2026 F2 Pre-Season Testing | Barcelona | León tops the timings on Day 1 - Motorsport

Spread the love

Day 1 of 2026 FIA Formula 2 (F2) testing in Barcelona brought plenty of action as teams rolled out for their first shake down of the new season. After months away, the field returned under clear skies and cool Mediterranean air for the opening day of the three-day test ahead of Round 1 in Melbourne. From morning to late afternoon, drivers chased lap time gains while engineers focused on data and fine-tuning their packages.

Morning momentum and early leaders at day 1 at the 2026 F2 testing in Barcelona

The morning session began in earnest once installation laps and systems checks were completed. MP Motorsport’s Oliver Goethe and his teammate Gabriele Minì made the earliest impression, setting competitive markers, with Goethe’s 1 min 26.040 sec placing him top of the initial times. As the three-hour window progressed, more runners joined the action and lapped consistently, pushing times down across the field.

Rodin Motorsport’s Martinius Stenshorne and Alexander Dunne took over the upper rankings behind the MP duo, showing strong pace on low fuel runs. Just under an hour into the session, the first red flag was shown when Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov came to a halt at the end of the main straight, briefly interrupting the flow.

Once action resumed, drivers continued to hustle as track activity intensified in the final hour of the morning. Stenshorne ultimately left the first stint fastest, a slender 0.015 sec ahead of Dunne, as the top ten filled with a mix of seasoned campaigners and ambitious rookies.

2026 FIA F2 testing Barcelona Day 1 results – Morning session:

Martinius Stenshorne – Rodin Motorsport – 1:25.437
Alexander Dunne – Rodin Motorsport – 1:25.452
Gabriele Minì – MP Motorsport – 1:25.602
Nikola Tsolov – Campos Racing – 1:25.702
Noel León – Campos Racing – 1:25.815
Oliver Goethe – MP Motorsport – 1:25.829
Dino Beganovic – DAMS Lucas Oil – 1:25.977
Ritomo Miyata – Hitech – 1:26.516
Mari Boya – PREMA Racing – 1:26.519
Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak – ART Grand Prix – 1:26.611
Laurens van Hoepen – TRIDENT – 1:26.611
Emerson Fittipaldi – AIX Racing – 1:26.632
Joshua Dürksen – Invicta Racing – 1:26.677
Roman Bilinski – DAMS Lucas Oil – 1:26.762
Colton Herta – Hitech – 1:26.893
Rafael Villagómez – Van Amersfoort Racing – 1:26.967
Sébastian Montoya – PREMA Racing – 1:27.029
Nicolas Varrone – Van Amersfoort Racing – 1:27.109
Kush Maini – ART Grand Prix – 1:27.147
Rafael Câmara – Invicta Racing – 1:27.192
John Bennett – TRIDENT – 1:27.445
Cian Shields – AIX Racing – 1:37.533

León tops the times as the afternoon heats up

When the afternoon session got underway, Stenshorne quickly matched his morning form and led the early running with a strong effort. But as focus shifted towards outright lap times and qualifying simulations, several drivers began to improve their benchmarks on soft compound Pirelli tyres. Invicta Racing’s Joshua Dürksen produced a quick lap mid-session, but it was Campos Racing’s Noel León who delivered the defining moment of the day.

With less than 15 minutes remaining, the Mexican put together a blistering 1 min 24.370 sec effort to catapult himself to the top of the timesheets by nearly seven-tenths of a second. Van Amersfoort Racing’s Nicolás Varrone finished second overall, with Dürksen third, while Hitech’s Miyata and Rodin’s Stenshorne completed a strong top five.

A late off-track moment for Sébastian Montoya brought a final red flag and cut running short, but León’s effort stood unchallenged as the day concluded.

Emerson Fittipaldi’s times in the afternoon session were deleted after his car was found underweight on day 1 of the 2026 F2 Testing in Barcleona.