Noel Léon takes emotional FIA Formula 2 Feature Race victory in Hungary with a powerful undercut and well timed Virtual Safety Car ahead of Kush Maini who faces a post race investigation.
Maini kept his lead into the first corner after a great launch off the line. Behind the pole-sitter, León had an even better launch from third, putting him ahead of Rafa Câmara.
Further down the pack, Nikola Tsolov found himself in a midfield battle after taking a penalty for a collision with Sebastián Montoya in yesterday’s Sprint Race.
Tsolov ran wide on the run up to Turn 5, leaving him vulnerable on the inside of the corner. He avoided damage after making contact with John Bennett, who saw a gap in between Tsolov and Martinius Stenshorne- a classic case of three into one doesn’t always go.
Stenshorne reported bent steering, he pulled into the pits on Lap 4, but his Rodin team seemingly fixed the issue and sent him back into the race, albeit 2 laps behind.
No penalties were awarded for the Turn 5 incident, the stewards ruling it a racing incident.
In second, León was somewhat of a cork in the bottle in the first phase of the race, allowing Maini to pull a 5 second plus lead over the rest of the field. Câmara behind him couldn’t find a way through which really hurt his race and played perfectly into the hands of Maini.
León pitted on Lap 17 and got very lucky with a well timed Virtual Safety Car as Villagómez retired from the race with what looked like a mechanical issue.
Câmara pitted four laps later, after spending the first stage of the race glued to León’s rear wing, he came out 7 seconds back to the Campos driver.
Race leader Maini came into the pits on the next lap, he decided to extend on the soft tyres as long as he could after struggling for pace on the mediums in the Sprint Race.
The stewards will be investigating Maini’s pit stop after the race. In the regulations it states that the tyres need to be stable, but during the stop, one slipped through a mechanic’s hands and rolled slightly.
The undercut worked perfectly for León who still managed to retain the lead despite Maini setting purple sector after purple sector. He got within DRS range of León but ultimately couldn’t pose a threat.
Behind the lead group. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak and Joshua Dürksen carried on their race long battle for fifth. Inthraphuvasak complained over team radio over Dürksen’s defence. before he eventually got through with a few laps left to go.
León took the chequered flag, holding off Maini and Câmara on fresher tyres. The Mexican driver was clearly emotional after taking his first Feature Race win in Formula 2 after feeling like he’s had a tough rookie season so far.
Câmara closed the gap to Minì and Tsolov in the drivers’ championship since his two rivals had a tricky race, only scoring a few points each (6 points for Tsolov, 2 points for Minì). Tsolov still has a massive points lead of 20 over Minì with only four rounds to go in the 2026 season.
Image: Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty Images
