Noel León secured his first FIA F2 victory in the Sprint Race at the 2026 Montreal Round after a determined drive amid chaotic conditions.
Starting from P3, the Campos Racing driver steadily made his way up the field despite multiple safety car and incident disruptions. Remaining calm, he overcame a back-and-forth P2 battle against Joshua Dürksen to close down the gap to race leader Gabriele Minì before finally making the decisive pass shortly before a second safety car. Leading until the chequered flag, León controlled the race through another restart and a Virtual Safety Car to secure victory.
Speaking in the Round 3 Montreal post-Sprint Race press conference, attended by Pit Debrief, León reflected on his success: “It feels great. I have been waiting a long time for this victory. It feels nice. The last three laps were very chaotic for me, trying to not make any mistakes and keep it safe because we had a good gap. Pretty happy that now I can already check the first win off the list for the year. For sure the first one is always the most difficult one.”
León on his decisive move
Safety cars and timing played a crucial role in Leon’s charge to the top. At the first restart, León briefly attempted to challenge Minì for the lead with a wheel-to-wheel battle before falling back. However, staying close behind, León built enough momentum to pass Minì for the lead shortly before another safety car was deployed.
When asked where his decisive pace came from, León pointed to tyre management and timing within the DRS fight.
“I don’t know. I was pushing as much as I could,” he began. “To be honest, the car was pretty good. I knew I had the pace. Obviously, with the DRS effect, we were playing a little bit. You don’t want to be first with the little gap, because it’s obviously just damaging the tyres. It was very difficult. I knew that Gabriele was struggling. I tried to overtake, and after that restart, I pushed as much as I was able.”
Racing in Montreal for the first time
Racing on the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve was a first for the F2 championship and many of its drivers, as León shared: “It’s been good, to be honest. First time here for me. I’ve never been to Canada before. It’s awesome. The city, the track, I love it, and now even more.”
He further noted: “It was a great race, to be honest. Obviously it didn’t start as I wanted. I got a very good start, but in T2 Joshua crashed me. So yeah, I was very worried about having a puncture early in the race. Because I knew we have a great car for the long run. After that, I saw that the car was fine. That race was great, to be honest. A lot of overtakes. When you have always a good car, it’s always nice to go to the front.”
Having so far scored points in every 2026 F2 race, Campos Racing currently leads the Teams’ Standings with 67 points. Meanwhile, León and teammate Nikola Tsolov sit P4 and P3, respectively, in the Drivers’ Standings.
Despite celebrating his victory, the 21-year-old also acknowledged the circuit’s challenges, specifically looking at tyre management as track conditions evolved throughout the Sprint Race.
“Yeah, it was very important, to be honest. As Gabriele says, from early on the race, we started to get some graining,” he explained. “So, yeah. It was important to build the temperature progressively to the tyres. So, yeah. At the end, as soon as I got clean air, I was able to push as I wanted. But yeah, we still need to manage. And we still need to look at some data for tomorrow.”
Keeping an eye on the mirror
Beyond focusing on tyre management, León said that he will remain more cautious for Sunday’s Montreal Feature Race due to the amount of unexpected Sprint incidents. The four DNFs were mainly caused by rear-end collisions as drivers from behind made small but damaging mistakes.
“Yeah, I think so. We didn’t expect to have so many contacts,” he said. “I think so. We need to start looking a lot at our mirrors and the braking points. Because when someone is trying to overtake the car behind you, they can miss the braking point quite easily. Because it’s very dirty outside of the line. So, yeah. For tomorrow, we need to be very careful with this. Yeah. After that, we need to see how is the weather for tomorrow. Because I think it’s going to be a wet race.”
He added: “Yeah, I mean, I got hit in the beginning, so yeah, it was very strange because normally you don’t do an overtake there, but obviously it’s our first time racing here and it’s very dirty outside of the line, so it can happen. If it’s wet tomorrow, for sure it’s going to be even more important to be looking into the mirrors because with a low grip, as soon as you lock up, you go straight, so yeah, we’ll see.”
Rewarded for a brave move
León concluded by explaining his decision to go early on the safety-car restart after he claimed the lead. Unlike other drivers, who choose to take it slow, León was quick to restart the race, immediately building a significant 1.1s lead.
When asked if the move was planned beforehand or if it was a spur-of-the-moment choice, he shared: “I would say, before coming to Canada, I knew that all of the drivers, all of us, we look to the restarts. And we look to what everyone does in the past years. And I knew that nobody before did that.”
“And, yeah, obviously, I didn’t plan it before the race. But it was something that I have in mind. And when I saw that Gabriele was struggling a lot with his tyres and on the restart, I was very close to pass him. I knew if I do properly the last chicane, I will make a gap. So, yeah, it was kind of in the last moment thinking. And I saw Gabriele a bit trying to move. And it’s when I go.”
