Motorsport Musings Ramblings of a racing enthusiast…

F2: Success or Failure?

Just when you thought that one more single-seater series and motor racing would go pop, Formula 2 was brought out of hibernation by the FIA after 25 years. Billed as a low-cost alternative feeder-series in these tough times, it quickly attracted a healthy field. But has the ‘new’ F2 category been successful, or are we looking at another Formula Palmer Audi in the making?

With costs ever increasing in the various racing categories that line the more traditional career path to Formula 1, the FIA unveiled plans in 2008 to launch a cost effective series that would allow many talented drivers an opportunity to use it as a stepping-stone to the big time, rivalling the more established GP2 Series and World Series by Renault.

With the tender being awarded to Jonathan Palmer’s MotoSport Vision group, the FIA chose someone with history in running both a single-seater championship (FPA) and international events. And in choosing Williams F1 to design and build 25 identical cars, it not only tapped into the engineering prowess of Patrick Head, but also introduced a test with the Grove-based team as an incentive to win the championship – along with the mandatory FIA super license required to drive in F1.

It’s thanks to fact F2 is run by single organisation that its costs were able to be so low. At £125,000 for the whole season, it was fully subscribed within several weeks. Its biggest unique selling point however, also resulted in some of its biggest failings though.

Let’s compare it with British F3 for example. In Britain’s premier producer of talent, both a driver and engineer can influence changes to the setup of their car. F2 on the other hand is so tightly controlled, it doesn't allow for any tinkering under the bonnet. This sort of experience helps train the drivers and prepare them for their move on to higher series, so if they do make it to F1, the experience they have gained in F3 is invaluable because the engineers expect them to understand just about every aspect of the car – not just a damper or wing change, but the whole car.

Not having your own engineer to build a working relationship with over the course of the season seems like a glaring omission as well. Though there are rumours some drivers did employ external race engineers to join them at each round under the ‘friends-and-family’ banner to get around this problem. Not quite fitting in with the whole low cost ethos.

So F2 doesn’t represent good value then does it? Well, with just one season of racing under its belt, it’s probably too difficult to judge at this early stage – and that’s not a cop out on my part either. The problem is that it is tricky to gauge where it actually fits in on the career ladder at the moment and whether its participants actually have any hope of using it as a successful stepping stone to Formula 1.

F2's class act: Andy Soucek

And that’s where Andy Soucek comes into the equation. The 24-year-old Spaniard has been around for a while already, with a Spanish F3 title under his belt and so-so performances in both Formula Renault 3.5 and GP2, which he left under acrimonious circumstances and the odd legal issue. It left a bitter taste in his mouth; so much so, he vowed never to return to the series and otherwise spent his time honing his driving skills for Atletico Madrid in the 2008 Superleague Formula season instead.

For Soucek, F2 couldn’t have come at a better time. The Madrid native was in a league of his own all season, producing seven wins and almost always fighting for a place on the podium. He finished the season a massive 51 points ahead of nearest rival Rob Wickens and never really looked likely to be threatened by anyone else.

Some may question the margin by which he clinched the title and that his runaway success in the new series was due to lack of competition by the rest of the field. If anything, it was up to his rivals to improve and to work harder to try and catch him, and they failed – and by the same token, they’re probably not F1 capable either.

The success of F2 will depend on its graduates, especially its champion. So it’s all down to Soucek this week when he tests for Williams at Jerez to not only show his worth, but also that Formula 2 is able to produce drivers of a high calibre. His dominance this year indicates that he is a class act in the making and will heighten the reputation of the series. As it becomes more established, the teams will be in a better position to choose the best drivers and from there the quality of the field can only get better, and so will F2.