John Bennett takes his first FIA Formula 2 victory with Trident after a close battle with Sebastián Montoya in Spielberg.
Pole-sitter, Montoya struggled off the line in comparison to second place, Bennett who had the better launch from the front row of the grid.
Chaos exploded at Turn 3 of the opening lap as two separate incidents took out three drivers and caused the Safety Car to be deployed.
Nikola Tsolov tried a move to the inside of Rafa Câmara who made slight contact with the rear of Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak’s ART, sending him into a spin and leaving him stranded on the circuit.
The Thai driver collected Oliver Goethe who also retired, but he was able to pull his MP Motorsport car into a refuge spot at the side of the track.
Behind them, Joshua Dürksen and Emerson Fittipaldi made contact, taking Fittipaldi out of the race and Dürksen into the pit lane for a front wing change before he eventually retired.
Both Dürksen and Tsolov are under investigation for causing those incidents.
The Safety Car ended on Lap 3 and the leading pair resumed their fight for the lead. However, it wasn’t until Lap 8 where Montoya would take first place with a great move up the inside at Turn 4.
Colton Herta retired from the race on Lap 21 after pulling to the side of the circuit, after what looked like a loss of power of the exit of Turn 3. This caught Laurens van Hoepen by surprise and he made slight contact with the back of Herta’s slow moving Hitech.
Bennett restarted his pursuit for his maiden win once the green flags were waved, getting especially close with only three laps left.
A mistake from Montoya gave Bennett the advantage as he went wide and onto the kerb at Turn 2, leaving him vulnerable down the straight. Montoya defended well through the main overtaking spots at Turns 3 and 4 before having to concede the position on the exit of Turn 5.
This peaked the interest of Rafael Villagómez in third, he narrowly missed out on second place with just 0.2 seconds separating himself and Montoya.
Bennett described his win as “emotional” over the radio to his team who were winless in 2025.
As Prema reminded Montoya, F2 go racing again tomorrow for the Feature Race where Noel Léon will start on pole for the first time in his Formula 2 career.
And as his Trident team said: Bravo Bennett!
Image: Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images
