It’s arguably some of the anticipated seasons in Method 2 historical past with large names, thrilling prospects and a revamped calendar forming the makings of a really unmissable marketing campaign.
Kicking off this weekend within the F1 help invoice, F2 returns with a brand-new automotive, fresh-faced grid and big pleasure for what may very well be a really spectacular marketing campaign from start-to-finish. After 2023 went right down to the wire at Yas Marina, what does the 2024 season have in retailer as a follow-up?
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The category of 2024
This 12 months’s Method 2 grid is stacked stuffed with expertise from prime to backside, making for some of the thrilling line-ups in Championship historical past.
Reigning Champions ART Grand Prix have paired Alpine Academy driver Victor Martins with Williams Driver Academy expertise Zak O’Sullivan. The Briton completed final 12 months’s Method 3 Championship second within the standings, taking 4 race wins en route.
Martins in the meantime is an early contender for the title after taking a maiden victory and three pole positions final 12 months. Will he step up and succeed compatriot Theo Pourchaire as Drivers’ Champion in 2024?
PREMA Racing have freshly named Ferrari Reserve Driver Oliver Bearman, hotly tipped to battle for the crown, and Mercedes Junior Crew star Andrea Kimi Antonelli. The Italian steps as much as F2 with big expectations and loads of consideration on him after making the bounce from the Method Regional European Championship the place he gained the title in 2023.
Reigning F3 Champion Gabriel Bortoleto strikes as much as Method 2 with Invicta Racing. The McLaren-backed driver joins Alpine Academy’s Kush Maini on the British outfit for the brand new marketing campaign.
READ MORE: Pourchaire topped 2023 champion as Doohan dominates Abu Dhabi Characteristic Race
Campos Racing have an all-Purple Bull Junior Crew line-up in Isack Hadjar and Josep Maria Marti. Hadjar goes into his second F2 marketing campaign after gaining F1 expertise final 12 months testing with AlphaTauri, whereas Marti steps up as a rookie having fought for the Method 3 title a 12 months in the past.
MP Motorsport have Dennis Hauger and Williams F1 junior Franco Colapinto forming their line-up this 12 months, whereas Rodin Motorsport retain Sauber Academy Driver Zane Maloney and associate him with 2023 Tremendous Method Champion Ritomo Miyata.
Wherever you look, there may be race-winning potential at each group in 2024.
New equipment
For the primary time since 2018, Method 2 has a model new automotive on monitor, and it has been redesigned with wheel-to-wheel battles very a lot in thoughts. Reprofiled entrance and rear wings together with new bodywork elsewhere make up probably the most placing adjustments.
However, just like the F1 vehicles of the present technology, it’s the redesigned flooring that ought to make the most important distinction, with racing doubtlessly changing into nearer than earlier than with vehicles now in a position to comply with each other extra simply.
In fact, with the introduction of a brand new automotive comes driver security enhancements. This newest equipment is operating the up to date FIA 2024 security specs, with improved cockpit safety and rollover constructions put in place.
READ MORE: Oliver Bearman on a whirlwind 2023 and his glimpse into F1 life with Ferrari and Haas
The 2024 automotive can be the primary one to be developed with drivers of all sizes in thoughts. Cockpit ergonomics have been revamped so as to match drivers of all sizes from the shortest to the tallest, whereas steering effort enhancements have been made.
As was the case final season, the F2 automotive can be operating on 55% sustainable gas, bio-sourced and achieved in partnership with Aramco forward of the swap to totally artificial fuels sooner or later.
After a shakedown occasion in Barcelona and pre-season testing in Sakhir over every week in the past, groups can be battling to know the brand new automotive first so as to achieve an early season benefit.
Method 2: Final Information to the 2024 season
14 rounds of unpredictability
It’s a protracted marketing campaign and Method 2 drivers will begin alongside F1 in Bahrain and end up in Yas Marina in December, however what occurs between then is anyone’s guess.
Final season had 11 totally different winners throughout the marketing campaign, and the title battle between Pourchaire and Vesti went proper to the wire and the ultimate day of the season. Likewise within the Groups’ Championship battle, ART Grand Prix reigned supreme, however PREMA Racing fought to the very finish, in the end developing brief on the ultimate Sunday.
READ MORE: All the things it is advisable to know concerning the 2024 F1 ACADEMY season
This 12 months’s 14-race calendar has been revamped, with the Baku spherical now happening in September and a maiden go to to the Lusail Worldwide Circuit in Qatar changing into the penultimate occasion of the marketing campaign.
Final season, the lead of the Drivers’ Championship modified palms six occasions earlier than Pourchaire was in a position to maintain Vesti at bay in one of many tensest finishes to an F2 season lately.
Three rookies claimed maiden victories at some stage through the 2023 marketing campaign, with Martins, Bearman and Jak Crawford taking to the highest step for the primary time.
Martins and Bearman have been additionally tied for probably the most pole positions final 12 months with three apiece, although it was the previous that completed as the highest rookie and winner of the Anthoine Hubert Award.
Will Bearman get his redemption this time round in a potential title battle with Martins, or will the 2024 Drivers’ Champion come from elsewhere?
The F2 marketing campaign will get underway on Thursday, February 29 with Free Observe and Qualifying. The Dash Race follows on Friday at 17:15 native time with the primary Characteristic Race of the season scheduled for lights out at 13:30 native time on Saturday, March 2.
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