2026 F2 Season Roundup; Round 10 – Italy

(Image credit: @Formula2)

Roundup of the tenth round of the 2026 F2 season at Monza, Italy. 

Nikola Tsolov arrived at Monza with a 20-point lead over Gabriele Mini, whilst Rafael Camara was a further two points behind as 22 points split the top three heading into the weekend.

Monza however produced some surprises including a rare double victory for one driver, whilst the title fight grew closer between two contenders.

 

Practice

Van Amersfoort Racing’s (VAR) Nico Varrone and Rafael Villagomez led the cars out onto the circuit but everyone bar AIX Racing’s Emerson Fittipaldi Junior pitted after one or two outlaps.

Fittipaldi meanwhile laid 1m 47.702 as the initial benchmark time before he twice lowered it to 1m 34.793 then 1m 33.482 before everyone else rejoined the track, with Campos’ Noel Leon setting the pace on 1m 32.715 from Martinius Stenshorne once everyone set a lap time.

The lead soon quickly changed hands several times as everyone bar Fittipaldi did their second flying laps, as MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe briefly went fastest, before Varrone displaced him momentarily until Rodin’s Alex Dunne set 1m 32.297 to lay down the benchmark.

As is traditional around Monza, the tow is important and unsurprisingly led to a queue of cars scrapping for track position ahead of their third fliers.

Goethe however encountered very little issue as he laid down 1m 32.127 to go fastest in the 25th minute, only for Dunne to post 1m 31.957 just seconds later to put himself back at the summit.

The session however was red flagged in the 29th minute after Hitech GP’s Colton Herta ran deep through the second Lesmo Curve, which sent the American spinning into the inside barriers although he emerged unharmed in the incident.

Stewards eventually weren’t able to resume the session due to the extensive damage to the barriers and fluid left on the track, which meant that Dunne topped the session.

Position Driver Team Time
1 Alex Dunne Rodin 1m 31.957
2 Oliver Goethe MP Motorsport + 0.170
3 Nico Varrone VAR + 0.506
4 Nikola Tsolov Campos + 0.529
5 Roman Bilinski DAMS + 0.560
6 Joshua Durksen Invicta + 0.630
7 Martinius Stenshorne Rodin + 0.634
8 Noel Leon Campos + 0.705
9 Rafael Camara Invicta + 0.726
10 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak ART GP + 0.728
11 Dino Beganovic DAMS + 0.730
12 Ritomo Miyata Hitech GP + 0.931
13 Kush Maini ART GP + 0.947
14 Gabriele Mini MP Motorsport + 1.035
15 Laurens van Hoepen Trident + 1.042
16 Emerson Fittipaldi AIX Racing + 1.044
17 John Bennett Trident + 1.064
18 Colton Herta Hitech GP + 1.189
19 Rafael Villagomez VAR + 1.589
20 Mari Boya PREMA + 1.651
21 Cian Shields AIX Racing + 1.825
22 Sebastian Montoya PREMA + 2.490

Qualifying

After initial installation laps then further warm-up laps after a brief spell back in the pit lane, Camara set 1m 31.900 as the initial benchmark but was bumped to third and 0.199s off Durksen who was quickest with 1m 31.701 ahead of Leon by 0.177s.

Camara responded on his second lap in the 16th minute with 1m 31.326 which nobody subsequently beat amidst a traffic crawl on the second warm-up laps for the final fliers, as Durksen eventually fell 0.057s shy in an Invicta front-row lockout for the Feature Race.

Dunne qualified third for Rodin ahead of Campos’ Leon as the pair headed their teammates with Rodin’s Stenshorne qualified fifth just ahead of Tsolov in sixth, whilst Inthraphuvasak, Miyata, Goethe and Bennett rounded out the top ten with Bennett on reverse pole for the sprint.

Camara’s two points for pole lifted him into second in the drivers’ standings on countback from Mini.

Position Driver Team Time
1 Rafael Camara Invicta 1m 31.326
2 Joshua Durksen Invicta + 0.057
3 Alex Dunne Rodin + 0.146
4 Noel Leon Campos + 0.255
5 Martinius Stenshorne Rodin + 0.349
6 Nikola Tsolov Campos + 0.410
7 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak ART GP + 0.522
8 Ritomo Miyata Hitech GP + 0.550
9 Oliver Goethe MP Motorsport + 0.677
10 John Bennett Trident + 0.712
11 Gabriele Mini MP Motorsport + 0.745
12 Roman Bilinski DAMS + 0.773
13 Mari Boya PREMA + 0.773
14 Sebastian Montoya PREMA + 0.781
15 Rafael Villagomez VAR + 0.904
16 Dino Beganovic DAMS + 0.910
17 Nico Varrone VAR + 0.977
18 Laurens van Hoepen Trident + 1.065
19 Emerson Fittipaldi AIX Racing + 1.078
20 Colton Herta Cadillac + 1.083
21 Kush Maini ART GP + 1.087
22 Cian Shields AIX Racing + 1.509

Sprint Race

At lights out, Bennett led from pole but Goethe got passed by Inthraphuvasak on the outside of Variante del Rettifilo for second, whilst Durksen took fourth from Miyata then soon afterwards cleared Goethe for third.

Durksen then cleared Inthraphuvasak for second on lap five into Variante del Rettifilo, whilst Varrone spun Camara out after he ran into the back of the Brazilian on the exit due to a slow-exiting Miyata.

Racing resumed on lap seven as Leon passed Stenshorne into Parabolica only to be repassed a lap later.

Up front, Durksen bided his time until lap nine when he passed Bennett into Variante del Rettifilo for the lead, which he subsequently held to the checkered flag but kindly kept Bennett within his DRS range to ensure that the pair wouldn’t come under late pressure.

Goethe meanwhile cleared Stenshorne for third on lap 16 before the safety car was deployed due to a spin for Bilinski on the exit of Ascari on that lap.

Racing resumed on lap 20 and Leon then Tsolov demoted demoted Stenshorne to sixth by the checkered flag, as Dunne and Van Hoepen rounded out the top eight.

Tsolov consequently extended his title lead over Camara and Mini to 24 points after he was the only member of the leading trio to finish in the points.

Position Driver Team Laps Time
1 Joshua Durksen Invicta 21 36m 38.663
2 John Bennett Trident 21 + 1.263
3 Oliver Goethe MP Motorsport 21 + 1.818
4 Noel Leon Campos 21 + 2.284
5 Nikola Tsolov Campos 21 + 3.708
6 Martinius Stenshorne Rodin 21 + 4.160
7 Alex Dunne Rodin 21 + 4.306
8 Laurens van Hoepen Trident 21 + 4.754
9 Ritomo Miyata Hitech GP 21 + 5.241
10 Gabriele Mini MP Motorsport 21 + 5.4.92
11 Nico Varrone VAR 21 + 5.695
12 Dino Beganovic DAMS 21 + 6.584
13 Mari Boya PREMA 21 + 7.235
14 Sebastian Montoya PREMA 23 + 7.555
15 Colton Herta Hitech GP 21 + 8.042
16 Emerson Fittipaldi AIX Racing 21 + 8.574
17 Rafael Villagomez VAR 21 + 8.861
18 Cian Shields AIX Racing 21 + 9.104
19 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak ART GP 21 + 10.556
20 Kush Maini ART GP 21 + 12.176
RET Roman Bilinski DAMS 15 Spin
RET Rafael Camara Invicta 4 Collision

 

Feature Race

At lights out, Camara got a solid getaway but cut Variante del Rettifilo to hand the lead to Durksen, although he was able to repass him at Rettifilo on lap 3 yet Durksen retook the lead at the same corner a lap later.

Invicta pitted Durksen at the end of lap 5 and left Camara out for two more laps but the Brazilian was repassed by Durksen for the net lead, which became the race lead once more for the Paraguayan on lap 12 when Fittipaldi on the alternative soft-tyre strategy stopped.

Inthraphuvasak meanwhile jumped Dunne for third at the start but was jumped by the Irishman in their pit-stop phase for net third place.

The race though was under a safety car at time of Fittipaldi’s stop after Herta crashed at the Parabolica on lap 10, and Fittipaldi used the safety car to do a double stop as he switched from soft to super-soft tyres initially, then back to the soft tyre on lap 13.

Racing resumed on lap 17 as Durksen endured a race-long battle battle against Camara who initially fought off Dunne, which caused the Rodin driver to cut the Variante della Roggia and rejoin behind Leon in fourth.

Dunne eventually slipped to sixth after Bennett and Miyata cleared him in the closing laps.

Up front, Durksen successfully held off Camara by 0.4s at the checkered flag to take a record-equalling eighth F2 victory of his career, as he completed a rare F2 double-victory in a single round, although his car caught alight on the cooldown lap but he was still able to make it to the podium to celebrate his win.

Leon finished third from Bennett, Miyata, Dunne, Tsolov, Inthraphuvasak, Goethe and Varrone.

In the drivers’ standings, Camara cut his title deficit to Tsolov down to just 11 points – having taken the bonus point for fastest lap, whilst Mini found himself 30 points adrift.

F2 now head to Madrid, Spain, on the weekend of 11-13 September for the final leg of the European phase of the season, which is followed by a trip to Baku, Azerbaijan from 24-26 September, before potential trips to Qatar and Abu Dhabi in late November and early December if the season stays as scheduled.

Position Driver Team Laps Time
1 Joshua Durksen Invicta 30 51m 05.855
2 Rafael Camara Invicta 30 + 0.4
3  Noel Leon Campos 30 + 4.6
4 John Bennett Trident 30 + 8.0
5 Ritomo Miyata Hitech GP 30 + 8.3
6 Alex Dunne Rodin 30 + 9.3
7 Nikola Tsolov Campos 30 + 9.6
8 Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak ART GP 30 + 10.4
9 Oliver Goethe MP Motorsport 30 + 14.2
10 Nico Varrone VAR 30 + 15.1
11 Gabriele Mini MP Motorsport 30 + 15.9
12 Laurens Van Hoepen Trident 30 + 16.5
13 Mari Boya PREMA 30 + 17.6
14 Sebastian Montoya PREMA 30 + 17.9
15 Dino Beganovic DAMS 30 + 20.6
16 Martinius Stenshorne Rodin 30 + 21.0
17 Cian Shields AIX Racing 30 + 24.5
18 Kush Maini ART GP 30 + 26.8
19 Rafael Villagomez VAR 30 + 30.0
20 Enzo Fittipaldi AIX Racing 30 + 31.5
21 Roman Bilinski DAMS 30 + 62.5
RET Colton Herta Hitech GP 9 Crash

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