Formula 2 2024 season preview: Will a new car put new names on top?

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It’s not just drivers who will be providing the championship narrative this year, as the new Dallara F2 2024 car has the potential to shake up the order and cause twists and turns later in the season. Who will be driving it?

ART Grand Prix

The team only won two races in 2023, yet took both titles as its drivers collected 19 podiums between them from the 25 points-scoring races. There was nothing in testing to suggest ART GP will come out of the blocks winning in 2024.

1. Victor Martins France, 22
2023: 5th in F2

For many, Martins is the title favourite so it’s rather appropriate he carries the number one on his car this year. He made the podium in his first two sprint races last year and took pole in his second qualifying session, but it took until his fifth attempt at a feature race to score points. The weekend after that at Barcelona he finished third in both races, and so began his climb from 15th to fifth in the standings. Three poles and six fastest laps were impressive, and he was the fastest qualifier in the field, but Martins needs to raise his game to become champion as he was second-best on race pace in 2023 but was 54 points short of the title as he failed to maximise that pace.

2. Zak O’Sullivan Britain, 19
2023: 2nd in FIA F3 Championship

The Williams junior has finished first or second in every car racing championship he’s entered. It took him two years to become FIA Formula 3 Championship runner-up, netting two podiums in his rookie campaign with Rodin Carlin then moving to Prema and taking four race victories for the title-winning team. He became the third driver to get four wins in a season.

He was slightly faster than Martins over a single lap in testing, but was trumped by his team-mate when it came to long-run pace.

Prema

Bahrain is not the team’s favourite circuit, so it could start the season looking far less competitive than it will end up being. A lot of attention is on the team-mate battle here since both drivers are being considered for F1 futures as early as 2025.

3. Ollie Bearman Britain, 18
2023: 6th in F2

A double win in Baku meant Bearman led more laps than all but one driver in F2 last year. By the end of 2023 he had already reset expectations for 2024, knowing that his rookie form would not necessarily translate into the new car F2 would be introducing. The fact that he finished pre-season testing still with ‘a lot of work to do’ and considerably off the pace was worrying, but Bearman and the team pointed to track-specific struggles.

4. Andrea Kimi Antonelli Italy, 17
2023: FRegional Europe champion, FRegional Middle East champion

One of two drivers to bypass F3 with their move up to F2, and both have a huge amount of attention on them. The key fact to know about the Mercedes-AMG Formula 1 junior is he has ended up being a dominant champion in every series he has done a full season in. Winning the F2 title as a rookie is a big ask, but with the Dallara F2 2024 being new for everyone it could be that Antonelli’s lack of F3 experience proves of minimal disadvantage.

Rodin Motorsport

Although the team could claim to have the most interesting line-up on the grid, the real focus will be on how Rodin Cars’ buyout of the team that used to be known as Carlin might impact its performance. There can’t be a like-for-like comparison with 2023 due to different cars being used, but senior personnel changes could influence how it handles this new challenge.

5. Zane Maloney Barbados, 20
2023: 10th in F2, 8th in FIA F3 World Cup

Maloney ended 2023 as a Red Bull junior, and has now spent almost a month with Sauber as one of its juniors and as its F1 reserve driver. It’s hard to tell whether that move on its own has boosted or reduced his chance of getting on the F1 grid, and what impact his F2 results this year may then have on those too. In his rookie season he stood on the feature race podium on his first attempt, and repeated the feat three times. But he only scored eight points in sprint races, his pace was generally lacking and he came 10th in the standings. After a year of highs and lows, he needs to be more consistently on the pace in 2024.

6. Ritomo Miyata Japan, 24
2024: currently 14th in IMSA – GTD   2023: Super Formula champion, Super GT champion, 20th in World Endurance Championship – LMGTE Am class

In recent years drivers have graduated from GP2/F2 to the top tier of single-seater racing via Super Formula, impressed there and then made sideway moves to IndyCar, F1 or Formula E. A few have raced in SF before F2, but none have stepped down the single-seater ladder after becoming champion of the series. Reigning champion Miyata will change that this year.

The factory Toyota driver won the Japanese Formula 4 title twice then was Super Formula Lights champion in his junior career, and in his 28 races in SF since 2020 he has taken two wins and six other podiums. He also won the 2023 Super GT title.

DAMS

The Charles Pic-owned team won three races in 2023, its best tally since its title-winning 2019 campaign, and it could build on that momentum with a new car since it was very strong in the season the Dallara F2 2018 was introduced. In pre-season testing it was towards the top on single-lap and long-run pace, despite getting far fewer laps in than its opposition.

7. Jak Crawford USA, 18
2023: 13th in F2, 28th in FRME

Crawford amassed an impressive five podiums as a rookie, with one of those being a sprint race win at the Red Bull Ring. While he was the sixth highest scorer in sprint races, in the more valuable feature races he was outscored by 15 drivers and that left him 13th in the standings. He was second fastest in pre-season testing at Bahrain, and revealed DAMS had to work hard to figure out a strong set-up to use with the Dallara F2 2024.

8. Juan Manuel Correa Ecuador/USA, 24
2023: 19th in F2, 15th in WEC – LMP2 class

This will only be Correa’s third season in F2, although he debuted five years. His rookie 2019 campaign was ended after 17 races following his horrifying crash with Anthoine Hubert at Spa-Francorchamps, and he joined Van Amersfoort Racing for the final round of 2022 and then the 2023 season finale. A fourth place was his best result last year, but he did make the podium twice in his first 10 races as a rookie. After two years of combining single-seaters with sportscars, his focus is just on F2 for 2024.

Virtuosi Racing

Title sponsor Invicta has shuffled Virtuosi out of the team name for 2024, and winning at least three races will be the expectation for this season. Virtuosi has managed it for the last five years, even though it faced pace struggles at points in 2023.

9. Kush Maini India, 23
2023: 11th in F2

Maini goes into his ninth year of single-seater racing still yet to register a top-two finish in any race out of the UK. But late last year he picked up the support of Alpine and Mahindra, so is clearly setting a good impression to people in motorsport’s top level. Since he made the podium in his rookie F2 season and was a very respectable 11th in the standings, there’s some pressure for his results and the points table to reflect any improvements he makes this year.

10. Gabriel Bortoleto Brazil, 19
2023: FIA F3 champion

In contrast to his team-mate, Bortoleto only has four years of car racing experience under his belt. He took one win in his sole year in F4, three across two years in Formula Regional then won the first two feature races of the 2023 FIA F3 Championship season and used consistency thereon (reflected by finishing second four times) to claim the title as a rookie.

The McLaren junior was the epitome of productive in F2 pre-season testing, going sixth fastest on single-lap pace, setting the fourth and fifth fastest long runs and completing the second most laps of anyone.

MP Motorsport

In one way, 2023 was a bump back down to earth for the team that won both titles in 2022. But it was still the team’s third most competitive season in F2 and it was on the podium seven times.

11. Dennis Hauger Norway, 20
2023: 8th in F2, 2nd in FIA F3 World Cup, 12th in Porsche Carrera Cup Scandinavia

Hauger goes into his third year in F2, and second with MP, with his F1 dreams potentially already over after splitting from Red Bull but with only one thing on his mind: winning the title.

The problem is he has underutilised his equipment so far. As a rookie with Prema (the reigning champion team) he won the Baku feature race and took three sprint race podiums including a win in Monaco. Then he switched to MP after it had been the team to beat in 2022 but took two wins, a second and a third in sprint races and finished no higher than fifth in feature races last year. He averaged more points per race than in ’22 despite this, but eighth in the standings was still underperforming.

12. Franco Colapinto Argentina, 20
2023: 25th in F2, 4th in FIA F3 Championship

Colapinto spent two years with MP in FRegional, taking four wins, then reunited with them in FIA F3 last season and took two wins as a series sophomore to come fourth in the standings. He had led the fight to be championship runner-up going into the final race, but sat fifth in the points the race before that so fourth place was not a disappointing placing for a season of consistent scoring.

In F2 pre-season testing he and Hauger’s long runs went further than anyone else’s, and he set the third fastest overall.

Van Amersfoort Racing

VAR made big gains in its second F2 season, rising from 10th to seventh in the standings, scoring 48 more points and claiming its first win. The learning continues with the new car, and in testing it was near the top over a lap and a long run.

14. Enzo Fittipaldi Brazil, 22
2023: 7th in F2

Although Fittipaldi’s early single-seater career looks impressive, winning the Italian F4 title and being FRegional Europe runner-up, he arrived in F2 with low expectations after one podium in one-and-a-half seasons in FIA F3. Breaking his heel in a nasty crash in Jeddah three weekends into his F2 career then meant he missed races, but he bounced back with Charouz Racing System in 2022 by showing frontrunning form at many tracks and coming eighth in the standings. He joined Carlin for 2023 and climbed a spot in the points table after winning a sprint race and taking three feature race podiums. Brake issues cost him victory, and sixth in the standings, in the year’s final sprint race.

15. Rafael Villagomez Mexico, 22
2023: 25th in FIA F3 Championship, 13th in FRME

Villagomez arrives in F2 still with a lot to prove. He took two podiums in 35 F4 races, one in 27 FRegional races, then in the third tier claimed five from 22 starts in Euroformula but never finished higher than ninth in 56 FIA F3 races. But he’s been busy preparing himself as well as possible for a higher level of racing. He did eight long runs in F2 post-season testing with the old car in Abu Dhabi last December, then with its replacement set the second fastest long run of this month’s Bahrain test.

Hitech GP

Despite an impressive line-up, Hitech suffered a big dip in its points-scoring form last year as only two times did one of its cars finish higher than seventh in a feature race. The redemption will have to come with a new car, and the team has more data from the Dallara F2 2024 than its rivals thanks to setting an unmatched 327 laps in pre-season testing.

16. Amaury Cordeel Belgium, 21
2023: 20th in F2

Cordeel is still trying to recapture the pace that took him to the 2018 Spanish F4 title. A fourth place in an Asian F3 Winter Series race was the highlight of his 47-race FRegional career, he failed to score in FIA F3 and got a race ban in his rookie F2 campaign for amassing too many penalty points. But upon his return he was cleaner and faster, scoring 26 points in the last five races of 2022. He only scored eight points in 2023, but avoided another ban, and is now with his third team in three years.

17. Paul Aron Estonia, 20
2023: 24th in F2, 3rd in FIA F3 Championship

Aron’s time as a Mercedes F1 junior ended as his F2 career began last November in Abu Dhabi. He finished 16th on his debut, and 18th in the feature race. The Estonian has been in similar positions through testing since then.

Car competitivity may dictate how Aron performs as a rookie, and he has stepped up to F2 after coming third in FREC for two years in a row then ending up in the same position in the FIA F3 Championship as a rookie in 2023.

Campos Racing

A year ago it looked like Campos could be the dark horse of F2 as the team won the sprint race and finished second in the feature race at Bahrain to top the standings. But it scored more points in the first three races than the next 22 and sank to ninth in the standings. An exciting young line-up for 2024 could turn its fortunes around, or prove another false dawn.

20. Isack Hadjar France, 19
2023: 14th in F2, 7th in FIA F3 World Cup

Red Bull has plans for Hadjar, but how they fit into his development as a driver is sometimes hard to see. He graduated to F2 last year after taking three wins as an FIA F3 rookie in 2022, and he had several opportunities to win as an F2 rookie too. He led 33 laps in 2023 and started on the reversed-grid front row for three sprint races. A driveshaft failure ended his day in Monaco, he faded to fifth at Silverstone and at Zandvoort got no points for being in first place as the race ran for two laps and mostly under safety car conditions.

21. Pepe Marti Spain, 18
2023: 5th in FIA F3 Championship, 5th in FIA F3 World Cup, 7th in FRME

Marti has already tasted success with Campos in F4 and F3, so will be hoping the relationship continues to pay dividends in its fourth year. It took him a year to adapt to FIA F3, as he scored two points in his first season then 105 in his second. He impressed when he drove F2’s old car in post-season testing, but was anonymous in the Bahrain test with the new car.

Trident

It may have ended last year 10th in the standings, but Trident scored 43 points last year which is its second best tally in F2. The year before, Richard Verschoor had scored 103 points for the team. Now he’s back in its line-up and ready to star again.

22. Richard Verschoor Netherlands, 23
2023: 9th in F2, 6th in FIA F3 World Cup

Verschoor has impressed (and won) in each of his three F2 seasons, and last year with VAR he scored 108 points and came ninth in the standings. He was also on average the ninth fastest in qualifying and on race pace. Reuniting with Trident may be a risk if he wants to continue his upwards momentum, but the unknown of a new car may also make it an inspired move.

23. Roman Stanek Czech Republic, 19
2023: 18th in F2, 12th in FIA F3 World Cup

Stanek had a breakthrough season in FIA F3 with Trident two years ago, with a win and three second places putting him fifth in the standings. He stayed with the team for the move up to F2, and fifth place in a sprint race was the best of his six points finishes. Improving on that may prove tricky since he had a disrupted pre-season testing: he was bottom of the timesheets, set the least laps and the shortest long runs.

PHM Racing

The German outfit now runs the cars previously owned by Charouz Racing System, after a transitionary season in which the team failed to score. There will be plenty of attention on its line-up this year, so it needs some strong results.

24. Joshua Duerksen Paraguay, 20
2023: 16th in FRME, 19th in FREC

The F1 paddock and fanbase may be focused on Antonelli’s leap from FRegional to F2, but the whole of Paraguay will be following Duerksen’s identical move. It’s important to keep expectations under control with Antonelli because of his age, while in Duerksen’s case no big claims about results should be made since he only got two podiums in 46 FRegional races.

25. Taylor Barnard Britain, 19
2024: 2nd in FRME   2023: 10th in FIA F3 Championship, 2nd in FRME

McLaren’s FE reserve driver was runner-up to Antonelli in ADAC F4 in 2022, then in FRegional Middle East last year. Rather than continue the rivalry into FREC, he stepped up to FIA F3 with Jenzer Motorsport. He scored two thirds of his team’s points, and finished second, first, fourth and third in the last four races to jump from 16th to an impressive 10th in the standings. Barnard has raced for PHM since he was in F4, and started 2024 by reuniting with them and being FRME runner-up again.

He had been set to then race for PHM in F3, but Josh Mason’s failure to get an F2 deal done meant Barnard took the seat.