MP Motorsport head into their 2026 F2 season determined to bounce back after a year that fell short of expectations. Despite strong individual performances, the team finished fifth in the Teams’ Championship, a result Team Manager Jeremy Cotterill described as an underachievement.
With ambitions firmly set on reclaiming the titles they last won in 2022, only 7 points ahead of Rodin Motorsport, MP Motorsport believe 2026 could mark their return to the top of the F2 standings. Much of that optimism rests on their driver pairing of Oliver Goethe and Gabriele Minì, both of whom have made no secret of their championship aspirations.
Here is how MP Motorsport shape up ahead of the 2026 F2 season.
Scoring across both cars
MP Motorsport ended last season on 207 points, level with DAMS Lucas Oil but classified fifth after their rivals claimed five wins to MP’s four. While the margins were tight, the breakdown of points told a clearer story.
All three teams ahead of MP Motorsport, Invicta Racing, Hitech TGR and Campos Racing, benefited from having both drivers finish inside the top 10 in the Drivers’ Championship. At MP Motorsport, Richard Verschoor’s impressive third-place finish contrasted with Goethe’s P15 result, with the German enduring a difficult opening half of the season.
Cotterill is clear on what needs to change if MP Motorsport are to mount a serious title challenge once again.
“You’ve just got to be consistent all the time and scoring points with both cars,” he said. “Both cars have to contribute always in order to win the Teams’ Championship. There are no bad teams in F2, and as you can see from the points tally, a slip one weekend can make things worse.”
Encouragingly, Goethe appeared to turn a corner late in the year and carried that momentum into post-season testing, topping the timesheets on both Day 1 and Day 2. It offered a glimpse of what MP Motorsport hope is to come in 2026.
As he prepares for his second full season in Formula 2 alongside Minì, the question is whether the duo can deliver consistently enough to put MP Motorsport back in title contention.
Second-season bounce
Both drivers are confident the lessons learned in 2025 will pay dividends in the upcoming campaign.
For Goethe, qualifying has been a major focus. Across the opening eight rounds last season, he reached the top 10 only once, qualifying eighth at Imola. However, the improvement was clear as the year progressed, with the 21-year-old starting inside the top 10 in five of the final six rounds. In Lusail, he even looked set for pole position before a three-place grid penalty for impeding dropped him to fourth.
That one-lap speed carried into post-season testing, where Goethe regularly featured at the sharp end during qualifying simulations. The challenge now is to sustain that form across an entire season, something he has proven capable of before.
In Formula 3, Goethe impressed with his consistency, scoring points regularly, winning the Imola Sprint Race and remaining firmly in the title fight throughout the year. If that form translates to Formula 2, he could be a serious contender.
Team mate line-up
Joining him at MP Motorsport for 2026 is Minì, who enters his second season in F2 and his first with the Dutch outfit. Early signs have been promising. The Italian quickly settled into the team during post-season testing, adapting well to the MP Motorsport machinery while running close to Goethe on pace across multiple runs.
Minì’s race pace, in particular, stood out and continued the form he showed late last season. He finished 13th in the 2025 standings but was a regular presence at the front, claiming three podiums, including third place in the final Feature Race at Yas Marina.
Now 20, Minì is clear about his objectives.
He believes he needs to be in the championship fight this season and feels MP Motorsport can provide the platform to make that happen. If both drivers deliver on that promise, MP Motorsport may finally have the consistency across both cars needed to challenge for both the Drivers’ and Teams’ Championships once again.
