Noel León returned to victory lane in the 2026 Formula 2 season. After passing Rafael Câmara at the start to move into second, the Campos driver struggled to keep pace with pole-sitter Kush Maini. However, he inherited the lead after the pit stops, benefiting from the deployment of the Virtual Safety Car. Câmara rounded out the podium in third.

Formula 2 rules state that pit stops taken under the Virtual Safety Car do not count toward the mandatory pit stop requirement. In Hungary, however, León entered the pits while the race was still under green-flag conditions, with the VSC intervention occurring seconds later. Because of this, he rejoined the track ahead of Maini and took the victory.

The race in Hungary got off to a relatively quiet start. With no intense battles or incidents in the opening laps, Kush Maini maintained the lead and quickly pulled away from Noel León, who had passed Rafael Câmara off the line.

After the opening laps, the race settled down into a game of tire management. Out front, Maini pulled out a lead of over 5 seconds on León and looked set for a comfortable victory in Hungary.

However, the race turned on its head when León pitted on lap 17. The Campos driver made his stop under green-flag conditions, and just seconds later, the Virtual Safety Car was deployed, minimizing his time lost in the pits. Once the pit window cleared, Noel led by over 3 seconds from Maini.

In the closing stages, Maini and Câmara picked up the pace and closed in on León to challenge for the win. However, León managed to hold off his rivals to cross the finish line ahead. Laurens Van Hoepen and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak completed the top five, while Dino Beganovic, Nikola Tsolov, Joshua Dürksen, Gabriele Minì, and John Bennett filled out the remaining points-paying positions.

Following the Hungarian round, Formula 2 goes on hiatus before resuming action from September 4–6 at Monza, Italy.

How the F2 Feature Race Unfolded in Hungary

Under sunny skies, Formula 2 lined up for Race 2 in Hungary with ambient temperatures at 28 °C and track temperatures reaching 46 °C. In qualifying, Kush Maini edged out Rafael Câmara to secure pole position. Championship leader Nikola Tsolov was set to start seventh, but was handed a grid penalty for an incident with Sebastián Montoya during the Sprint Race, dropping him to 12th.

When the field embarked on the formation lap, Roman Bilinski stalled on the grid and was wheeled back to the pit lane. At the start, Maini held the lead into Turn 1, while Câmara bogged down and lost second position to Noel León.

After a clean, incident-free opening lap, Maini pushed hard right away, opening up a 2.1s gap over León by the start of lap 2, with the Mexican under pressure from Câmara.

By lap 3, the race entered a stable phase. As Maini extended his lead to 2.5s, León managed the gap back to Câmara, who also began conserving his tires.

Tsolov picked up the pace on lap 5, diving down the inside of Nico Varrone at Turn 1 in a move virtually identical to the one that cost him a penalty in the Sprint. Three laps later, he passed Montoya to move up to ninth.

From lap 14 onward, drivers who started on the medium compound began to gain the upper hand on those who opted for the softer rubber. Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak passed Joshua Dürksen to take fifth, while Gabriele Minì came under heavy pressure from Tsolov. The Italian took the opportunity to pit for fresh rubber, with Joshua following suit on the next lap.

On lap 17, León pitted while Câmara stayed out. However, just seconds after the Campos driver entered the pit lane, the Virtual Safety Car was triggered, dramatically reducing his pit-stop time loss.

Câmara opted to extend his stint, closing the gap on Maini before finally pitting on lap 21. The Brazilian rejoined ninth, under immediate pressure from Laurens Van Hoepen. Maini pitted on the following lap and lost position to León.

After his pit stop, Câmara closed in on Maini—who was caught in traffic—and began preparing an attack. However, once they cleared the slower cars that had yet to pit, the Indian driver reclaimed his pace and began building a gap to the Brazilian.

In the final laps, Câmara found another gear and closed in on Maini. At the same time, León began losing pace, leaving his lead trimmed to just 1.1s. With six laps remaining, the battle for the win was wide open.

However, aided by the tight, twisty nature of the Hungaroring, León managed to stay ahead to win the F2 Feature Race, with Kush Maini and Rafael Câmara completing the podium.

F2 2026: Hungary Feature Race results at the Hungaroringng