Gabriele Minì heads into his second season of Formula 2 with MP Motorsport in a few weeks’ time, with pre-season testing set to begin in Barcelona in a week and a half. While in Miami for Formula E’s rookie free practice session, Minì spoke with Feeder Series about his difficult first year in F2, areas for improvement and his long-term future in motorsport.

By August Bamford

Gabriele Minì doesn’t shy away from the weight of last season. After a frustrating debut F2 campaign, the Alpine junior enters 2026 with a fresh start at MP Motorsport and a renewed determination to reset his trajectory.

Minì made his F2 debut in 2024 under unusual circumstances, standing in for Ollie Bearman at Prema Racing during the 12th round in Azerbaijan. Thrown in at the deep end, the Italian immediately impressed, securing a third-place finish on debut by holding off Victor Martins by two hundredths of a second. The result set expectations high heading into his first full season in the championship with Prema in 2025.

At first, those expectations didn’t seem to be misplaced. Minì took pole position in the opening round in Melbourne before being demoted by a grid penalty, but he still recovered to finish seventh in the sprint race all while setting the fastest lap. This continued through the early part of the season, Minì featuring in the points in every race across the next two rounds in Bahrain and Jeddah. 

After the strong early performances, a series of setbacks and unforeseen problems began to chip away at his momentum. 

“To be honest, I don’t think it’s an easy one to understand because we started really well. We were really fast from the first tests. We had the fastest lap in Barcelona, fastest lap and doing pole position in Melbourne, fastest lap in the sprint race,” he told Feeder Series.

“I’d say the second, third round, we had some issues that were not really in our control. But after that, we started having quite often very similar issues. It was a trend, which was not the case in MP.”

At Monaco, he added a lone highlight, stepping onto the podium for the first time in 2025 with a second-place finish in the sprint race. From that point onwards, the momentum truly stalled. In the feature race the next day, an engine overheating issue caused by his position in a multi-car opening-lap pile-up marked the beginning of a difficult stretch, with Minì scoring just a single point across the six races that followed.

From there, the season became an up-and-down affair. There were flashes of the form that had defined his early campaign, including a podium in the sprint race in Belgium and another in the Abu Dhabi feature race, but they were offset by frustrating low points, including scoreless weekends in Hungary and Qatar.

“We always worked hard,” he said. “I can’t blame the team for anything like this. We always tried our best, but sadly, we didn’t manage to reach our goals.”

Though Minì ended the year on a high with his Abu Dhabi podium, 2025 ultimately represented Minì’s toughest year in single-seaters. He finished 13th in the standings, a result that fell well short of expectations for a previous Italian F4 champion and runner-up in both F3 and FRegional Europe. Getting back to that title-contending form is most important for Minì.

“I’m looking forward to start with MP also because they will be revenge for myself in a way,” he added.

Minì admits that after such a tough 2025, his chances of F1 ‘are very slim’. But when asked about his ultimate career goal within the broader motorsport landscape, Minì answered decisively. 

“The main goal is always Formula 1,” he said. “My whole life, I’ve been working for this. I know it isn’t easy, especially now it’s even harder, but if there’s even one little chance, I will go for it.”

That realism hasn’t stopped Minì from exploring opportunities beyond the traditional F1 route. Since his Formula E debut in 2024 at the rookie test at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport street circuit, he has contested three rookie practice sessions for Nissan. In 2025, he topped the timesheets for rookies in Berlin and finished second in Jeddah. Most recently, in Miami, Minì got his latest taste of electric cars, finishing third ahead of full-time rookie driver and former F2 rival Pepe Martí in the Cupra Kiro.

“I’m already experienced in the car,” he added. “I’ve done three days already, all of them with Nissan. I know everyone who works here – the system, the people. The main goal is to try and help the team because [there is] only one race this weekend and only one qualifying. There’s not a lot of time to do big changes in the car, so every lap or information we can get will be key.”

Minì remains an active member of the Alpine Academy, with which he has been affiliated since the start of 2023. Alpine’s parent company, Renault Group, also partially owns the Nissan brand, for which Minì has driven in Formula E. The connections have enabled him to experience a breadth of motorsport categories, with Minì maintaining regular contact with Alpine across programmes.

“I always am in touch with Alpine,” Minì said. “I always speak to them about how everything goes. But in particular, the driving, the simulator, the systems – I talk mainly with Nissan. We always keep in touch, and we always discuss for every session I do.”

Minì would not be the first F2 driver to transition to Formula E, with the likes of Dan Ticktum, Taylor Barnard and Zane Maloney having already made the leap. Still, as valuable as Formula E may be – and as enticing a prospect as it is to become a professional driver in a world championship series – Minì is careful to keep his priorities clear. With F2 testing imminent, his attention is already shifting back to the championship that will define the next stage of his career.

“I would consider [F2 and Formula E] as separate sessions,” he reiterated. “I will just focus on this [rookie free practice] first, and then we will see how things go in Formula 2 in my main career.”

Interview by Michael McClure

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency