Dino Beganovic celebrates victory in the F2 Madrid Feature Race 2026 alongside Alexander Dunne and Ritomo Miyata on the Madring podium. © Getty Images / Formula 2

F2 Madrid Feature Race 2026: Beganovic Wins as Tsolov’s Title Lead Shrinks to Seven

13 September 2026 · 13:42 BST

Dino Beganovic led every lap of the F2 Madrid Feature Race 2026, converting pole into a win by over seven seconds from Alexander Dunne, with Ritomo Miyata completing the podium in third. It was as complete a lights-to-flag win as this championship has produced all season, and it leaves the title race tighter: Nikola Tsolov’s lead is down to seven points over Rafael Câmara heading into Baku.

Dino Beganovic celebrates victory in the F2 Madrid Feature Race 2026 alongside Alexander Dunne and Ritomo Miyata on the Madring podium. © Getty Images / Formula 2
Dino Beganovic celebrates his F2 Madrid Feature Race 2026 victory on the podium with Alexander Dunne and Ritomo Miyata. © Getty Images / Formula 2

Key Points: F2 Madrid Feature Race 2026

  • Beganovic leads every lap from pole to win the F2 Madrid Feature Race 2026, beating Alexander Dunne by 7.320 seconds
  • Ritomo Miyata backs up his Sprint Race win with third, a second podium of the Madrid weekend for Hitech
  • Two safety cars shape the race: Kush Maini into the Turn 18 barrier, then Rafael Câmara and Oliver Goethe collide fighting for position, Goethe crashing at Turn 2
  • Câmara handed a 10 second penalty for the Goethe incident, dropping him out of the fight for the podium and down to tenth
  • Nikola Tsolov’s Hard tyre strategy fails to pay off, the championship leader finishing eighteenth
  • Tsolov still leads the championship heading to Baku, but the gap to Câmara is down to seven points

Beganovic Controls from Pole

Beganovic made the start count. Clean getaway from pole, straight into the lead, and he was never troubled for it again. Dunne held second despite locking up into Turn 1, with Câmara holding third behind him. Tsolov had gone against the field, starting the race on the Hard tyre, and it left him fifth early on and under immediate pressure from Roman Bilinski rather than settling into a rhythm.


First Safety Car: Maini in the Wall

Kush Maini was into the barrier at Turn 18 after contact with Cian Shields, the AIX Racing driver picking up a 10 second penalty for his part in it. The Safety Car came out and racing resumed on Lap 7, with TRIDENT bringing Laurens van Hoepen in from eighth and Mari Boya, Nico Varrone and Rafael Villagómez all taking their mandatory stops under the neutralisation.


The Compound Split

Noel León passed Bilinski for sixth at Turn 1, and Gabriele Minì dived inside teammate Goethe for ninth at Turn 13. He tried the same move on Miyata a lap later, ran wide, and handed the Hitech driver eighth back.

The pit stops that followed did the real position shuffling. León was first of the leaders in, switched to the Hard, and lost the place to Boya, who was still running the Soft, at the pit exit. Boya then held off John Bennett side by side through La Monumental. Câmara pitted next, also onto the Hard, and lost out to the same Soft pace at Turn 13. Stenshorne and Tsolov came in together from fourth and fifth, Stenshorne keeping his position but Tsolov losing out to Boya too. The pattern was simple: whoever was still on the Soft when a Hard-shod rival pitted picked up a place almost automatically. Tsolov’s own fresh Softs then got him back past Câmara a few laps later.


Second Safety Car: The Goethe Crash

Goethe pitted from eighth and rejoined right in the middle of the Boya and Tsolov fight, the three of them running side by side into Turn 5. It was scrappy. Goethe ran off track and lost the place to Câmara, then Boya got past him too at La Monumental. By the time it settled, Câmara was the one with Goethe in his sights.

They went wheel to wheel through Turn 1 at the start of Lap 18. Goethe was in the barrier at the exit of Turn 2 by the end of it. The Safety Car came back out, and Câmara was handed his own 10 second penalty for the contact. Bennett stopped with a mechanical issue at the same time, ending his race.

The stoppage was a gift for anyone who hadn’t yet pitted. Beganovic, Dunne, Miyata, Fittipaldi, Duerksen and Inthraphuvasak all took a free stop and jumped the queue. Racing resumed on Lap 22 of 32 with a new top six ahead of Stenshorne.


Beganovic Seals It

Beganovic started pulling clear of Dunne almost as soon as the race went green again. Minì passed Stenshorne for seventh at Turn 15. Câmara used DRS to get by Boya at Turn 5, and Tsolov followed him through the lap after.

With the race running to time and under seven minutes left, Dunne brought the gap to Beganovic down to a second. Beganovic answered with the fastest lap of the race and pushed it back out to 2.2 seconds. Further back, Fittipaldi held off Duerksen at Turn 15 before finally losing out to a move under braking at Turn 13. Tsolov’s afternoon kept getting worse in the closing laps, losing further places to Bilinski, Boya, León, van Hoepen and Montoya on his way to an eighteenth place finish. The Hard tyre gamble didn’t pay off.

Beganovic crossed the line for his first win of the season. Dunne finished second, Miyata third, Duerksen fourth and Fittipaldi fifth. Câmara’s penalty dropped him to tenth.


Classification: F2 Madrid Feature Race 2026

PosDriverTeamGapPts
1Dino BeganovicDAMS Lucas Oil1:03:29.19025
2Alexander DunneRodin Motorsport+7.320s19
3Ritomo MiyataHitech+14.015s15
4Joshua DuerksenInvicta Racing+16.691s12
5Emerson FittipaldiAIX Racing+19.630s10
6Tasanapol InthraphuvasakART Grand Prix+20.458s8
7Gabriele MinìMP Motorsport+21.268s6
8Martinius StenshorneRodin Motorsport+21.497s4
9Roman BilinskiDAMS Lucas Oil+28.311s2
10Rafael CâmaraInvicta Racing+35.386s1
11Mari BoyaPREMA Racing+36.234s0
12Laurens van HoepenTRIDENT+37.403s0
13Sebastián MontoyaPREMA Racing+37.629s0
14Rafael VillagómezVan Amersfoort Racing+40.781s0
15Nico VarroneVan Amersfoort Racing+41.215s0
16Noel LeónCampos Racing+42.032s0
17Cian ShieldsAIX Racing+43.311s0
18Nikola TsolovCampos Racing+47.888s0
DNFOliver GoetheMP MotorsportDNF0
DNFJohn BennettTRIDENTDNF0
DNFKush MainiART Grand PrixDNF0

Championship State

Tsolov’s lead survives Madrid, but only just. He stays top of the Drivers’ Championship on 177 points, with Câmara now seven points behind on 170 despite the penalty. Minì is third on 153, Dunne fourth on 139, León fifth on 119.

PosDriverTeamPoints
1Nikola TsolovCampos Racing177
2Rafael CâmaraInvicta Racing170
3Gabriele MinìMP Motorsport153
4Alexander DunneRodin Motorsport139
5Noel LeónCampos Racing119

Campos Racing lead the Teams’ Championship on 296 points, ahead of Invicta Racing on 260. Rodin Motorsport are third on 209, MP Motorsport fourth on 190, and ART Grand Prix round out the top five on 159.


Coffee Corner Take

Beganovic won this one from the moment the lights went out. Pole, a clean launch, every lap of 32 led, and when Dunne finally found a second on him late, the reply was the fastest lap of the race. That’s as complete a lights-to-flag win as this championship has produced all season, and it came on a circuit nobody had raced on before.

Strip out the two safety cars and the story changes. Genuine wheel to wheel fighting for position out front was thin on the ground. Câmara and Goethe’s fight was the one real battle that mattered in the second half, and it ended with one car in the barrier and the other in the stewards’ office. Everything else that shuffled the order came from strategy, pit timing or a Safety Car window rather than a driver finding a way past on merit. I watched most of it live, and once the tyre calls were made the order barely moved unless a Safety Car forced it to.

None of that is on Beganovic. He controlled the race and took what was in front of him. But Madring’s first Feature Race didn’t give the field much chance to show whether the circuit itself can produce a fight, and that’s a mark against the venue, not the winner.

The championship picture is the other headline. Tsolov backed the wrong tyre and paid for it with an eighteenth. He still leads, but the cushion over Câmara is down to seven points, and Baku is next up in three weeks. He needs to rebuild that gap there, not shrink it further.





Written by Terry Widdows

Founder & Editor, Coffee Corner Motorsport

This article was independently researched and written by Coffee Corner Motorsport. All opinions, analysis, and reporting are original to the publication and not affiliated with the FIA, Formula 2, Pirelli, or any Formula 2 teams or associated rights holders. All images used are credited to their respective rights holders and provided for editorial use only.


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