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Rafael León delivered a landmark result at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, becoming the first Mexican driver to win in Formula 2 in the modern era after a chaotic, flag-strewn Sprint Race that was as dramatic as Montreal's notorious Wall of Champions itself.
Gabriele Minì, the Alpine junior, started from pole for the Sprint ahead of Rafael Villagómez, Noel León, John Bennett and Joshua Dürksen. The grid was already shaped by adversity before a wheel had turned in anger — Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak withdrew from the weekend following a major crash in qualifying, while Alex Dunne and Rafael Câmara both carried three-place grid penalties for impeding, dropping them to 11th and 12th respectively. For the full backdrop to those penalties and how qualifying unfolded, see our dedicated Formula 2 qualifying report from Montreal.
Minì made a clean getaway off the line, but the field behind him was anything but orderly. Villagómez immediately lost ground to León, and Dürksen went aggressively down the inside of Villagómez, making contact with León's rear in the process but gaining a position. Further back, Martinius Stenshorne dispatched Tsolov for sixth, while Laurens van Hoepen ran wide at the turn nine chicane and tumbled to 11th.
By the end of lap one, Minì led Dürksen, León, Villagómez, Bennett, Stenshorne, Nicolas Varrone, Tsolov, Emerson Fittipaldi Jr and Dunne — with the Alpine junior already establishing a meaningful gap over the Rodin car behind him. Dunne and Varrone were also placed under investigation for being out of position at the Safety Car line, adding to the administrative noise.
The early laps were defined by attrition behind Minì's seemingly comfortable lead. Dürksen went off at the final chicane, handing second to León for Campos. After three laps, Minì was two seconds clear, with the entire top ten — and van Hoepen — forming a dense DRS train in pursuit of León.
At the end of lap three, Sebastián Montoya spun at the Wall of Champions, though avoided significant damage. On lap four, Dürksen forced his way back past León on the back straight to reclaim second, momentarily bringing the pack onto Minì's tail.
On lap six, Tsolov passed Varrone for seventh, but the pair's relentless swapping of positions cost them — and Fittipaldi, Dunne and van Hoepen — valuable time to the cars ahead. Varrone then received a stop-and-go penalty for his Safety Car line infringement, serving it on lap nine. The damage was done; Fittipaldi and Varrone's squabbling had haemorrhaged over two and a half seconds to Tsolov, who had since rejoined the battle for second.
The race's first Safety Car was triggered on lap 11 when late braking from Stenshorne and Tsolov spun Bennett at the turn 10 hairpin. At that point, the top ten read: Minì, León, Dürksen, Villagómez, Stenshorne, Tsolov, Dunne (under investigation), Fittipaldi, van Hoepen and Roman Bilinski.
Green flag racing resumed at the end of lap 14, but the restart served up fresh drama almost immediately. Minì struggled to pull away cleanly, allowing León to threaten around the outside into turn one — though the Campos driver held his nerve and stayed ahead. Dunne also had a poor restart, dropping nearly a second back from Tsolov.
Dürksen's afternoon continued to unravel. The German received a five-second time penalty for the lap one contact, and then went off at the last chicane alongside Stenshorne on lap 15, costing him third to Villagómez — and then fourth to Stenshorne in the scramble that followed. The scrapping in the midfield had an inadvertent consequence: it gave Minì and León the breathing room to pull clear, while simultaneously letting the chasing pack close in on the battle for third.
Tsolov capitalised by going down the inside of Dürksen at the hairpin, but Dürksen's race reached its lowest point on lap 18 when Dunne made contact with him at the hairpin, spinning the Rodin driver out. A second Safety Car was deployed to recover the stricken car, and — crucially — León seized the lead at the Wall of Champions during the chaos of that lap.
With nine laps remaining, Kush Maini and Cian Shields gambled on a tyre change to supersofts under the caution.
The race resumed at the end of lap 21, with Campos' León now leading ahead of Minì, Villagómez, Stenshorne, Tsolov, Dunne, Fittipaldi and van Hoepen in the points. Dunne was immediately handed a ten-second time penalty for the collision with Dürksen, and Tsolov was also penalised — meaning the DAMS pairing of Bilinski and Dino Beganovic, sitting ninth and tenth, were suddenly on course for points.
Minì endured another poor restart but kept second, hovering around a second adrift. Dunne, carrying the weight of his time penalty, pushed hard and moved ahead of Tsolov for fifth. Mexico had two drivers on the podium as it stood — León and Villagómez — in what was effectively a home race for both.
Dunne posted the fastest lap on lap 24 as León extended his advantage to 2.4 seconds with four laps remaining. But the fight for the remaining podium spots intensified: Villagómez and Stenshorne traded blows for third, with Stenshorne running off at turn one while Villagómez hit the wall at turn four, handing the final podium place temporarily to Dunne, with Stenshorne fourth and Tsolov fifth.
A Virtual Safety Car was called for Villagómez's debris as his teammate Varrone was also caught up in a separate incident at the hairpin exit, where Shields made contact with him after Prema's Mari Boya and Montoya slowed at the DRS activation line. The VSC cleared mid-lap 27, and Stenshorne reasserted himself in the battle for third.
In the closing lap, Câmara passed Bilinski at the hairpin and defended hard to the flag. As the dust settled after the penalties were applied, Stenshorne secured third — his first podium of the 2026 season. Dunne and Tsolov, punished by their respective time penalties, were classified 13th and 14th.
The result was a landmark one for León and for Mexico. His victory — taken at the very circuit that had witnessed so many dramatic F1 moments at the Wall of Champions — made him the first Mexican winner in Formula 2 in the modern era. With the Formula 2 season heading into its third round in Montreal, few could have scripted a more fitting narrative for the home crowd.
For Minì, second place was a respectable haul even if a maiden win remained elusive. For Stenshorne, his first podium of the year offered real momentum. And for those hoping the F2 field would deliver spectacle at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve — mission comprehensively accomplished.
He’s a software engineer with a deep passion for Formula 1 and motorsport. He co-founded Formula Live Pulse to make live telemetry and race insights accessible, visual, and easy to follow.