The FIA Formula 2 Championship broke new ground for the second round of the 2026 season, racing for the first time in the United States at the Miami International Autodrome circuit.
Championship leader Nikola Tsolov won Saturday’s dry Sprint Race after a dramatic race, while Italy’s Gabriele Mini scored his maiden F2 win in Sunday’s wet Feature Race, prevailing in an equally thrilling race.
Here’s five key things we learnt over the weekend.
Mini stakes championship claim
It’s been a long time since the 21-year-old from Palermo stood on the top step of the podium. Mini’s last victory in single seater racing came in 2024, whilst he was competing in FIA Formula 3, where he won the Feature Race in Monaco.
After narrowly missing out on that year’s F3 title to Leonardo Fornaroli, hopes were high for Mini as he stepped up to F2. But the Italian endured a tough season with PREMA, leading to his MP Motorsport switch for 2026.
The indications in Melbourne were positive, as Mini topped the opening practice session of the season, but a technical issue in Qualifying saw him condemned to recovery drives that weekend – although he did score points in both races.
Moving to Miami, Mini has shown he’s ready to mount a title bid, having Qualified in the top five, and then running a solid Feature Race.
This one’s for Alex ?
First F2 win. Mega happy, it was an intense race but we did it.
Focus on Montréal now ??
?: Dutch Photo Agency#F2 #MiamiGP #victory #P1 #Miami pic.twitter.com/zyD4eGbeHD
— Gabriele Minì (@MiniGabriele) May 3, 2026
The Miami circuit’s layout saw drivers go wheel-to-wheel up and down the grid, but as the race wore on and leaders Rafael Câmara and Dino Beganovic squabbled, Mini hunted them down and expertly capitalised on his rivals small errors.
The Italian only led the final lap of the race, but it’s not about where you start, it is where you finish that counts.
This early breakthrough sets Mini up for a positive season with the Dutch team, which has been a regular winner in recent seasons, and mustered a title challenge with Richard Verschoor in 2025.
While all the drivers say they’re not looking at the championship standings at this early stage, Mini is just a point off pace-setter Tsolov, and will be eyeing more success in Canada to claim top spot for himself,
Câmara’s consistency will carry his title hopes
Anyone getting a bit of déjà vu? We’ve seen this story before with the reigning F3 champion at Invicta.
Having followed compatriot Gabriel Bortoleto and the aforementioned Fornaroli into Invicta after winning the F3 title with Trident, Câmara is delivering in much the same way as his predecessors.
He’s yet to score in the Sprint Races, but has back-to-back Feature Race podiums after his third place in Miami – although he may be heading home thinking it could have been a victory.
The Ferrari Academy Driver admitted to overheating his rear tyres as Sunday’s race progressed, with the track drying out, but we can forgive him a little bit for that, as it was his first taste of driving this F2 car in wet conditions.
Successive Feature Race podiums suggest he could be hard to beat across the season, and if the winning floodgates open like they did for Fornaroli in 2025, it might be close to impossible to deny him another championship success.
Maini “enjoying” F2 again
Welcome back to the sharp end of Formula 2, Kush Maini.
The Alpine Academy Driver surprised us all by snatching pole position on Friday by less than half a tenth of a second from Invicta’s Câmara.
While the Feature Race didn’t bring the result he would have hoped for when arriving at the circuit on Sunday, with a fifth place finish, Maini will take a lot of confidence from a weekend where he looked back to his best.
The Indian is the most experienced F2 driver on the grid this season, having competed in the series since 2023, racing for Campos, Invicta and DAMS, taking two Sprint Race victories in that time.
But his form dipped following a strong opening to 2024, with those wins the rare high points.
Great pace this weekend-poling on Friday, and a strong start to the Feature race, leading until the safety car. Some tough luck in the pits took away the momentum but that’s how it goes sometimes.
We keep working and come back stronger next round. Big thanks for the support ??? pic.twitter.com/Trf3jkj9aH— Kush Maini (@kmainiofficial) May 4, 2026
He called the last two years, “frustrating”, but said he feels at home with ART. His early pace on Sunday suggests he is comfortable in the team and they set the car up well for the opening stages.
It’s clear that when the confidence begins to flow for the 25-year-old, he can be among the fastest drivers in F2. The question is whether this momentum can build into
Errors costing Rodin huge points
A case could be made for Rodin being the fastest team so far in 2026, when combining the performance of both drivers.
Norway’s Martinius Stenshorne has qualified in the top three at both rounds so far, while Irishman Alex Dunne has shown the speed to take him to the title is very much there.
A small error with large consequences for Alex Dunne, who was in the battle for the Feature Race Podium positions ?#F2 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/6m4iJUdDaD
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 3, 2026
But yet, the team is eighth in the Teams Standings with 16 points, and their drivers are 12th (Dunne) and 17th respectively in the Drivers’ table, having picked up points in both Sprint Races. Indeed, Dunne has finished both Saturday events in third.
However, when it comes to Sunday, it’s been something of a horror story for the Rodin team.
In Australia, their drivers needlessly collided in the early laps, resulting in no points, when a win looked almost certain.
And then a costly mistake from Dunne left him in the barriers at Turn 17 in Miami, when he was again looking at a potential victory.
Stenshorne also found his race ending early at Turn 17, after being clouted by Nico Varrone’s Van Amersfort Racing car – although he had seen his chances wrecked due to a team error before the start, meaning he was handed a drive-through penalty.
Rodin could be comfortably leading the Teams championship, instead of Campos and their drivers challenging Tsolov’s lead in the Drivers, had things played out differently.
How long can they continue to throw away points and victory opportunities? Team Manager Benn Huntingford will be hoping this trend comes to an immediate halt in Canada next time out.
F2 MUST return to Miami in 2027
Formula 2 wasn’t expecting to travel to North America at all this season, until the conflict in the Middle East led to the cancellation of Rounds 2 and 3 which were scheduled to take place in Bahrain and Saudi Arabia.
Behind the scenes, F2 and the FIA moved quickly to ensure the rounds were replaced and it means the series will visit North America twice in less than a month.
The first trip across the Atlantic has been a roaring success for F2.
A bold move by Beganovic! ?
One of many on the @damsracing driver's charge from P11 to P2 in the Feature Race ????#F2 #MiamiGP pic.twitter.com/dSDECsrtIA
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) May 4, 2026
The series generally delivers exciting racing wherever it goes, but the two races in Miami were nothing short of spectacular.
The layout led to numerous battles up and down the grid and provided two enthralling finishes where teams, drivers and fans alike had no idea who was going to win the race as the last lap began.
Of course, part of this could be down to teams having very little data to work from, having never run on the track before, so future races would likely be slightly different.
But the consistent action that we saw means a return to Miami in 2027 must be in the thoughts of F2 CEO Bruno Michel. And while that might mean we lose events at a couple of European events, broadening the scope of F2 beyond European and Middle Eastern shores is critical to the continued growth of the series and Formula 1.
IMAGE CREDIT – Formula Motorsport Limited via Getty
