Noel Leon etched his name into the Formula 2 record books in Montreal, becoming the first Mexican driver to win an F2 race with a composed sprint victory at Circuit Gilles Villeneuve.
Leon overcame polesitter Gabriel Mini during a frenetic 28-lap contest that featured two safety car periods and a flurry of penalties. The Campos driver managed the restarts and pressure smartly as the order behind him ebbed and flowed.
From the start, Mini converted pole while chaos brewed behind. Joshua Dürksen leapt from fifth to second with slight contact as he slipped ahead of Leon, allowing the Miami winner to stretch his lead to nearly two seconds by the end of the opening lap — valuable breathing space on the championship’s first visit to Île Notre-Dame.
Leon struck back on lap two, using DRS to draw alongside the Invicta car into the final chicane. Dürksen ran across the cut-through, and Leon re-established his advantage to move back into second behind Mini.
Further back, Sebastian Montoya looped his Prema at the final corner and fell to the rear of the field. The battle for second reignited on lap four as Dürksen exploited DRS to reclaim the spot, setting his sights on Mini, who was 2.2 seconds up the road.
Nico Varrone’s strong top-10 run unraveled with a stop-go penalty for being out of position at the safety car line ahead of the race start. The penalties soon mounted as the race’s rhythm was disrupted by incidents and neutralizations.
Trident’s John Bennett had been on course for a career-best fifth before a chain reaction at the hairpin ended his charge. Championship leader Nikola Tsolov misjudged his braking and hit Martinius Stenshorne, rotating Bennett and leaving him stranded, which triggered a safety car on lap 11 and erased Mini’s advantage.
Racing resumed on lap 15, but Mini’s late restart timing opened the door for Leon to attack into Turn 1. The MP driver defended on the inside to preserve the lead under intense pressure.
The fight for third ignited as Rafael Villagomez dived on Dürksen at the hairpin. Dürksen briefly repassed down the back straight toward the final chicane, but he ran wide and was forced to allow the VAR car back into third.
Dürksen then ceded another place to Stenshorne and was handed a five-second penalty for his earlier contact with Leon at the start, compounding a rapidly unraveling race.
At the flag, Alex Dunne crossed the line second ahead of Mini, but he was among several drivers penalized in a breathless Canadian opener, promoting Stenshorne onto the podium behind Leon. The reshuffled order underscored how pivotal restarts, track limits, and steward calls were around Montreal’s wall-lined layout.
Leon’s breakthrough is a landmark for Mexico in Formula 2 and came amid the added challenge of the series’ debut at Île Notre-Dame. With momentum swinging on safety car timing and DRS duels, the weekend in Montreal remains delicately poised.
What to watch next: Expect further scrutiny of penalties and racecraft as the event continues, with tire management, restart execution, and error avoidance likely to remain decisive factors.
Source: si.com