Four street circuits and two semi-permanent tracks feature on Formula 2’s 2026 calendar, and drivers are racing on one this weekend for the 12th round of the season. Before they take to the Baku City Circuit, Ritomo Miyata and Emerson Fittipaldi Jr – two drivers who had almost never raced street tracks before F2 – spoke to Feeder Series about what it’s like to do so.  

By Cliona Sheerin

Following a nine-year career racing in his home country of Japan, Ritomo Miyata arrived to Formula 2 in 2024 with very little experience of competing on street tracks. Only in Macau, where he raced in previous-generation F3 machinery in 2017 and 2018, had he experienced the close confines and punishing consequences of racing on public roads. 

“I enjoy street tracks because, for me, in Japan we don’t have any street tracks,” Miyata told Feeder Series at the pre-weekend roundtable in Baku. “So very challenging, very special for me. Finally, I can understand how to drive the street tracks, how to drive fast. Finally, we finish P1 and P3 [on a] street track, [in] Madrid. Finally, I could enjoy [driving a street circuit].”

Despite that relative inexperience prior to F2, Miyata eventually got to grips with street circuits and captured his first victory on one last time out in Madrid. That result had been a long time coming for the Hitech driver, who sits 12th in the standings on a career-best 70 points with the season still in progress. 

Two top-six finishes in the Miami and Monaco feature races were evidence of his progress in his third season of F2. Now, off the back of his double podium in Madrid, Miyata knows what challenges to expect this weekend in Baku.

“Baku is also a street track, compared to Madrid or other tracks,” Miyata added. “Baku has also many red flags in qualifying or many safety cars during the race. So we need to be sure to set the best lap without big mistakes because qualifying is really important in F2, so we need to achieve the top 10 in qualifying.

“Of course, Baku has a lot of overtaking opportunities because we have a long straight, but even [then] we need to be sure [to set a] good lap. And also we need to stay calm because a lot happens [in the race]. These things are very challenging.”

Street circuits are even more novel to rookie Emerson Fittipaldi Jr. The 19-year-old skipped F3, instead making the move straight up from Eurocup-3, in which he finished 11th last year. In doing so, he bypassed any opportunity to race on the streets of Monaco or even the semi-permanent Melbourne track, both fixtures of the F3 calendar by now. Nevertheless, Fittipaldi finished the feature race seventh at the first time of asking earlier this season. 

He too enjoyed a successful weekend at the Madring, achieving his first podium with second place in the sprint race and backing it up with a top-five finish in the feature. Those results moved him to 17th in the standings, 18 points ahead of AIX Racing teammate Cian Shields.

Fittipaldi has liked what he’s seen so far from racing on street circuits, seeing his enjoyment of them as an advantage over his competitors.  

“This is my first season ever racing on street tracks,” Fittipaldi said. “[I’m] having fun and enjoying them. They’re very challenging and that’s [what] separates the grid apart from drivers because some might prefer street, some might prefer normal tracks. I have a small advantage on street tracks because I do like them a lot.”

Fittipaldi, along with the rest of the F2 grid, will be able to enjoy an additional race on the streets of Azerbaijan’s capital this weekend. The field will have two feature races as opposed to the usual one, with a double qualifying session to set the grids, mirroring F3’s schedule at their finale in Madrid. The first 20-minute qualifying session will set the grids for the sole sprint race and the first feature race on Friday, with the second determining the order of the second feature race on Saturday.

While that means longer days and more debriefs for F2’s 22 drivers, Fittipaldi does not view it as an added burden. Instead, he relishes the opportunity to gain more track time on the tight, technical and challenging Baku circuit. 

“An extra race will be always interesting – one more chance to show ourselves to the world and also to gain and gather experience,” he said. “But I don’t think it will be too demanding. It is a very technical track, it is a difficult track. But it should be quite okay, just an extra race, so it will be good.”

Header photo credit: Dutch Photo Agency