Formula 2 returns this weekend after a seven-week hiatus, making its first ever trip to North America with a round at the Miami International Autodrome. On the eve of season’s second round, Feeder Series spoke to Invicta Racing’s Joshua Dürksen and Campos Racing’s Nikola Tsolov at a virtual media roundtable about what lies ahead for them this weekend.

By Martin Lloyd

It may seem a long time ago, but both Dürksen and Tsolov were winners when F2 last raced at Melbourne in early March. Dürksen took the Saturday sprint win, while rookie driver Tsolov now leads the championship after he won the feature race on Sunday.

Neither driver could immediately carry forward the momentum, however, as the next two rounds in Sakhir and Jeddah were postponed because of the geopolitical challenges in the Persian Gulf area. In their place came the round in Miami, where the track snakes around the Hard Rock Stadium that houses the National Football League’s Miami Dolphins. The circuit makes use of existing car parks, purpose-built sections and brief stretches on public roads across its 5.412-kilometre length.

“Miami is a track which has some similarities to other tracks,” Dürksen told Feeder Series at the virtual media roundtable. “I feel like it’s an interesting combination of Melbourne, Baku and maybe a bit of Jeddah sector one. The first sector here in Miami is high-speed corners, fast-flowing, then the sector two and three is very tight corners, slow speed. 

“Also, the track is a bit more narrow there, so it just gives me a [sense of] Baku as well. I think I can mix up those experiences from those tracks to make it in this track, and I think it’s going to be a cool weekend.” 

To have extended breaks in the F2 season is not unheard of. Indeed, the now-traditional two-month gap between the rounds in Baku and Lusail features again in the 2026 calendar. But dealing with an unexpected halt to the season after just one round presented a different challenge to the drivers. 

Not least of those challenges has been the introduction of a new track to the F2 calendar. Of F1’s regular support series, only F1 Academy – in which no current F2 driver has competed – has previously raced at the Miami International Autodrome before, while neither F2 nor predecessor series GP2 has ever been to North America, meaning the event presents a completely new environment for everyone in the championship. It is the first new circuit on the F2 calendar since Lusail was added in 2024. 

“The challenge”, Tsolov explained, “is the fact that there’s both high- and low-speed corners. There needs to be a middle setting of the car, figuring out how it should go fastest. The first sector is quite high-speed, and then going into the really, really slow section is quite tough. The walls are really close. 

“I would compare it to kind of a street track. It’s not too far from Melbourne in terms of asphalt. Warm-up is expected to be a little difficult, although it’s pretty warm out here, and the challenges are trying to get a clean and nice lap because we don’t know the track that much and probably won’t get much running in practice. For me, it’s probably going to be more about putting a decent lap together rather than going for the perfect one.”

Indeed, at Melbourne last time out, two red flags were thrown in practice for incidents involving Colton Herta and Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, while in qualifying, Mari Boya’s trip into the barriers caused a stoppage. Only Gabriele Minì has driven at the circuit before, in the Formula E rookie free practice at the start of this year, and the grid’s lack of track familiarity will only heighten the likelihood of incidents and subsequent interventions from race control. While drivers will have negotiated the circuit on the simulator, they will not be familiar with the nuances of the track surface and conditions. 

Having won the sprint race in Australia for the second consecutive season, Dürksen will be expected to perform again in Miami. In 2025, he was in the same position, albeit with the less-fancied AIX Racing team. Following that sprint win in 2025, he only scored one point before reaching the seventh round at Spielberg. He told Feeder Series about how he has worked to ensure that he does not repeat this pattern in 2026 with the reigning teams’ champions. 

“It’s continuous learning – there’s not one specific thing that can change everything,” Dürksen said. “It’s the accumulation of the little bits that makes you better, right? I’ve just been working on myself to improve in all the areas I think I need to improve. 

“With Invicta”, he continued, “in case I have some issues or if I don’t understand something, for sure they’ll be able to help me a lot and make sure I’m on the right way.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency