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.