New FIA Formula 2 championship leader, Gabrielle Mini, says second place in Saturday’s Sprint Race in Canada was the best he could achieve.
The Italian finished behind Noel León of Campos, as the Mexican took his first win in F2 in Montreal.
But Mini, having started from reverse-grid pole position, wasn’t unhappy with his result.
“I see it as eight points taken,” the MP Motorsport driver told InsideF2. “It’s what we could do today, we brought home the maximum result, we didn’t have the pace to win.”
BACK on the podium ?
Another superb drive from @MiniGabriele in today's Formula 2 Sprint Race ? pic.twitter.com/AJsWcBwjMX
— BWT Alpine Formula One Team (@AlpineF1Team) May 23, 2026
He admitted that the late Virtual Safety Car (VSC) helped him retain second place, even though he was passed on the last lap by Rodin’s Alex Dunne – but the Irishman had a ten-second time penalty for causing a collision earlier in the race, meaning Mini regained the place anyway.
The Alpine Academy Driver came into Round 3 a single point behind Nikola Tsolov after winning the Miami Feature Race, but now has a six-point advantage over Invicta’s Rafael Câmara, while race winner León is just 10 points off the summit.
Mini says he’s not focussing too much on the championship at the moment, preferring to take each race as it comes and deliver the best possible result in each race.
He’ll start Sunday’s Feature Race from 10th on the grid, aiming to consolidate his position as championship leader.
Strong start turns into defensive drive
Mini led convincingly from the start, building a two-second cushion to the chasing pack, helping in part by some squabbling at Turn 2 between León and Joshua Dürksen’s Invicta.
Drama at the start of the Montreal Sprint ??#F2 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/wwB6JyLL2X
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 24, 2026
But Mini soon realised that he wouldn’t be able to sustain his early pace.
He said: “After a few laps, I already could feel and could see visually some graining. I started managing after I got up to about two seconds.
“I tried to keep it there, but I could feel that we were missing a bit. I knew that the Safety Car was not what we needed.”
He admitted his restart wasn’t perfect and while he pulled away from the majority of the field, León gave chase and eventually passed with DRS (drag reduction system) to take a lead he would hold until the end.
LEON TO P1 ??
The decisive move that secured Noel Leon his first win in Formula 2 ??#F2 #CanadianGP pic.twitter.com/oayWY0TwGA
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 23, 2026
“We missed quite a lot of temperature [at the restart]. Not ideal, but then it was quite clear that Noel was a bit quicker,” Mini explained. “For me, the mindset switched to trying to pull a gap, trying to stay out there and pull a gap from the others. Trying to survive. In the end, we managed to do that and bring home second position.”
Image Credit – Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty
