Gabriele Minì stormed to his maiden Formula 2 victory in a chaotic, rain-soaked Miami feature race, beating Dino Beganovic and Rafael Câmara in a dramatic late-race showdown. Feeder Series spoke to Minì, Beganovic and Câmara after the race about how they navigated the conditions and approached the decisive battle in the last three laps.

By August Bamford and Michael McClure

Minì finally has his Formula 2 victory, and it could not have come in more spectacular fashion. The conditions in Miami were treacherous and ever-changing, but the Italian kept his composure while others faltered and delivered most when it mattered. 

After stalking the leaders in the closing stages, MP Motorsport’s Minì seized his moment and kept his nerve to snatch the lead from DAMS driver Dino Beganovic on the penultimate lap. The Swede’s charge to the front secured him second place, while Invicta Racing’s Câmara, who had controlled much of the race, was forced to settle for third after the late shuffle. 

“To be honest, in the last laps, I was a bit of a spectator of the fight,” Minì told Feeder Series in the post-race press conference. “I was trying to cool down the tires while they were both fighting really hard. I think that played a big factor later on as even five degrees in the tires can make a huge difference and then it just builds up lap after lap. It usually gets worse as the track dries up. I knew I was the one with the most advantage, and I had to use it.”

The result marked Minì’s first victory in single-seaters since his 2024 F3 Monaco feature race triumph nearly two years ago. It came on a circuit where he was the only driver to have any driving experience, having participated in the Formula E rookie free practice session on a modified configuration of the Miami International Autodrome in late January.

The Miami feature race began three hours earlier than initially planned and under ominous skies, with heavy rain earlier in the morning creating extremely difficult conditions. Visibility was poor, the track surface unpredictable and drama present before the race even began as Roman Bilinski failed to make the grid. Third-place starter Martinius Stenshorne then earned a costly stop-and-go penalty for a start procedure infringement, effectively ruining his race before it had truly begun.

The field completed three formation laps behind the safety car. When the race finally got underway from a standing start, championship leader Nikola Tsolov was spun around at Turn 1 following contact from Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak, forcing an early retirement. Inthraphuvasak received a 10-second time penalty for causing the incident. As multiple drivers struggled for grip and ran wide, Maini emerged holding the lead from Stenshorne, Câmara, Joshua Dürksen and Minì.

In contrast with yesterday’s clean, largely incident-free sprint race, incidents and safety cars were a recurring theme throughout the feature race.

With work underway to recover Tsolov’s car, race control made the call for all drivers to go through the pits. Maini and Câmara, however, did not, and Stenshorne briefly ended up ahead of them before drivers rearranged themselves.

The next incident happened at the restart at the end of lap three, when Oliver Goethe, running sixth, went wide exiting the final corner and clattered the barrier, breaking his suspension. Debris from the accident brought out a virtual safety car at the end of lap five, which lifted on lap six.

Goethe’s incident removed the sole car between Minì and Beganovic, and the DAMS driver was on a tear, finally passing the remaining MP car on lap seven into Turn 4. He then set off in pursuit of the battling Invictas of Câmara and Dürksen, with Minì and Alex Dunne joining the fray as well.

Then on lap nine, Dunne – the last car in the queue – lost grip at Turn 17 and ran wide, nosing his car into the barrier. The incident triggered a full safety car on lap 10 and a flurry of pit stops, with all but three drivers coming in. Câmara emerged as the de facto leader, as a well-placed gap enabled him to jump Maini, who had to wait for other cars to pass in the pit lane. Rafael Villagómez became the race’s fifth retirement after experiencing an issue in pit lane during his stop.

At the restart on lap 14 – with 25 minutes remaining in a now-timed race – Dürksen led Colton Herta and John Bennett, all running older wet tyres. Beganovic passed Maini for fifth, and a net second, around the outside of Turn 1, with Noel León and Minì making moves over the next lap.

All the while, the leaders’ strategic gamble was unravelling. Nicolás Varrone tagged Stenshorne into a spin that also held up Laurens van Hoepen, an incident that triggered another safety car period. Dürksen and Herta stopped and dropped outside the points-paying positions.

Green-flag conditions resumed again on lap 17 and Minì made up another place with an opportunistic pass on León at Turn 16, but conditions again didn’t last long. Cian Shields spun the next lap at Turn 7, and by lap 19, the race was neutralised again.

As the track dried, some were tempted into risky strategy calls. John Bennett gambled on slick tires but quickly spun at Turn 12, proving conditions were not ready. He returned to the pit lane the next lap.

Five minutes – enough for four laps – remained when the safety car came in for the final time at the end of lap 21, with a three-car battle set up.

Câmara had begun to show cracks, running slightly deep at Turn 17 on lap 23 and opening the door for Beganovic. The Swede didn’t hesitate to capitalise, taking a tighter line and slipping through at the next corner. Câmara, desperate to respond, launched a bold counterattack, diving down the inside at Turn 1, but he ran too deep, losing momentum and allowing Minì to slip through into second.

Minì then quickly went on the offensive, looking to the outside of Beganovic at Turn 11 as the Ferrari junior braked late to defend. The two ran wheel to wheel for several corners, Beganovic holding the inside, but Minì rotated the car on exit, almost drifting it. Beganovic jumped ahead at the chicane and led entering Turn 17 – where he again ran wide. Minì got the traction, edged ahead, and completed the move for the lead.

From there, victory was in sight for the 21-year-old, but he was still struggling for grip around the 5.412-kilometre circuit. On the final run to the line, Minì ran wide at Turn 17, nearly undoing all of his hard work, but he kept it together and had just enough to hold off Beganovic for victory by 0.980 seconds. 

Despite missing out on his maiden feature race win, Beganovic delivered his strongest drive of the season, securing second place with a controlled display of both aggression and defence. 

“I would’ve liked to be in his spot, a little bit less stressful than for me and Rafa. A spectator view sounds very nice for the last couple laps!” Beganovic joked. “To be at the front fighting for position and trying to be first for the last lap is quite tough because you take a lot out of the tires while you’re fighting, especially with the conditions we had. We kind of paid the price, both me and Rafa. 

“I think Gabriele managed it very well in the race, and staying in P3 while we were doing our battle in front was definitely beneficial. He was also not under threat for the last lap, so it was a great job from his side. At the same time, we had a great battle with both drivers. It was very respectful, wheel to wheel without crashing, and I think it shows that the level is quite high in the front, which is nice to see for the fans and F1 teams.”

Câmara lost out on a potential win but remains third in the title fight with his second consecutive feature race podium, level on points with race winner Minì in second overall. 

“It was good at the end. I think there was not a lot of spray,” Câmara explained. “It was some nice fighting, also a bit difficult to fight because the grip was very low. If you’re trying to push more on the brakes or be more on the limit, you could easily make a mistake, probably like I did in Turn 1. It was good fight, though – an exciting last few laps. It was a fun race in the end. Hopefully we can get some of that in the next round.”

León put together a quietly impressive drive to end fourth after starting 13th, while Maini, who started from pole, endured a far more difficult afternoon and struggled to regain positions after the pit stop cycle. Both the Indian driver and Câmara remain under investigation for not following race control’s instruction to go through the pits during the safety car period on lap one. 

Ritomo Miyata came home in sixth place after a steady performance, though he was noted for an unsafe release. The Japanese driver prevailed in a late-race battle of his own with Mari Boya as the track began to dry.

Herta was the highest finisher of those on the alternate strategy in eighth place. He was involved in multiple on-track battles, even having late contact with Sebastián Montoya that left him with minor front wing damage. Montoya himself secured ninth from 19th on the grid, while Dürksen rounded out the top 10, his race defined by being the lead driver on an alternate strategy that did not work out. 

In addition to the three-way battle for the victory, there is also a three-way battle for the top spot in the drivers’ standings. Despite not finishing the race, Tsolov remains at the head of the standings on 35 points, just a sliver ahead of Minì and Câmara on 34 each. Campos Racing on 55, Invicta on 50 and MP on 46 make up the top three in the teams’ standings.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency