F2’s Sunday paradox: Dunne and Câmara’s struggles to convert pace into points in 2026

Credit: Formula 2 via X

Invicta’s Rafa Câmara and Rodin Motorsport’s Alex Dunne have found themselves at the head of the field in Formula 2 qualifying in 2026. Yet, for all their Friday speed, they have found it more challenging to hold this pace over an F2 race distance.

Dunne, known to be frighteningly quick on his day, knows what it’s like to be on pole. He scored pole by a massive margin of four tenths of a second at Spa in 2025. Despite not scoring a pole, he has finished in the top four in every Friday qualifying this season.

On the other side is a rookie rising to the fore, as Câmara keeps scoring pole positions for fun. The Brazilian notched up his fourth pole position in the last five F2 weekends, and continues the stellar record he has held all through his title-winning Formula 3 and FRECA campaigns in the last two years.

It’s no surprise to see both drivers hold the best Friday record this season: Câmara, averaging an astonishing Friday result of 2.37, while Dunne only sits marginally off, at 2.87. In total, both drivers have finished in the top three across five out of the eight Friday qualifying sessions in 2026, before any penalties were applied.

However, as quick as their one-lap pace is on Fridays, both drivers have faded away on Saturday and Sunday across the season. Campos and Nikola Tsolov have emerged as the class of the field in the sprint and feature races, while MP Motorsport’s Gabriele Minì has made the most of his opportunities to sit second in the standings.

Both drivers hold the same strengths and sit one point apart in the standings. However, their paths to date in the 2026 F2 season couldn’t have been more contrasting. For Câmara, the challenges have arisen towards race starts, and balancing what he deems a “no regrets” mentality to bring home the best results.

Dunne's qualifying pace has been excellent in 2026 | Credit: Formula 2 via X

On Dunne’s side of the garage, the “very, very strong” qualifying hasn’t materialised into pace towards the end of the races. As Dunne would reiterate, “I haven't all of a sudden forgotten how to manage tyres either.”

“The mistake was never really repeating,” Câmara would respond, speaking on the problems hurting him off the start line in 2026. He would lose positions in both the sprint and the feature at Silverstone, dropping from 10th to 13th in the former, before losing his pole advantage off the line in the Feature and sliding to fourth.

Câmara’s F2 campaign in 2026 has been a familiar story: Flashes of raw pace, but facing a major learning curve. Yet, it poses a striking difference to several other graduates from F3 to F2 this season: Few have matched the Invicta man in qualifying.

The last time a full-season F2 rookie scored four or more poles in a season was back in 2021, when Oscar Piastri ended the season with five consecutive pole positions on his way to the title. Câmara has similarly found answers in Friday’s qualifying sessions, across different configurations and scenarios.

The championship’s latest stop at the Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps emphasised this further, with a light shower making things tricky for the F2 grid. “You didn't really know if it was going to be heavy rain or if it was going to be a dry session,” Câmara replied. “The biggest challenge was to get a good car for qualifying.”

Credit: Formula 2 via X

However, it’s never easy for any rookie to settle in and build such an advantage into F2, and for Câmara, the challenges have come thick and fast.

The most prominent of these moments was the Monaco Feature Race, the dreaded lock-up into Turn 1 costing him a valuable Feature Race win. The incident at Turn 3 in the Austrian sprint would see the Invicta man fall foul of the stewards and drop out of the points.

Even as Câmara had to lick his wounds and reflect on his missed opportunities, the ever-charging Tsolov has capitalised, taking the Feature Race wins in both weekends. The same trend would befall Silverstone, as Câmara’s slow start opened up the door for the Campos man to win his fourth Feature Race.

More often than not, such an anomaly in form can pose a mental hurdle to overcome, even for the finest of drivers. “You need to control yourself to not overdo it or also be too relaxed (in the races),” he responded, speaking on his challenges in converting great starts into big results.

Dunne, meanwhile, has brought a calmer approach to his second F2 season. Scoring 92 points and sitting fourth in the standings hasn’t fully reflected the true pace the Irishman has showcased all season.

The controversial shunt into teammate Stenshorne in Melbourne cost both big points, while further incidents early on cost him yet more scoring opportunities. However, the positive aspect of being an experienced driver at this level has been more visible in Dunne’s comeback ever since.

A string of second places followed along in Canada, Monaco and Barcelona’s Feature Races; even if this has brought about lesser gains in the Saturday sprints. Dunne’s haul of 18 points in the sprints is only marginally better compared to one driver in the top four: Câmara.

While Dunne has been more circumspect across races, choosing to pick the right moments to make overtakes on track, the search for more race pace only continues at his end.

“It's been one of our weakest,” Dunne said, speaking to DIVEBOMB about his overall race showings. “Last year, our race pace was one of our strongest things.”

The Rodin man had won two races and finished on the podium in 2025, on his way to fifth in the standings, with superlative Feature Races in Bahrain and Imola outlining his raw pace, apart from the pole at Spa.

However, Dunne is still searching for that first win this season. Having led the Feature Race in Barcelona, his tyres dropping off in pace almost cost him positions on track to the chasing Tsolov and Minì.

A similar fate hurt him over the course of the Austrian weekend, when he lost several seconds towards the end of the race to VAR’s Rafael Villagómez and came home a distant fourth.

“I think something has changed with the tyres,” he said. “The philosophy in setting up the car hasn't quite worked as well as last year.”

Starting on the front row, Dunne would go wide at the final corner while leading the Feature Race. While this cost him a position to Tsolov again, he would fall into the clutches of those on the quicker soft tyre at the end, dropping down to seventh on the road behind teammate Stenshorne, before the Norwegian was penalised.

Immediate changes were of the order in Silverstone. “We basically had to flip the car on its head,” Dunne remarked, on the scale of set-up changes the team had to make to overturn their losses in race trim.

Fortunately for Dunne, there was light at the end of this tunnel. Dunne showcased pace late into the Feature Race, closing the gap to Kush Maini on the same tyre compound in third at the flag. “I think we have a good idea of where we need to make a step forward,” the Irishman remarked, happier with the picture after the weekend.

Despite their best efforts, neither Câmara nor Dunne have been able to close out the races and score that all-important race victory this season. Meanwhile, Tsolov has capitalised on their Sunday struggles through superior race pace and confidence to put in bold overtakes.

Yet, optimism prevails in the air, and there remains a real reason for Spa to present both drivers with the vital answers to all their questions. Be it Dunne’s fancy for high-speed circuits, or Câmara digging deep and finding the same vein of form he ended 2025 in, they would fancy leaving the Belgian venue on a happier note.

“I think we have found something a little bit that's hopefully going to make it better moving forward,” Dunne recollected, on the progress the team have made from the positive showing in Silverstone.

While the highs of a Feature Race win in Spain or the podiums early on in Melbourne and Miami have faded away, Câmara is well aware that he has the potential to turn around a slower start to the season. “I think we're doing a good job enough to be decent on this start.

“We should focus on doing the basics, and it should be good,” he said, looking ahead to the rest of the weekend.

The first half of the 2026 F2 season has showcased a significant reward for drivers making a step forward during the pair of races over the weekend, as Tsolov and Minì’s championship positions and record this year would reflect.

For Câmara, the goal lies in working through his rookie struggles and finding the form that brought him back-to-back motorsport championships in FRECA and F3. On the other hand, a sophomore racer of Dunne’s calibre would be rediscovering the form that made him a race-winner back in 2025.

The biggest talking point for both drivers though, remains the same: Their biggest test begins once they line up on the grid for the pair of F2 races every weekend.