Ritomo Miyata reflected positively on his maiden FIA Formula 2 victory after navigating a chaotic Sprint Race at the inaugural 2026 F2 Madrid round.
The Hitech driver endured a challenging start to Round 11, finishing P21 in Free Practice. However, Miyata later impressed in Qualifying, securing P9 and a front-row P2 start for the reverse-grid Sprint Race.
The Japanese driver wasted no time at lights out, immediately taking the lead through Turn 1 before a Safety Car was deployed at the end of the opening lap. From there, Miyata made a strong restart, briefly coming under pressure from Emerson Fittipaldi Jr. before setting the fastest lap and breaking DRS range. Despite the gap being neutralized by a Lap 15 Safety Car, Miyata made another strong getaway, storming ahead to claim his maiden F2 win by 2.6s as Fittipaldi Jr. and Laurens van Hoepen completed the 2026 F2 Madrid Sprint Race podium.
Miyata on his journey to his maiden F2 win
Miyata has endured a difficult 2026 season so far, scoring points in just 7 of the 21 races, while facing a points drought between Barcelona and Silverstone. Reflecting on the significance of the result during the post-Sprint Race press conference, attended by Pit Debrief, the Japanese driver admitted how rewarding it was to finally see their hard work pay off:
“Yeah, it’s… really happy. Finally, you know, we won the race because we are really struggle during the season. But yeah, finally we could win and it’s a really good feeling.”
Miyata laid the foundation for his victory on the opening lap, making the decisive move through Turn 1 before remaining composed through two Safety Car restarts.
“Yeah. I was expecting overtakes to start only on the sixth lap, I think it was,” he explained, speaking about his strong first lap.“So I really focused on start and then yeah, just we managed the race.”
Hitech finds its pace
The victory also marked a significant turnaround for Hitech, who last secured victory during the 2025 F2 Baku round. Miyata’s result now brought the team’s points tally up to 81, with Hitech sitting P8 in the Teams’ Standings. Teammate Colton Herta was unfortunately unable to fight for more points after withdrawing from the Sprint due to health issues.
Asked about how the Hitech car felt compared to the opening 2026 rounds, Miyata said:
“Yeah, this year, I was expecting much more better. But through the season, yeah, we are going to struggle with the short-run performance, especially. And then, yeah, we try to analyze during the summer break and then finally be back to the strong performance. That’s why we won here today. And also qualifying since Monza backs our performance.”
Eyes on the Feature Race
Set to start P9 on the Feature Race grid, Miyata concluded by briefly discussing the challenges awaiting him and Hitech as they look to carry over their Sprint Race momentum into Sunday.
“Yeah, tomorrow. Yeah, maybe difficult to overtake, but we have a pit stop. So really important strategy, I think and we will do our best.”
