Control Herta tops his first session in F2 Practice at the 2026 Miami Grand Prix. The hometown hero, who enters his second race weekend, topped the timesheets by one and a half hundredths.
Kush Maini followed closely in second, while Laurens van Hoepen, who ended the session in third, made contact with the wall in the final moments of Practice.
F2 in North America
After a delayed calendar, Formula 2 is back with the first of two race weekends in North America. With multiple drivers treating this weekend like a home race, the grid was raring to go for the only practice session.
With the Miami International Autodrome as a new circuit for all the teams and drivers, it was hometown hero Colton Herta who was quickest early. Herta, who transitions from Indycar to F2 edged ahead of Nikola Tsolov and Dino Beganovich.
Mari Boya, who sported a new Aston Martin livery, was just off the pace as the hour continued to tick down. However, a spin for Noel León forced the first VSC of the weekend. Campos’ day has gone from bad to worse in the space of a few minutes, as Tsolov come to a stop on track at Turn 13 bring out the Red Flag.
Green Flags for Miami
After a prolonged red flag period, the track was clear and the flags were green. With just under half the practice session remaining, all of the F2 cars were back on track. Herta once again brought the pace, clocking a 1:41.095. The Cadillac Test Driver was followed by Laurens van Hoepen. Invicta looked to continue their Australian form, with Joshua Durksen and Rafael Câmara trailing in third and fourth.
However, it was Alex Dunne who jumped to the top. The Alpine supported driver clocked a 1:40.999. He wasn’t at the top for long as the times continued to tumble. Mini, Beganovich and Durksen all went quickest around the 5.4km circuit. Van Hoepen was then next to the top. The Trident driver clocked a 1:40.480, two tenths clear of the field.
Herta on top at Home
While both Herta and Sebastian Montoya claim Miami as their home race, it was the Hitech driver who continued to top the timesheets. After slotting behind Miani, Herta continued to challenge in his second F2 weekend.
With only nine tenths separating the top 16, the final minutes of qualifying were tight. With less than two minutes remaining in F2 practice, it was Herta who jumped to the top of the timesheets once again. Clocking a 1:40.320, separating himself from Maini by 0.016 seconds.
However the session didn’t end without drama, as van Hoepen, who finished the session in third, made contact with the barrier at Turn 7. Sustaining small front wing damage, the Dutch driver should be back out on track this afternoon for Qualifying.
After a strong opening to the session, Beganovich finished practice in fourth ahead of Goethe and Durksen. Dunne, who is looking to bounce back from a difficult opening round ended practice in seventh ahead of Villagómez and Miyata. While fellow Alpina academy driver Gabriele Mini ended the session in tenth.
Formula 2 will return at 14:30pm track time for the second qualifying of the session. This qualifying will set the grid for both the Sprint Race on Saturday at 10am, and Sunday’s Feature Race at 12:30pm (GMT-4)
Feature Image Credit: Formula 2