The 2026 Formula 2 season gets underway with its first Sprint Race at the Australian GP, with Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak starting from pole position courtesy of the reverse grid. The Campos Racing driver lines up ahead of Joshua Dürksen and Oliver Goethe, while Feature Race pole-setter Dino Beganovic starts further down the order alongside the rest of the top ten.
Two red flags, first for Mari Boya’s accident at Turn 12 and then for a mechanical issue on Gabriele Minì’s car, had reduced qualifying to a frantic final three minutes in which provisional pole changed hands three times before Beganovic’s 1:28.695 sealed the fastest time.
Who will emerge on the top step of the podium when the lights go out for the F2 Australian GP 2026 Sprint Race?
Lights out for the 2026 F2 Australian GP Sprint Race
The lights went out for the 2026 F2 Australian GP Sprint Race and the field initially got away cleanly, with Inthraphuvasak holding the lead into Turn 1. Goethe made the better start of the two behind him, sweeping around the outside at Turn 1 to vault ahead of Dürksen into second place. Dürksen fought back immediately, reclaiming the position with a neat move around the outside at Turn 9.
Further back, chaos unfolded at Turn 11 as Kush Maini dived to the inside of Goethe, sending the German into a spin. Goethe recovered and rejoined the race, but the incident had cost him dearly.
Dürksen carried his momentum into the second lap and swept past Inthraphuvasak at Turn 9 to take the lead, the German flying through the opening exchanges. Behind him, Tsolov paid the price for a battle with Maini when he ran wide at Turn 1, tumbling from third down to eighth in the space of moments.
At the back of the field, the action was just as frenetic. Colton Herta and Sebastián Montoya ran side by side through Turn 9 and into Turn 10, where the PREMA driver ran wide and lost ground.
More overtakes
Noel León overtook Maini to move up to third, but the ART driver came under immediate pressure from Rafael Câmara. The Brazilian wasted no time and dived to the inside at Turn 11 to claim fourth. Maini continued to struggle, with both Martinius Stenshorne and Alexander Dunne getting past him to push him down to seventh.
Stenshorne then turned his attention to Câmara and swept past the Invicta driver at Turn 4 to take fourth on lap 6. Câmara hit back almost immediately, using DRS to dive down the inside at Turn 9 and reclaim the position. The Brazilian sat at the head of a DRS train that stretched all the way back to Van Hoepen in eleventh.
Lap 8 brought a flurry of changes through the field. Ritomo Miyata got past Maini to climb to seventh, while Gabriele Minì, who had started from the back of the grid, fought his way up to ninth. Further up the road, Nikola Tsolov and Herta made contact at Turn 4, sending the Campos driver into a spin. He kept the car going but fell back to ninth in the process.
LAP 8/23
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) March 7, 2026
Contact between Herta and Tsolov ????#F2 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/a2ikIF3nkh
Minì continued his charge, sweeping past Maini to move up to eighth with 14 laps remaining. At the front of the midfield battle, Câmara held firm against a pressing Stenshorne as the Rodin driver searched for a way past, with Dunne watching closely and waiting for his own opportunity.
Penalties and safety cars
Stenshorne’s afternoon took a difficult turn when stewards handed him a five-second time penalty for forcing Tsolov off the road.
Minì, meanwhile, remained on the charge. The Italian got past Miyata on lap 11 to move up to seventh and immediately set his sights on Dunne ahead. He closed the gap rapidly before sweeping past the Irishman at Turn 11 in an outstanding piece of overtaking.
Out front, Dürksen had built a 1.8 second cushion over Inthraphuvasak, with León holding third. The ART driver had earlier reported concerns over his rear tyres, raising questions over whether he could hold on to the podium position.
Tsolov’s race grew increasingly difficult on lap 14, with the Campos driver appearing to carry front wing damage as he stumbled through the gravel at Turn 4.
The safety car then came out after Boya beached his car in the gravel at Turn 7, bringing the field together and handing several drivers the opportunity to pit for fresh Supersoft tyres. Herta, Rafael Villagómez, Tsolov, Cian Shields, Goethe, Nicolás Varrone and Beganovic all took the chance to bolt on the Supersofts, setting up what promised to be a thrilling conclusion to the race.
???? SAFETY CAR DEPLOYED ????
— Formula 2 (@Formula2) March 7, 2026
Mari Boya finds the wall at Turn 6.#F2 #AusGP pic.twitter.com/cB0qdCA1uZ
The final moments of the 2026 F2 Australian GP Sprint Race
The safety car returned to the pits on lap 18 and Dürksen made a superb restart to protect his lead. Inthraphuvasak ran deep at the final corner but held on to second, though León remained firmly on his tail.
Further back, the drivers on fresh Supersofts began to make their presence felt. Herta pushed forward on the softer compound, but Villagómez, also on the red-walled rubber, got ahead of him as both carved through the field.
León kept the pressure on Inthraphuvasak and the move finally came on lap 20, the Mexican driver executing a neat pass into Turn 11 to take second place. Câmara, who had been scrapping with Inthraphuvasak for position, suddenly fell off the pace on what appeared to be dirty tyres, tumbling from fourth all the way to eleventh within the first sector of lap 21. Minì also lost ground on lap 22 when he ran wide at Turn 10, dropping a place to seventh behind Miyata.
On the final lap, Inthraphuvasak’s race unravelled completely as Stenshorne and Dunne both swept past, turning what had looked like a certain podium into a fifth place finish. Out front, however, there was no catching Joshua Dürksen. The Invicta Racing driver crossed the line to win in Melbourne once again, with León second and Dunne promoted to third after Stenshorne’s five-second penalty dropped the Norwegian to tenth. It was also a landmark result for Invicta Racing, the two-time reigning Teams’ Champions hitting the ground running in 2026.
