Richard Verschoor took the FIA F2 sprint win in Qatar, as Thierry Neuville won Rally Saudi Arabia, while Sebastien Ogier crowned WRC champion.
Sprint F2 –
Here’s how F2 qualifying panned out: https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/5bOcqRERM6QnuYG8az6OkJ/qualifying-goethe-denies-fornaroli-pole-in-lusail
https://www.fiaformula2.com/Latest/gja809xtlRs1UUGGv1ffa/goethe-handed-post-qualifying-grid-penalty
Duerksen got the best launch from the front row to take the lead from Verschoor, while Nikola Tsolov slotted into third place on the run to Turn 1. Championship leader Leonardo Fornaroli went wheel-to-wheel with teammate Roman Stanek on the opening lap and attempted a move on the second tour, though was unable to clear his teammate as the Invicta Racing pair fought over seventh place.
Onto Lap 4 and with DRS enabled, Verschoor had clawed his way back to within a second of Duerksen, and he swept back into the lead at Turn 1. The MP title-hopeful was comfortably the fastest driver on track in the following laps, extending his advantage over the pack to two seconds. Further back, a wide moment at Turn 4 on Lap 12 lost Victor Martins P11 to Dino Beganovic, and on the following tour he was passed by Gabriele Minì, dropping him to 13th.
Lap 14 and a collision between TRIDENT teammates Laurens van Hoepen and James Wharton left the latter beached in the gravel at Turn 1. It brought out the Safety Car and wiped out race leader Verschoor’s four-second advantage. Stanek opted to pit, the only driver from inside the top 10 to fit the Softs, while Arvid Lindblad, Oliver Goethe, John Bennett, Luke Browning, Cian Shields and Kush Maini also fitted the red-marked tyres. The DAMS Lucas Oil driver did however come to a halt before racing resumed, extending the Safety Car period.
Racing resumed entering Lap 17 with Verschoor retaining his lead over Duerksen with seven laps to go. By Lap 20, that advantage was back out to 2.4s, with Tsolov trailing by a further second in P3. A spin for Shields on the exit of Turn 5 brought out the Safety Car once more, bringing the pack back together and setting up a final lap shootout. Verschoor got things back underway and the fight for the podium places heading into Turn 1 was on. Tsolov was rounded by Villagómez, who ran wide ahead of Turn 2 but claimed the place, whilst the Bulgarian driver went wide himself and fell from third to 10th.
The Dutch driver was untroubled though, taking the Lusail Sprint Race victory ahead of Duerksen and Villagómez after his final lap pass on Tsolov. Sebastián Montoya wound up fourth ahead of Alexander Dunne, Fornaroli, Martinius Stenshorne and Jak Crawford, who went from P15 to P8.
Result: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1994815879109087235?s=20
UPDATE: Following the conclusion of the FIA Formula 2 Sprint Race in Lusail, Laurens van Hoepen has been handed a penalty. The TRIDENT driver was alleged to have caused a collision with Car 23 of James Wharton at Turn 1. After the race, the Stewards heard from both drivers and their team representatives and examined available video evidence.
The Stewards determined that Car 22 of van Hoepen had been wholly at fault for the collision and applied the standard 10-second time penalty. With the penalty applied, van Hoepen remains P19 in the classification.
Tsolov and Villagomez: https://www.fia.com/system/files/decision-document/2025_lusail_event_-_decision_-_car_25_-_alleged_incidents_with_car_3.pdf
Thursday –
Adrien Fourmaux led Rally Saudi Arabia on Thursday night after a chaotic opening leg in the desert, while Sébastien Ogier moved narrowly ahead of Elfyn Evans in the WRC title race. Fourmaux climbed to the front after a bruising afternoon in which drama reshuffled the order on the second pass of Khulays. The Frenchman stayed clear of major issues across all seven stages to end the day 6.0sec ahead of Toyota’s Sami Pajari, with early pacesetter Mārtiņš Sesks just 0.9sec further back in third.
The rally lead had changed hands several times through the day. Sesks dominated the morning loop with two stage wins and built a strong advantage before a right-rear puncture on the repeat of Moon Stage cost him more than 15sec. Pajari then moved ahead after winning SS6, only for a front-right delamination on the final stage to drop him back behind Fourmaux. Both remain firmly in the fight heading into Friday.
The biggest shift, however, came behind them. Championship leader Evans, running first on the road, fought poor grip all day as he swept loose sand and rocks for the field behind. A minor overshoot in the morning added to his deficit and he ended the day ninth, more than a minute adrift after further time loss on the abrasive afternoon loop. Ogier, who trailed his GR Yaris Rally1 team-mate by three points coming into this final round, managed the conditions more effectively and avoided the issues that delayed several rivals. The Frenchman reached the overnight service in seventh and, with Evans struggling, moved into the provisional championship lead by a single point.
Kalle Rovanperä’s hopes of a third world title narrowed further after two punctures restricted him to eighth, slotting him between Ogier and Evans at the day’s end. Evans will start fourth in the road order on Friday, with Ogier sixth – two places further back and directly behind Rovanperä – handing the Frenchman a small but meaningful advantage. Ott Tänak sits fourth overnight after winning the penultimate stage despite reporting possible suspension damage.
His i20 N Rally1 colleague Thierry Neuville is fifth after a day marked by a cracked windscreen and a slow puncture, while Takamoto Katsuta holds sixth following a cautious, tyre-protecting approach. Grégoire Munster and Oliver Solberg completed the top 11, while Munster’s M-Sport Ford team-mates Josh McErlean and Nasser Al-Attiyah were both delayed by tyre deflations – the latter losing more than seven minutes when his jack became stuck.
Friday –
Overnight drama as time penalty drops Adrien Fourmaux from first to fourth. Mārtiņš Sesks will start Rally Saudi Arabia’s decisive Saturday in the lead after a late time penalty dropped Adrien Fourmaux from first to fourth following a brutal Friday that also left the 2025 FIA World Rally Championship title balanced on a single point. On the road, Fourmaux had ended SS14 with a narrow 2.4sec cushion over Sesks and just 5.8sec in hand over Thierry Neuville after a leg in which the lead changed hands several times.
But the Hyundai driver and co-driver Alex Coria checked in one minute early to TC14A, the technical zone prior to overnight service, incurring a 60sec time penalty. The adjustment promotes Sesks into top spot ahead of Neuville and Takamoto Katsuta, with Fourmaux now 57.6sec off the front in fourth. It capped a day of relentless drama. Fourmaux began the morning with a 6.0sec buffer and saw it trimmed to 2.9sec across the opening loop before the afternoon erupted on the second pass of Um Al Jerem.
M-Sport Ford hotshot Sesks delivered a stunning eight-second stage win to grab the rally lead, only for his charge to be checked on Wadi Almatwi when a rear-left deflation forced him to nurse the car to the finish on the rim, losing close to a minute. Fourmaux also hit trouble, a front-left deflation forcing him to back off, but he kept his i20 N Rally1 rolling and initially moved back in front by the slenderest of margins before the time penalty reversed their positions.
The chaos stretched far beyond the fight between the pair. Earlier in the loop, both Sami Pajari and Ott Tänak – who had been locked inside the podium battle – were forced to stop and change wheels on the 30.58km Um Al Jerem. Pajari tumbled from third to seventh, while Tänak fell from fifth to outside the top 10. Their delays opened the door for Neuville and Katsuta, both of whom survived tyre scares of their own to climb into what is now the overnight podium behind Sesks.
But the deeper narrative remained centred on the title fight. Elfyn Evans’ hopes of securing a maiden championship took a major blow when he stopped on SS11 to change a puncture, losing more than 90sec and ending the day eighth. His Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Sébastien Ogier – who began the rally three points behind – had been edging into a position of relative control until a rear-right deflation in the closing kilometres of SS14 cost him fifth to Kalle Rovanperä by just 0.2sec.
Even so, the Frenchman holds a provisional one-point championship lead with up to 10 final-day and Wolf Power Stage points still available. Rovanperä, who ended the day with a stage win, climbed into fifth ahead of Ogier, while Pajari recovered to seventh after his earlier delay. Evans sits eighth, with Grégoire Munster and Oliver Solberg completing a bruising top 10.
Saturday –
Sébastien Ogier clinched a ninth FIA World Rally Championship title on Saturday afternoon as Thierry Neuville won a bruising Rally Saudi Arabia to close a dramatic 2025 season. Ogier started the three-stage final day just one position ahead of Toyota Gazoo Racing team-mate Elfyn Evans and holding a provisional two-point advantage, but a decisive charge on the penultimate Asfan stage – where he climbed from sixth to third overall – put the title firmly in his grasp. A measured run through the Wolf Power Stage then sealed the championship, drawing the 41-year-old level with compatriot Sébastien Loeb’s all-time record.
The triumph also delivered a maiden world title for co-driver Vincent Landais, who joined Ogier in late 2022. Ogier’s surge on Asfan came as overnight leader Mārtiņš Sesks and Kalle Rovanperä both stopped to change wheels, while Takamoto Katsuta rolled his GR Yaris Rally1. Evans also climbed the order, but the gap between their final positions meant the Welshman was forced to settle for being championship runner-up for a fifth time, falling short by four points in one of the closest finishes in recent memory.
Competing on a part-time basis, Ogier and Landais’ 2025 campaign has been remarkable. Despite missing three rallies, they claimed wins on more than half their starts and finished the year with more stage victories than any other pairing. Neuville wrapped up the rally victory – his first of the season – by 54.7sec after moving past Sesks on Saturday’s opener. Persistent damper trouble made the closing kilometres tense, but the Belgian kept his i20 N Rally1 clear of the chaos behind him.
Adrien Fourmaux completed a Hyundai 1-2, though the Frenchman was left to rue what could have been a maiden WRC win after a one-minute time penalty for an early check-in dropped him out of the lead on Friday evening. Sami Pajari recovered strongly from his Friday wheel change to finish fourth, 8.2sec ahead of Katsuta’s battered Toyota, as Evans and Rovanperä placed sixth and seventh in their similar GR Yaris Rally1 cars.
M-Sport Ford sensation Sesks remained one of the standout stories of the rally. He and co-driver Renars Francis won five stages and led heading into the final day before their double puncture on Asfan cost almost eight minutes. They retired before the final stage, promoting Puma Rally1 team-mates Grégoire Munster and Josh McErlean to eighth and ninth while Oliver Solberg completed the top 10.
Result: https://www.wrc.com/en/events/wrc-rally-saudi-arabia-2025/wrc-rally-saudi-arabia-results-2025
Other news –
Aston Martin names Mathilda Paatz for 2026 F1 Academy season with Prema: https://www.astonmartinf1.com/en-GB/news/announcement/aston-martin-aramco-announces-mathilda-paatz-as-2026-f1-academy-driver
[The story is as per press release]