Ritomo Miyata on second F2 season, big lessons and key missing ingredient

Returning in 2025 for his second Formula 2 campaign, Ritomo Miyata says he has taken a clear step forward even if he hasn’t had the results he’d hoped for.

He has enjoyed high points, such as in Spa-Francorchamps where he earned his maiden F2 podium finish, but the Japanese driver says he knows there’s still room for improvement.

Ahead of the season resuming in Lusail, the ART Grand Prix driver sat down to reflect on how things have gone.

“This is the second season for me in F2, I moved to ART Grand Prix, a team that has a lot of success, which is nice for me,” he began.

“I’ve had many ups and downs though this year, stopping on track, cancelled races due to weather, but I got a podium at Spa, but even then, I had a mistake. But it has been a nice season for me.”

Spa remains the high-water mark for Miyata in F2. The ART driver had been in the podium places and looking set to challenge all the way to the chequered flag until a spin at Pouhon cost him.

“It’s a great memory for me. It’s a shame because I was actually fighting for the win in that race, and that was a big chance for me. I wanted to push fully, but around a circuit like Spa, and with the rain coming, it is really tough.”

Despite a fair few setbacks in 2025, Miyata says this season has been a big improvement over last year. Interestingly, the difference between 2024 and ’25 start before he’s even turned a wheel on a race weekend.

The Japanese driver says that the experience of each venue has made a huge impact on his preparations and confidence going into every round this year, joking about how he’d have to find his way not just on the track, but off it too.

“It’s funny actually, I can give an example. When you go to somewhere for the first time, you ask where the toilet is, because if you’ve never been, how would you know? Where’s the paddock? I had to ask where catering is, where the toilets are, where the car park is, everything like that. So it ends up with you being focused on the wrong things.

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“It’s a small thing, but that’s the difference between last year and this one. I can just turn up and do the track walk - it’s a complete reset and I can focus on my race weekends alone.

“All the other drivers have grown up racing around these places, in F3 or wherever else, and they have experience.

“My experiences at the track are now completely different to what they were last year. I can focus on my weekend, work with the team and I can see everything much more clearly. I can focus on things driving-wise without having to worry about anything else.”

Where those results will come from is already clear to Miyata, who points out one key ingredient that he has been admittedly lacking in so far in 2025.

However, with his familiarity now putting him on the front foot going into a race weekend, he feels it’s only a matter of time before those eye-catching weekends arrive regularly.

“I know that at some point, those results will come. I have more experience now than last year, which was my first season of racing in Europe, let alone in F2 as well. I had to learn the tracks, the tyres, engine, car and everything else with the team. It was a lot, but I have improved a lot across all of those areas.

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“I still am improving with how I work with ART. I can’t speak French, they can’t speak Japanese, so that is a difficulty, but everyone is professional.

“We’ve had a few difficulties on track this year, which has made fighting for the top positions very difficult, but we can. We have the speed, and when we’re in that position, we can fight. First, I need to improve my consistency. I was fighting for a win in Spa, but that’s the only time I’ve been in that position.

“I’ve won races in my career, I’ve always been fighting for point, Budapest could have been a podium for example, same in Barcelona in the Sprint Race.

“But I clearly need to make a step with consistency. It’s important to have results like those. Qualifying as well, if we can make it inside the top 10, we start in a good position in both races.

“Maybe even P11 and P12, you have a chance. I just need a couple of good weekends, maximise my driving and results will come.”