FIA F2 season chat thread

**chunterer** · 4 Mar 2023, 10:33 (Ref:4145699)

Pourchaire on pole from Martins!

Verschoor 3rd.

Doohan down in 17th. Shocker!

There'll be plenty of action in the races.

**chunterer** · 14 Mar 2023, 04:34 (Ref:4146987)

Crikey has F2 fallen totally out of favour with us?

The 1st weekend provided some great entertainment, but interestingly the only 'rookie' to get in amongst the experienced guys was Martins'.

Akrapovic · 14 Mar 2023, 10:55 (Ref:4147002)

I rather enjoyed it. I don't get to watch F2 much, but tuned in for Bahrain and it seemed good fun. Martins looked great for his first F2 weekend.

fergus_r · 15 Mar 2023, 00:16 (Ref:4147111)

I only saw the highlights of F2. The 8-minute clips on YouTube are pretty good for catching up with the action.

I take more of an interest in F3 - I very much enjoyed the Bahrain races despite a messy first race. Good grid (quality and quantity), the cars race well and they sound good.

**chunterer** · 16 Mar 2023, 23:24 (Ref:4147350)

Martins was probably the standout of the newcomers, yes.
Although Maloney did a pretty good drive through the field in the 2nd race.

Of the returnees Pourchaire was quick but maybe a bit uncertain in wheel to wheel stuff I thought. Maybe he wanted a solid points haul from the opening weekend?
Boschung may have finally come of age as well!

**chunterer** · 19 Mar 2023, 07:56 (Ref:4148251)

Cracking sprint race at Jeddah!

Martins looking like he might be a standout talent...

Pourchaire made a crazy move which yool him and poor Bearman out.

What did other posters think of the race?

E.B · 19 Mar 2023, 08:30 (Ref:4148252)

Quote:

Originally Posted by chunterer

What did other posters think of the race?

Agree re Martins... yes he was a bit fortunate in getting pole by 0.7, having benefitted from the. late red in qualy, but to go out and put a time like that down whilst the track was still evolving by the lap was good to see.

His fightback from 10th thanks to the personally hated reverse grid crap was the highlight of the race. I think we have a star of the future in him.

As for Pourchaire that was an FF rookie move. I have not seen misjudgement as bad as that in a long while. It cost him his championship lead, deservedly.

I ws also quite impressed by Iwasa managing to hold Martins off on the last lap, especially given Martins had DRS.

Given his pace this weekend and him starting the feature race from his well earned pole it is Martins race to lose. He certainly deserves to win from what he has shown this weekend.

[/my2cents]

**chunterer** · 21 Mar 2023, 11:26 (Ref:4148631)

Martins' fluffed the 2nd race under pressure from Vesti, when the win or at least a podium was likely. But if that ends up being one of only a couple of mistakes this season he is going to be a title contender, no doubt.

Vesti did very well though seemingly managing his tyres earlier on and then coming on very strong after the tyres stops.

Iwasa did a very sensible job but I'm still far from convinced about his ultimate talent.

Elsewhere the other RB juniors had a shocking weekend overall! I would say that Hauger needs to win at least one of the races next time out to ensure he doesn't get left behind. Fittipaldi has done nothing so far to justify Marko signing him up, and of the other RB newcomers to F2 only Maloney and Crawford have shown anything thus far. I expected Hadjar to be one of the top 3 rookies. Let's see how they do next time.

And what do we make of Doohan so far? Kept his powder dry in Jeddah but hardly front running pace? I think I said last year that I wasn't convinced about the fanfare he was receiving from every corner. like Hauger he will need to deliver a strong weekend next event.

Teams wise so far the quickest cars are coming from ART, Prema, and arguably MP, although Hauger has been patchy and Daruvala has been nowhere in qualifying and only seems to make the most of his car during the races?

**Born Racer** · 5 Apr 2023, 13:11 (Ref:4150497)

Quote:

Originally Posted by chunterer

And what do we make of Doohan so far? Kept his powder dry in Jeddah but hardly front running pace? I think I said last year that I wasn't convinced about the fanfare he was receiving from every corner. like Hauger he will need to deliver a strong weekend next event.

Which he didn't have. Doohan seems fast (at times) but inconsistent. Pourchaire looks like the obvious shoo-in for the title, but we have seen so far that he is not going to have it all his own way and has to show calmer form. I think in Jeddah he just totally outbraked himself and then couldn't back out.

Vesti has impressed me most so far.

**chunterer** · 7 Apr 2023, 10:23 (Ref:4150731)

Martins certainly needs to temper his enthusiasm a bit, but not his speed.

Some mad racing and tactics from drivers throughout the field last weekend

**Born Racer** · 29 Apr 2023, 10:05 (Ref:4153470)

Considering he's just stepped up, Martins has plenty of potential at the higher levels. You don't win F3 without being excellent. He has the speed - he will probably get there. But where is there?

Bearman had an interesting qually in Baku. He took pole with damaged steering. You could see the angle he was holding the wheel at.

**chunterer** · 5 May 2023, 05:39 (Ref:4154542)

Well after Baku the form picture changes again it seems..

Bearman is starting to really come on strong.

Several other fancied runners had iffy weekends such as Pourchaire.

Martins drove a sensible race on Saturday but then chucked his car into the scenery again on Sunday in that crazy final re-start.

Strange season so far but not short on interest and excitement.

Mogster · 28 May 2023, 11:39 (Ref:4158294)

Burning car broadside across the track, how is that not an instant red flag?

NaBUru38 · 4 Jul 2023, 17:25 (Ref:4166735)

FIA Formula 2 - standings after Red Bull Ring:

1. DNK Frederik Vesti (Prema), 125
2. FRA Théo Pourchaire (ART), 105
3. JPN Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS), 101
4. GBR Oliver Bearman (Prema), 81
5. NED Richard Verschoor (Van Amersfoort), 75
6. NOR Dennis Hauger (MP), 60
7. FRA Victor Martins (ART), 58
8. BRA Enzo Fittipaldi (Rodin Carlin), 57
9. AUS Jack Doohan (Virtuosi), 54
10. IND Kush Maini (Campos), 49

Next round is this weekend at Silverstone.

**chunterer** · 4 Jul 2023, 22:47 (Ref:4166757)

Thanks for sharing the points.

Can't help but think that Martins should have well over 100 pts by mow. Pace is always there but mistakes have been costly.

Definitely a strong field of ability but form has been up down foe most

v8supes · 6 Jul 2023, 17:00 (Ref:4166988)

Im a little surprised at that points table. Id have expected Pourchaire to be leading. Although ive not kept all that up to date having not watched either race from Austria.

**chunterer** · 9 Jul 2023, 21:36 (Ref:4167644)

Martins now seems to have consistency to match his undoubted speed.

That was a quality drive in the feature race this morning.

Akrapovic · 10 Jul 2023, 07:26 (Ref:4167689)

Every time I put F2 on, it's under SC, with Martins leading, with a pending time penalty.

justracing · 10 Jul 2023, 15:56 (Ref:4167770)

Disastrous weekend for Oliver Bearman at Sillystone, being unashamedly patriotic I was really hoping for a good points scoring weekend from him.

peebee2 · 10 Jul 2023, 20:31 (Ref:4167817)

Quote:

Originally Posted by justracing

Disastrous weekend for Oliver Bearman at Sillystone, being unashamedly patriotic I was really hoping for a good points scoring weekend from him.

I would say that winning F2 this year would be a disaster for him. Much better to do it again in '24.

NaBUru38 · 12 Jul 2023, 14:37 (Ref:4168101)

FIA Formula 2 - standings after Silverstone:

1. DNK Frederik Vesti (Prema), 135
2. FRA Théo Pourchaire (ART), 129
3. JPN Ayumu Iwasa (DAMS), 111
4. GBR Oliver Bearman (Prema), 88
5. FRA Victor Martins (ART), 88
6. NED Richard Verschoor (Van Amersfoort), 75
7. AUS Jack Doohan (Virtuosi), 72
8. BRA Enzo Fittipaldi (Rodin Carlin), 68
9. BAR Zane Maloney (Rodin Carlin), 66
10. NOR Dennis Hauger (MP), 60

Next round is on July 22-23 at Hungaroring.

**chunterer** · 22 Jul 2023, 08:58 (Ref:4169385)

Doohan Martins Vesti Pourchaire is top.4 in qualy for Hungaroring.

Juntos · 25 Jul 2023, 21:49 (Ref:4169947)

The standard of the field in this year's FIA F2 Championship appears noticeably weaker compared to previous years. It's crucial to evaluate how we've been nurturing talent and fostering the growth of emerging drivers in order to address this issue and ensure a strong and competitive field in the future.

Hawkwood · 26 Jul 2023, 21:06 (Ref:4170060)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Juntos

The standard of the field in this year's FIA F2 Championship appears noticeably weaker compared to previous years. It's crucial to evaluate how we've been nurturing talent and fostering the growth of emerging drivers in order to address this issue and ensure a strong and competitive field in the future.

It's not really crucial.
These 'weaker' grids happen every 2-3 years, it's perfectly normal, and it always rebounds.

**chunterer** · 27 Jul 2023, 05:21 (Ref:4170082)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Juntos

The standard of the field in this year's FIA F2 Championship appears noticeably weaker compared to previous years. It's crucial to evaluate how we've been nurturing talent and fostering the growth of emerging drivers in order to address this issue and ensure a strong and competitive field in the future.

I'm not sure it is weaker..

There are half a dozen exciting talents, a similar number of series 'veterans'who are still pretty quick.

Most years are like that in this category.

The trouble is that F2 is a bit of a lottery in that each season a different team seems to find a magic set up or tyre window.

This seems to throw up a lot of inconsistent performances and can make it very difficult for the best drivers to really show their level.

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