Alpine driver stripped of Australian GP F2 pole as FIA take action

That means former Alpine junior Victor Martins moves up to pole position, on a dramatic opening weekend in the F2 calendar where various other drivers are carrying grid penalties for running illegal sensors in testing.

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Alpine-backed Mini thought he had snatched pole from Martins right at the end of F2 qualifying in Melbourne with his 1:29.286 at the wheel for Prema, however, he will not start on pole for either the sprint or feature race after the FIA stewards handed him a three-place grid drop post-qualifying.

The verdict came after Mini was judged to have impeded Aston Martin reserve Jak Crawford in the DAMS during the session, with his three-place penalty applying for both races.

That means Martins inherits pole for the feature race.

This continues the trend of what was already going to be a shaken-up grid for the first round of F2 in 2025, after six drivers were given a 10-place grid drop for both races, a huge 120 places docked in total.

The six drivers impacted are DAMS duo Kush Maini and Crawford, Rodin’s Alex Dunne and Amaury Cordeel, and the Trident pair of Sami Meguetounif and Max Esterson, after the FIA found these drivers to have benefitted from an illegal sensor fitted by their teams to monitor airflow during the Barcelona pre-season test.

“It is impossible for the stewards to know if and how much data was collected,” they admitted.

“This breach has provided the team with data that they could use to gain competitive advantage that would endure beyond any single competition but in fact for the entire season and possibly for the entire lifetime of the specific chassis.”

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But, as Mini joins the pool of drivers impacted by grid penalties this weekend, Martins can look forward to a pole position start for the feature race.

The Frenchman parted company with Alpine’s junior programme ahead of his 2025 racing calendar, and was asked by the media, including PlanetF1.com, to shed some light on how this came about.

“I don’t want to spend time on this, if I’m honest,” he began.

“We have parted ways. We didn’t actually speak about it because we didn’t want [to continue] on both sides because, in the end, let’s say my goal and their goal were not on the same line and that’s why we wanted to part ways.

“But in the end, the past doesn’t matter. It’s only the future.

“I see my F2 season coming really quickly with ART and I’m fully focused on this.

“I will make no other comments on this one.”