John Bennett started his rookie season in the second-tier FIA Formula 2 Championship in Melbourne, Australia, this past weekend (14-16 March), however heavy rain led to the unfortunate cancellation of one of the races down under.
The occasion marked the start of an exciting new adventure inside the Formula 1 paddock for Salisbury-based young charger Bennett, who finished as vice champion in Britain's premier GB3 Championship last year. Fresh from impressing with a best result of eighth on his debut FIA F2 weekend in December at Qatar, his performances warranted a full-season promotion with the Van Amersfoort Racing squad for '25.
With a new challenge also brought a new circuit to kick off the season, as Bennett travelled to Australia's Albert Park for the opening two races of the 14-event campaign. Backed by Pangea Insurance, J5C Management Limited, StreetSharp Ltd, Lonetree Limited and Lewco Holdings Limited as partners for the season, the 21-year-old had high hopes after pulling off a staggering 24 overtakes in four races in his 2024 FIA F2 cameo.
The first on-track activity of the week in Melbourne was in Friday's free practice session, with Bennett enjoying some important early mileage to bed himself in at the circuit. More than up for the challenge ahead in qualifying, his chances of climbing up the timesheets was immediately stymied when his car's engine began cutting out. Despite the mechanical hinderances, Bennett had done a lap still just 2.1s shy of the pole position time - putting him 15th on the grid for Saturday's sprint race.
In front of the Formula 1 crowds and TV cameras, Bennett got his elbows out as the lights went out and cars thundered into Turn 1 for the first time. Squeezed between cars, he stayed out of trouble and held his own, before beginning to make steady progress after braving it around the outside at Turns 3 and 4. Competitors ahead started to slip up meanwhile, and Bennett soon found himself closing on VAR team-mate Rafael Villagomez and climbing as high as the top 14.
As the second of two safety car interruptions was called, lady luck sadly was not in Bennett's corner as his qualifying gremlins returned to bite him once more. With a loss in power leaving him unable to keep pace with those around him, a great recovery was ultimately not rewarded as he finished an unrepresentative 18th - albeit maintaining his 100% finishing record in F2.
Attentions shifted therefore to the longer feature race on Sunday, with the VAR team confident the power issues were resolved after changing a number of electronical components on the car. Bennett was set to start from row seven on the grid with eyes set on forward progress, however that opportunity was sadly short-lived as heavy rain arrived in the early hours.
After an initial delay to proceedings, Bennett and the rest of the field finally ventured out onto the saturated circuit an hour later than planned - still under difficult conditions. Try as the officials might to get the race underway, the safety of all drivers had to be put first and, after a handful of sighting laps, the red flags were waved to signal the cancellation of race two, with no official result declared or points handed out.
John Bennett: "It's been a bit of a rollercoaster start to the new season. We were up against it right from the word go really, as we suffered an engine related problem that affected us from as early as qualifying.
"It kept cutting out at times during the session which meant we couldn't get as many push laps in as we obviously would have wanted. In that situation as a team, it is somewhat out of your hands. Credit to the VAR squad however in that they got us out there and kept doing so for the races to allow us to fight for a result.
"In Saturday's sprint we were looking very strong. We started to make up ground and picked off several cars to the point where we could start to work as a team. Unfortunately, the car started to suffer from the same issues and was cutting out in the latter stages which dropped us out of contention when closing in on the fringes of the top 10.
"On Sunday we were really up for it, but then the weather put a stop to that. It's a shame, but safety is more important at the end of the day so it's the right call. We'll learn from this weekend and definitely come back ready to fight for points in the next event in Bahrain!"
Bennett's second event of the FIA Formula 2 campaign takes him to the Sakhir circuit, Bahrain, in just under a month's time (11-13 April).
Images from James Gasperotti.
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