Hitech F2 ready to take on La Monumental in Madrid
Round 11 – Madring – Preview
From the Temple of Speed to Formula 2’s newest stage, Hitech heads straight from Monza to Madrid this weekend as the 2026 FIA Formula 2 Championship makes its first visit to the Madring.
And there is already one part of the new circuit attracting plenty of attention.
La Monumental, the steeply banked corner that has quickly become the Madring’s signature feature, will provide one of the most distinctive challenges of the weekend as the F2 field prepares to race on the new circuit for the first time.
Hitech arrives in Madrid on the back of a strong points finish for Ritomo Miyata at Monza. After qualifying eighth, Ritomo delivered an attacking Feature Race drive, setting a succession of fastest laps as he worked his way forward before passing Dunne late in the race to secure fifth and 10 championship points.
Colton Herta endured a more difficult Italian weekend, which included combining his F2 programme with FP1 duties for Cadillac F1 Team. After gaining five places in the Sprint Race, his Feature Race was compromised by early contact and front-wing damage before ending prematurely at Parabolica.
With Monza behind them, both drivers now face a challenge unlike anything else on the calendar.
Unlike much of the F2 calendar, there is no bank of previous data to fall back on in Madrid. Hitech, its drivers and the rest of the field will all begin the weekend learning a circuit they have never driven before.
That places extra importance on Friday Practice. With limited running before Qualifying, every lap will matter as the drivers learn the layout and the engineers work to understand how the F2 car responds to a circuit without any previous race-weekend data.
For Ritomo, Madrid is an opportunity to build on one of his strongest Feature Race performances of the season. His pace through the second half of the Monza race underlined his potential as the championship moves into its closing stages, with four rounds still remaining.
A new circuit, a corner called La Monumental and 22 Formula 2 cars preparing to find out exactly what Madrid has in store.
Jan Sumann, Hitech F2 Head of Race Engineering:
“It isn’t often in Formula 2 that we arrive at a circuit where nobody has raced before, so there will be a lot to learn in a very short space of time.”
Jan continued:
“Practice will be particularly important. The drivers need to learn the circuit quickly while, as a team, we’ll be gathering as much information as possible before Qualifying. That makes preparation before we arrive even more important, but there are always things you can only discover once the cars are actually on track.
“Ritomo drove a very strong Feature Race at Monza and showed particularly good pace in the second half of the race. Colton had a more difficult weekend, but we now have a completely new challenge ahead of us. We want to adapt quickly and put both cars in a position to fight for points.”
