FIA crowns NEW champion in Qatar

While the F1 drivers' championship was not sewn up in Qatar, another FIA championship was sealed after a brilliant display from an Formula 1 hopeful.

A second-place finish in the F2 feature race at the Lusail International Circuit was enough for Italian Leonardo Fornaroli to claim the F2 championship with a race to spare in the season.

Fornaroli has been in a class of his own for much of the 2025 season, with his consistent results being enough to see off the likes of Jak Crawford, Richard Verschoor and Alex Dunne rather comprehensively in the end.

He has secured four race victories and nine podiums in what has been his rookie F2 season, and has taken advantage of others dropping points in the final few races.

It means that Fornaroli has now claimed back-to-back championship successes, having won the F3 championship last season. However, the 20-year-old is not contracted with any F1 team, and does not have his future for 2026 secured as of yet.

The Invicta Racing driver has rather impressively followed in the footsteps of Oscar Piastri and Gabriel Bortoleto in winning the F3 and F2 championships consecutively, yet an opportunity in F1 eludes him.

Why is Fornaroli not being considered for an F1 seat?

Last season's F2 championship battle between Isack Hadjar and eventual victor Bortoleto saw both drivers promoted onto the F1 grid for 2025.

On top of this, Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman also graduated from F2 into full-time F1 seats for 2025, and Franco Colapinto was promoted mid-season into the Williams seat in what was a fantastic year for F2 drivers.

Fast forward 12 months, however, and there are currently no 2025 F2 drivers who are confirmed for a seat in F1 in 2026. Arvid Lindblad may well be in contention for a spot with Racing Bulls, but that has not been officially confirmed.

The problem for Fornaroli is that he is not on board any F1 team's junior driver programme. Last year, Bortoleto was a McLaren young driver, while Hadjar was promoted because of his role in the Red Bull family, the same ties that Lindblad has with the F1 outfit.

Colapinto, Antonelli and Bearman were all the same with Williams, Mercedes and Ferrari respectively, but Fornaroli is not even in a position to be able to take part in practice sessions as a reserve driver for any of the current outfits.

You would imagine that somebody will try and snap him up, however, with Mercedes set to see Valtteri Bottas vacate their reserve driver position due to his return to the F1 grid with Cadillac in 2026.

But finding a way onto the grid in a full-time driver position can be hard even for F2 champions, just ask Drugovich or 2023 champion Theo Pourchaire.

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