2026 F2 Season Roundup: Round Three – Canada

Roundup of the third round of the 2026 F2 season as the grid visited Montreal, Canada, for the first time.

Nikola Tsolov arrived at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve as the championship leader on a weekend which produced a surprise maiden Feature-Race polesitter whilst two first-time F2 race winners emerge in a round which saw teams learning to adapt to the new circuit throughout.

 

Practice

Tsolov was first out on track and set 1m 39.305 as the initial benchmark time but Invicta’s Joshua Durksen soon took control with a series of fastest laps as the lead changed hands on multiple occasions in the opening runs.

Rodin’s Alex Dunne eventually displaced Durksen in the 16th minute with 1m 23.815, but Tsolov responded with 1m 23.124 just three minutes later.

Laurens van Hoepen briefly displaced Tsolov before Dunne lowered the benchmark to 1m 22.745 in the 24th minute.

The Irish driver then found 0.221 seconds just two minutes later to top the session with 1m 22.524 and a mere 0.012s ahead of his Rodin teammate, Martinius Stenshorne.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Alex Dunne	Rodin	1m 22.524
2	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	+ 0.012
3	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 0.101
4	Nico Varrone	VAR	+ 0.177
5	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	+ 0.195
6	Noel Leon	Campos	+ 0.222
7	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	+ 0.358
8	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	+ 0.412
9	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	+ 0.518
10	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 0.541
11	John Bennett	Trident	+ 0.577
12	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	+ 0.626
13	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	+ 0.630
14	Rafael Camara	Invicta	+ 0.634
15	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	+ 0..647
16	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	+ 0.704
17	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 0.758
18	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	+ 1.194
19	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 1.227
20	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 1.272
21	Mari Boya	PREMA	+ 1.368
22	Kush Maini	ART GP	+ 1.676

 

Qualifying

Campos’ Leon and Tsolov were first on track but it was the latter who set the initial unrepresentative benchmark time of 1m 41.646, which several drivers quickly beat with their soft opening fliers.

Once everyone had done a proper representative flier, Mini sat fastest with 1m 22.715 as the initial representative benchmark time from Camara and Maini.

Tsolov, Varrone and Camara soon displaced the Italian on their second representative fliers, with Camara sat top on 1m 22.025 as he, Varrone and Van Hoepen were split by 0.116s.

Goethe however brought out the red flags with eight minutes and 21 seconds left after he hit the wall at Turn 4, which broke his right rear suspension and led him to stop at Turn 6.

The session resumed three minutes later but the red flags were back out with five minutes and 15 seconds left after Inthraphuvasak lost control of the rear of his ART GP car following clipping on the inside kerb at Turn 3, which sent him spinning into the wall at Turn 4.

He subsequently withdrew from the remainder of the weekend on safety grounds.

Once the session resumed, times tumbled across two final flying laps as Van Hoepen left it until the checkered flag to snatch pole by 0.267s from Camara, with Dunne, Tsolov, Stenshorne, Durksen, Bennett, Leon, Villagomez and Mini rounding out the top ten.

Camara and Dunne however received three-place grid penalties for both races, which meant that they were demoted to fifth and sixth respectively for the Feature Race as Tsolov, Stenshorne and Durksen were each promoted two positions.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	1m 21.422
2	Rafael Camara	Invicta	+ 0.267
3	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.287
4	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 0.312
5	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	+ 0.322
6	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	+ 0.358
7	John Bennett	Trident	+ 0.399
8	Noel Leon	Campos	+ 0.459
9	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 0.480
10	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	+ 0.549
11	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	+ 0.579
12	Nico Varrone	VAR	+ 0.656
13	Kush Maini	ART GP	+ 0.663
14	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	+ 0.785
15	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	+ 0.854
16	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	+ 0.934
17	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 1.023
18	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 1.387
19	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	+ 1.435
20	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	+ 1.449
21	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 1.613
22	Mari Boya	PREMA	+ 1.641

 

Sprint Race

At lights out, Mini led from reverse pole whilst Durksen leapt from fifth to second in the opening corners with squeezes on Villagomez then Leon in Turns 2 and 3 respectively, which earned him a three-place grid penalty for the Feature Race.

Leon however repassed Durksen after he cut the final chicane on lap 2 but the Paraguayan repassed him two laps later, only to repeat his lap 2 error on lap 7 which allowed Leon to pass him across the line for second.

The safety car was deployed on lap 11 after Bennett was spun out a lap earlier by Stenshorne at the hairpin, with the latter having failed to spot him on the outside line after he was clipped into the corner by Tsolov.

Racing resumed on lap 15 but Durksen cut the final chicane as he repassed Villagomez for third after the Mexican overtook him earlier that lap, yet he lost two positions after he gave the position back on the next lap then was passed by Tsolov on lap 17.

Durksen’s race was ended on lap 18 after he was spun by Dunne as the latter tried an inside move into the hairpin, which saw Dunne hit with a ten-second time penalty for his error whilst Tsolov was too punished for his error on lap 10 with the same time penalty.

Leon meanwhile passed Mini for the lead on that same lap before the safety car was deployed and once racing resumed on lap 22, he cruised to victory whilst Villagomez crashed out of a potential podium on lap 25 as he hit the wall at Turn 4.

Further down the order on that same lap, Boya was slow out of the hairpin which caught Varrone out and saw the Argentinean’s rear punted by Shields who couldn’t react in time, whilst Boya post-race received a ten-second time penalty for his dangerously slow driving in the incident.

Dunne finished second on the road from Mini whilst Tsolov found himself fifth over the line but their penalties dropped the pair to 13th and 14th respectively, as Mini inherited third from Stenshorne, Van Hoepen, Fittipaldi, Beganovic, Camara and Bilinski.

In the championship standings, Mini moved into the championship lead with a six-point gap to Camara whose two points saw him leapfrog Tsolov into second as the Bulgarian slipped from the lead to third.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Noel Leon	Campos	28	43m 36.869
2	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	28	+ 3.726
3	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	28	+ 5.540
4	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	28	+ 6.987
5	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	28	+ 7.619
6	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	28	+ 8.217
7	Rafael Camara	Invicta	28	+ 9.718
8	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	28	+ 9.949
9	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	28	+ 10.294
10	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	28	+ 10.714
11	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	28	+ 11.051
12	Kush Maini	ART GP	28	+ 11.857
13	Alex Dunne	Rodin	28	+ 13.199
14	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	28	+ 15.772
15	Mari Boya	PREMA	28	+ 27.657
16	Nico Varrone	VAR	28	+ 38.563
17	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	26	+ 2 Laps
RET	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	24	Collision
RET	Cian Shields	VAR	24	Collision
RET	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	17	Collision
RET	John Bennett	Trident	9	Collision
DNS	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	0	Medical

 

Feature Race

At lights out in damp conditions, Van Hoepen lost the lead to Tsolov off the line but repassed the Bulgarian into Turn 3 as a light rain shower soon began to fall at Turn 10 before spreading across the back part of the circuit in the opening laps.

Villagomez meanwhile passed Bennett for fourth into the final chicane on lap 2 as Tsolov continued to pressure Van Hoepen for the lead, which told at the end of lap 4 as the Dutchman hit the Wall of Champions heavily to end his race prematurely.

The safety car consequently was deployed until the end of lap 7 but on the restart, Fittipaldi was the only super-soft runner to pit yet he managed to lock his front brakes upon rejoining at Turn 2 and slid into the barriers to end his race.

Up front, Tsolov led everyone back racing but the safety car was soon redeployed which led to a flurry of pit stops, during which Bennett’s front-right suspension was broken by Villagomez as he exited his box and left the Brit out of the race in a double retirement for Trident.

Bilinski was one of three alternative-strategy runners alongside Maini and Boya as he led the field back racing on lap 13 but just behind him, Tsolov and Boya ran wide at Turn 2 which allowed Stenshorne to sweep past both drivers for the net lead.

Tsolov then got spun by Mini into the final chicane on lap 14 to ruin any hope of victory.

Villagomez’s weekend then came to an end on lap 17 after his front-left suspension got broken by a late-braking inside move from Camara, which saw the Brazilian hit with a five-second time penalty for his error.

Up front, Bilinski ran deep at the hairpin on lap 19 which gave Stenshorne the race lead before he and Herta were demoted by Beganovic on the next lap, as the Swede climbed to second.

Beganovic’s hopes of a second podium of the season were dashed on lap 27 after his engine failed amidst warning signs of smoke across the three preceding laps, which saw Dunne inherit second in a Rodin one-two after he had cleared Mini on lap 26 for what was third at the time.

The safety car consequently came back out until the end of lap 33, when Stenshorne led everyone back racing during which Maini lost two positions to Durksen and Tsolov as he slipped to sixth.

Miyata meanwhile spun Goethe into the barriers as the pair exited the hairpin after he clipped the German’s front-right tyre, which brought the safety car back out to the checkered flag as the race fell two laps short of the planned 39-lap distance.

Miyata also received a ten-second time penalty for his role in the collision.

Stenshorne ultimately became the first Norwegian driver to take victory in a Rodin one-two finish from Dunne, whilst Mini was third and rounded out the podium.

Tsolov finished fourth on the road but he dropped to 12th in the classification after stewards post-race discovered that he had left the track when battling Goethe and gained an advantage, which saw him slapped with a ten-second time penalty.

Bilinski also received the same time penalty for an illegal pass on Camara during the race which he didn’t give back, and dropped him to 13th in the classification

Durksen likewise was served a ten-second time penalty after he made contact with Miyata during the race and dropped to 11th in the classification,

Montoya consequently inherited fourth from Shields, Varrone, Leon, Herta, Boya and Maini, but Leon dropped to tenth in the classification after the Mexican received a five-second time penalty for speeding in the pit lane.

Mini’s title lead over Camara grew to 21 points as the Italian moved onto 57 points to the Brazilian’s 36 points, whilst Tsolov remained third on countback from Stenshorne.

F2 now heads to Monaco from 4-7 June to kick off the European leg of the season.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	37	1h 03m 08.023
2	Alex Dunne	Rodin	37	+ 1.077
3	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	37	+ 1.313
4	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	37	+ 2,061
5	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	37	+ 2.442
6	Nico Varrone	VAR	37	+ 2.666
7	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	37	+ 5.346
8	Mari Boya	PREMA	37	+ 5.694
9	Kush Maini	ART GP	37	+ 7.377
10	Noel Leon	Campos	37	+ 8.560
11	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	37	+ 11.590
12	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	37	+ 11.859
13	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	37	+ 13.339
14	Rafael Camara	Invicta	34	+ 3 Laps
15	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	33	Collision
16	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	33	Collision
RET	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	26	Engine
RET	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	16	Suspension
RET	John Bennett	Trident	8	Suspension
RET	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	7	Crash
RET	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	3	Crash
DNS	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	0	Medical