MP Motorsport’s Gabriele Minì got off to a strong start at the 2026 F2 Australian GP after topping the timesheet in Free Practice. The Italian set an impressive 1:29.137 lap, finishing four tenths clear of the field. Having shown pace from the get-go, Minì heads into qualifying as a clear contender for pole and one of the drivers to watch.
Reflecting on his session, Minì said: “It was quite a good session. We started off not too great I’d say with the first lap, had contact because of another driver preparing the lap, so it took off a piece of my front wing which wasn’t ideal.”
“But after that we were up to speed straight away. Every push we did were P1 with a good gap behind. Even including the last one, we were quite fast. We are checking what’s needed for qualifying, but it’s a very good start.”
Resetting ahead of Qualifying
As temperatures quickly rose throughout the session, drivers began finding the limits at Albert Park — some perhaps too much, with Colton Herta and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak both finding the barriers on separate occasions.
“Well, it’s really quite complicated to be honest. We know the track was improving quite a lot lap by lap.”, Minì said. “
“There are the rookies that maybe don’t have the experience in F2, so they were catching up lap after lap. Even then, in the top five there are three rookies.”
Despite topping the session, Minì remained cautious about his prospects for Qualifying. With a softer tyre available for Qualifying and hotter conditions expected, he believes these factors could shake up the pecking order.
“So we will see how it turns out. It’s a good start, being up there, we also have a softer compound to the Qualifying tyre compared to last year. It was Medium, now it’s Soft.”
“So it helps to have a better idea, but nothing is done. We will probably have track temps that are going to be about 20 degrees higher and the wind will change. So we will see, we just have to reset and start again.”
Minì seeks redemption at Albert Park
Despite his car losing power at the end of the session, Minì heads into the first Qualifying session of the year determined to reclaim the pole position he lost last year. The 20 year-old said he has full trust in both the team and himself, and that his promising start to the weekend leaves him confident about their competitiveness.
“I got pole last year in before getting the grid penalty. I just love the flow of the track, it’s really nice. The teams I’ve been with have always been competitive here. I have full trust in the team and I am very confident. I know that last year they’ve been competitive. Two years ago, they got pole position. And now again, we showed a very good speed since the first push in FP. So not too worried.”
Now, Minì knows what he has to do and awaits to see how Qualifying unfolds.
He added: “I know that I have to do my job as usual because you can have the best car and then do a bad lap and not be on pole. And vice versa as well. So I’ll focus on myself and I have full trust in them, and we’ll see how it goes.”
