandro ran in P9 before the Feature Race's first SC period on Lap 1, and again fought with Bilinski, but also Martinius Stenshorne, and Laurens Van Hoepen before and after a second SC when Fernando Barrichello and Ugo Ugochukwu beached their cars at Ascari.

While others lost front wings and tumbled over the gravel, Sandro kept his cool, despite being part of a multi-car pack entering Parabolica on occasion, and even set the Fastest Lap for an extra point on his way to a P8 finish.