Photo: Formula 2
A test took place at Silverstone last week featuring a Formula 2 and a FIA Formula 3 car with the purpose of defining “the set-up regulations” in their respective championships.
F3 regular Sophia Floersch was at the wheel of the F2 car, while former Formula Regional racer Chloe Chambers drove the F3 car. The promoter of F2 and F3 is pursuing the altering the freedoms that teams have with set-ups next season “in order to accommodate a wide range of drivers and make both championships as accessible as possible”, and on instruction from the parent Formula 1 Group.
The Silverstone test specifically “focused on a complete screening of all suspension set-up configurations used across the season in order to remain below the steering effort level defined by the FIA”, and on different tyre compounds.
While Floersch drove an umodified vehicle, the F3 car was not running in the specification it is raced in as it had “modified parts to simulate the behaviour and demands of the F3 2025 car”.
“I think the biggest differences were the two steering racks and also the caster changes. The more caster you put, the heavier it gets,” said Floersch.
“With the steering racks, to be honest, I preferred the harder one because it is a lot more direct and you can be a lot more aggressive on the high-speed corners, which I think is important in order to have downforce in the cars. In general, as a driver you never really feel so many differences because we never really focus on steering effort, so I learned a lot across the two days.”
It was not disclosed who was running the cars, and F2 and F3 teams are not allowed to do private tests of their own during the season with the current cars.