Noel León on enjoying racing in 2026, eyeing a place in Formula 1 and the title fight

It has been a season of incredible ups and a few downs for Noel León, but most importantly it is a campaign he is thoroughly enjoying.

The Campos Racing driver has impressed in 2026, achieving three victories, including at the Budapest Feature Race before the summer break.

That leaves León fifth in the Driver’s Championship with 94 points – the third highest placed rookie in the Standings.

“It's been a very good first half of the season,” says León. “I was dealing with a lot of ups and downs, but very good ups. But in general, I'm pretty happy with my rookie season.

“The positive is that I've been able to show how strong I am, doing pole positions, wins, fastest laps in races. The pace that I've been having with the team has been amazing.

“The bad ones are that we have not always been able to maximise Sundays, especially at the Red Bull Ring. I started P1 and finished P7, so that was a hard one for me to lose.”

POSITIVES AFTER A DIFFICULT 2025

A day after León’s victory in the Monte Carlo Sprint Race, his Team Principal Adrián Campos said: “It's good that Noel won yesterday, but to be honest, he shouldn't have won because he should have been starting further in the front today. He deserved to be fighting for pole on Friday.”

That quote was put to the Mexican driver and although he acknowledged that he could have had better qualifying results he pointed to a few factors, like traffic and Red Flags, that have affected the outcomes.

But given the difficulties of León’s 2025 FIA Formula 3 campaign – where he finished 17th in the Standings with 36 points – he takes plenty of positives from the fact that he is fighting at the front.

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“It's a big change to be honest,” says León reflecting on the difference between last year and this season. “Last year many people including myself felt I was in the position where I was going to fight for the championship and then at the end I was struggling to get points.

“So it was a very difficult one. Mentally, I was not prepared for that after making a big jump to a championship-winning team for my second year. I felt I was going to win every race.”

“But it was not even possible to think about that after just the first race. I then got a very nice opportunity with Campos, so I am very thankful for them, with all my sponsors as well for the help to get this chance.”

COMPARING HIMSELF TO TSOLOV

That experience of battling in the midfield last year is what León believes has been a major difference between him and Tsolov.

His Bulgarian teammate currently leads the Drivers’ Standings and has achieved six victories of his own. But León feels that their pace is quite similar and that the difference comes in how they are able to extract their best on race days when fighting at the front.

“I think compared to Nikola, where I was mainly missing at the beginning of the season was that at the front you race different,” he explains. “At the front you need to think different, you need to do different things.

“I was not used to it because I was used to be fighting for P15, P20. So it's very difficult, because it’s very different. So I think at the beginning of the season, that was the main thing, that he was able to extract performance better.

“The pace was very similar, but just in terms of how to extract it, he was able to do it better. It was difficult. It's good to have a teammate like this, that is doing good, so you know where to learn and where to go forward.”

CONTINUING AN ENJOYABLE YEAR AND MAKING A NAME FOR HIMSELF

León felt that the double header in Spa-Francorchamps and Budapest before the summer break was critical to his season.

Speaking after his win in Budapest he said: "As I said before the weekend, this was going to be the weekend that we turn around things and we keep moving forward."

The Campos driver now wants to continue that form after the summer break. Not only his title charge on the line but with him also having desires on making a name for himself in Formula 1.

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“There’s still a long season ahead,” he says. “I think everybody felt like the season was going to end in two weeks before the summer break, but there's still a long season ahead.

“Obviously, I want to be on the map for everyone in the Formula 1 paddock. But to be on the map for everyone you cannot wait until the last race. You need to already be in their thoughts and already on the radar.

“I want to be there. I know what I need to do to be on the radar. That's why I'm pushing myself and pushing the team to be there. I'm very confident with the team and this is also giving me confidence to be on the radar for Formula 1.”

In addition to that, the Mexican is enjoying his time with the team and wants that to continue when F2 goes to Monza next weekend.

“Obviously, when we are not fighting for the podium or for P1, it's not as enjoyable,” he says. “But it's been a very good season, to be honest, to be back on the fight for a championship, to be there in the top five, not far from top three.

“At the beginning of the season we had great pace, so obviously Campos is helping a lot and I'm in a very good position with them.

“The team is also in a very good position, so everything is very nice, very enjoyable. I'm having a good time, to be honest,”