2026 F2 Season Roundup: Round One – Australia

Roundup of the opening round of the 2026 F2 season in Melbourne, Australia.

As the new season got underway, 15 drivers who competed at least one round last season were joined by seven rookies, including Colton Herta who made the move from IndyCar in order to try and secure his FIA Super license for Cadillac who are now in F1.

Now here is a roundup of all the action down under in the first round of the 2026 F2 season.

 

Practice

Rodin’s Alex Dunne and Martinius Stenshorne were the first drivers to hit the track but it was DAMS’ Dino Beganovic who set the initial benchmark time of 1m 47.239, but he soon was displaced by Sebastian Montoya and Joshua Durksen amongst other drivers.

Campos’ Nikola Tsolov however sat top with 1m 30.178 in the 17th minute from Gabriele Mini and Noel Leon, just moments before the red flags came out due to Colton Herta having crashed at Turn 10 after he lost the rear of his Hitech GP on entry.

The session resumed eight minutes later but Mini, Leon, Beganovic and Tsolov soon traded fastest laps, until Mini set 1m 29.137 in the 37th minute just before red flags came out a minute later due to a spin at Turn 12 for Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	1m 29.137
2	Noel Leon	Campos	+ 0.408
3	Rafael Camara	Invicta	+ 0.427
4	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 0.531
5	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	+ 0.573
6	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.640
7	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	+ 0.650
8	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	+ 0.724
9	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	+ 0.837
10	Kush Maini	ART GP	+ 0.852
11	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	+ 0.964
12	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	+ 0.970
13	Mari Boya	PREMA	+ 1.089
14	Nicolas Varrone	VAR	+ 1.262
15	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 1.363
16	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX	+ 1.385
17	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.436
18	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 1.495
19	John Bennett	Trident	+ 1.557
20	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	+ 1.667
21	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 1.705
22	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	+ 4.601

 

Qualifying

Stenshorne was first on track and set 1m 48.937 as the initial unrepresentative benchmark time, which he soon lowered to 1m 30.554 but Montoya went 0.086 seconds quicker.

Tsolov however posted 1m 29.381 to go fastest in the tenth minute, just moments before the red flag came out with 20 minutes and nine seconds left on the clock, after PREMA’s Mari Boya crashed at Turn 12 after he lost control of the front end upon entry to the corner.

The session resumed seven minutes later with no improvement in the frontrunners’ lap times, whilst Mini caused a second red flag in the 23rd minute due to a mechanical failure, but the clock didn’t stop due to running too close to F1’s second practice session.

Beganovic eventually snatched pole for the feature race in the final minute as he set 1m 28.695 to head Stenshorne and Dunne, whilst Leon qualified as the highest rookie in fourth ahead of Tsolov, Camara, Maini, Goethe, Durksen and Inthraphuvasak.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	1m 28.695
2	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	+ 0.216
3	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.344
4	Noel Leon	Campos	+ 0.381
5	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 0.428
6	Rafael Camara	Invicta	+ 0.448
7	Kush Maini	ART GP	+ 0.464
8	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 0.559
9	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	+ 0.789
10	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	+ 0.8846
11	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	+ 0.869
12	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	+ 0.910
13	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	+ 0.945
14	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	+ 1.070
15	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 1.129
16	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.367
17	John Bennett	Trident	+ 1.544
18	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	+ 1.795
19	Nicolas Varrone	VAR	+ 1.827
20	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 2.048
21	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	+ 2.438
22	Mari Boya	PREMA	+ 34.198

 

Sprint Race

Inthraphuvasak led from pole but Durksen lost second to Goethe who swept round the outside of the opening corner into second, only to be repassed on the outside of Turn Nine before he then spun at Turn 11 but continued.

Durksen meanwhile proceeded to repeat his repass on Goethe a lap later but this on Inthraphuvasak to take the lead of the race, whilst Stenshorne and Dunne demoted Tsolov to eighth a lap later at Turn One.

Stenshorne however was adjudged to had left the track as he was squeezed by Tsolov only to cut back and squeezed the Bulgarian wide towards the exit of the corner, which allowed him and Dunne to complete overtakes and the Dane consequently received a five-second time penalty.

Maini meanwhile benefitted from Goethe’s spin to move up to third but was passed by Leon on lap five which soon began a slide down the order, whilst Tsolov spun out of the top ten on lap seven.

The safety car was deployed on lap 15 after Boya crashed at Turn 6 a lap earlier, which prompted Herta, Villagomez, Tsolov, Goethe, Varrone and Beganovic to pit for the supersoft tyres.

Racing resumed at the end of Lap 18 as Durksen sprinted away to his second sprint victory on the streets of Melbourne, whilst Leon cleared Inthraphuvasak on lap 20 for second as the Thai ultimately finished fifth at the checkered flag behind Stenshorne and Dunne.

Stenshorne’s penalty however meant that Durksen was joined on the podium by Leon and Dunne, whilst Inthraphuvasak got promoted to fourth ahead of; Miyata, Mini, Van Hoepen and Bilinski who rounded the points-paying top-eight finishers.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	23	39m 09.726
2	Noel Leon	Campos	23	+ 2.139
3	Alex Dunne	Rodin	23	+ 5.746
4	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	23	+ 7.156
5	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	23	+ 7.266
6	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	23	+ 7.734
7	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	23	+ 8.477
8	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	23	+ 8.559
9	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	23	+ 8.982
10	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	23	+ 9.519
11	Rafael Camara	Invicta	23	+ 9.548
12	Kush Maini	ART GP	23	+ 9.938
13	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	23	+ 10.331
14	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	23	+ 12.078
15	John Bennett	Trident	23	+ 12.569
16	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	23	+ 13.201
17	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	23	+ 13.904
18	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	23	+ 14.489
19	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	23	+ 15.438
20	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	23	+ 15.965
21	Nicolas Varrone	VAR	23	+ 18.230
22	Mari Boya	PREMA	13	Crash

 

Feature Race

At lights out, Beganovic got a slow getaway from pole whilst Dunne swept round the outside into the lead but locked up trying to make the corner, which allowed Stenshorne to get the inside line to take the lead from his teammate.

Tsolov and Camara also passed Beganovic but had to tuck in patiently as Dunne chased down Stenshorne and made an outside move on his Rodin teammate at the start of lap 3, only to clip Stenshorne’s front wing as he cut across to finish his overtake.

Both drivers consequently were eliminated as Stenshorne pulled over at Turn 1, whilst Dunne spun partially back towards the track, which forced numerous drivers to take avoiding action mid corner to avoid a collision.

The safety car subsequently came out for two laps before Tsolov led the field back racing at the end of lap 5, with Montoya and Leon the first of the supersoft tyre starters to pit at the end of lap 7.

Beganovic subsequently pitted a lap later but couldn’t jump Tsolov and Camara when the rookies stopped a lap later, although he subsequently cleared Camara for a net second-placed finish on lap 14 with an inside move at Turn 9.

A power failure however cost Beganovic two laps later a chance to fight for victory just as he began to catch Tsolov who held the net lead.

Varrone meanwhile headed Shields on the alternate strategy until Beganovic’s stranded car triggered a safety car on lap 19, which saw Shields pit at the end of that lap and rejoined in 11th position, whilst Varrone stayed out for a further lap and rejoined in the lead.

Racing resumed at the end of lap 21 and Tsolov on the next lap attempted a late inside move on Varrone into Turn 3 to snatch the lead, which proved successful and left Varrone to battle Camara in his bid to cling onto second despite getting a five-second penalty for a jump-start.

Camara eventually cleared Varrone on lap 27 but found himself two seconds adrift of Tsolov with six laps left, as the Bulgarian cruised to his first F2 victory which saw him become the first Bulgarian to win in the category.

Van Hoepen meanwhile passed Varrone on lap 29 to round out the podium in third place, which marked Trident’s first F2 podium since 2024 Azerbaijan Feature Race, whilst the Argentinean steadily slid out of the points.

Tsolov’s win also saw him inherit the title lead in the drivers’ standings.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	33	56m 05.248
2	Rafael Camara	Invicta	33	+ 1.669
3	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	33	+ 3.517
4	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	33	+ 4,816
5	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	33	+ 5.684
6	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	33	+ 12.179
7	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	33	+ 17.411
8	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	33	+ 18.707
9	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	33	+ 19.443
10	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	33	+ 21.800
11	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	33	+ 22.231
12	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	33	+ 22.316
13	Mari Boya	PREMA	33	+ 23.813
14	Noel Leon	Campos	33	+ 24.002
15	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	33	+ 24.384
16	Kush Maini	ART GP	33	+ 25.079
17	Nicolas Varrone	VAR	33	+ 27.063
18	John Bennett	Trident	33	+ 28.397
19	Cian Shield	AIX Racing	33	+ 48.999
RET	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	15	Power
RET	Alex Dunne	Rodin	33	Collision
RET	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	33	Collision