“We have a few things to look into:” León, Minì and Stenshorne reflect on their learnings from a hectic Sprint Race in Canada
- Jasmin Low
- May 24
- 3 min read
Formula 2 is taking on the Circuit de Gilles Villeneuve for the first time this weekend, introducing a brand new set of challenges for drivers to get to grips with.
From understanding the best overtaking spots, to managing a dusty track surface, the Sprint Race was the field’s first opportunity to go wheel-to-wheel in Canada. Noel León, Gabriele Minì and Martinius Stenshorne would be the drivers to take home trophies from the sprint, encountering various learning opportunities ahead of the Feature Race.
A stellar safety car restart from León proved to be a defining moment on his way to the top step of the podium. It was his decision to drop the hammer earlier than expected which would allow him to stretch out a gap of over a second to the remainder of the field, all within the span of a few corners.
The victory marked a historic moment for León, becoming the first Mexican driver to win a race in the modern Formula 2 era alongside being his maiden win in the category.
The 21-year-old’s triumph did not come without its adversities, having made early contact with Invicta Racing’s Joshua Dürksen after moving into second at the race start, dropping the Mexican back down a place.
Their early scrap would extend into a pass-and-repass battle for track position, before León made the move stick on Lap 8.
“We didn’t expect to have so many contacts,” León told DIVEBOMB and other media as he reflected on his race.
The racing incident will serve as a reminder for all to exercise extra caution come Sunday.
“We need to start looking a lot [more at] our mirrors on the braking points, because when someone is trying to overtake the car behind you, they can miss the braking point quite easily [since] it’s very dirty outside of the line.”
Reverse grid pole-sitter Minì escaped the commotion at the race start, building a gap to the chasing pack before the first safety car period brought the field back together.
“Yeah, a bit different for me because I wasn't really involved in too many [fights] to be honest, especially the first part of the race, I was pretty much alone.” Said the Italian, noting the difference between his and León’s respective race starts.
“Something that we will take for sure is how much we need to manage the tires and [how I] have to drive, and how the balance of the car needs to be for tomorrow.”
Both drivers mentioned the likelihood of the Feature Race taking place in the wet, with rain forecast to make an appearance in Montréal.
“Realistically, it's not going to be much info that we will take for tomorrow, but we will see,” said Minì.
Stenshorne completed the podium for Rodin Motorsport, marking his first trip to the rostrum as an F2 driver.
An incident involving Stenshorne, championship protagonist Nikola Tsolov, and TRIDENT driver John Bennett was responsible for triggering the first safety car period, but the Norwegian managed to move his way up the order towards the podium places despite sustaining front wing damage.
“We also struggled a bit today, to be honest, with the pace,” commented Stenshorne.
“So we have a few things to look into. But yeah, and let's see first what the weather brings, but I think there's a lot of things we can learn anyway for the future from this race.”
F2 will go racing in Canada for the final time on Sunday, with the promise of rain sure to present the ultimate test of driver skill and their ability to manage risk versus reward.
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