Gabriele Minì arrived on the F2 grid in 2025 carrying expectation but not familiarity. While his name had circulated in junior racing circles for several years, this campaign marked his first full season at the category’s highest level. His only prior experience came at the 2024 F2 Azerbaijan GP, outings that offered a brief introduction rather than genuine preparation. Stepping into a full-time seat with PREMA Racing, Minì faced a season that would test not only his speed, but also his capacity to adapt within one of the most demanding environments in junior single-seater racing.
What followed was a campaign defined less by immediate reward and more by context. Minì’s 2025 season became a structured apprenticeship, shaped by expectation, technical depth and the realities of F2 competition.
A full-time step into F2
Those two races in 2024 provided Minì with little more than a snapshot of what F2 required. The category’s complexity, from tyre degradation to strategic volatility, could not be mastered in isolation. When the 2025 season began, Minì effectively started from scratch, albeit within a team renowned for its standards and success. Competing full-time in the FIA F2 Championship demanded immediate adaptation. The cars required greater physical commitment, race management became decisive, and the competitive depth left little room for quiet learning. PREMA’s structured environment offered a solid platform, but results still depended on how quickly a driver could absorb information and apply it under pressure.
Minì approached that challenge assertively. He appeared comfortable under heavy braking and showed confidence committing the car on corner entry, traits that allowed him to find speed early despite limited experience at this level. Qualifying performances often reflected that confidence, placing him in competitive positions and reinforcing PREMA’s belief in his potential. Race outcomes, however, revealed the scale of the task. Early season weekends highlighted how quickly promise could unravel through tyre degradation, safety car timing or marginal strategic calls. For Minì a driver navigating his first full F2 campaign, those lessons arrived quickly and without compromise in 2025.
Minì’s pace and race craft across the 2025 season
One of the clearest constants in Minì’s season was his qualifying performance. Over a single lap, he regularly demonstrated the precision and commitment expected from a driver emerging from PREMA’s junior pipeline. His ability to extract performance on fresh tyres often positioned him within reach of the front, even when experience favoured others. Race pace required greater refinement. When races unfolded cleanly, Minì showed confidence in close combat, defending firmly and overtaking decisively without excessive risk. His approach aligned well with PREMA’s traditionally aggressive but controlled philosophy, allowing him to remain competitive in tightly packed midfield battles.
Longer stints exposed the learning curve. Tyre management, particularly across varied strategies, proved inconsistent during the first half of the season. Early aggression sometimes limited late-race options, while strategic calls did not always align with the evolving race picture. Such challenges reflected inexperience rather than deficiency, yet they shaped several weekends that might otherwise have yielded stronger results. Progress followed a steady pattern. As the season advanced, Minì displayed greater discipline, preserving tyre life more effectively and adapting his pace to race circumstances. The gap between his qualifying speed and race-day execution narrowed, signalling growing comfort with F2’s demands.
Pressure and development for Minì at PREMA in 2025
Driving for PREMA brought its own pressures. The team’s reputation ensured that scrutiny followed every result, particularly for a rookie undertaking his first full season. Minì experienced the volatility typical of F2, oscillating between encouraging performances and weekends defined by frustration. What stood out was his response. Setbacks did not linger, nor did they visibly alter his approach. Minì avoided overdriving in pursuit of immediate redemption, instead returning with measured adjustments and renewed focus. That composure stabilised his campaign and allowed consistency to develop, especially in the latter stages of the year.
Engineers valued his technical feedback, praising his ability to articulate balance changes and tyre behaviour with clarity. Within PREMA’s data-driven structure, that communication played a crucial role in refining setups and supporting his gradual improvement in race management. For a driver transitioning from two isolated races in 2024 to a full season under sustained pressure, those qualities proved essential.
What Minì’s 2025 F2 campaign ultimately showed
By the closing rounds, it was evident that Minì would not challenge for the championship. Yet, judging his season purely by standings would overlook its significance. F2 rarely rewards immediate mastery, particularly for drivers undertaking their first full campaign, even within top teams. Minì’s 2025 season confirmed his credentials rather than redefining them. He demonstrated the speed required to compete at this level, the resilience to absorb setbacks and the capacity to learn within a demanding technical environment. The experience gained far exceeded anything his two races in 2024 could have offered. As that progression became clearer, plans for the next step also took shape, with Minì confirmed to join MP Motorsport for the 2026 season.
Most importantly, his trajectory pointed upward. Early inconsistencies gave way to greater control, improved tyre management and more reliable execution. For teams assessing long-term potential, that progression mattered more than isolated results. Rather than delivering instant success, 2025 established credibility. Gabriele Minì completed his first full F2 season with PREMA Racing better prepared, more composed and firmly embedded within the next tier of emerging talent. In a championship designed to expose weaknesses quickly, that outcome represented a meaningful and necessary step forward.
