There are two ways to interpret Red Bull letting you go after one year: as a failure or as the starting point of something better. Noël León chose the second option, and three years later he is in Formula 2 with Campos Racing, three championships in his record, the earned respect of the European teams that have seen him grow, and the certainty that the path to Formula 1 is traced through victories, not through the stamp of an academy.
Noël Jesús León Vázquez was born on December 21 2004 in Monterrey, the industrial capital of the state of Nuevo León in northeastern Mexico. The city shares its name with the state that saw him born and is also Mexico’s second most important urban centre by economic activity. In Mexican motorsport, Monterrey has its own history: its circuits have hosted national karting events for decades, and a passion for speed forms part of the DNA of a city accustomed to producing talent across multiple disciplines.
His family introduced him to karting in 2013 at eight years old, and the early years were ones of learning and kilometre accumulation in national categories. The speed was evident from the start, but it was in 2017 that León took his first serious competitive step, at twelve, when he made his single-seater debut at the penultimate round of the 2017-18 NACAM F4 season with Ram Racing, substituting for Michael Santos. The debut was immediately impressive: podium in race one, podium in race two. The single-seater world already knew his name.
2018-2020: The North American championships
León competed at the opening of the 2018-19 NACAM F4 season, which supported the Mexican Grand Prix, and again scored podiums. For the full 2019-20 season with Ram Racing again, he opened the campaign with a victory and a podium at the Mexican Grand Prix 2019 round. That year he won the NACAM F4 championship convincingly, accumulating 14 victories across the first two complete seasons of the category.
The next step was the US Formula 4 Championship in 2021. North America, more circuits, more competition, more pressure. León responded exactly as he had before: won the championship on his first attempt, in his only US F4 season, with multiple victories and a performance that was beginning to attract attention from Europe.
2022: The leap to Europe and first FRECA steps
2022 represented the most important geographical and competitive leap of his career to that point. León crossed the Atlantic and joined the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine, the European springboard toward F3. The season brought no headline results, finishing twenty-third, but it was the obligatory learning year that every Latin American driver pays upon arriving in Europe for the first time: new circuits, different climate, first-level competition.
What did happen that year changed his future: Red Bull announced on January 14 2022 that León would join their junior programme. It was the ultimate validation of his talent. But the association was shorter than expected: it lasted only one year. Red Bull did not renew for 2023, and León revealed months later with honesty that he had not received adequate support before the start of his first European season, adding that he was disappointed the programme had not placed him in a top three team as had been previously promised.
2023: Euroformula Open and the response with the title
If Red Bull closed a door, León knocked it down. In 2023 in the Euroformula Open, one of the transition championships between F4 and F3, he signed a historic season: seven victories, sixteen podiums, the championship with authority. He also competed in the Macau Grand Prix, the most demanding street circuit on the global junior calendar, finishing nineteenth but accumulating experience of the Guia layout.
The Euroformula Open title was León’s answer to the Red Bull year. Without a manufacturer academy, without a corporate programme behind him, he won one of the most competitive championships in the European junior ladder with consistency and dominance. F3 teams began calling.
2024: F3 with Van Amersfoort Racing and the Macau podium
For 2024 León took the step up to FIA Formula 3, the direct antechamber of F2, with Van Amersfoort Racing. It was his first year in a category that ran as F1 support, at the same circuits, on the same weekends. The learning curve was real but results arrived: four podiums across the season and tenth place in the championship as a rookie. He also returned to Macau, this time finishing third, his best result at the Chinese street circuit that is the jewel of the junior calendar.
2025: Prema Racing and F3 consolidation
For 2025 León signed with Prema Racing, the most decorated team in recent F3 history, targeting higher championship positions. The season was uneven with seventeenth final position and 36 points, but included two additional podiums that elevated his total to six across his two years in the category. Beyond the final numbers, the year with Prema gave him the reference of working with the most demanding team in the F3 paddock.
He ended the season with a third-place Feature Race result at Monza, a result which by his own words allowed him to close the F3 chapter with some satisfaction.
2026: Campos Racing and F2 — the decisive year
Campos Racing’s decision to sign León for F2 2026 was announced in October 2025, forming alongside Bulgarian Nikola Tsolov, the 2025 F3 champion, the most interesting rookie pairing in the category. This is no ordinary team: Campos Racing is one of the historic teams of the European junior paddock, based in Valencia, and has produced drivers who reached Formula 1.
León was categorical in the announcement: it is an honor to take this important step in my career and join Campos Racing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. I am truly grateful for the team’s trust and for the support of my sponsors, whose commitment has made this dream possible.
His Melbourne debut at the first 2026 round was encouraging. In a new category with mostly unfamiliar circuits, León moved with the consistency that has been his personal hallmark: eighth in the championship after round one with 8 points, showing that F2 adaptation is a process that takes time but one he has the mentality to navigate.
F2 2026 is his decisive year. If it goes well, if the results accumulate and León’s name appears in the points positions with regularity, the conversation about Formula 1 stops being hypothetical and becomes concrete.
Key quotes and curiosities
León in the Campos Racing F2 2026 announcement: it is an honor to take this important step in my career and join Campos Racing in the FIA Formula 2 Championship. I am truly grateful for the team’s trust and for the support of my sponsors, whose commitment has made this dream possible.
León on Campos Racing in F2 declarations: I am super excited to be joining Campos. It is a team that have made me feel at home from the very first day. It is like a family.
León after Red Bull did not renew his contract: I had not received adequate support before the start of my first season in Europe. I was disappointed because the programme had not placed me in a top three team as had been previously promised.
Among the curiosities: León is the only Mexican driver in the 2026 F2 grid, continuing the country’s presence in the ladder that Sergio Pérez opened wide more than a decade ago. Monterrey, his home city, is the headquarters of some of the largest business groups in Latin America and has a motorsport support tradition that dates back to the years when the Mexican Grand Prix attracted the world’s best manufacturers. And León competed in the NASCAR Mexico Challenge Series in 2023, making him one of the rare drivers on the current F2 grid with stock car racing experience alongside their open-wheel career.
Sources: Wikipedia Noel León English, FIA Formula 2 official fiaformula2.com, Campos Racing official camposracing.com, Grokipedia, Higher Plain Racing, AutoHebdo, Formula Scout
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