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July 07, 2025
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After the changeable weather of recent rounds, Silverstone served up a more traditional race, but with strategy options open it was always going to be a classic.
Qualifying
Qualifying was the closest of the season, with just 0.001s separating pole-sitter Maciej Mlynek from Loic Meunier, and a tenth of a second covering the top 5. The HRT driver put together a tidy lap when it mattered, but had Meunier and Frelik breathing down his neck. Behind them, Jan Granqvist lined up fourth, with teammate Lalu in P10; solid positions. Both TOP cars qualified inside the top five, suggesting they were back in the hunt after a more muted spell. However, it was THR that suffered the most - Stevens down in 14th place, and Teien with a 10 place grid penalty to serve only managing 16th on the grid.
However, with the regulations stating the top 15 have to start on the tyre they qualified on, it meant Teien could do a counter strategy, and he was one to watch, starting on the hards from 26th place.
Race
At lights out, Meunier and Frelik slotted in behind Mlynek and bided their time. Soon, Mlynek was overtaken by Frelik, who moved into the lead and held it until the first round of pitstops.
Further back, Tom Stevens made up a couple of places in the opening laps and was up to 12th when he made a surprisingly early pitstop for hard tyres on lap 10. He came out behind the entire pack, but the undercut proved to be strong and he gained on the leaders.
Sergio Fletcher and Robin Pansar followed a lap later, but instead of the hard tyre, they went for a more aggressive soft compound, which put them onto a two-stop strategy. They came out ahead of Stevens and powered away.
As the leaders started to pit on lap 16, it became evident that Stevens had massively undercut them. He moved into a net P2, behind only Frelik. Surely he had to stop again, though?
Granqvist stayed out, and the assumption was that he would attempt a one-stop on hard tyres, similar to his strategy in 2024. However, he put the medium tyres on. This meant he had to do a fair bit of overtaking, and hope that his final stint would be scything through the pack.
However, Jan, despite making it through past those who had undercut him, including Stevens, and by the time he got back to the pre-stop leaders on lap 27 it all became frenetic. He attempted to pass Meunier and was unceremoniously shovelled into the gravel on the exit of Luffield, before on the next lap attempting a move into Brooklands and losing the rear of his Super Venturi, dropping several positions in the process.
Meanwhile, at this point, out front on his own was Jarl Teien. He was very close to matching the hard runners behind him, and clearly was going for a hard-medium one-stop strategy. He was ahead of Frelik at this point by around 7 seconds, which meant that he would have around 13 seconds to make up in the final stint - on fresher, softer compound, it seemed doable. From nowhere, Teien was in with a shout of a podium.
On lap 30, he pitted and Frelik re-inherited the lead. Seven laps later, Granqvist made his final stop and came out behind Chris Shepherd, down in 13th. He left himself with a lot to do; clearly, the two stop strategy was not working for him.
Xavi Ros looked like he might be able to fight for the podium on his two-stop strategy, but he binned it out of Stowe and ended his race 10 laps from the end.
Meanwhile, somehow, Tom Stevens was still in 3rd. With just a few laps remaining, it became clear that he was attempting an audacious 1-stopper, with 42 laps on the hards.
Behind him, Teien was battling through the pack - Martin defended hard but he caught up with the leading pack with just 3 laps to go. He made a couple of moves on Mlynek but had run out of push-to-pass and had to settle for 5th.
Meanwhile, the leading pair of Frelik and Meunier had push-to-pass to burn. Clearly Stevens had been using some to stay in their DRS and protect his strategy. On the final lap, Meunier made a move on Szymon and sent it down the inside into Stowe. He lost the rear, contact was made, and Loic was through.
Frelik kept Meunier honest in the last two corners, but it wasn't enough, and crossed the line just two tenths behind, continuing his consistent form with another second place. Stevens rounded out the podium on arguably his best drive of the season.
Mlynek slipped to fourth but didn't do much wrong. A cautious pit window might've cost him a shot at the win, but it was another solid result in an increasingly strong campaign. Teammate Rouault came home eighth, bookending a productive day for HRT.
Meanwhile, Granqvist finished sixth, limiting the damage in a race where he lacked the raw pace and strategy to fight for the win, but still extended his championship lead to 17 points.
TOP's Carlos Martin was seventh, a few seconds ahead of Fletcher, who put in a quietly effective run for Valle on the two-stop strategy. Edonis rounded out the top ten with Meschede and Pansar in P9 and P10 respectively - not spectacular, but both drivers kept it tidy in what became a race of attrition behind them.
Fraser Tartan enjoyed one of their better days, with Schubert finishing 12th and new addition Lucas Murno gaining 13 positions to finish P15. Red Archer also snuck both cars into the top 15, while Dylan Fisher took P16 for AKA Hero - another team who've been gradually improving after a difficult start to the year.
Maggio was out before the race started, and Alex Lehoux crashed out again, showing that maybe his Superlights campaign was a flash in the pan last season. Edge too endured a miserable race, scoring no points.
Overall though, the standout drive belonged to Jarl Teien.
Championship
Granqvist still leads the standings on 125 points, but Meunier has quietly closed the gap to just 17, with Frelik only a further 16 behind. Stevens, Mlynek and Teien are also all within reach, with eight races still to go. The title race remains wide open.
In the constructors' standings, THR regain the lead with 162 points, but Super Venturi and TOP are not far behind. Spark's win lifts them to fifth overall, Meunier contributing an astonishing 97% of those points, while HRT and Edonis continue to gather useful points.
Qualifying was the closest of the season, with just 0.001s separating pole-sitter Maciej Mlynek from Loic Meunier, and a tenth of a second covering the top 5. The HRT driver put together a tidy lap when it mattered, but had Meunier and Frelik breathing down his neck. Behind them, Jan Granqvist lined up fourth, with teammate Lalu in P10; solid positions. Both TOP cars qualified inside the top five, suggesting they were back in the hunt after a more muted spell. However, it was THR that suffered the most - Stevens down in 14th place, and Teien with a 10 place grid penalty to serve only managing 16th on the grid.
However, with the regulations stating the top 15 have to start on the tyre they qualified on, it meant Teien could do a counter strategy, and he was one to watch, starting on the hards from 26th place.
Race
At lights out, Meunier and Frelik slotted in behind Mlynek and bided their time. Soon, Mlynek was overtaken by Frelik, who moved into the lead and held it until the first round of pitstops.
Further back, Tom Stevens made up a couple of places in the opening laps and was up to 12th when he made a surprisingly early pitstop for hard tyres on lap 10. He came out behind the entire pack, but the undercut proved to be strong and he gained on the leaders.
Sergio Fletcher and Robin Pansar followed a lap later, but instead of the hard tyre, they went for a more aggressive soft compound, which put them onto a two-stop strategy. They came out ahead of Stevens and powered away.
As the leaders started to pit on lap 16, it became evident that Stevens had massively undercut them. He moved into a net P2, behind only Frelik. Surely he had to stop again, though?
Granqvist stayed out, and the assumption was that he would attempt a one-stop on hard tyres, similar to his strategy in 2024. However, he put the medium tyres on. This meant he had to do a fair bit of overtaking, and hope that his final stint would be scything through the pack.
However, Jan, despite making it through past those who had undercut him, including Stevens, and by the time he got back to the pre-stop leaders on lap 27 it all became frenetic. He attempted to pass Meunier and was unceremoniously shovelled into the gravel on the exit of Luffield, before on the next lap attempting a move into Brooklands and losing the rear of his Super Venturi, dropping several positions in the process.
Meanwhile, at this point, out front on his own was Jarl Teien. He was very close to matching the hard runners behind him, and clearly was going for a hard-medium one-stop strategy. He was ahead of Frelik at this point by around 7 seconds, which meant that he would have around 13 seconds to make up in the final stint - on fresher, softer compound, it seemed doable. From nowhere, Teien was in with a shout of a podium.
On lap 30, he pitted and Frelik re-inherited the lead. Seven laps later, Granqvist made his final stop and came out behind Chris Shepherd, down in 13th. He left himself with a lot to do; clearly, the two stop strategy was not working for him.
Xavi Ros looked like he might be able to fight for the podium on his two-stop strategy, but he binned it out of Stowe and ended his race 10 laps from the end.
Meanwhile, somehow, Tom Stevens was still in 3rd. With just a few laps remaining, it became clear that he was attempting an audacious 1-stopper, with 42 laps on the hards.
Behind him, Teien was battling through the pack - Martin defended hard but he caught up with the leading pack with just 3 laps to go. He made a couple of moves on Mlynek but had run out of push-to-pass and had to settle for 5th.
Meanwhile, the leading pair of Frelik and Meunier had push-to-pass to burn. Clearly Stevens had been using some to stay in their DRS and protect his strategy. On the final lap, Meunier made a move on Szymon and sent it down the inside into Stowe. He lost the rear, contact was made, and Loic was through.
Frelik kept Meunier honest in the last two corners, but it wasn't enough, and crossed the line just two tenths behind, continuing his consistent form with another second place. Stevens rounded out the podium on arguably his best drive of the season.
Mlynek slipped to fourth but didn't do much wrong. A cautious pit window might've cost him a shot at the win, but it was another solid result in an increasingly strong campaign. Teammate Rouault came home eighth, bookending a productive day for HRT.
Meanwhile, Granqvist finished sixth, limiting the damage in a race where he lacked the raw pace and strategy to fight for the win, but still extended his championship lead to 17 points.
TOP's Carlos Martin was seventh, a few seconds ahead of Fletcher, who put in a quietly effective run for Valle on the two-stop strategy. Edonis rounded out the top ten with Meschede and Pansar in P9 and P10 respectively - not spectacular, but both drivers kept it tidy in what became a race of attrition behind them.
Fraser Tartan enjoyed one of their better days, with Schubert finishing 12th and new addition Lucas Murno gaining 13 positions to finish P15. Red Archer also snuck both cars into the top 15, while Dylan Fisher took P16 for AKA Hero - another team who've been gradually improving after a difficult start to the year.
Maggio was out before the race started, and Alex Lehoux crashed out again, showing that maybe his Superlights campaign was a flash in the pan last season. Edge too endured a miserable race, scoring no points.
Overall though, the standout drive belonged to Jarl Teien.
Championship
Granqvist still leads the standings on 125 points, but Meunier has quietly closed the gap to just 17, with Frelik only a further 16 behind. Stevens, Mlynek and Teien are also all within reach, with eight races still to go. The title race remains wide open.
In the constructors' standings, THR regain the lead with 162 points, but Super Venturi and TOP are not far behind. Spark's win lifts them to fifth overall, Meunier contributing an astonishing 97% of those points, while HRT and Edonis continue to gather useful points.
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