2026 F2 Season Roundup: Round 11 – Madrid

Roundup of the 11th round of the 2026 F2 season as the grid touched down in Madrid, Spain. 

This weekend marked the first time that F2 tackled the new Madring circuit as Nikola Tsolov arrived in the Spanish Capital with a 11-point lead over Rafael Camara, whilst Gabriele Mini sat 30 points behind in third.

A weekend of twists, turns and on-track drama however saw the title fight grow closer between the top three.

 

Practice

AIX Racing’s Emerson Fittipaldi was first on track and set 2m 09.388 as the initial unrepresentative benchmark time, which he soon lowered to a representative 1m 51.742, but was usurped by several drivers as ART GP’s Kush Maini set 1m 49.120 as the quickest first-time lap from Joshua Durksen by 0.310 seconds.

Maini’s teammate, Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak however brought the red flags out in the 14th minute after he lost the rear of his ART GP car through Turn 19, which saw the car slide heavily into the outside barriers and caught ablaze but the Thai thankfully escaped the incident unharmed.

The session resumed initially with four minutes but was extended by a further five minutes and Tsolov proceeded to top the timesheet with 1m 48.245 once the field done their first fliers on the final run, which he subsequently lowered to 1m 47.059 on his second flier.

Maini however produced 1m 46.751 to finish the session fastest from Tsolov by 0.308 seconds, but his lap time was deleted alongside those of Noel Leon and Ritomo Miyata, which dropped the trio to 13th, 19th and 21st respectively whilst Tsolov was promoted to the top of the classification.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	1m 47.059
2	Nico Varrone	VAR	+ 0.110
3	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 0.137
4	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	+ 0.391
5	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.429
6	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	+ 0.514
7	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	+ 0.637
8	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 0.865
9	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	+ 0.918
10	Rafael Camara	Invicta	+ 1.039
11	John Bennett	Trident	+ 1.235
12	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	+ 1.260
13	Kush Maini	ART GP	+ 1.429
14	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 1.503
15	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	+ 1.686
16	Mari Boya	PREMA	+ 1.600
17	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	+ 1.975
18	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	+ 1.980
19	Noel Leon	Campos	+ 2.201
20	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 2.347
21	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	+ 3.650
22	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	+ 5.373

Qualifying

Fittipaldi was first on track and set 2m 10.288 as the initial unrepresentative benchmark time, but red flags were out in the seventh minute after Maini spun at Turn 15, whilst Montoya suffered suspension damage after a separate crash moments earlier at La Monumental.

Both drivers consequently were unable to continue, whilst Intraphuvasak played no part in the session due to the damage to his ART GP car from his incident in Practice.

The session resumed seven minutes later with 23 minutes and 56 seconds left on the clock, and Fittipaldi proceeded to lay 1m 47.679 as the initial representative benchmark but Tsolov topped the opening representative runs with 1m 46.328 ahead of Dunne by just 0.002s.

Red flags were back out with 18 minutes and 47 seconds left after Varrone slid into the barriers at Turn 20 to curtail his running, and the session resumed after a 12-minute delay with Dunne able to find time to lay 1m 45.416 as the new benchmark from Van Hoepen by 0.736s.

Beganovic however waited until the 22nd minute to make his move in the battle for pole as he posted 1m 44.578 to go fastest, although red flags were out three minutes later after Bennett spun at Turn 11 with five minutes and 28 seconds left on the clock.

The session resumed seven minutes later and Dunne responded with 1m 44.561 to go top by 0.017s in the 29th minute yet moments later, Beganovic responded to go quicker by 0.230s to take pole with 1m 44.331 ahead of Dunne and Camara.

Stenshorne, Tsolov, Bilinski, Van Hoepen, Leon, Miyata and Fittipaldi completed the top ten, with Fittipaldi inheriting reverse-pole for the sprint.

Position	Driver	Team	Time
1	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	1m 44.331
2	Alex Dunne	Rodin	+ 0.230
3	Rafael Camara	Invicta	+ 0.522
4	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	+ 0.607
5	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	+ 0.607
6	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	+ 0.665
7	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	+ 0.687
8	Noel Leon	Campos	+ 0.824
9	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	+ 0.936
10	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	+ 1.061
11	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	+ 1.239
12	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	+ 1.328
13	Mari Boya	PREMA	+ 1.366
14	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	+ 1.375
15	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	+ 1.620
16	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	+ 2.152
17	John Bennett	Trident	+ 2.677
18	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	+ 2.891
NC	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	+ 29.879
NC	Nico Varrone	VAR	No Time
NC	Kush Maini	ART GP	No Time
NC	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	No Time

Sprint Race

At lights out, Miyata jumped Fittipaldi with the inside line into the first corner to snatch the lead whilst Maini spun Bennett at Turn One, before the ART GP driver then nudged Varrone into the barriers at Turn 8 to eliminate all three drivers, although Bennett initially tried to continue after repair in the pit lane.

Bilinski meanwhile lost positions to Tsolov, Camara, Beganovic and Dunne to drop from fifth to ninth before the safety car was deployed until the end of lap four.

Van Hoepen had been the only top-ten driver who started on the soft tyre and he made that decision pay off as he cleared Leon for third on lap 11, after he attempted a pass on lap nine but cut the chicane of turns five and six and gave the position back.

Tsolov then attempted to do the same to Leon on lap 14 but was unable to pull the move off too, only to then spin out at Turn 20, which led the safety car to be redeployed until the end of lap 17.

Miyata eventually clung on for his first F2 victory from Fittipaldi and Van Hoepen, as Leon, Stenshorne, Camara, Dunne and Boya rounded out the top eight,

Tsolov’s spin consequently allowed Camara to cut his title deficit down to just eight points whilst Mini remained 30 points adrift in third.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	23	47m 21.330
2	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	23	+ 2.678
3	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	23	+ 3.227
4	Noel Leon	Campos	23	+ 5.242
5	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	23	+ 5.776
6	Rafael Camara	Invicta	23	+ 6.551
7	Alex Dunne	Rodin	23	+ 7.099
8	Mari Boya	PREMA	23	+ 8.333
9	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	23	+ 9.419
10	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	23	+ 9.614
11	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	23	+ 10.207
12	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	23	+ 11.514
13	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	23	+ 13.579
14	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	23	+ 14.495
15	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	23	+ 14.970
16	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	23	+ 17.801
17	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	20	+ 3 Laps
RET	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	13	Spin
RET	John Bennett	Trident	2	Damage
RET	Kush Maini	ART GP	1	Damage
RET	Nico Varrone	VAR	0	Collision
WD	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	0	Illness

Feature Race

At lights out, Beganovic comfortably protected the lead from Dunne as the top six held position whilst Leon jumped Van Hoepen for seventh, and Goethe recovered from 14th to 10th.

Maini meanwhile got spun out by Shields at Turn 18 on lap two which brought the safety car out for four laps until racing resumed on lap seven, although Inthraphuvasak switched from hard to the soft tyre on lap four on an unofficial stop.

Van Hoepen, Villagomez, Boya and Varrone followed suit on lap seven in switching from hard to soft tyres, although Boya and Villagomez jumped Van Hoepen in the stops.

Boya subsequently found pace on his soft tyre which left the soft-tyre starters unsure strategically how to cover him as Camara was the first driver of the top three to stop on lap 13 for hard tyres, which saw him slide down to 12th only to be passed by Boya then jumped by Tsolov a lap later.

Goethe meanwhile stayed out until the end of lap 16 and when he rejoined the circuit, Boya was unsure on the British-German’s direction, which allowed Tsolov to pass the pair but the Bulgarian cut Turns Five and Six.

Upon rejoining the circuit, Tsolov let the pair pass him but Camara was too able to sneak through into 12th but the Brazilian on the next lap caught the inside kerb of the firs corner, which saw him punt Goethe into the wall to bring out the safety car and earned a ten-second time penalty for the incident.

Bennett meanwhile crashed at Turn 11 on that same lap which meant that the safety car stayed out until the end of lap 21.

Beganovic, Dunne, Miyata, Fittipaldi and Durksen consequently opted to make their stops on lap 19 and maintained their top-five positions of that point, whilst Inthraphuvasak achieved a free mandatory stop to make a switch back to the hard tyres in sixth.

Beganovic eventually cruised to his first Feature Race victory in F2 from Dunne and Miyata whilst Durksen cleared Fittipaldi for fourth, ahead of Inthraphuvasak, Mini, Stenshorne, Bilinski and Camara.

Tsolov meanwhile finished last on the road amongst the classified finishers which meant that his title deficit was further reduced to seven points whilst Mini found himself 24 points off the summit.

Fourth-placed Dunne meanwhile cut his deficit to 38 points to position himself as a late outside contender ahead of F2’s trip to Baku across 24-26 September, which is followed by a two-month break before trips to Qatar and Abu Dhabi as currently scheduled.

Position	Driver	Team	Laps	Time
1	Dino Beganovic	DAMS	31	1h 3m 29.190
2	Alex Dunne	Rodin	31	+ 7.320
3	Ritomo Miyata	Hitech GP	31	+ 14.015
4	Joshua Durksen	Invicta	31	+ 16.691
5	Emerson Fittipaldi	AIX Racing	31	+ 19.630
6	Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak	ART GP	31	+ 20.458
7	Gabriele Mini	MP Motorsport	31	+ 21.268
8	Martinius Stenshorne	Rodin	31	+ 21.497
9	Roman Bilinski	DAMS	31	+ 28.311
10	Rafael Camara	Invicta	31	+ 35.386
11	Mari Boya	PREMA	31	+ 36.234
12	Laurens van Hoepen	Trident	31	+ 37.403
13	Sebastian Montoya	PREMA	31	+ 37.629
14	Rafael Villagomez	VAR	31	+ 40.781
15	Nico Varrone	VAR	31	+ 41.215
16	Noel Leon	Campos	31	+ 42.032
17	Cian Shields	AIX Racing	31	+ 43.311
18	Nikola Tsolov	Campos	31	+ 47.888
RET	John Bennett	Trident	17	Crash
RET	Oliver Goethe	MP Motorsport	17	Collision
RET	Kush Maini	ART GP	1	Collision
WD	Colton Herta	Hitech GP	0	Illness