Formula 2: Noel León secures Sprint Race victory in Monaco

Written by Teagan Strachan

Credit: Formula 2 via X

As the sun shone on the historic Monaco street circuit, Saturday afternoon marked the first race of Round 4 for the Formula 2 season. In classical Sprint Race style, the grid was reversed with Noel León leading alongside Roman Bilinski, forming the front row.

How it happened

Off the line León led the charge down to Sainte Devote, with Bilinski staying close behind despite a small lock up into the first turn. Upon the first exit of the Nouvelle chicane, León confidently broke away from the pack.

Contact at the beginning of Lap 1 saw Oliver Goethe drop to the bottom of the field, retreating into the pits at the start of the third lap.

Into Lap 3, Bilinski faced early pressure from championship leader Gabriele Mini, however he held strong pace closing the gap to the race leader.

In Lap 10, a 10 second time penalty was handed to Laurens Van Hoepen for leaving the track and gaining an advantage earlier in the race.

At the halfway point the grid remained steady with the top four breaking away from the field, all remaining within each others DRS zones.

In the middle of the pack, Nikola Tsolov, Tanasapol Inthraphuvasak and Rimoto Miyata were engaged in a close battle, with Miyata attempting an courageous move on Inthraphuvasak but was unsuccessful.

Towards the front, whilst positions held steady, tyre management became crucial into the final ten laps, with drivers struggling to maintain defensive pace. In third, Mini fell two seconds behind front runners Bilinski and León, but held his position.

Into Lap 22, after unsuccessful attempts in prior laps, Miyata made a successful move on Inthraphuvasak, charging to replicate the overtake on a struggling Tsolov.

Later, with just five laps to spare, an unlucky Inthraphuvasak suffered a technical issue forcing him to retire from the race.

Come Lap 30, after a dominant drive, León found the checkered flag in first, converting his reverse grid pole to his second race win for the season.

With the top five remaining identical to the starting grid, Bilinski took second position, followed by Mini in third, rounding out the podium. Joshusa Durksen finished in fourth and Dino Beganovic in fifth, respectively.

Up next

The battle for the championship continues in Monte Carlo on Sunday morning at 9:25 CEST for the Feature Race, with Rafael Camara on pole.