Hitech and Invicta Racing have emerged as two of the defining forces in F2 in recent seasons, finishing first and second in the 2025 teams’ standings. Ahead of the opening round of the F2 season in Melbourne, Feeder Series spoke with Hitech’s Colton Herta and Invicta’s Rafael Câmara about how the cultures within their teams, as much as the cars themselves, translate into results.

By August Bamford

F2 is often framed as a proving ground for drivers on the path to F1, but the teams themselves play just as vital a role in shaping success.

In the current era of the Dallara F2 2024 and Mecachrome engines, the championship has become increasingly competitive, and the balance of power has shifted. Prema Racing and ART Grand Prix, long considered two of F2’s traditional powerhouses, finished fifth and seventh respectively in the 2025 teams’ standings.

In their place, Hitech have emerged as one of the most consistent teams on the grid since the introduction of the new chassis and engine in 2024. Last season, the British outfit finished as runner up in the teams’ championship with 278 points, their best finish in F2 to date.

A major factor of that performance was the team’s qualifying strength. At least one Hitech car reached the top 10 in 11 of the season’s 14 rounds, regularly placing them in position to fight at the front across race weekends. 

For 2026, Hitech attracted one of the most high-profile arrivals to the championship. Colton Herta joined the British outfit after making the move from Andretti Global in IndyCar. A nine-time race winner in North America’s premier open-wheel series, Herta brings proven experience and pedigree to F2.

Herta worked closely with Cadillac, who are supporting his move to F2 as part of his long-term development towards an F1 seat, to identify a team capable of providing both a competitive car and the operational support for a championship run. Hitech offered precisely that.

“At the end of the day, the most important thing with any team anywhere is the people,” Herta told Feeder Series. “[Hitech] have a really good system set up and a good support system where guys come in and most of the time they’re homegrown. They come straight from college or university and this is their first job in racing. They get brought up the ladder in Hitech. It’s pretty cool to see that aspect.”

Hitech operates programs in multiple championships, including British F4, F1 Academy, F3 and F2. In their 11-year history, they have guided five drivers to titles while also securing team championships in three series. Rather than relying solely on experienced hires from across the paddock, the team have built a system that enables both drivers and staff to progress through the ranks together. One example is Clive Hatton, the current team manager, who progressed internally from an engineering role to his senior position.

At the centre of the Hitech structure is team co-founder Oliver Oakes. A former racing driver himself, Oakes transitioned into team management after his driving career and quickly became known for working with top karting talent through his Team Oakes squad. The influence of Oakes, who also briefly served as team principal of Alpine, has shaped Hitech’s internal culture, Herta says.

“I think Oli does a pretty good job of making sure people are comfortable and they get what they need, which in turn just drives the performance through the roof,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s the people. They’re very committed and they like what they do, and they’re very good at it.”

The only outfit to finish ahead of Hitech last season was Invicta, who have established themselves as the team to beat in F2. Invicta secured back-to-back drivers’ championships with Gabriel Bortoleto in 2024 and Leonardo Fornaroli in 2025 as well as consecutive teams’ championships in those years. In 2026, Invicta have the opportunity to become the first team in the modern era to secure both titles in three consecutive years.

Joining the team for 2026 is reigning F3 champion and Scuderia Ferrari Driver Academy member Rafael Câmara, who steps up after his championship-winning campaign with Trident. The Italian team, like Invicta, have set the standard in their category, but even Câmara could hardly have anticipated the level of dominance he would enjoy in his rookie F3 season. The Brazilian opened the year with three wins and four pole positions across his first five rounds, eventually clinching the championship a round early in Hungary. 

Câmara now begins the next stage of his career with Invicta Racing. When Invicta assumed control of the operation in early 2025 from Virtuosi Racing, the organization underwent an internal restructuring designed to strengthen the existing relationships among staff. Former team principal Andy Roche transitioned into a consultancy role, while James Robinson stepped in as CEO, bringing extensive global sponsorship and marketing experience from F1.

At the trackside level, former senior race engineer Geoff Spear was promoted to team manager, a move that reinforced continuity within the engineering group and preserved the working relationships he had already built. For Câmara, that continuity across the organisation provided a sense of stability from the outset.

“I would say that [Invicta] is very similar to Trident in a way, and I think that is one of the keys to why they are performing so well,” he said. “Everyone is working together for many years, and everyone has a very good connection. All the team is really like a big family. I think because of that, they are very transparent [in] the work, and everyone is just sharing things with each other to make sure that we all can find the best performance of the car. So I think it is very nice, and it feels very similar to Trident.”

The opening weekend of the 2026 season in Melbourne suggested that both Invicta and Hitech would pick up where they left off in 2025. Câmara delivered an impressive debut feature race podium, finishing second after running in contention for victory. Hitech also emerged from the weekend with a strong haul, with Ritomo Miyata scoring two fifth places and Herta climbing from 14th on the grid to seventh in the feature race.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency