F2 Barcelona Wrap; Maini Sprint magic, title rivals battle & Câmara gets first win

• Kush Maini claimed his first F2 victory of the season in the Sprint Race, while Rafael Câmara secured a maiden Feature Race win to emerge as a new championship contender.
• Championship rivals Gabriele Minì and Nikola Tsolov battled throughout the weekend, with a post-race penalty for Tsolov helping Minì extend his title lead to six points.
• The Formula 2 championship remains closely contested, with just 16 points covering third to seventh in the standings heading into the Red Bull Ring round.

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Maini magic in the Sprint

Launching from second on the grid, Kush Maini claimed his first win of the 2026 season, beating title rivals Gabriele Minì and Nikola Tsolov.

Reverse-grid polesitter Noel León was beaten off the line by Maini, while his Campos teammate Tsolov climbed from fifth to third.

Minì also made progress in the opening stages, passing Colton Herta at Turn 3 after starting seventh. The American eventually came home fifth, securing a career-best F2 result.

Early contact between Martinius Stenshorne and Joshua Duerksen at Turn 10 saw the former handed a 10-second time penalty.

Maini won comfortably by 5.1 seconds, while Minì and Tsolov battled to the finish behind him, ahead of León and Herta.

Championship rivals battle on track

Minì and Tsolov resumed their title fight during the Feature Race, battling over third place, with the championship leader ultimately coming out on top.

Tsolov was later handed a five-second penalty after stewards determined he had overtaken Minì off the track at Turns 10 and 11.

The penalty dropped Tsolov from the podium to fourth, promoting Alexander Dunne to second and Minì to third.

The pair had also gone wheel-to-wheel in the Sprint Race for second place, with Minì prevailing once again. However, there was contact between the two on Lap 23 at Turn 1.

Câmara breaks through for Feature win

Rafael Câmara capitalised on a longer first stint strategy to claim his maiden F2 victory in the Barcelona Feature Race.

Making the most of a tyre offset in the final stint, Câmara was able to pick off his rivals and recover from a poor getaway from pole position. It was also his second consecutive F2 pole.

Dunne initially took the lead, while Rafael Villagómez slotted into third. Title rivals Minì and Tsolov immediately renewed their battle, which would later result in the Bulgarian receiving a penalty and losing a podium finish.

Câmara returned to the lead and built a near 10-second advantage to secure his maiden win, with Dunne promoted to second and Minì completing the podium in third.

Still tight at the top

Without his post-race penalty, Tsolov would have left Barcelona with a three-point championship lead over Minì. Instead, the Italian maintains a six-point advantage thanks to a pair of podium finishes across the weekend.

Câmara surged into third in the standings following his Feature Race victory and a pointless weekend for Stenshorne. The Norwegian has dropped to seventh overall, behind Dino Beganovic.

Just 16 points separate Câmara in third from Stenshorne in seventh, with Dunne and León also firmly in contention.

F2 returns to action at the Red Bull Ring on June 26.

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Written by

Jawad Yaqub

An eCommerce Specialist by day and reporting on F1 by night. Jawad is passionate about motorsport, having provided accredited F1 coverage for more than a decade and is a member of the AIPS (International Sports Press Association). Live blogging (almost) every grand prix too since 2014, as well as articles on the Supercars Championship. Also keen on sustainability, photography, collecting vinyl, (trying to) expertly barbeque and learning to Dad.

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