Arriving for round 7 of the Formula 2 season on a high from a 2-3 podium at the Red Bull Ring, MP Motorsport entered the Silverstone weekend in high spirits.
The weekend ahead granted Gabriele the opportunity to extend his championship lead further, for Oliver to continue his climb up the points ladder, and for the team to potentially make their way towards P1 in the teams' championship, entering the race in England only 32 points behind Campos Racing.
The MP Motorsport drivers began their weekend at Silverstone in a morning free practice session.
With an initial deleted lap time early on in the session, Gabriele went fastest, exhibiting great pace for the weekend ahead. Unfortunately, struggling with balance, Gabriele hit the barriers, but was able to stay on track. Despite his issues with the barriers, Gabriele was able to maintain consistent fast lap times, leaving the session having completed 19 laps, with a fastest time of 1:42.354, putting him P5 in the session.
Completing one more lap than his teammate, Oliver came out of the session in P16 with a fastest time of 1:42.691. Only 0.6 seconds slower than the leading driver of the session, Alex Dunne, Oliver had a strong second sector with the potential to push and perform even better in the upcoming qualifying session later that day.
Free Practice Results:
To determine placements on the grid for the sprint and feature race, the MP Motorsport drivers made their way to the track for qualifying.
In an incredibly challenging qualifying session, both Gabriele and Oliver exhibited a decent amount of pace, with both drivers topping flying laps in the final 6 minutes.
Although, with the highly competitive conditions of qualifying, Gabriele ended up qualifying in P10 with a 1:40.382, although not as fast of a result that he was capable of, he qualified on pole for the sprint race.
Oliver, who also displayed promising pace, was unlucky in qualifying, setting a fastest time of 1:40.486, placing in P13.
Qualifying Results:
In the seventh sprint of the Formula 2 season on Saturday, the MP Motorsport drivers took to the track with Gabriele starting on pole and Oliver in P13.
Gabriele had a great launch, retaining his lead; meanwhile, Oliver fell to P17 on the launch, caught in the pack.
On the opening lap, there was a collision between Sebastian Montoya and John Bennett, resulting in a safety car, which stayed out until the end of lap 6.
Gabriele controlled the restart on lap 7, where he maintained his lead and defended well against Nikola Tsolov behind him. Meanwhile, on lap 7, Oliver was involved in an incident with Cian Shields, falling to P19.
A couple of laps later on lap 14, Oliver was able to make his way up to P18.
On lap 16, Nikola Tsolov was on the back of Gabriele again; the Campos driver attempted to overtake, but Gabriele defended strongly and shut down any attempted overtake before pulling away.
After a collision ahead, Martinius Stenshorne fell down the grid, promoting Oliver to P17, and he ended up P16 when he crossed the finish line.
On the penultimate lap, Nikola Tsolov attempted an overtake again of Gabriele, which Gabriele again shut down and defended his position.
In an unfortunate turn of events, on the final lap, Gabriele locked up at Village, allowing Nikola Tsolov to creep up behind and snatch the lead in the closing final sector.
Although a tragic end to a potential win, Gabriele finished in P2, marking his eighth podium of the season. With his dominance throughout the race, he exhibited skill to deliver that performance in the feature race on Sunday.
Sprint Race Results:
In the final event at Silverstone for round 7 of the Formula 2 2026 season, the MP Motorsport drivers took part in the Feature race with Gabriele starting in P10 and Oliver in P13.
At the launch, Gabriele maintained his grid position, but later in the lap lost a position to Dino Beganovic, falling to P11. Meanwhile, Oliver lost a position on the launch, coming out in P14.
Furthermore, Oliver lost more positions on lap 2, falling to P16 and then P17 on lap 3. Meanwhile, Gabriele was overtaken by Nico Varrone and ended up in P14.
On lap 3, Gabriele was under pressure from Sebastian Montoya, but defended well and held his position.
Later on, Gabriele, in redemption from the start, overtook Nico Varrone and Dino Beganovic, rising back up to P10 on lap 6.
Meanwhile, on the same lap as his teammate, Oliver made a move on Laurens van Hoepen to take back P16.
Lap 7 saw multiple drivers pitting; both Gabriele and Oliver stayed out on track. As a result, Gabriele was promoted to P4 and Oliver to P8.
On lap 8, more drivers began to pit, promoting Gabriele to P3 and Oliver to P6.
By lap 12, Oliver was on the back of Mari Boya, challenging for P7.
For ten laps, the MP Motorsport drivers maintained their positions on the track. Offsetting that, on lap 23 Gabriele finally pitted to replace his hard tyres with softs, promoting Oliver to P5.
Coming out of the pits, Gabriele came out in P12. Although locking up on the exit, he maintained his position and began to warm up his tyres.
The following laps saw more drivers pitting ahead, consisting of Joshua Dürksen and Rafael Villagómez, which further promoted Oliver to P2, to sit behind the provisional leader Noel León.
On lap 25, Gabriele made a move on Tasanapol Inthraphuvasak to climb up to P9.
Finally, on lap 26, Noel León pitted, which left Oliver as the only un-pitted driver and the provisional leader before he was overtaken by Nikola Tsolov.
On the same lap, Gabriele was up to P8 after Noel León pitted, and then P7 after overtaking Roman Bilinski at the end of the lap.
With three laps to go, Oliver finally pitted, initially coming out in P17 but fell to P18, where he finished the race.
On the other hand, when Oliver pitted, Gabriele was promoted to P6, where, despite challenges from Noel León and Roman Bilinski behind him, he remained in his position to the flag.
Feature Race Results:
MP Motorsport left round 7 of the 2026 Formula 2 season at Silverstone with a decent performance. Gabriele scored consistent points in both races, only narrowly missing out on P1 in the initial race due to a small mistake on the final lap.
Oliver, disadvantaged by being stuck in the back of the pack, did make plenty of good overtakes, but ended up out of the points for the weekend.
The team left Silverstone in P2 in the teams championship, and Gabriele unfortunately lost his lead, falling to P2. Although with only a 17-point difference, the upcoming race at Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps later in June could see Gabriele snatch his lead back.
Driver Standings After Round 7:
Team Standings After Round 7:
