2026 F2 Season Roundup: Round Four – Monaco

Roundup of the fourth round of the 2026 F2 season as the grid entered the European leg of the campaign in Monaco. 

Gabriele Mini arrived in the principality as the championship leader from Rafael Camara after F2’s first North-American jaunt, but the streets of Monaco naturally delivered twists and surprises which left Mini faced with a new title challenger come the checkered flag.

 

Practice

Invicta’s Camara was first out on track and set 1m 41.922 as the initial unrepresentative benchmark time, but Maini soon set the pace on 1m 34.862 in the ninth minute.

The red flags however were out a minute later after MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe stopped at the Swimming Pool chicane with a technical issue.

The session resumed after a four-minute stoppage and Camara soon exchanged fastest laps with Alex Dunne and Laurens van Hoepen.

Championship leader, Mini soon took control in the 24th minute with 1m 23.180 then found 0.022 seconds on his next flier, whilst Dunne posted 1m 22.763 to lower the benchmark.

Red flags were again waved with 17 minutes left after Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Rafael Villagomez lost the rear at Casino Square and hit the inside barriers.

The session again resumed after a four-minute delay as everyone built up to a final fast-paced flying lap which saw Mini emerge quickest with 1m 21.809 ahead of Kush Maini by 0.020s.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	1m 21.809
2	Kush Maini	ART GP	+ 0.020
3	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.133
4	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	+ 0.188
5	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	+ 0.200
6	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 0.206
7	Noel Leon	Campos	+ 0.615
8	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	+ 0.643
9	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	+ 0.709
10	Rafael Camara	Invicta	+ 0.771
11	John Bennett	Trident	+ 1.152
12	Mari Boya	PREMA	+ 1.302
13	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	+ 1.363
14	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	+ 1.389
15	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	+ 1.403
16	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 1.564
17	Nico Varrone	VAR	+ 1.729
18	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	+ 1.756
19	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	+ 1.963
20	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 2.279
21	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 2.955
22	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 22.862

Qualifying

Qualifying Group A 

As is tradition around Monaco, F2’s Qualifying session was split into two groups with Camara first of the Group A runners to hit the circuit and set 1m 39.689 as the initial unrepresentative benchmark time,

Camara however broke his front-left suspension at the end of his first flying lap as he struck the outside barriers at Anthony Noghes, although he posted 1m 24.366 to set his first representative lap.

He subsequently pitted whilst Dunne then Beganovic lowered the benchmark to 1m 21.947 when the session was red flagged with three minutes and 51 seconds left, after Bennett hit the barriers at Sainte Devote following a lock-up.

The session resumed after a seven-minute delay which worked to Camara’s advantage as Invicta were able to repair his car during the stoppage, which allowed him to re-join the session and snatch pole with 1m 20.923 at the checkered flag.

Dunne finished second ahead of Beganovic, Mini, Leon, Miyata, Inthraphuvasak, Montoya, Villagomez, Shields and Bennett, whose fastest lap was deleted after he caused the red flag.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Rafael Camara	Invicta	1m 20.923
2	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.110
3	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	+ 0.176
4	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	+ 0.257
5	Noel Leon	Campos	+ 0.672
6	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	+ 0.881
7	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	+ 0.922
8	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 0.947
9	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.927
10	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 2.154
11	John Bennett	Trident	+ 15.832

 

Qualifying Group B 

Durksen led Group B out but the session was red flagged just four minutes in after Maini spun Van Hoepen around after a farcical inside move at Nouvelle Chicane, which meant that both Trident drivers would start at the rear of the field for both races.

The session resumed with 12 minutes and 28 seconds left on the clock and everyone soon got up to representative speeds as Durksen laid a 1m 24.495, which was quickly usurped by several drivers as Maini laid a 1m 21.405 with six minutes left.

Maini proceeded to lower the benchmark time to 1m 21.338 with two minutes left but Stenshorne beat his lap time by 0.064s in the final minute, but Tsolov topped the session at the checkered flag with 1m 21.053.

Tsolov’s time however wasn’t quick enough for overall pole which went to Camara with the Group A runners filling the odd-numbered grid slots for the Feature Race, whilst Tsolov headed the even-numbered grid slots as he filled second position on the front row.

Durksen consequently inherited sprint pole after the top ten were reversed for the sprint with Leon alongside him on the front row.

Stewards however demoted Durksen three grid positions for both races after he was adjudged to had impeded Maini, whilst Maini was too given a three-place grid penalty for causing Van Hoepen’s incident.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	1m 21.053
2	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	+ 0.221
3	Kush Maini	ART GP	+ 0.285
4	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	+ 0.309
5	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	+ 0.504
6	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 0.620
7	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	+ 0.719
8	Nico Varrone	VAR	+ 0.766
9	Mari Boya	PREMA	+ 1.317
10	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	+ 1.355
11	John Bennett	Trident	No Time

 

Sprint Race

Leon led Bilinski from lights out as the top six retained position but Dunne slipped two positions to ninth after he was forced wide at Sainte Devote on the inside by Maini, which also allowed Camara to jump him as the Brazilian made up two positions after he cleared Tsolov.

Goethe meanwhile made contact with Miyata which forced him into an early pit stop before he retired on lap 21 due to the severity of the damage.

Up front, the top ten quickly settled into a comfortable pattern until the checkered flag as Leon cruised to victory from Bilinski, Mini, Durksen, Beganovic, Stenshorne, Maini and Camara.

The only notable highlight came on lap 22 when Miyata passed Inthraphuvasak for 11th into Tabac and the latter subsequently retired on lap 27 with a power-related failure.

Leon’s second sprint win of the season lifted him up to second in the standings on 43 points but 20 points behind Mini, as the Italian moved onto 63 points.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Noel Leon	Campos	30	43m 06.407
2	Roman Bilinksi	DAMS	30	+ 3.406
3	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	30	+ 4.002
4	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	30	+ 4.376
5	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	30	+ 4.954
6	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	30	+ 6.373
7	Kush Maini	ART GP	30	+ 7.633
8	Rafael Camara	Invicta	30	+ 24.194
9	Alex Dunne	Rodin	30	+ 29.031
10	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	30	+ 51.581
11	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	30	+ 69.160
12	Nico Varrone	VAR	30	+ 71.794
13	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	30	+ 74.508
14	Mari Boya	PREMA	30	+ 74.939
15	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	30	+ 77.399
16	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	30	+ 80.117
17	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	30	+ 81.380
18	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	30	+ 83.108
19	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	30	+ 85.644
20	John Bennett	Trident	29	+ 1 Lap
21	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	26	Power
22	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	20	Damage

 

Feature Race

At lights out, Camara led Tsolov and Dunne but Stenshorne lost two positions to Beganovic and Mini, whilst Leon jumped Bilinski for seventh.

The top ten soon settled into a stable order as Camara soaked up Tsolov’s relentless pressure until he cut the Bulgarian loose on lap 18.

Further back, Montoya, Villagomez, Fittipaldi and Van Hoepen gambled on the alternate super-soft strategy which forced the quartet to pit within the opening 15 laps.

Up front, Mini was the first runner to pit on lap 26 from fifth and Bilinksi followed suit a lap later to jump Mini but both drivers were passed by Montoya, and the Colombian subsequently cleared Leon when the Mexican pitted.

Tsolov pitted on lap 33 and rejoined fifth in clean air which led Camara to pit a lap later from the lead, and he rejoined second but Miyata swept past him into Massenet for second.

Camara subsequently locked up at Sainte Devote on lap 35 to end his hopes of victory and gave Tsolov the net lead from Dunne, with the latter pair assuming the top two positions on the final lap after Maini made his stop.

Beganovic snatched third from Maini after the pair ran wide at Nouvelle Chicane, with the Indian left to fend off Stenshorne for fourth across the line.

Miyata, Fittipaldi, Montoya, Leon and Bilinski rounded out the top ten just ahead of championship leader, Mini.

Mini’s title lead consequently was trimmed to just two points as Tsolov became his nearest title challenger, with Rodin’s Stenshorne just ahead of his teammate – Dunne in third and fourth on 48 points apiece.

F2 now heads to Barcelona, Spain, next weekend as the title fight continues.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	42	1h 00m 19.442
2	Alex Dunne	Rodin	42	+ 9.013
3	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	42	+ 26.471
4	Kush Maini	ART GP	42	+ 30.203
5	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	42	+ 30.294
6	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	42	+ 30.859
7	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	42	+ 40.542
8	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	42	+ 42.157
9	Noel Leon	Campos	42	+ 42.506
10	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	42	+ 43.015
11	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	42	+ 43.573
12	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	42	+ 47.323
13	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	42	+ 48.010
14	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	42	+ 55.610
15	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	42	+ 65.734
16	Mari Boya	PREMA	42	+ 70.603
17	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	42	+ 70.691
18	John Bennett	Trident	42	+ 73.229
19	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	42	+ 75.197
20	Nico Varrone	VAR	42	+ 77.159
21	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	42	+ 81.546
RET	Rafael Camara	Invicta	34	Tyres