Formula 2 – Debrief of this incredible season!

This 2021 season, in terms of sports, has been exceptional! The rest is a bit more uncertain…

2021 calendar not at its best!

The season started and ended just like the Formula 1, that is to say in Bahrain on March 27-28, and concluded in Abu Dhabi on December 11-12. Between these two meetings, eight and a half months and six other meetings have passed…

This schedule was the black spot of this 2021 season. Only eight meetings throughout the season… despite the record number of races (24 planned, 3 per weekend). At times, we had to wait two months between two events (approximately every two meetings)… This may have disadvantaged certain drivers in their pursuit of reaching Formula 1. Who knows?…

Fortunately, there is change for 2022!

An undisputed domination!

Who says Formula 2 2021 and domination, necessarily says Oscar Piastri!

The Australian, managed by former F1 driver Mark Webber, is joining the F2 team Prema. After winning the F3 championship in 2020 (also with Prema) and the Formula Renault Eurocup in 2019 (with R-ace GP), he is the only driver to have won three consecutive seasons in the promotion formulas. For him, the goal was “Back to back to back” (that’s how he named it on social media after the last event).

“Back.
To back.
To back.”

Domination begins in qualifications. Out of the eight races, he clinches five pole positions (including five consecutive ones in the last five weekends!)

Similarly in racing… Oscar Piastri has achieved 11 podium finishes including 5 victories, 4 second places, and 2 third places. Among these are 4 consecutive wins in the main race (half of the season).

The Australian has dominated the season to the extent that Stoffel Vandoorne did in 2015 and Charles Leclerc did in 2017!

With this title in hand, he is the best rookie in the championship and therefore wins the Anthoine Hubert trophy! He succeeds the Japanese Yuki Tsunoda.

In 2022, Oscar Piastri will be the third driver for Alpine due to a lack of space in F1…

They meet the expectations!

– Robert Shwartzman: The Russian who finished fourth in 2020 in his first season was THE candidate for the title this year! Despite falling short of this goal, the Russian had a solid season finishing as the vice champion! This marks a Prema drivers’ double! He accumulated six podiums, including two victories! Unfortunately, this was his last season in the Formula 1 feeder series…

– Guanyu Zhou: Despite being in his third season in F2, the Chinese driver was unable to do any better. Nonetheless, he still had a good season! Often at the top of the championship and even in second place battling with Oscar Piastri, once his place in F1 was secured, Zhou’s performance declined (just like his three years in F2, actually…).

– Théo Pourchaire: What a season for the French rookie! Vice champion in Formula 3 in 2020 (beaten by Oscar Piastri…) This season, for him, was a “test” against big names in F2. Théo Pourchaire has exceeded expectations by far!

From the second meeting onwards, he takes a stratospheric pole position in Monaco (over four tenths ahead of the second-placed driver)! Thanks to this pole position, the native of Grasse secures his first victory in the main race … and at “home”!

He was able to rise in power despite the obstacles encountered along the way. Théo Pourchaire fractured his wrist in Baku following a collision with the Englishman Dan Ticktum … which didn’t prevent him from making his comeback at the next meeting in Silverstone (a month and a half later) but with some pain. The Frenchman also won a second race during the Monza weekend!

During the summer, he was able to drive for the first time in a Formula 1 car with the Alfa Romeo team (he is part of the Sauber Alfa Romeo junior team).

Despite a terrifying accident at the start of the race in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the ART driver was able to be present for the last meeting in Abu Dhabi.

The Tricolore will renew for a second season in F2 and have all the cards in hand, according to Frédéric Vasseur’s statements: « I absolutely want Théo to have all the tools to reach F1. We are currently considering giving him a solid F1 testing program to prepare him well »

Théo Pourchaire finishes in a great fifth place in the championship!

The outsiders!

– Juri Vips: The Estonian, a member of the Red Bull program, became the first driver in F2 history to win two races in the same weekend! It happened in Baku during sprint race 2 and the feature race! Since that weekend… no more wins, but three other podium finishes in sprint races. He has often been unlucky with mechanical issues in his Hitech car. His retirements and inconsistency have cost him many points this season. He is expected to have a second (full) season with Hitech GP.

– Liam Lawson: Speaking of Hitech GP and bad luck, we can talk about Liam Lawson, also a member of the Red Bull program. The New Zealander was experiencing his very first season in the F1 feeder series. The “kiwi” only managed to secure one victory this season, which was in the opening round in Bahrain, and two other podium finishes (a second place in Bahrain and a podium in the penultimate meeting in Jeddah).

He has often been unlucky with his mechanics. He had won the race 2 in Monaco but was disqualified for improper use of the mapping.

Let’s remember that he was also involved in the DTM and finished as vice champion (that’s another story, maybe bad luck too)…

He should be in F2 in 2022 with Carlin.

– Jehan Daruvala: Another driver and member of the Red Bull program, Jehan Daruvala embarked on his second full season after finishing third in F3 in 2019. He had a rather good season, with two wins and five podiums in total.

He still had a few empty meetings (Monaco, Silverstone and Jeddah). He will try to regain his consistency in 2022 and most likely with the championship team Prema! Watch out for his future teammate who should be Dennis Hauger, winner of the 2021 F3!

Flops!

– Christian Lundgaard: Disappointing result for the Alpine Academy driver, with only three podium finishes and a twelfth place in the championship. He scored points in ten out of twenty races… a meager performance. Especially considering that his teammate, Théo Pourchaire, a rookie, scored almost three times as many points as the Danish driver. This was his final season in F2. He is heading to Indycar in 2022 with Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing team.

– Marcus Armstrong: The vice champion of F3 2019 ended up with the same record. No improvement in his second season in F2. He finished thirteenth twice. The driver from the Ferrari Driver Academy finally achieved his first victory in the category (sprint race 1 in Jeddah). A highly disappointing record: he only scored points in seven out of twenty-three races… Maybe he should consider another year in F2, but with Hitech…

– Money…: The biggest downside of this season… We set the record for “turnover”… 29 different drivers took part in eight race weekends! Many drivers couldn’t finish the season due to lack of funds (Petecof, Nannini, Zendeli, or even Verschoor who was having an excellent season…) Now, to be in F2, you either have to be in an academy, have very large sponsors, or come from an extremely wealthy family. Meanwhile, we have drivers like Guilherme Samaia or Alessio Deledda who were present throughout the year and scored… zero points between them.

We wish you a very happy holiday season and we’ll see you in 2022 to kick off this new F2 season, which will be different with 14 race meetings!