Event
Browning stars in the Silverstone F2 feature race but misses out on victory
by Samarth Kanal
6min read

Luke Browning was the driver to watch in the 2025 Formula 2 feature race at Silverstone, with a brilliant wet-weather performance - yet he finished only third.

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Heavy rain hit Silverstone on the Sunday morning of the 2025 British GP, causing the F2 race to be delayed for a standing start on wet tyres.
With no tyre blankets and no intermediate tyres (which Formula 1 does have at its disposal for crossover conditions) the F2 field was forced into taking the full wet compounds in cold conditions thanks to an ambient temperature of just 16 degrees Celsius.
Victor Martins had a poor launch in his ART Grand Prix while DAMS driver Jak Crawford leapt into the lead.
But it was Browning who shone in his Hitech-run car. The Briton qualified 12th after picking up damage in qualifying and was penalised after a clash in the previous day’s sprint race, but he redeemed himself on Sunday.

Browning enters the podium after placing third in the 2025 Silverstone F2 feature race
Why Browning was fastest in the wet at Silverstone
Browning was the most assured driver on wet tyres, at times lapping a second faster than the leaders on his way from 12th to third.
In wet conditions, he was managing tyre slip to a greater degree than others and therefore keeping his tyre heat and tyre wear within an acceptable window. Meanwhile, the likes of Martins and AIX Racing’s Joshua Duerksen suffered from overheating and poor traction, which hampered their races.
It was at Luffield corner where Browning made his passes on the aforementioned Martins and Duerksen after persistent challenges on their positions.
That put him into the podium places and Browning continued to lap eight-tenths per lap faster than race leader Jak Crawford and second-placed Alex Dunne.
F2 teams did increase wing angle for higher downforce in the slippery Sunday conditions, but Browning said it was his experience at Silverstone that proved the difference.
“I've raced every championship here," he said. "I know this place like the back of my hand, that's it: the wins, the weekends. I knew what line to be on from the outset and I made the most of my experience there.”

Browning credited his own knowledge of Silverstone for his wet-weather performance
The strategic quandary at Silverstone
While Browning was making moves, he and the rest of the field were wrestling with strategic implications at Silverstone.
Every driver has to make a compulsory pitstop during the F2 feature race - but teams were faced with the choice to pit for a new set of wet tyres or switch to slick tyres. Furthermore, there was the question of when to do so.
Pitting earlier offers drivers an undercut advantage - laps on newer, less worn tyres, and a pace advantage over cars that stop later - but waiting to do so can open up the chance of a pitstop during the safety car, when the rest of the field is slowed down.
After much deliberation over team radio, Browning took the chance to pit for a new set of wet tyres on lap 23 of 29, emerging 10th.

Jak Crawford took his pitstop just before the virtual safety car at Silverstone and won the race
He then watched his undercut potential slip away. Gabriel Mini ended up beaching his car in the gravel after an ill-judged switch to soft compound slick tyres.
Drivers waited for a safety car to emerge - but the virtual safety car (VSC) was deployed first.
The F2 sporting regulations say pitstops under VSC conditions do not count towards the mandatory stop “unless the driver is already in the pit entry or pit lane at the time the VSC is deployed”, so it was unclear as to whether Crawford would have been penalised - and he avoided speculating over that post-race.
The safety car was deployed shortly after Crawford took his stop, which gave Dunne an opportune window to pit.

Alex Dunne pits during the 2025 Silverstone F2 feature race
Browning, therefore, had to settle for third behind race winner Crawford and runner-up Dunne.
He said after the race that his Hitech team had planned to pit him earlier than lap 23 to pull off an undercut, but Browning stayed out as his pace was superior to rivals in wet conditions, and the track wasn’t dry enough for slicks.
“When you go from 12th to third, you want to try and cover off the position,” he said. “I think equally we maybe could have boxed five, four laps earlier than we did for a new set of wets and undercut massively.”
With victory on Sunday, Crawford closed the gap at the top of the championship table on MP Motorsport’s Richard Verschoor to just six points while Browning lies fifth in the standings - 24 points behind leader Verschoor.
Yet Browning remained pragmatic over potentially missing out on a home F2 victory.
“Equally, I've been rewarded with the weather in the past," he said. "[And] I don't think I would have got up to third today on a normal strategy."