3 races per weekend for F2 and F3

Like many companies, the motorsport industry is being hit hard by the economic crisis linked to the pandemic. Cost control is therefore becoming increasingly urgent to ensure the sustainability of the championships and the teams that comprise them.

This is why F2 and F3 have just announced a series of cost-cutting measures. The most significant is that there will now be three races per race weekend. This will drastically reduce – by nearly a third of the current cost for F2 teams – the logistical expenses related to traveling to different circuits in the championship. This will not impact the number of races in F2, as the championship will go from 12 meetings with 2 races to 8 meetings with 3 races, still totaling 24 races. For F3, the number of races will even increase from 18 to 21 races while having fewer travels.

But the downside of this change in formats is that it is no longer possible to run both championships at the same time, as the schedules during F1 weekends are already very busy, with very little track time available. This is why the two championships will alternate their presence alongside these weekends. This alternation will also allow teams to use some of their personnel across both categories, rather than exclusively as was the case until now.

The other aspect of cost-saving measures obviously affects the single-seaters as such. It has been decided that the next three F2 seasons will take place with the current specification, and there is a strong possibility that the same will apply to F3. Efforts are also being made by engine suppliers (Mecachrome) and spare parts manufacturers (Dallara) with a significant discount granted to the teams.

If the full format has not yet been revealed, one can imagine moving to a format of one qualifying session for each race since the current scheme with a reversed grid for the second race cannot be applied to a third race.