Formula 2 Driver Transfers 2026
- Olivia Myers
- Nov 3
- 8 min read
Over the last few weeks, we have been rewarded with many of the 2026 Formula 2 seats being confirmed, with some new and some returning faces filling up next year's grid. Some of these transfers are truly juicy. We are about to dive into the ins and outs of these transfers and the drivers at the heart of these moves as well as the recently announced Formula 3 price pool.
Nicolás Varrone to drive for Van Amersfoort Racing
Varrone is a Le Mans winner in the LMGTE AM class, having won in 2023. His performance in that race is a prime example of the Argentine's success in endurance racing so far and his strong race craft. He is currently racing in WEC with Proton and has struggled to rediscover his winning form, having only taken 1 points finish this season which is an underwhelming performance for the Argentine and could be a reason for his switch back to the Formula spec series. Focusing on his single-seater experience, he began racing in Argentinian Formula Renault 2.0 in 2016, in which he finished a lowly P27 in the standings. Despite this, he then moved to Europe in 2018 to compete in European motorsport as it was said to be more competitive and won the V de V Challenge Monoplace season, which was his first professional title. Whether Varrone can acclimatise to the significant pressures of F2 and its differences from endurance racing is yet to be seen, but looking at Miyata, who also came from a history in endurance racing, the switch over wasn't easy whatsoever.
Joshua Dürksen to race for Invicta Racing
After his seismic jump to the second tier of single-seaters in 2024, having skipped Formula 3, many doubts were raised on whether Dürksen could adapt to the vast machinery changes compared to the cars raced in FRECA. He raced in a small F2 team with AIX, a team with fewer technical resources and still found a way to impress with multiple standout results across the 2 years at the team, achieving 3 wins and 9 podiums. For the 2026 season, however, Dürksen will undergo another big change by joining title-contending Invicta Racing. Expectation and pressure will follow him through this change as he will be expected to deliver immediate results with it being in his third season in the category.
Rafael Câmara completes Invicta Racing’s line up
The Brazilian back-to-back champion, having won both the FRECA and F3 Championships in a dominant fashion, has an exemplary resume which he is looking to build further. The Ferrari Academy product will make the switch to F2 in 2026, looking for another title victory. We have had a recent confirmation that Invicta has officially signed the Brazilian as expected. This is a fitting transfer as Camara looks to emulate his Brazilian counterpart Bortoleto and not only become an F2 champion but land an F1 seat in the process. There isn't a better team in F2 currently to achieve this goal and with the experienced Durksen alongside him, the two will be a powerhouse lineup.
Colton Herta confirmed to race in Hitech’s silver machine
Despite being a new face to the Formula Junior series, American Colton Herta’s single-seater experience isn’t up to debate. With 9 Indy Car race wins and a series runner-up award under his belt, Herta will be up for a challenge this year as he undertakes a huge change of styles, in which he will be forced to adapt quickly. After a merry-go-round of transfer rumours linking Herta to multiple teams, it was finally settled that he would join Hitech TGR for the 2026 Formula 2 season. The team is a strong outfit who have developed multiple successful drivers through the junior ranks including Marcus Armstrong, Liam Lawson and most recently, Isack Hadjar. Everyone will be following this driver's F2 journey, expecting him to hit the ground running.
Miyata signs with Hitech
Partnering the IndyCar driver, Ritomo Miyata is rumoured to be heading away from the French outfit ART to pastures new at Hitech after 2 seasons of underwhelming performances, sitting below the top 15 in both his debut season and the current championship. More progression would have been expected from the Japanese driver as he started to become accustomed to the European circuits yet this hasn't materialised as planned. This final switch-up of scenery, joining Hitech, will hopefully extract the best performance out of Miyata.
Dino Beganovic signs for his second season in F2
The former FRECA Champion makes the tantalising switch to Dams Lucas Oil, returning back to the team who he made his F2 debut with. His Formula 2 debut shocked many fans with standout performances including a debut podium in the final 2 rounds of 2024. 2025 however, has been a turbulent rookie year for the Swedish driver as a result of multiple car issues and driver mistakes resulting in him missing out on points on a number of occasions. In an environment at Dams Lucas Oil, which will be familiar to the young driver, it is easy to imagine a stronger season for Beganovic in his second season of Formula 2.
Bilinski rumoured to step up to Formula 2
After finishing within the top 12 in his rookie season, the Polish driver impressed the paddock with 1 win and 3 podiums for Rodin this season in Formula 3. This performance completely outdid his teammates, some of whom are far more experienced. This has therefore earned the Polish racer a promotion to Formula 2. It is currently rumoured that Bilinski will join Dams Lucas Oil alongside Dino Beganovic which would be an interesting and competitive lineup for sure.
León jumps to F2 with Campos
2026 will see Noel make the switch from racing with Prema in F3 to Campos in F2. It's a particularly surprising jump to such a competitive F2 team after underwhelming performances in both of his F3 seasons. Over his period in F3, he was able to achieve 6 podiums overall but struggled to take home a victory. The Mexican will really have to step up his game for Campos, who expects to be fighting for the title on most occasions.
Red Bull Junior, Tsolov to step up with Campos
Finishing the lineup, young Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov has been confirmed to stay with Campos for the step up from F3 to F2. Sticking with Campos’ tradition of supporting Red Bull backed junior drivers, Tsolov will make the step up after competing in Formula 3 for three seasons. He joins the likes of Arvid Lindblad who is rumored to be connected to a F1 seat next year and Hadjar who also graduated to F2 with Campos, hoping to have a similar future and continue onto F1. Tsolov has had an interesting 3 years in the F3 series. His natural progression as a driver has been good to see as he refined his sharp edges and rashness he had in his rookie year to now being a far more complete racer. This ultimately resulted in Tsolov becoming F3 runner-up for 2025 behind a rampant Câmara. It will be interesting to see if Tsolov can hit the ground running in the same vein next year in F2.
Martinius Stenshorne to Rodin for 2026
The former FRECA runner-up is confirmed to be moving up to F2 with Rodin for the 2026 season. After 2 seasons with Hitech in F3, and a strong second year finishing P5, he ultimately deserved the step up. Furthermore, Martinius got the opportunity to trial Formula 2 when he raced for Trident in Baku. Although his single race appearance had no results to show for it due to unlucky circumstances, his raw speed and tenacity was evident, bringing a slower car to the front of the field.
Emmo Fittipaldi Jr skips F3, joining AIX Racing
The young 18-year-old has been confirmed to be making the significant jump to Formula 2 for the 2026 season. AIX Racing has decided to invest in his talent, hoping that in the future, Fittipaldi Jr will become a great replacement for Dürksen who carried the team to new heights during his stint at the team. The Brazilian currently competes in Eurocup-3 for Mp Motorsport, in which he has accumulated a single podium.
Shields to continue with AIX for another season of F2
British Cian Shields has been confirmed to be racing a 2nd season in Formula 2, sticking with AIX and completing the team's lineup. After being unable to trouble the championship in 2025, Shields heads into 2026 with a point to prove that he deserves to be racing at this level of motorsport. He isn't a stranger to good results, demonstrating this when he achieved runner-up in the Euro Formula Open Championship in 2023. Although the challenge is tough ahead, he will be looking at his future with the team and challenging his new teammate, Fittipaldi Jr, with the aim to beat him in a head-to-head competition.
Pepe Martí to debut in Formula E
After 2 F2 seasons at Campos, the Spanish driver has decided to move on from the series. It has been confirmed that Martí will race in Formula E with Cupra Kiro alongside feisty Brit Dan Ticktum who will for sure keep him on his toes and mentor him, using his experience in the series already. Martí ends his F2 journey with natural progression as a driver from P14 as a rookie to P6 in his 2nd year, as the championship currently stands. Unfortunately, the Redbull junior system is cutthroat and this change to Formula E also comes with being released fro the support of the Formula 1 team.
Maini to join Martí in Formula E
The 2nd departure to Formula E from F2 is the Indian driver Maini, who will move from his current team, Dams, to Mahindra Racing in Formula E. Maini's F2 3 year stint has been tumultuous showing glimmers of speed but not enough consistency to break into the top of the WDC by season's end on any occasion which is ultimately a disappointing turnout. Hopefully this new challenge will get the best of Maini to be able to shine. Alongside, this new challenge though, there is still some murmerings around of another F2 return for another with ART. We will see how and if that materialises in any way.
Verschoor onto new adventures
It is nearly a foregone conclusion that Verschoor will leave the F2 scene after the 2025 season. Although a full public confirmation has not been made, Verschoor has previously stated he will move on after racing in F2 for a long period. Verschoor has been a staple driver of the F2 Series, with him currently being in his 5th season, and it will take some time to get used to not seeing his name on the grid next season if he is to move on.
New F3 prize pool
Along with driver announcements, within the last month, Formula 2 CEO Bruno Michel announced a Formula 3 prize pool which will help junior drivers fund their Formula 2 seat. The top 5 champion finishers will receive a respective amount (depicted in the image below) as an initiative to financially support young drivers to compete a full season of Formula 2. This will take away a large roadblock these drivers face, many having to spend excessive amounts of time securing sponsors. The biggest prize will be received by the Champion, who will receive €300,000.
Drivers who benefit from this from the 2025 F3 roster:
Camara - €300,000 - Invicta
Tsolov - €250,000 - Campos
Boya - €200,000 - 2026 seat yet to be confirmed
Tramnitz - €150,000 - 2026 seat yet to be confirmed
Stenshorne - €100,000 - Rodin
Article written by Olivia Myers and Taegan Hignett
