Campos Racing’s Noel León stormed to his second consecutive Sprint Race victory at the 2026 F2 Monaco GP, securing his fourth consecutive points-scoring finish. The Mexican driver started from pole position and led the race from lights to flag after a strong launch off the line.
Pit Debrief was in attendance when León spoke to media during the post-Sprint press conference, reflecting on his second win of the 2026 F2 season. Continuing on his strong run of form, the Campos Racing driver acknowledged to having found his rhythm.
“Yes, I think so. Yesterday we looked pretty strong and at the end we didn’t close, but I’m very happy to get my second win.”, León said.
“It took a bit long to get the first one, but finally, as I said, the first one is always very, very difficult to get it [a win], and as soon as you get it, it’s a bit more easy, and things go on your way to help you to go further with the race win. I’m pretty happy to have in my pocket the Monaco win, and I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
León: “First two laps were important to create a gap”
With DAMS Lucas Oil’s Roman Bilinski starting alongside him on the front row, León explained that his focus was on building a gap during the opening laps. Having controlled the race out in front, the 21 year-old emphasised that, as the race unfolded, the priority for him was to bring home the win safely rather than taking any unnecessary risks.
He said: “For me, the main thing was to get a good start. I know Roman [Bilinski] was going to attack me at the beginning, so the first two laps were important to create a gap and build the temperature to the tyres nicely, because it was very warm, so degradation was a bit.”
“After that, to be honest, I didn’t want to risk it for a faster lap and just stay on a pace, and the whole race went like that. The car felt pretty good. At the end, I was a bit worried about lapped cars, because I started to catch them, but luckily everybody got away and I had the race win.”
Focus shifts to Sunday’s Feature Race
“I need to go at night and dream that I have a very good pit stop, and when I go out, they have a mess or something on the pit stop, so I can go further after my pit stop. I don’t know.”, León joked.
Given the lack of overtaking opportunities Monaco presents, the Mexican driver believes strategy will be key to executing a strong race. However, noting the importance of tyre management in the race’s strategy, he added that the team will take it as it comes.
“Strategy will be key tomorrow. We want to go further, so it will be important to [aware] with open eyes, save a little bit of tyres and push it when we need it to undercut or overcut whatever we need to do. We’ll discuss with the team and we’ll see tomorrow.”
Aiming to improve Qualifying
Despite being well capable of capitalising on the reverse-grid format on Saturdays, qualifying further down the order has often limited his chances of scoring more points in Sunday’s main race.
“Yes, of course, I’ve been very strong on Saturdays. I also feel like we’ve been strong all day, just things didn’t go our way yesterday. Obviously, we want to improve qualifying, improve Sundays, make a podium, but sometimes things don’t go your way.”
While luck and a mistake cost him the chance of pole on Friday, moving forward, he is determined to ensure they start further up the grid on Sundays.
“Yesterday, three times I was coming for pole, and I got traffic, I got a red flag, and in the last one, I needed to push more than I wanted, and I brushed a wall, and it cost me the pole. I hope things are getting better, to be honest.”
He added: “I don’t hope, but things are getting better, and at some point, the pole is going to get us in a better position for Sunday, of course. We’ll try to improve.”
Finding consistency around street circuits
When asked about how much drivers had to manage their tyres and how that would affect the Feature Race strategy, León kept it simple, saying: “As Roman [Bilinski] says, I stayed in a consistent pace the whole race, so I didn’t push any axles. I didn’t need to manage so much, so I have not much comments.”
Having found repeated success on street circuits such as Macau, Montreal and now Monaco, Pit Debrief asked the 21 year-old what allows him to thrive at these venues and whether he feels he is driving stronger than ever, to which he explained that he has always enjoyed and performed well on street circuits.
“I’ve always been strong since starting in street circuits, so I really love it. I think as a driver, you can do a lot of things to go faster and you don’t depend a lot on the car. I’ve been pretty strong. Monaco has always been pretty close with me for a podium. Now, the first time I go is with a race win. So I’m pretty happy with that.”
“Of course, the race win in Canada helped me and gave me more confidence. Obviously, this one as well. I think we’re in a good momentum.”, he admitted.
“We need to stay focused and we’ll try to work further tomorrow to score many points.”
With his win, León heads into the Monaco Feature Race sitting 2nd in the F2 Drivers’ Standings with 43 points.
