2022 Formula 2 Season Preview

Formula 2 is back with a fresh crop of talent, a new team, and a record-breaking calendar for 2022. After spending the entirety of 2021 moaning about the format change, I’m pleased to say the series has reverted back to a more traditional two-race weekend format, meaning we don’t have to contend with six-week breaks between multiple rounds.

With the top four drivers of the 2021 season (Oscar Piastri, Robert Schwartzman, Guanyu Zhou and Dan Ticktum) all moving on to pastures new, we have an exciting year ahead of us – where there will be plenty of contenders to follow Piastri’s footsteps in becoming Formula 2 Champion. Here is It’s All Sport To Me’s 2022 Formula 2 Season Preview:

New format:

I won’t mince my words, the 2021 format was dreadful, so I’m pleased the series took on board both driver and fan criticism. Three races a weekend was cool for fans on track, but when you have only eight rounds spanning from Bahrain in March to Abu Dhabi in December, drivers spent more time twiddling their thumbs than actually being on the racetracks.

For 2022, F2 returns to a more familiar two race structure, Qualifying will set the grid for Sunday’s main Feature Race, with the top 10 from the qualifying session being reversed to set the grid for a Saturday Sprint Race.  

Points will also change for 2022. Pole and Fastest Lap from those who finish inside the top 10 are slashed in half. Pole will receive two points and a single point will be awarded for the fastest lap after having been four and two points respectively in 2021. The Feature Race will continue to hand out the same points as F1 (25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1) for the top 10 finishers, whilst the Sprint Race will drop down to 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for the top eight finishers after previously having followed a 15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 system since the series was formed.

This format is more aligned to what the series used in 2005-2020, albeit swapping around the scheduling of the Feature and Sprint races. It should mean that with more rounds and fewer races per round, there is less chance of drastically damaging your Championship hopes with a bad round. I also think the return to this structure will only aid these drivers in aiming to reach F1 as they will have more exposure to the demanding schedule, but also more of the race tracks under their belt and more chances at networking. 

Calendar:

F2 announced an initial record-breaking 14-round calendar for 2022. However, in line with Formula 1 cancelling the Russian GP contract (in light of the invasion of Ukraine by Russia), the Sochi round was dropped and it appears that it will not be replaced. But 13 rounds, 26 races will certainly be a test for the drivers.

Imola and Zandvoort will be making their debuts in the series. The latter was due to be featured in 2020 but was cancelled due to the pandemic. Barcelona, Spielberg, Hungaroring and Spa-Francorchamps will all return after having made way in 2021 as part of the reduced calendar for that season.

Overall, this calendar is far superior to that of last season, the only thing that particularly annoys me is the gap between Monza and Abu Dhabi, even without the cancellation of the Sochi round, there was already a near-two-month gap just to finish. It would be ideal if the series could reschedule a round of either COTA or Mexico and join the W-Series there to plug that gap. However, I’m sure the drivers will be pleased with having more action overall.

Driver line-up:

Perhaps not the strongest of line-ups on paper, but there is certainly a decent level of talent on the 2022 grid. From Formula 3 Champions like Hauger (Prema) to Esports drivers like Bölükbaşı (Charouz). 

Drivers like Doohan (Virtuosi) and Novalak (MP Motorsport) are also ones to keep an eye on as they were able to run in a couple of rounds towards the tail end of 2021 which may give them the edge over Hauger and Vesti (ART), who have been made to wait to make their debuts.

We also welcome a new team in 2022 with Van Amersfoort Racing taking over the licence held by HWA Racelab for both their F2 and F3 operations. The team infamously ran Max Verstappen in his maiden European Formula 3 series back in 2014.

As highlighted in articles previously, it is still disappointing to see that W Series double Champion Jamie Chadwick can not even get a drive. Particularly considering the pedigree of some of these drivers. Budgets are one thing, but considering Chadwick’s ties to Williams I am really surprised that a deal couldn’t be struck, especially considering there are drivers on this grid that did not even score a point in Formula 3, yet have found their way into the final rung of the junior ladder.

F1 Team Juniors:

One interesting thing to note is the vast interests of F1 teams in this series. Half of the grid belong to a driver academy which will certainly add spice to the driver market for 2023:

Red Bull – 5 (Hauger, Daruvala, Lawson, Vips & Iwasa)

Alpine – 2 (Doohan & Caldwell)

Williams – 2 (Sargeant & Nissany)

Alfa Romeo – 1 (Pourchaire)

Mercedes – 1 (Vesti)

Drivers to watch:

With the Championship protagonists all leaving at the end of 2021, there is an ideal opportunity for some of the more experienced drivers to shine this year. Narrowing down the picks was quite tough but here are the six drivers to look out for in 2022.

Dennis Hauger – The new Prema recruit dominated Formula 3 last season and led the Championship pretty much the entire way. Taking three victories and a further four podiums on his way to clinching the Championship at the season-ending round in Sochi. This season there are high expectations but I can’t help feel that Red Bull missed a trick by not getting their junior driver some experience in the season-ending rounds at Saudi Arabia and Abu Dhabi. Some of his F3 rivals do have the edge heading into 2022 with the mileage in testing and race trim they have been able to partake in.

Jehan Daruvala – Another Red Bull junior recruit joins Hauger at Prema, this time Jehan may edge into the season as one of the favourites. His F2 career to date has been solid but less than inspiring, taking three Sprint Race wins across his two seasons in the series. Joining the team that ran him to P3 in the 2019 Formula 3 Championship, Daruvala is ideally placed heading into 2022 to mount a Championship challenge, although experienced drivers don’t have a track record of fairing well against rookie teammates at the Italian team.

Liam Lawson – His season peaked at the season-opening round in Bahrain, winning the first Sprint Race of the season and taking P3 in the Feature meant he lead the Championship. Unfortunately, he would only reach the rostrum on one more occasion in the rest of 2021. Switching from Hitech to Carlin for 2022, he joins a team that has run Lando Norris and Yuki Tsunoda to their F1 drives, and Lawson will certainly be hoping to make it another success story for the organisation.

Jüri Vips – Technical infringements and a few silly penalties hampered the Estonian in 2021, but on a good day Jüri is a real talent (as we got to see in Baku). Besides taking a rare double win on the demanding track that Baku is, Vips also had a further four podiums last season for Hitech. He will need to add consistency to stake his claim in the title fight in 2022. I also feel this is a bit of a last chance saloon for him now – entering his third season in the series, albeit his 2020 season was rather hampered by the pandemic.

Théo Pourchaire – One of the Championship favourites! His 2021 stats make that easy to see why. Two wins including a Feature Race on the streets of Monaco, and pole position around the Principality at just 17 years old is pretty special. His season fizzled out after that. He still scored consistent points but was definitely hampered by the broken wrist he suffered in a crash during the Baku round. Hopefully for Théo and the keen eyes at Alfa Romeo, the infamous second-seat curse at ART doesn’t fall on his side of the garage.

Felipe Drugovich – The Brazilian will be the first to admit that his 2021 season did not go to plan. After taking three victories in his rookie campaign of 2020, Drugovich failed to take any last year whilst driving for Virtuosi. However, he had a strong season-ending round at Abu Dhabi with a P2, P5 and P3 finish across the three races respectively, which was his best points haul of 2021 as well. This year he re-joins the MP Motorsport team that ran him so well in 2020 – and I think the familiar environment will certainly help Felipe back up towards the front of the grid.

Champion Prediction: Liam Lawson

I was pondering between Lawson and Pourchaire and went with my gut, I felt that Lawson ended the 2021 season stronger and joins a Carlin team that understands the Dallara car and 18-inch Pirelli tyres better than ART over the last few seasons. I believe it will be a head-to-head battle with these two as the protagonists. With the Kiwi most likely edging it and giving the Red Bull establishment a severe headache for 2023.

To see if I can actually get a prediction right for once, tune in to what should be a thrilling F2 season when the season starts in Bahrain.