Gabriele Minì is a Formula 2 race winner. After taking victory in challenging conditions in the Miami feature race, he now sits second in the standings. The Alpine Academy driver sat down with the Feeder Series Podcast to tell all about his maiden win in the championship and his expectations for the rest of the season.

By Cliona Sheerin

F2’s maiden voyage to North America produced a classic feature race with the kind of action to which fans of the series have become accustomed over the years. And the man who holds the honour of having won that race – MP Motorsport’s Gabriele Minì – joined the Feeder Series Podcast to debrief the weekend that transformed his sophomore F2 campaign. 

“It wasn’t so easy for us,” Minì told the Feeder Series Podcast. “Especially for the team and me in particular, we were not the quickest at the beginning of the weekend. But we still managed to grab some points in the sprint race and we still qualified in the top five, which is what you want in the end to try and fight for the championship.”

Rain was a key factor in the feature race that caught out many of the frontrunners over the 25 laps. Incidents for championship leader Nikola Tsolov, Alex Dunne and Oliver Goethe all resulted in full or virtual safety car interventions. How did Minì, who started fifth, navigate the incidents and conditions? 

“At first, every safety car restart we were struggling a bit with pace and with grip. And then we kept on getting better and better comparing to the people around us. I just had to have a clear gap from [Noel] Léon,” he said. “Actually, the safety car restart, my goal was not to try and attack straight away but was rather to have a gap from the car behind and just watch and be the spectator for the first laps.”

The final safety car intervention ended on lap 21, leaving the top three drivers – Rafael Câmara, Dino Beganovic and Minì – with four laps to battle it out for victory.

“I knew we had about four laps to go or three to go,” Minì continued. “The goal was to get some space on the car behind and then manage my tyres. So when they were fighting, I was looking for wet spots on the straights and cooling down everything. And then when they started to fight, I knew it was my moment to attack.” 

And attack he did. With just two laps to go, Minì capitalised on a wide moment from Câmara as the Brazilian made a move for the win on Beganovic, and the Italian soon found himself pressuring race leader Beganovic for victory. The two ran side by side for several turns before Minì stuck his Alpine-decked Dallara up the inside and into the lead. He then held off the rest of the pack for the final lap to take the chequered flag and his first win in the series by 0.980 seconds. 

“I had much more pace in that last two laps, so I had to use it, and in the end, it’s what I did. And with some nice battles with Dino [Beganovic], I managed to stay in the first spot,” he said.

With the 25 points that come with an F2 feature race win, Minì sits second in the standings, just one point behind championship leader Tsolov ahead of the next round at Montréal. And now that he has his first victory under his belt, does the Alpine Academy driver fancy his chances at taking the championship this year?

“If there is something about F2, it’s that you can’t really predict anything,” Minì replied. “It’s hard to know. I don’t see any reason why we can’t keep on having the good form that we’ve had at the beginning of the season, but once again I’ll just focus on myself. Focus on the job that I have to do in the simulator, in my training, and then take it lap after lap – for free practice, qualifying, sprint, then feature race and repeat. That’s the only thing that I can do.” 

Minì will be hoping to carry the race-winning momentum forward into round three of the championship this weekend at another new track in the form of the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve. 

“It’s a really tricky one. It’s usually very bumpy at least from feedback, even from Alpine. And it’s not the easiest one, even driving-wise, because you got a lot of kerbs that you can use, and when there is this kind of thing, it’s up to the driver interpretation and also car driveability, really, to whoever is best at that and can adapt better,” he said. “It will not be easy, but we know it’s going to be the same for everyone. I’m looking forward to it.”

To listen to the full interview with Gabriele Minì, check out the latest episode of the Feeder Series Podcast, available now on all major podcast platforms.

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency