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F2: What is it, and why is it here?
by Stefan Bartholomaeus
pic: Formula 2 Media
At first glance, the FIA’s new Formula 2 category appears to be just another junior single seater championship. One has to wonder, in a world full of Formula Master, Formula Renault, Formula BMW, Formula Toyota, Formula 3, Formula Nippon, World Series by Renault, and GP2, do we really need another category of this nature?
According to the FIA, the answer is yes.
The new class, which will commence racing in May 2009, is (not surprisingly) intended to fit into the performance landscape between Formula 3 and Formula 1. It will race mainly on the World Touring Car Championship program, and run eight rounds across six European countries, with two 40 minute races per round.
When the category was announced by the FIA in June of this year, it quickly found itself under fire from various sources. The most cynical of critics accused the FIA of proposing the championship merely for purposes of leverage in a power struggle with Bernie Ecclestone. The current F1 feeder series, GP2, was set up by Ecclestone and Flavio Briatore, and is partly financed by CVC Capital Partners (who have majority control of The Formula One Group). It remains largely outside the control of the FIA.
Others would have been forgiven for dismissing F2 as another unnecessary addition to an overcrowded market place that only further blurs the path for young hopefuls trying to make it to F1.
Conversely, some quarters are touting Formula 2 as something of a revolution that will redefine how Formula One feeder categories are run.
Upon the launch of the category, the main sales pitch from the FIA was costs, or rather the lack of them. It was claimed that a competitor could spend just €195,000 (approximately $420,000 AUD) for a full season of F2 racing.
And here was the hook; all cars are to be centrally housed and run by a single entity (later announced to be Dr Jonathon Palmer’s MotorSport Vision operation).
Of course, Palmer has been running the successful Formula Palmer Audi series in Britain to much the same concept for more than 10 years. FPA however is a domestic championship, and positioned far below F2 on the ladder to the top. F2 will be the first category to be run this way at this level.
With Palmer claiming that 50% of all F3 and GP2 budgets are spent on trying to make ‘one car faster than the other’, it becomes easier to see how F2 can be so much cheaper than ‘rival’ categories.
To put the €195,000 figure into perspective, it’s worth having a look at cost estimates for other categories. 321Ignition’s sources give an estimate of the price for a full season in categories such as British Formula BMW (€350,000.00, approx $750,000 AUD), British Formula 3 (€700,000, $1,500,000 AUD), Euro F3 (€650,000, $1,300,000 AUD), and GP2 (€1,500,000, $3,000,000 AUD).
After the cost target announcement for F2, one prominent GP2 team owner claimed that some people are spending around €195,000 a year on karting in Europe!
With the sorts of numbers mentioned above, it becomes quickly evident why youngsters who aren’t aligned with one of the major driver development programs (Red Bull, Toyota, Renault, etc) have little chance of making it even to GP2, forget about F1...
On the surface, the way the F2 category will be run is rather reminiscent of A1GP. In A1, all of the cars are kept in a central location, and built to an identical spec. However, each A1 team prepares their own chassis (at the main workshop) prior to each race weekend, and operates independently at the track. This has allowed the ‘powerhouse’ European teams to compete (such as Super Nova, Carlin and DAMS), and resulted in teams ‘grouping’ together for data sharing purposes, with the bigger teams dominating the racing.
F2 though doesn’t need individual teams at all, as the cars are all transported to and run at the tracks by Palmer’s MSV people.
The cars are to be operated in groups of three, with a single race engineer looking after each group of three drivers. To ensure equality, these engineers will rotate to a different group of three drivers for each event. Presumably, one engineer dividing his time between three eager young drivers won’t be a problem...
Interestingly, drivers are not prohibited from bringing other technical personnel to events, although these ‘extras’ will not be allowed to work on the car at any time or communicate with the driver during sessions. One ‘extra’ is allowed to join the driver at his official debriefs with his F2 race engineer however. During testing, there is no restriction on drivers communicating with other technical personnel.
Additionally, if a driver feels that his car is inferior, a test driver will be utilised to compare the allegedly inferior car with the category’s spare car. If the car in question is not felt to be competitive it will be investigated and components changed until it is competitive. If this cannot be achieved before the next race the driver may use the spare car.
So, from a young driver’s perspective, everything about F2 makes sense. It looks set to be fair, fast, and affordable.
One must wonder then if this sort of class will be the way of the future. The last ten years have seen a significant increase in ‘spec’ series that allow aspiring F1 talent to compete in equal equipment. Will the next ten years see a similar growth in categories that have a single car preparer as well?
Clearly, only time will tell, but it’s worth having a think about what categories like this mean for F1 teams as a whole. Yes, it allows drivers to show their talent in identical cars, but it takes a team of 600 or more people to win in F1 these days. Where will the engineers and mechanics learn their craft, if all they do in the junior formula is screw together and tune ‘meccano-set’ type race cars?
Part II: The Formula 2 car explained.
The new Formula 2 car has been designed by the Williams F1 organisation.
Using its CFD software, Williams have designed the aerodynamic package with the focus on creating as much of its total downforce from beneath the car as possible, in order to ease overtaking. It is expected that the car will create around 900kg of downforce at 240km/h, with 40% of this coming from the full-length ground effect tunnels.
The car is powered by the same basic 1.8 litre Audi turbo as the Formula Palmer Audi cars; although apart from the block and head it is all-new. Output has been upped by 100bhp to approximately 400 on standard boost and 450bhp on overboost. The overboost (or ‘push to pass’) facility is activated by a button on the steering wheel, and lasts for approximately six seconds. Eight shots of the boost are allowed per race.
The transmission is a bespoke six-speed Hewland unit with paddle shift.
Although subject to change, the car is set to have the following adjustments available:
• Wing flap settings, front and rear
• Ride heights, front and rear
• Spring pre-load, front and rear
• Anti-roll bar setting front
• Rear anti-roll bars, from a specified range
• Damping, bump and rebound, front and rear
• Cambers, front and rear
• Tracking
• Tyre pressures
The car is yet to be officially named.
- Stefan Bartholomaeus
© 321 IGNITION Pty Ltd 2008
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