FIA Formula 2 champions: Who are they and where are they now?

Winning Formula 2 is just the beginning, but what happens after, and how did they even get there? Here’s what you need to know about the last 3 champions.

(Image credit to formula 1)

In this series, we will look back on the past junior series champions and see where their careers have taken them since their title-winning season, from the pinnacle of Motorsport to other racing categories across the world.

With the FIA Formula 2 2026 season having just begun, new faces appearing while others disappear from the grid, now would be a good time to look back. What happens after the trophies have been awarded? Where are the past FIA Formula 2 champions over the last 3 years now? Who has gone on to find success in F1, and who took a different path? In this article, we’ll take a closer look at all of these questions, so you can be fully ready for the 2026 FIA Formula 2 season. If you have read the first article of this series, you may already know some of these names.

2025 Champion

Leonardo Fornaroli was born in Piacenza, Italy, on the 3rd of December 2004, and 10 years later in 2014, he started karting. His dad was a former racer himself, hence the early start in motorsport for Fornaroli.  He then transitioned to single-seaters in 2020 where he raced in the Italian Formula 4 Championship, in which he finished 9th overall and the ADAC Formula 4 Championship, where he finished 19th.

He returned in 2021, a year later, to both of those series’. This time he finished 4th in the Italian F4 and unclassified in the ADAC F4. In 2021 he also joined the series, FIA Central European Zone Formula 4 and finished 3rd overall.

The following season he competed in the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, also known as FRECA, where he ended as the highest-placed rookie in 8th overall that season and in the Formula Regional Asian Championship in which he ended 17th. After his very impressive rookie campaign in FRECA, the Formula 3 team, Trident, was quick to confirm that he would be taking part in the post-season Formula 3 test at Jerez in Spain in September 2022.

Off the back of an impressive post-season test, Trident confirmed that he would be part of their 2023 driver line-up alongside now Formula One Driver, Gabriel Bortoleto and Oliver Goethe for the 2023 FIA Formula 3 season. He managed to secure two podiums that season and finished 11th overall in a season where his teammate, Bortoleto ended up winning the championship.

In 2024 Fornaroli returned to get a second campaign in the F3 championship. Even though he didn't win a single race this season, he stayed consistent which made him win the 2024 Formula 3 championship, making him the first winless champion in FIA Formula 3 history.

Shortly after, he signed with FIA Formula 2 team Invicta Racing for the 2025 season. While signed he took part in the FIA Formula 2 Abu Dhabi race weekend with Rodin Motorsport, replacing Zane Maloney who had to start his career in Formula E. He ended up finishing just outside the points in both the sprint and the feature race.

Fornaroli returned to Yas Marina shortly after to do the FIA Formula 2 post-season test with his new team, Invicta Racing, where he completed 261 laps across the test.

He ended up winning the 2025 FIA Formula 2 season in the penultimate round of the season in Qatar, becoming the fifth rookie driver to be crowned Formula 2 Drivers' Champion.

Following his title win, he signed with McLaren, a day before his birthday, to be part of their Driver Development Programme and later on named as McLaren Reserve Driver for the FIA Formula 1 2026 season where he is working now.

(Image credit to Autosport)

2024 Champion

Gabriel Bortoleto born in Sao Paulo, Brazil on the 14th of October 2004. Bortoleto started his karting career early. Already at the age of seven he started his competitive karting career, where he went on to win multiple national titles, before making his single seater debut in 2020 in Italian F4 with the team Prema, where he finished 5th overall.

This strong campaign in Italian F4 made him move to FRECA where he joined Formula One Driver Fernando Alonso’s FA Racing team - who is now his manager - then partnered with MP Motorsport for the 2021 season in which he finished 15th overall after a hard season with lots of struggles.  In 2021 he also competed in Stock Car Light Brasil, where he finished 13th overall.

He returned to FRECA the following year, 2022. This time finishing 6th while also competing in Formula Regional Asian Championship finishing 14th and Stock Car Pro Series, position unclassified. This solid performance made Trident sign him for the FIA Formula 3 2023 season, alongside new teammates Leonardo Fornaroli and Oliver Goethe. He was not considered a favorite that season unlike drivers like Zak O'Sullivan, Paul Aron and Dino Beganovic, but after a fiercely competitive Formula 3 season, he ended up proving them wrong by winning the title at the final round at Monza.

After that very promising title-winning season, he then signed with McLaren for their McLaren Driver Development programme. Backed by McLaren and Fernando Alonso as a manager he joined Invicta Racing for the 2024 FIA Formula 2 season, alongside teammate Kush Maini. With 8 podiums and 2 wins out of the 14 rounds and 214.5 points in total, he managed to secure the championship over the runnerup, now Formula One Driver Isack Hadjar.

Not very long after the title-win, rumors started circling around that then Formula 1 team Kick Sauber had signed a contract with Bortoleto and even more when McLaren announced they had released the Brazilian driver from their programme.

In Bortoleto’s first season in Formula 1, he finished 19th overall. His best result was P6 in Hungary where he scored 8 of his total 19 points at the end of the season.

In his second season, here in 2026, he’s currently 14th in the standings after 2 rounds done.

(Image credit to Sky sports)

2023 champion:

Théo Pourchaire born in Grasse, France on the 20th of august 2003. He got his start in the motorsport world, already 7 years later he started karting. He showed great speed already back then, by winning multiple french cups and categories, before making his single-seater debut in 2018 where he stepped up to F4 France unclassified position and F4 France junior where he finished 1st overall with 14 wins out of the 18 races.

After that outstanding performance he joined the then Formula One Team Sauber’s Junior Team in 2019. Being backed by Sauber he continued in Formula 4 in 2020, but this time in the ADAC Formula 4 Championship, where he secured the title with just 7 points over the runnerup, Dennis Hauger.Because of that superb title-winning season, he impressed Sauber, so they signed him to their Driver Academy, but he did not only impress Sauber, he also impressed the FIA Formula 3 Team, ART Grand Prix who signed him for the Formula 3 2020 season, alongside teammates, Alexander Smolyar and Sebastian Fernández.

After a remarkable rookie Formula 3 season, he finished as a runnerup, just 3 points behind now Formula One Driver, Oscar Piastri with 2 wins and 8 podiums and at just 16 he became the youngest ever FIA Formula 3 winner, before it was taken away by another now Formula One Driver, Arvid Lindblad. 

The F3 season ended mid September and a month later in October, he made his Formula 2 debut with BWT HWA Racelab for the two final rounds of the FIA Formula 2 2020 season to gain early experience. ART Grand Prix was impressed by him once again, so they signed him for the 2021 FIA Formula 2 season, alongside teammate Christian Lundgaard. That season he finished 5th overall, despite suffering from a broken wrist, and becoming the youngest ever FIA Formula 2 winner, before Arvid Lindblad took it away yet again.

Pourchaire returned to Formula 2 again the following season in 2022, alongside new teammate Frederik Vesti. He secured 2nd place in the standings, just behind Felipe Drugovich, with 2 wins and 4 podiums. In 2022 he also made his FIA Formula 1 public debut, by driving in a FP1 session for the then Alfa Romeo team in Austin, where he afterwards got officially appointed as the team’s reserve driver for the 2023 season. 

He returned, yet again, to Formula 2 again in 2023 while being a reserve driver with yet another new teammate, Victor Martins. This time Pourchaire finally clinched the FIA Formula 2 title. Securing it at the final round in Abu Dhabi. Following his title-winning season, he had a brief stint in Super Formula and IndyCar before he was replaced there by Nolan Siegel. He ended 2024 by leaving the Sauber Academy and his role as Alfa Romeo's reserve driver to be appointed a test and development driver for the FIA World Endurance Championship (WEC) programme by Team Peugeot TotalEnergies. 

In 2025 he was gaining experience to become WEC driver for Peugeot in 2026, while also competing in the European Le Mans Series (ELMS) with the team Algarve Pro Racing, where he and his team finished 7th in the standings.

Early in 2026, Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team announced that he will be their Development Driver for the 2026 season, alongside Doriane Pin, Joshua Dürksen and Anthony Davidson. In 2026 he will also become a fulltime driver in the WEC with teammates Nick Cassidy and Paul di Resta.

Article written by Laura Friis