Miami – Main Race: Gabriele Minì wins in chaos after four safety cars

The sprint race had been thrilling, the main race was suffocating. As the expected storm hit Miami in the morning, soaking the Florida track, the drivers of Formula 2 They were able to get underway after a few minutes' wait on still-damp asphalt. A scenario that often foreshadows chaos in junior formulas, where drivers are still learning to tame their cars in these precarious grip conditions.

Right from the start, it was inevitable: Nikola Tsolov (Campos), the Sprint winner and championship leader, was hit by Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak's ART GP and forced to retire at the very first corner. The race was placed under the safety car before restarting… only to be placed under the virtual safety car again a lap later. The cause was Oliver Goethe (MP Motorsport), who stopped at Turn 3 after breaking his left rear suspension immediately after the restart, losing control at the start of the straight leading to the first corner.

Then, on lap 10, Bernd Mayländer, the Safety Car driver, had to return to the pits because of Alex Dunne (Rodin). The protégé ofAlpineA veteran of this kind of mishap, he missed his braking point at Turn 17 and tried to take the corner anyway. He went off into the run-off area, hit the wall, and couldn't get going again. A serious error for the Irishman. And the Safety Car was deployed for a third time when, at the same Turn 17, Nicolás Varrone (VAR) ruined the good impression he'd made in the sprint race (4th place) by colliding with the unfortunate Martinius Stenshorne. The Rodin driver had a run of bad luck after already having to pit early in the race to serve a 10-second stop-and-go penalty for a pre-race infringement by his mechanics. A heartbreaking situation for the driver who was in second place before having to make this forced pit stop.

Minì on the gong

At this stage of the race, Rafael Câmara (Invicta) was in the lead, having taken it during the lap 10 pit stop from Kush Maini. The pole-sitter, driving for ART GP, then slipped down the order, notably overtaken by Noel León (Campos), who relegated him to 6th place. It seemed Câmara was on track to win his first Formula 2 race, but Cian Shields had other ideas. The British driver from Aix-en-Provence spun and had to stop at the side of the track, bringing out the fourth safety car with only 10 minutes of the race remaining.

With five minutes remaining on the clock, the young guns were unleashed once again, and Rafael Câmara quickly found himself under pressure from Dino Beganovic. The DAMS driver needed only two laps to take the lead, capitalizing on a mistake by the champion. F3 in the title at turn 11. Câmara tried to respond with a late braking maneuver at the first corner, pushing Beganovic off the track in a fierce duel between protégés of the Classic Ferrari for sale Driver Academy. Ultimately, the Swede managed to avoid the collision and stay in front, while Gabriele Minì (MP Motorsport) took advantage of the chaos to slot in between the two men in second position. The Italian, supported by Alpineput on a show by overtaking in turn 17 on the penultimate lap, when Beganovic missed his braking point. Despite DAMS's futile attempts to respond in the final few hundred meters, it was MP Motorsport that secured its first victory of the season thanks to Gabriele Minì, who had never tasted success in Formula 2 after a difficult debut season with Prema in 2025.

This allows Minì to take second place in the championship, one point behind the unfortunate Nikola Tsolov (34 points to 35), while Rafael Câmara is third in the standings, tied with Gabriele Minì. The season is underway!

Formula 2 – Miami
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