Formula 2 FIA Formula 2 Series

[F1Brits_90]

F2 starts again this weekend, its a Frustrating series because it had some brilliant drivers over the season & seen some many drivers "before" they were famous just the last 6 years, Gasly, Giovinattzi, Vandoorne, Bird, Leclerc, Russell, Norris, De Vries, Zhou Albon, Schumacher, Piastri & last years Drugovich, Sargent. but alot of great drivers because of lack of space & lack of funding do hit a glass ceiling Mick Schumacher is the only reigning champion to make it onto the grid straight away since Russell, Norris & Albon joined in 2018. if we are being on honest if he was called Mick Wagner i doubt he would have got there. so we need new teams because you wonder how much talent are we losing due to no room at the inn,

these are the drivers on the grid & yes that is Charles Leclerc brother

in the calendar, its the longest calendar in F2 history 14 rounds & most excitedly they are going to Australia for the 1st time, which should be brilliant

on the title predictions, im sticking with last years 2 to battle it out for the title in Jack Doohan & Theo Porchaire
because for them now its death or glory. in the same way that Mick Schumacher had & if because

• Jack Doohan came in midway 2021 hit the ground running looking fantastic, had great pace in 2022 only the champion had more poles but through poor reliability & driver mistakes he hugely underachieved finishing only 6th
• Theo Porchaire this is his 3rd season, he is only 19, but he has been talked about as an Future F1 driver for a while now & it got louder once he won monaco feature race so well in 2021. 2nd last year.
  
  but if im going for an outside pick i would go for
  
  
• Ayumu Iwasa a very good Japanese driver who if things go well could very easily be swapping place with his countryman Tsunoda,
• Victor Martins never underestimate the Reigning F3 Champion
• i have a sneaky feeling that 17 year old Oliver Bearman is the next big British thing. i can see him winning races this year & being up in the top 5. as 2021 he won German & Italian F4 2022 but for fine margins in a brilliant Title finale he could easily have won F3

 

[F1Brits_90]

interesting start it looks like theo pourchaire has had the rocket up his arse. as he's in his 3rd year but he should already be champion with his talent & outstanding drive in qualifying. 3/4 of second Faster than anyone & in context 2nd - 19th was only 6 tenths. great drive in sprint to get up to 5th & then won the feature race by 20 secs

Barbadian Zane Maloney was the most impressive of F3 drivers, the Runner up helped by the chaos on 1st lap that took out 3-4 of those on 2nd & 3rd row in qualifying. 16th to the podium in feature race was a cracking drive. very impressive debut

i have a problem with Ralph Boshong. he is in 2nd in the championship, 1 pt of the lead. but this is his 6th full season (7th in total) if he completes the season he will have entered the most F2 races of anyone (but 2nd most starts) there should be a limit of 4 years maximum as this is out find the next generation he isnt the next generation as hes not missed the boat as marooned on desert island in some case its literally men v boys. hes 26 or nearly 26? when boschong was racing in GP3 oliver bearman was still in primary school.

but the person that must be extremely worried is Jack Doohan, his F1 chances are disappearing right in front of his eyes. 1st weekend of proving he deserved the seat over Gasly, 0pts, qualified 17th, sprint 11th 50 secs off the lead, Feature 16th over 1 min behind

 

[F1Brits_90]

1 of wettest qualifyings for F2 i can remember. always right time right place & huge deal of luck for any wet qualifying regardless of what series. iwasa hit the jackpot by taking the best out of the tyre 5 mins before the end. where as Vesti Doohan (who topped FP1 & Qualy until the final stint) Fittipaldi. all got the bad luck as they kept the best of the tyres to be last over the line & never set a time in 2nd part went from top 3 to 13th 14th & 15th

https://twitter.com/x/status/1641703189383720960

https://twitter.com/x/status/1641724512755671040

 

[F1Brits_90]

action packed start, a quiet & well-behaved middle. then a bonkers end. as the top 5 because they were so worried about the tow. waited til the last moment to drop the accelerator but by that point. nobody had any tyre / brake temperatures & the top 5 all skated off into the barrier.

the next british hope ollie bearman (who i believe will be in F1 in next few years) managed to find his way through the chaos, from 7th to 2nd & overtook his teammate to take the victory before final safety car came out

https://twitter.com/x/status/1652279076248322049

 

[F1Brits_90]

Remember the name. he looks to be the potential to be as Good as Russell or Norris. a brilliant lower formulae career. yes its terrifying he's only 17 & wasnt born when the infamous imola 2005 ITV controversy & only 5 months old when alonso won his 1st title

 

[F1Brits_90]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1697192592104894835

https://twitter.com/x/status/1697191602995826849

 

[F1Brits_90]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1697198796961116580

 

[F1Brits_90]

just caught up on the F2 feature race, & what a drive from Oliver Bearman, i doubt british F1 hopes have every been strong when you have Hamilton, Russell & Norris on the grid, then in F2 we have a 18 yr old (he was born 2 weeks after the infamous ITV imola 2005 advert incident) . outstanding on every safety car restart & in what was a chaotic race where the safety car was out 4 times i think, including ending under it. he looked so secure & in control. to take his 4th win of the season. although not in the title battle he's on for top 5 in his rookie year

https://twitter.com/x/status/1698260222865821846

 

[F1Brits_90]

Théo Pourchaire look pretty heavy favourite on finally fulfilling his potential & being the champion, as he is 25 point clear with 39 to go, after vesti spun out of the race on lap 1. which means if he scores 15pts, regardless of vesti does. but then with the way of the reverse grid in F2. its more likely that unless vesti takes pole & feature race win. Porchaire might not even need to score a point. but the average position of polesitter in the sprints is 6th, so if vesti follows that trend he would need to win from pole & hope Porchaire finished 8th or lower


with alfa pulling out at the end of the year & moving to haas. sauber returning that if he does become the F2 champion he could replace Zhou. but there variety of rumours for why. from lack of budget or just because has been in sauber academy & funded by them since 2018. unfortuantly someone has to make way & bottas would be preferred out of the 2

https://twitter.com/x/status/1698357684716666920

 

[F1Brits_90]

theo porchaire. is the F2 champion its been a long time coming, a driver who was so good so young i forget he's only 20 & yet in this his 4th season, he was already been the runner up in both F3 & F2. won monaco feature race from pole at 17 & then won the F2 title v the highly rated Frédéric vesti.

it was more consistency that won him the title he won 1 race quite dominant fashion in bahrain feature. but vesti won more races but the 2 DNFs in Spa & Monza cost him

my prediction went quite well as Doohan won the final race from pole & finished 4th. & Porchaire won the title

on the title predictions, im sticking with last years 2 to battle it out for the title in Jack Doohan & Theo Porchaire

https://twitter.com/x/status/1728719291711627599

 

[FB]

2024 F2 car revealed

 

[F1Brits_90]

i like the look of the car & F2 are trying to combat the issues they are having with champions & f1 teams not trusting youth, 2018 was the last time we had drivers without a famous father, that were promoted straight away. by making the F2 cars quicker & closer in pace to what we've see in F1

 

[F1Brits_90]

we could be in for a classic 2 of the hottest young prospects since 2018, in Oliver bearman & Kimi antonelluli driving for prema the biggest F2 team as teammates.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1754910909267353636

 

[F1Brits_90]

not just F1 starts this weekend also the F2 season kicks off, i heard will buxton say this season could be mega as many of these drivers will never get a better chance to get on the F1 grid. with 12 drivers out of contract this season. & make rare progression to be on f1 grid as reigning F2 champion its dried up since Russell did it in 2018. mick schumacher did but we all know he only got signed because his dad is Michael Schumacher. but on the racing you do see some great drivers ive seen Gasly, Vandoorne, Tsunoda, Leclerc, Russell, Norris, Zhou, Albon, Piastri, Sargant & last yrs supersub Liam Lawson. which usually more entertainment racing because 1 driver isnt running away with it

couple of rule changes to championship since Abu Dhabi. for the 1st since 2018 we have a brand new chassis as picture above from FB shows, where the wings have been adapted to the current concept of a F1 car with the new rear wings & also if the stewards deem a driver to be the sole cause for a red flag to be brought out, the driver responsible will have their fastest lap time deleted & unable to continue their parcipation

on the drivers racing this season you have some very capable drivers who could really mount a title challenge, Victor Martins, Zane Maloney, Gabriel Bortoleto. but really on paper it should be straight shootout between 2 Premas Oliver Bearman & Kimi Antonelli, Bearman who has the potential to be as good as Russell or Norris but will probably go under the radar. what he has achieved at such a young age is incredible. won German & Italian F4 at 15, narrowly beaten to F3 title at 16. & at 17/18. he took 3 F2 poles & 4 wins as a rookie last season to finish 6th.

but all eyes are on 1 man Kimi Antonelli. never has a feeder series driver come into a series already with such pressure on his shoulders, such huge expectations with nobody having actually watched him race live because he skipping F3. going from F4 & formula Regional straight to F2 & straight into the F2 Team everyone wants to be in, purely through word of mouth. so much so he is the favourite to replace lewis hamilton in 2025. but this is a guy who is so young. in perspective he was a 2 week old newborn baby. when Michael Schumacher shocked the world by announcing that he would retire from F1 at the end of the 2006 season. everyone who talks about him raves about him. to the point, where if he isnt on 1st 2 rows of qualifying or Feature race podium. people will be calling him overrated. this is just 1 Quote from Karun Chandhok, when he saw him in a test last month

The pundit said: “There’s an Italian driver – Kimi Antonelli. Funny story, I was up at Silverstone and popped in and Kimi Antonelli was testing in a Formula 3 car, just getting warmed up for his F2 season. He was alongside two other drivers, and it was raining. He was something like seven or eight seconds a lap faster than the other drivers. “I went back and chatted with some of the engineers, and they just could not believe how good he was. He’s 17. He’s a teenager. Honestly, I parked up on the way out and watched a few laps. This kid was sensational. I texted James Vowles from there, because James sort of mentored Kimi since go karts.

Entering
Zak O'Sullivan - 2nd in F3 > ART
Kimi Antontelli - FREC champion > Prema
Ritomo Miyata - Super Formula Champion > Rodin
Gabriel Bortoleto - F3 Champion > Invicta Racing
Franco Colapinto - 4th in F3 > MP Motorsport
Rafael Villagómez - 25th in F3 > VAR
Paul Aron - 3rd in F3 > Hitech
Pepe Marti - 5th in F3 > Campos
Joshua Dürksen - 19th FREC > PHM AIX Racing (ex charouz)
Taylor Barnard - 10th in F3 > PHM AIX Racing

Leaving
Reigning champion Théo Pourchaire as is the rules. has left ART > Super Formula
Frederik Vesti - Prema > European Le Mans Series
Ayumu Iwasa - DAMS > Super Formula
Arthur Leclerc - DAMS > Italian GT Championship
Jack Doohan - Invicta Racing > Alpine Reserve Driver
Jehan Daruvala - MP Motorsport > Formula E
Ralph Boschung - Campos > Retirement
Clément Novalak - Trident > European Le Mans Series
Roy Nissany - PHM AIX Racing > ??????
Josh Mason - PHM AIX Racing > Indy NXT

Changed teams
Enzo Fittipaldi - Rodin > VAR
Jak Crawford - Hitech > DAMS
Juan Manuel Correa - VAR > DAMS
Amaury Cordeel - Invicta Racing > Hitech
Kush Maini - Campos > Invicta Racing
Richard Verschoor - VAR > Trident
Isack Hadjar - Hitech > Campos

 

[F1Brits_90]

to borrow a football phrase. this is why F1 isnt played on paper. because such was the hype almost everyone was expecting the 2 prema teammates to battle for the title. but down in 18th & 19th

https://twitter.com/x/status/1763212284694798414

 

[F1Brits_90]

fernando alonso is watching F2 with alot of joy at the moment, because prema are really struggling with getting this new car into the window. because I know oliver bearman is far better than he been made to look so id assume antontelli is the same because for all the hype 19th in qualifying & 16th in the sprint, isnt great & wont get him in that mercedes car unless he gets up that grid

 

[F1Brits_90]

a star maybe born. i had him on my shortlist of drivers who could challenge for the title after 2nd in F3 in 2022, tough start to F2 in 2023 despite flashes of promises with 4 podiums. but he exceeded what i thought & he has started this season with a bang won from 11th in sprint & 3rd in feature race & becomes only the 12th driver since 2005 to join the sprint & feature double club of Nico Rosberg Nelson Piquet Jr, Lewis Hamilton, Nico Hulkenberg, Davide Valsecchi, Giorgio Pantano, Juri Vips, Oscar Piastri, Antonio Giovinazzi, Felipe Drugovich & Oliver Bearman

as the sauber reserve driver, if i was Bottas or Zhou, id be getting very worried because both contract expire this season & if he carries on this form. whoever loses the teammate battle next year will be looking for a new job in 2025

https://twitter.com/x/status/1763895312534405415

 

[F1Brits_90]

now this more like what was expected from F2 this year & whatever issues prema had last week are behind them. bearman on pole & antotelli in 6th. is more like the form book we were expecting not like the backmarkers of 7 days ago

if your wondering about double race winner & championship leader zane maloney, qualified in 16th. as he had issues centring around his engine and gearbox during qualifying

F2 Saudi Arabia: Ferrari junior Bearman scores pole

www.motorsport.com

 

[F1Brits_90]

I know its early on & there is ton of media pressure from him, but i wonder if whoever fast tracked antotelli to F2 from F4 effectively, has bitten off more than they can chew. as its very underwhelming, start so far 5th to 7th. & yet zane Maloney moved from 16th to 5th yes he has an extra yr of experience but this is a new car for everyone

at the moment unless he gets to grips quicker that mercedes seat looks like its getting further away. might need a 2nd yr in F2

https://twitter.com/x/status/1766135397006864729

 

[Bleu]

IMO In Antonelli's case it would have made more sense to move from F4 to F3 in 2022-23 off-season.