Alpine and McLaren drivers caught up in mass penalty issue after F2 testing violation

A total of six drivers have been hit with 10-place grid drops for the opening round of the Formula 2 Championship in Melbourne.

The flurry of penalties come after these drivers were deemed by the FIA to have benefited from a breach of the regulations during Barcelona testing, with Alpine reserve Kush Maini, Aston Martin reserve Jak Crawford and McLaren junior Alex Dunne among those sanctioned.

Alpine, McLaren and Aston Martin drivers involved in F2 grid chaos

With the F1 2025 season getting underway this weekend in Melbourne, the young, hungry stars of Formula 2 are also in town to get their 2025 campaign up and running.

However, the grid will be given a shake-up with six drivers carrying a 10-place grid drop into both the sprint and feature races, making for grid penalties totalling 120 places!

The FIA stewards took this action after it was found that an illegal sensor had been fitted by three teams to monitor airflow during the three-day pre-season test at the Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya.

The six drivers impacted are DAMS duo Kush Maini and Jak Crawford, Rodin’s Alex Dunne and Amaury Cordeel, and the Trident pair of Sami Meguetounif and Max Esterson.

“The Formula 2 Championship is based on a single chassis and single engine. Aerodynamic data is provided to all teams from the chassis manufacturer,” the stewards explained.

“The technical regulations specifically limit how the external airflow may be measured. In addition, the modification of a standard part is only allowed per the regulations, the user manuals, or a technical bulletin. The modification of a part so as to fit a sensor (which includes the tube to transmit the air pressure and the sensor itself) is forbidden.

“The collection of this data from pressure sensors in the external airflow could be used to correlate with the data from the chassis manufacturer with the intention to gather more information on the aerodynamic performance of the car in on-track circumstances with different set ups.

“Previously teams have requested such permission from the Technical Delegate and it has been denied.”

The stewards confirmed that it was at the end of the second day that they became aware of the situation.

They added: “It is impossible for the stewards to know if and how much data was collected.

“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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The stewards did not issue any penalty points to the drivers, but did fine DAMS, Rodin and Trident €10,000 each, while they have recommended that each team is excluded from one day of an upcoming F2 test, to take place before the second round in Bahrain.

The stewards have also recommended that the technical delegate invites the other teams to apply for permission to use similar sensors in that Bahrain test.

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