FIA Formula 2 2023 Season

Silly Season F2 2023

MP Motorsport  (Ned)

-  Jehan DARUVALA  (Ind)     Red Bull Junior

-  Dennis  HAUGER  (Nor)      Red Bull Junior 

Other driver linked with MP: Caio COLLET  (Bra) although he is said to look at WEC / sportscars as well and might prefer the latter option. Collet is currently an Alpine Jr. but behind Doohan & Martins in the pecking order at Alpine. It is unknown if Red Bull will retain Daruvala & Hauger after not delivering at Prema.

This is a very good line-up for their title defence. Daruvala is very experienced, Hauger will want to bounce back from a dissapointing debut season.

ART GP  (Fra)

-  Victor  MARTINS  (Fra)             Alpine Junior

-  Arthur  POURCHAIRE  (Fra)    Sauber Junior

Also linked to ART GP (Pourchaire is their first choice, Martins is still looking for a little bit of budget but close to confirming) are Ferrari Jr. Arthur LECLERC  (Mon) & Juan-Manuel CORREA  (Ecu) who drove F3 for ART. Daruvala is also said to have talked to ART but he is very close to confirming at MP. 
Pourchaire is also linked to Super Formula, if that move happens then Correa looks like the most likely to get his seat.

Another driver who has been negotiating with ART is Jehan DARUVALA but he seems closer to MP. 
If Martins & Pourchaire would be their line-up they would have the best line-up in F2 imho but can ART finally make both cars competitive?

CARLIN  (GB)

-  Enzo  FITTIPALDI  (Bra)

-  Zane  MALONEY  (Bar)

- Maloney is said to have signed already with Carlin. Hauger had initially been in discussion to join them but he now seems to be almost certainly heading to MP Motorsport with Fittipaldi ready to move from Charouz to Carlin. Enzo Fittipaldi might be a dark horse / outsider for the title at Carlin. Maloney could be the next Logan Sargeant.

PREMA  (Ita)

-  Frederik  VESTI  (DK)       Mercedes Junior

-  Oliver  BEARMAN  (GB)   Ferrari Junior

- Arthur Leclerc had hoped to stay with Prema for his promotion to F3 but since Bearman outperformed him in F3 last year Leclerc has been forced to look at other teams. I personally don't find Vesti good enough to be a Mercedes Junior and rate Bearman higher. Don't think they will be in the title fight in 2023.

Bearman looks like he could become the next British driver to reach F1 but he's still very young and only has 2 years of F4 & 1 of F3 under his belt so early days.

HITECH  (GB)

-  Isac  HADJAR  (Fra)            Red Bull Junior

-  Jak  CRAWFORD  (USA)    Red Bull Junior

Hitech will be running Red Bull Juniors Hadjar & Crawford next year. Strong but very young line-up. Line-up lacks experience for a title fight or will Hadjar surprise?

VIRTUOSI  (GB)

-  Jack  DOOHAN  (Aus)     Alpine Junior

-  Marino  SATO  (JAP)

Virtuosi look set to retain their line-up, unfortunately also keeping the underperforming Japanese driver Marino Sato. Doohan will be title favourite.

DAMS  (Fra)

-  Ayumu  IWASA  (Jap)         Red Bull Junior

-  Arthur  LECLERC  (Mon)    Ferrari Junior

Iwasa is expected to stay at DAMS with Leclerc most likely joining him. DAMS is still talking to two Israëli drivers for their second seat if the Leclerc deal fails to materialise, those are Roy NISSANY and Ido COHEN. Iwasa should be winning races and fighting for at least top 5 in the championship.

CHAROUZ  (Cze)

-  Olli  CALDWELL  (GB)  ?    Alpine Junior (but no doubt paying for it)

-  Laszlo  TOTH  (Hun)  ?

With Enzo Fittipaldi on the verge of moving to Carlin and their second seat also open, nothing is certain about who will drive here. What is sure is that their '22 part time drivers Cem Bolukbasi, David Beckman & Tatiana Calderon will not return.

Laszlo Toth has been mentioned in the press as a potential Charouz F2 driver, let's hope that this rumour is untrue, he is not good enough.

Olli Caldwell has been talking to Charouz for 2023 but both seats are Charouz are still wide open / undecided. Caldwell-Toth would be a dreadful line-up...

TRIDENT  (Ita)

-  Clément  NOVALAK  (Fra)    (managed by Fernando Alonso)

-  Roman  STANEK  (Cze)

Novalak is expected to return to Trident, he drove in F3 for them after struggling in '22 at MP. Trident F3 driver Stanek will likely stay with them in F2.

CAMPOS  (Esp)

-  Ralph  BOSCHUNG  (Ch)

-  Kush  MAINI  (Ind)   or    Richard  VERSCHOOR  (Ned)

Boschung will most likely return for another F2 season after a year hampered by injury (pain in his back). Kush Maini seems frontrunner for seat 2.

VAN AMERSFOORT  (Ned)

-  Amaury  CORDEEL  (Bel)

-  Juan-Manuel  CORREA  (Ecu)

Cordeel is expected to stay with Correa frontrunner for the other seat. Correa is also still in the running for the second ART seat.

Other names who have been talking to Van Amersfoort are  Richard  VERSCHOOR  (Ned), Olli CALDWELL  (GB) & Alexander SMOLYAR  (Rus) so the second seat at Van Amersfoort is far from decided.

Cordeel with Correa or Caldwell would be a very weak line-up so let's hope they sign a better driver, Verschoor would be ideal for them.

Expected to leave F2:

- Felipe  DRUGOVICH  (Bra)   (F1 test role @ Aston Martin)

- Logan  SARGEANT  (USA)   (F1 @ Williams)

- Liam  LAWSON  (N-ZL)   (F1 test & reserve role @ AlphaTauri, possibly in combo with DTM again with the Red Bull Ferrari like in '21?)

- Jüri  VIPS  (Est)   (IndyCar?)

- Marcus  ARMSTRONG  (N-ZL)  (IndyCar?)

- Jake  HUGHES  (GB)  (wants to go to Formula E)

- David  BECKMAN  (Ger)   (might become a super sub again in '23)

- Roy  NISSANY  (Isr)   (still negotiating with DAMS to stay there but Leclerc seems preferred choice there, might be an option for Charouz, Campos or Van Amersfoort too, seems like he wants to stay in F2)

- Callan  WILLIAMS  (Aus)

- Cem  BOLLUKBASI  (Tur)

- Tatiana  CALDERON  (Col)

- Lirim  ZENDELI  (Ger / Alb)  (might become a substitution driver again)

- Roberto  MERHI  (Esp)  (might sub again, could move to Super Formula as well)

- Richard  VERSCHOOR  (Ned)  is still trying to find an F2 seat and in the running at Campos & Van Amersfoort but he faces heavy competition there from drivers with much more budget as him).

So it seems like half of the F2 grid will be filled with F1 juniors (12 out of 22 if all of them will be retained) and the other half by drivers with strong financial backing.

I hope that Caio Collet will still end up on the grid, he is a talented driver that deserves a seat. But it seems he is already looking at sportscars if he can't manage it.

Based on the current line-up Jack Doohan & Théo Pourchaire will be the two big favourites, that's if Pourchaire doesn't move to Super Formula.

Edited by William Hunt, 04 November 2022 - 04:47.

no really impressive drivers...

I hope Iwasa can do better than championship top five. That wouldn't be enough for me to suggest he has F1 potential. I hope he's in the title battle, proper.

no really impressive drivers...

Maloney, Theo, Bear-man, Martins and Hadjar for me a potential good F1 drivers as minimum. + maybe Hauger, Doohan, Iwasa. 

Edited by messy, 04 November 2022 - 09:38.

no really impressive drivers...

Palmer and Valsecchi became successful in GP2 at times when teams were looking elsewhere (Formula Renault 3.5, Euro F3) for big prospects, right?

There is a possibility that in the near future F1 teams may recruit young drivers from Indycar and FE but we're not there quite yet (though Herta and De Vries might be considered warning signs).

Palmer and Valsecchi became successful in GP2 at times when teams were looking elsewhere (Formula Renault 3.5, Euro F3) for big prospects, right?

 

There is a possibility that in the near future F1 teams may recruit young drivers from Indycar and FE but we're not there quite yet (though Herta and De Vries might be considered warning signs).

Kind of, it was the brief era FR3.5 looked stronger yes, Magnussen, Vandoorne, Sainz, Gasly graduated from there. But it also took GP2 for Vandoorne and Gasly to get there.

Sometimes there's just barren years. You can't get a new superstar every season.

Kind of, it was the brief era FR3.5 looked stronger yes, Magnussen, Vandoorne, Sainz, Gasly graduated from there. But it also took GP2 for Vandoorne and Gasly to get there.

 

Sometimes there's just barren years. You can't get a new superstar every season.

During the Valsecchi Era FR3.5 brought through Ricciardo, Vergne, Alguersuari, Bianchi as well. Although Bianchi was like Gasly in that he needed a stint in GP2 as well.

I suppose what I'm driving at is that there are two independent factors at play here -- there's the very hard to predict or define level of talent coming through "the ranks" (although as you suggest the top drivers often seem to come up together in clumps rather than as a continuous stream), and then there's the way junior series have a cycle of costs getting too high and paydrivers starting to predominate, and then something is done and it becomes an attractive series for the most talented young drivers again.

During the Valsecchi Era FR3.5 brought through Ricciardo, Vergne, Alguersuari, Bianchi as well. Although Bianchi was like Gasly in that he needed a stint in GP2 as well.

Bianchi didn't "need" it. Drivers staying longer in feeder series do that because there are too few seats in F1. In theory they could have promoted him already after he won the F3 Euro title.

During the Valsecchi Era FR3.5 brought through Ricciardo, Vergne, Alguersuari, Bianchi as well. Although Bianchi was like Gasly in that he needed a stint in GP2 as well.

I suppose what I'm driving at is that there are two independent factors at play here -- there's the very hard to predict or define level of talent coming through "the ranks" (although as you suggest the top drivers often seem to come up together in clumps rather than as a continuous stream), and then there's the way junior series have a cycle of costs getting too high and paydrivers starting to predominate, and then something is done and it becomes an attractive series for the most talented young drivers again.

Bianchi didn't "need" it. Drivers staying longer in feeder series do that because there are too few seats in F1. In theory they could have promoted him already after he won the F3 Euro title.

Poor Gasly needed a stint in Super Formula too!

Yeah I agree sometimes that pattern seems to emerge (of a new cheaper series coming in to save the day and provide more talent). But I think that's kinda prevented now through the superlicense system forcing everyone through that ladder. There's no space for series competition anymore.

You are correct of course. In my opinion, WEC and IndyCar should at the very least be considered as being on par with F2 and drivers in those series have the opportunity of earning a paycheck. Moving away from F2 to gain experience, should not automatically mean you are out of the running for an F1 seat. The "Superlicense" does not exactly make it impossible, but it comes close.

Poor Gasly needed a stint in Super Formula too!

Kind of, it was the brief era FR3.5 looked stronger yes, Magnussen, Vandoorne, Sainz, Gasly graduated from there. But it also took GP2 for Vandoorne and Gasly to get there.

 

Sometimes there's just barren years. You can't get a new superstar every season.

Considering how long the careers of most F1 drivers are now, you only really need a big standout junior driver every other year to make the promotion. We had Piastri and that is probably enough for a few years.

I don't think there is any crazy standout drivers, but Pourchaire and Doohan are both very promising. Neither are 20 yet, so still plenty of room for growth. Doohan seems to have the speed element down, just a bit lacking in consistency. it seems easier to find the later than the former.

Edited by messy, 06 November 2022 - 09:09.

So only one driver confirmed so far:

MP: Dennis Hauger

ART:

Carlin:

Prema:

Hitech:

Virtuosi:
DAMS:

Charouz:

Trident:

Campos:

Van Amersfoort:

Poor Gasly needed a stint in Super Formula too!

I disagree. From a human / social perpective it is a very wealthy experience to be able to live in a unique culture like Japan for a year. You can only grow and learn as a person from that imho and you have to learn how to live independent far from you home country and how to adapt to a really different social environment. As a human you can only grow from that imho and that could also make you mentally stronger with benefits to your long term racing carreer. A stint of Super Formula after FIA F2 is never a bad idea imho, it's just sad that they don't have more races in a year.
I personally would jump at the opportunity to work and experience a year of living in Japan. You can only learn from it.

Keen to see Lawson have a decent season, ideally I'd like to see a few more feature race wins. 

No doubt the pace is there, but if he has to Mick his way to the title by finishing 4th in every race the that would probably do the trick. 

Keen to see Lawson have a decent season, ideally I'd like to see a few more feature race wins. 

 

No doubt the pace is there, but if he has to Mick his way to the title by finishing 4th in every race the that would probably do the trick. 

But according to the rumours, he won't even return for a third campaign, which is quite odd tbh.

Don't rate Lawson that highly tbh.

Pouchaire, Iwasa, Martins are bigger talents for me

I don't think there is any crazy standout drivers, but Pourchaire and Doohan are both very promising. Neither are 20 yet, so still plenty of room for growth. Doohan seems to have the speed element down, just a bit lacking in consistency. it seems easier to find the later than the former.

Not in F2 maybe but in F4 Andrea Kimi Antonelli (Italian F4 & German F4) + Nikola Tsolov (Spanish F4). Gabriele Mini is also very very very good, so is Victor Martins who will be in F2 this year. Don't forget that Pourchaire & Bearman but also Hadjar & Crawford are still very young. Bearman seems to have a lot of potential as well. But Antonelli is the biggest talent of all.

Edited by William Hunt, 07 November 2022 - 13:05.

So only one driver confirmed so far:

MP: Dennis Hauger

ART:

Carlin:

Prema:

Hitech:

Virtuosi:
DAMS:

Charouz:

Trident: Zane Maloney?

Campos:

Van Amersfoort:

But according to the rumours, he won't even return for a third campaign, which is quite odd tbh.

Red Bull could move him to Mugen in Super Formula

 

Red Bull could move him to Mugen in Super Formula

I could live with that. At least Super Formula doesn't revolve around tyre management.

Zane Maloney has signed with Trident for '23 from what I heard, they just haven't confirmed it in the media yet.

I could live with that. At least Super Formula doesn't revolve around tyre management.

Ditto. Better to keep winning in different formulae when there's no assurances F2 is a more direct route anymore.

Plus this gen of SF cars is insane. 

Expected to leave F2:

 

How I'd like such a regular cleaning also in F1 !

it looks like there could be a change of teams:

https://formulascout...-for-now/100390

While I do get it in a series so utterly depended on drivers bringing lots of money. It's weird how the F1-2-3 pyramid is so opposed to new teams, where most other series open their arms and lets people in.

One worrying trend I've noticed, and it appears to have developed gradually since GP3's foundation to the present day, is if you look at the teams in each: In F2 you have DAMS and Virtuosi, F3 has Jenzer, other than that there is a complete overlap in the teams participating. I get that some teams having divisions up and down the ladder has been a thing since Paul Stewart had that sort of set up in the early 90s but for it to become so commonplace (and I'd argue even encouraged based on how the 2019 F3 teams were decided) only shuts even more doors for new teams looking to get on the pyramid. And while thankfully it was quickly abandoned, I wouldn't be surprised if it at least played a part in motivating that split calendar experiment of last year.

it looks like there could be a change of teams:

 

https://formulascout...-for-now/100390

Yes but they don't mention which teams however I do know of which team they are talking about. It's about Charouz. 

Swiss Formule Regional Europe (FRECA) team G4 Racing, owned by the dad of Axel Gnos (who is expected to go to LMP3 next year), wants to take over the Charouz entry.

Patrick Gnos is currently the team manager of G4 Racing, with Quentin Gnos the CEO and Spaniard Adrian Munos the technical director. They initially started in F4 in 2020 with an entry for Axel Gnos, then they bought the assets of Bhaitec's Formula Regional team to step up to Formula Regional but the Gnos family always said that they had ambition (to grow) and that the team was not just set up for Axel but that they had long term plans in single seaters.

Now it seams that G4 Racing wants to buy the Charouz F3 entry. I don't know for sure if they also want to buy the F2 entry, from what I heard it seems like Charouz will be bought out completely and become G4 Racing so that would include the F2 entry as well. It would explain why Charouz is the only team in F2 where the drivers seats still seem to be completely open.

Another indication of a G4 take over of Charouz is that during the F3 post season tests Charouz ran Matias Zagazeta (Peru) who ran for... G4 in Formula Regional and that's no coincidence. Although it's not decided if Zagazeta will run in FRECA or F3 next year, the reason he tested for Charouz was the G4 connection.
Note also that Alessandro Famularo, who raced in Monza for Charouz and did the post season test with them, his previous team was.... G4.

So you heard it here first: Charouz may be sold to G4 Racing (in fact I believe this has already been agreed).

They also own the Spanish (based in Barcelona) karting outfit 'Kids to Win' who race in the IAME Euro Series and the Spanish karting championship, they're representing the Lando Norris karting brand (of the OTK Tony Kart group) in Spain.

Edited by William Hunt, 10 November 2022 - 06:50.

F2 champion Drugovich did first F1 test
https://formulascout...verstone/100849

Indeed I fear that G4 will be running hopeless pay drivers. Charouz at least had some pretty good drivers now and then (Ilott, Fittipaldi, Sargeant for example).

But according to the rumours, he won't even return for a third campaign, which is quite odd tbh.

I've just read an interview with Helmut Marko and he talked about Liam Lawson, quote: “Lawson was very fast at his F1 test,” Marko said. “He will drive in Japan next year and be one of our reserve drivers for Formula 1.”

Edited by William Hunt, 10 November 2022 - 20:27.

F2 champion Drugovich did first F1 test
https://formulascout...verstone/100849

He also said that next year he will be doing something outside Formula1. He mentioned IndyCar, Hypercar and SuperFormula as possibilities.

G4 taking over Charouz doesn't fill me with great hope without some investment - they're a bit of a waste of space in FRECA, to be honest.

Michael Belov run at the front of the field with them in 2021, so with the right driver(s) they could do fine.

Marko actually said that Hauger could be a or one of the reserve(s) for the races that official reserve driver Lawson can't be at an F1 weekend when it overlaps with Super Formula!

Good news, a lot better than just looking at the walls at Aston's factory for a year.

Vandoorne is an Aston Martin test and reserve driver too now, so Drugovich may not even be first in line. I think he would do great in Indycar!

MP: Dennis Hauger

ART:

Carlin: Enzo Fittipaldi

Prema:

Hitech:

Virtuosi:
DAMS:

Charouz:

Trident: Zane Maloney?

Campos:

Van Amersfoort:

Bearman confirmed at Prema.