Living in the moment: Behind the Visor with Noel León

1 April 2026

Campos Racing’s Noel León is tackling his maiden season in FIA Formula 2 in 2026 and has made a strong start to the campaign.

The Mexican driver secured a podium at the first time of asking in the Championship, finishing P2 in the Melbourne Sprint Race to kick off the year.

But, away from the track, the Campos driver talks to us about what he gets up to away from the circuit and why making time to relax is more important than ever.

RACING FOR FUN

“I do a lot of karting, a lot of simulator at home, but non-racing related, but, I think it's pretty important to have something away from driving to do. Probably you would think that when I'm at home, when I'm doing simulator, when I'm doing all this kind of stuff, I'm thinking always of the race weekends, or a test, anything like that.

“But to be honest, now it's kind of like my relaxing thing. So I jump into the simulator, I do some races, I try to not care about the result and that’s nice. So, I just have fun and it clears my mind.

That's why I don't have more stuff to do outside of racing. Because for me, the simulator is the thing that comes to my mind and resets me. So it's not like you're in an F2 car at all times, even when you're not in an F2 car. When I go to the sim, I just enjoy it and try to have fun.”

MAKING TIME FOR FAMILY & FRIENDS

The Campos driver was on the podium in Melbourne in the opening race of the year

“Obviously time with friends and family is always nice. But it's obviously tricky to go home a lot during the season, especially with F2 being the busiest season I’ve done.

“But probably three times per year I go to Mexico - January, August and December. When I go, I try to relax myself a little bit. As I said, with the food, I try to enjoy it. I’ll eat a lot of tacos and all the stuff that I want, just to give a lot to your body and to your mind and then you come back to work.

“I like to spend time with my family, with my brothers playing padel, with them. We do a class together and it's always a fun time together. That’s really the only thing that I do outside of motorsport to be honest.

“It's quite competitive to be honest, I'm pretty bad. That's why I go to class with my brother because I want to get better. But I mean, we can have a good match, good moments and that's it. That's the most important thing.”

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FINDING THE RIGHT BALANCE

“I think that you need it, the breaks. And when you have a break, you need to try and not be as hard on yourself as when you are during the season.

“You need to give some love to yourself, to your mind, to enjoy the food and hobbies that you want to enjoy. Because obviously during the season, you can't eat as much as you want because of the weight, and don’t have time for everything. So it's important just to enjoy it all the time you do get outside of the season.

León is aiming to maximise his tools in 2026 both at and away from the track

“All the free time that you have is important. As you go up the categories, you have less time. I think the last year I was quite bad at trying to be in one place, but doing two different things let’s say.

“I’d be with my family but be responsible in trying to go to the gym, maintaining my diet and everything like that. So at the end of the day, I was not properly doing both things. I’d end up not enjoying the time with my family and also not enjoying and not doing the stuff I should be doing for my prep for racing.

“So this year I'm really focused on, when I'm in one place, try to be present there. Try to be as professional as I can be when I’m in the weekends. And when I have the time off, just try to enjoy the time off and not be thinking about doing other things.

“It's a long season and you don't have too many opportunities to be with the family, so you have to make the most of those times.”