JOHN BENNETT REPRESENTS FIA FORMULA 2 BRIT PACK AT SILVERSTONE

John Bennett returned back to the UK to race in front of record-breaking British Grand Prix crowds at Silverstone this past weekend (05/06 July), narrowly missing out on a brilliant points finish in the latest round of the 2025 FIA Formula 2 Championship season.

The Salisbury-based talent entered his home event of the season with a mixture of excitement and optimism, having come so close to his best ever FIA F2 result in the most recent event just a week prior in Austria. The Brit was unlucky to be caught in other rivals' incidents when heading for a top-six finish, after also starting from his maiden pole position - something he hoped to put right on home soil.

Backed by partners Pangea Insurance, StreetSharp Ltd, Lonetree Limited and Lewco Holdings Limited, Bennett returned to Silverstone for the F1 support category on a weekend that attracted over 500,000 fans across the event. The self-proclaimed home of British motorsport had been a happy hunting ground for the BRDC Rising Star in previous years, winning races in the UK's top-tier GB3 Championship at the iconic 3.66-mile circuit.

Friday marked the first track action of the weekend for the Van Amersfoort Racing driver, who headed into qualifying hoping to place highly on the grid for the weekend's two races. A tight session concluded with Bennett coming just over a second from the ultimate best times, starting from 17th place for the pair of encounters to come.

Come Saturday's 21-lap sprint race, a good start for Bennett meant he was challenging for the top 15 places immediately. He went into battle with Cian Shields and Max Esterson early on, and fought his way to a 15th place finish. The following day would be a special occasion for Bennett, racing in front of the passionate supporters mere hours away from the start of the British Grand Prix. Bennett was among 11 British drivers competing over the three categories, and one of five Brits within the F2 field.

When the lights went out for the longer 29-lap outing that morning, Bennett had already been greeted by a wet surface underfoot after a heavy downpour in the build-up to the feature race. He survived the opening laps through a wall of spray to continue in P17 for much of the first half of the encounter, before battling it out with Ritomo Miyata for the position as conditions began to improve in the second half.

Although gambles on strategy were limited down the field, a safety car period late on aided Bennett's charge up to P14 with a short sprint to the end on fresh wet tyres to come. A great restart put him right back into the running for points as he dispatched Victor Martins and a spinning Joshua Durksen, but another safety car quickly brought the race to an early conclusion, with Bennett finishing 12th just as a top-10 result was right within grasp.

John Bennett: "It's always a pleasure racing at Silverstone, so to be doing it on the Formula 1 bill where I aim to be for my ultimate career goal is a very good feeling. The crowds here have been very supportive as they always are, and to be one of the British drivers representing them is a special feeling.

"We would have liked a better qualifying I think, but as a team we extracted what we could over the weekend and we slowly began to work our way forward. The weather on Sunday made it a bit more of a lottery for everybody, but we kept our heads and worked together well, then capitalised towards the end of the race.

"I think without the last safety car, there was a real chance of claiming points there. We were very close, but it's important to finish and the experience will help us grow more in our rookie season. Thank you to all of the supporters, the team and my sponsors for their backing all weekend, and we'll continue to push towards our goals."

It is a case of going from one iconic circuit to another, as Bennett next heads to Belgium for two more FIA Formula 2 Championships races to be held around the world-famous Spa-Francorchamps over the weekend of 25-27 July.

Images from James Gasperotti.