FIA Formula 2 Championship

FIA Formula 2 Championship
Category Single seaters
Country International
Inaugural season 2017
Drivers 20
Teams 10
Constructors Dallara
Engine suppliers Mecachrome
Tyre suppliers Pirelli
Drivers' champion Monaco Charles Leclerc
Teams' champion Russia Russian Time
Official website fiaformula2.com
Current season

The FIA Formula 2 Championship[1] is a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2017 following the rebranding of the long-term Formula One feeder series, GP2 Series.

Designed to make racing affordable for the teams and to make it the perfect training ground for life in Formula One, Formula 2 has made it mandatory for all of the teams to use the same chassis, engine and tyre supplier so that true driver ability is reflected. Formula 2 mainly races on European circuits, but has appearances on other international race tracks as well with their most recent races in the 2017 season at the Bahrain International Circuit in Bahrain and the Yas Marina Circuit in United Arab Emirates.

Race weekend

On Friday, drivers have a 45-minute[2] free practice session and a 30-minute qualifying session. The qualifying session decides the grid order for Saturday's race which has a length of 180 kilometres (112 miles).

During Saturday's race (Feature Race), each driver must complete one compulsory pitstop and must use at least one set of each specification of dry-weather tyres.

Sunday's race (Sprint Race) is run over 120 kilometres (75 miles). The grid is decided by the Saturday result with top 8 being reversed, so the driver who finished 8th on Saturday will start from pole position and the winner will start from 8th place.

The exceptions to these rules are the Monaco and Budapest where the Feature Race is run over 140 km (87 miles) and 160 km (100 miles), respectively and the Monaco Sprint Race where the race is run over 100 km (60 miles).[3]

Point system

Feature races will be run with a scoring system similar to the one used in Formula One:

Point system for Feature Race
 1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th 
25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1

The top eight finishers in a sprint race receive points as follows:

Point system for Sprint Race
 1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th 
15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1

Pole position for the feature race will now be worth 4 points, and 2 points will be given for the fastest lap in each race. Therefore, the maximum number of points a driver can score at any round will be 48.

  • Driver recording fastest lap has to drive 90% of race laps and must finish in the top ten of the race to be eligible for the fastest lap points.

In the case of a tie, FIA Formula 2 Championship will determine the champion based on the most first-place finishes. If there is still a tie, FIA Formula 2 Championship will determine the champion by the most second-place finishes, then the most third-place finishes, etc., until a champion is determined. FIA Formula 2 Championship will apply the same system to other ties in the rankings at the close of the season and at any other time during the season.

Car specifications

The FIA Formula 2 Championship car is used by all of the teams, and features a Dallara carbon-fiber monocoque chassis powered by a Mecachrome normally-aspirated fuel-injected V8 engine and Pirelli dry slick and rain treaded tyres. Overall weight is 688 kg including driver.

Chassis

The F2 Championship currently uses 2018 specification F2 2018 car has been designed by Dallara Automobili. The price of Dallara F2 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship cars are approximately up to €250.000-€300.000 per car (including wheels, wings, steering wheel and other components excluding engine). The current FIA Formula 2 Championship chassis material is Carbon/aluminium honeycomb structure and also Carbon Aramid honeycomb bodywork structure. The current FIA Formula 2 Championship car's front wing are slightly wider and also wider-lower rear wing (similar to 2017–present of Formula One car).

Transmission, gearbox and clutches

The current gearbox has been manufactured by Hewland and features an 8-position barrel with ratchet body and software upgrades as well as a new transverse shafts fixing system designed to facilitate improved gear selection. Currently, the FIA Formula 2 Championship gearbox uses a 6-speed semi-automatic configuration with electronically-controlled paddle shifters with reverse operated by Reverse button on the steering wheel. The clutches of all FIA Formula 2 Championship cars are supplied by ZF Sachs with the multi-plate clutch operated by a hand-paddle lever.

Wheel rims

O.Z. Racing exclusively supplies wheel rims for all FIA Formula 2 Championship cars.

Tyres

Similar to the 2011 change for Formula 1, Pirelli is now the sole tyre supplier for the series. The FIA Formula 2 Championship runs the different compounds and size as F1 since 2017 (due to in fact Formula 1 2017 season tyres are wider, FIA Formula 2 Championship carried over the pre-2017 Pirelli F1 tyres). The front tyre size are 245/660-R13 and rear tyre size are 325/660-R13. The compounds of Pirelli Formula 2 tyres are 4 dry compounds and 2 wet compounds due to the hyper-soft, ultra-soft and super-hard only used in Formula One.

Brakes

Brembo supplies monobloc brake calipers and disc bells, which are exclusive to FIA Formula 2 Championship. Carbone Industrie also supplies carbon brake discs and pads for FIA Formula 2 Championship. The brake discs are 278 x 28 mm in size (similar to Formula One).

Fuel tank

The current Dallara F2 2018 FIA Formula 2 Championship car's fuel tank carried over the FIA standard Premier FT5 tank with the capacity up to 125 litres.

Suspension

The suspension of all FIA Formula 2 Championship cars is upper and lower steel wishbones, pushrod operated, coupled with twin Koni dampers and torsion bars suspension (front) and spring suspension (rear) similar to current Formula One car suspension.

Steering wheel

Since 2011, XAP Technology exclusively providing the XAP single-seater F2 steering wheel as well as XAP SX steering wheel dash display for all FIA Formula 2 Championship cars. The XAP steering wheel features 6 buttons in the front with 5 paddles (DRS, gear shift and clutch) in the back of steering wheel. From 2018 season, all FIA Formula 2 cars will utilize all new XAP steering wheels with larger dash screen and also three new rotary switches (similar to current FIA Formula E steering wheel).

Safety

The current safety innovation of FIA Formula 2 Championship is the top priority. Front, side, rear and steering column impact tests are the FIA safety standards. The all FIA Formula 2 Championship car include front and rear roll hoop, impact structures and monocoque push tests. Anti-intrusion survival cell protection panels are also featured since 2011. Wheel retainer safety cables are also featured to avoid wheel flying similar to Formula One, IndyCar Series (known as SWEMS) and other single-seater Formula racing series. The seat belts of all FIA Formula 2 Championship cars are supplied by Sabelt with 6-point seat belt configuration similar to Formula One. From 2018 onwards, the “halo” cockpit protection system would be introduced to avoid the series of fatal crashes.

Other components

All FIA Formula 2 cars carry a Magneti Marelli-provided electronic control unit (Marvel SRG 480 model) as well as Magneti Marelli PDU 12-42 power supply management unit. Live telemetry is used only for television broadcasts, but the data can be recorded from the ECU to the computer if the car is in the garage and not on the track.

Rear view mirrors for all FIA Formula 2 cars are fully mandated to easily viewing opponents behind.

Engine

The series uses 620 hp 3.4-litre V6 single-turbocharged direct-injected engines which resemble the GP3 Series engine model supplied by Mecachrome. The V634F2 was introduced for 2018 along with the new Dallara F2 2018 chassis.[4] Dutch turbocharger company Van Der Lee Turbo Systems currently supplying the turbochargers for all FIA Formula 2 Championship all-new engines.

The 4.0-litre normally-aspirated electronic indirect fuel-injected Mecachrome V8 engine features internal, cartographic and software upgrades designed to improve performance and fuel consumption required since 2005 season and used until the end 2 of the 2017 season. The engine produced 612 hp and 500 Nm (380 ft-lb) of torque @ 8,000 rpm. FIA Formula 2 Championship engines are rev-limited to 10,000 rpm and need a rebuild after 4,000 to 4,500 km. The valve train is a dual overhead camshaft configuration with four valves per cylinder. The Mecachrome V8 engine weight is 326 lb (148 kg). The crankshaft is made of alloy steel, with five main bearing caps. The pistons are forged aluminum alloy, while the connecting rods are machined alloy steel. The electronic engine management system is supplied by Magneti Marelli, firing a high-power inductive (coil-controlled) ignition system. The engine lubrication is a dry sump type, cooled by a single water pump. The price of Mecachrome FIA Formula 2 Championship engines are approximately €150,000 per engine unit.

Mecachrome came to the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2005 (when it was named GP2 Series), and by the same year Mecachrome was clearly the dominant engine manufacturer as of 2017.

During that time, since the FIA Formula 2 Championship had only one engine manufacturer, Mecachrome still focusing on minimizing engine failure and minimizing costs instead of defeating rivals. As such, the engines were moderately de-tuned. The engines proved themselves to be quite durable—there had been no engine failures at all F2 tracks from 2005 to present, which also lowered the number of crashes. Most of the engines, including those used for the Monaco race, are used for multiple races and were intended to last 1,100 miles between rebuilds. The Mecachrome engines were only available via lease arrangement from Mecachrome currently.

Mecachrome V8 GP2 engines were crated and shipped to all FIA Formula 2 Championship teams on a serial-number basis as determined by the sanctioning body (FIA) to ensure equality and fairness in distribution.

Fuel and lubricants components

All Formula 2 cars currently use ordinary unleaded racing gasoline as fuel (similar to commercial vehicle unleaded street gasoline), which has been the de facto standard in second tier single-seater formula racing since the introduction of GP2 Series in 2005. Current Elf LMS 102 RON unleaded gasoline resembles ordinary unleaded gasoline but produces better mileage while being environmental-friendly and safer than other fuels. Since 2017, Elf exclusively continues providing the LMS 102 RON unleaded fuel and also Elf HTX 840 0W-40 lubricants for all FIA Formula 2 Championship cars.

Other parts

The car also features internal cooling upgrades, a new water radiator, radiator duct, oil/water heat exchanger, modified oil degasser, new oil and water pipes and new heat exchanger fixing brackets.

Performance

According to research and pre-season stability tests, the 2005 model can accelerate from 0 to 200 km/h (124 mph) in 6.7 seconds. The car has a top speed of 320 km/h (199 mph) meaning that it is the fastest single seater racing car behind Formula One and IndyCar Series.

The 2011 model can accelerate from 0–200 km/h (0–124 mph) in 6.6 seconds.

The car has a top speed of 330 km/h (205 mph) with the Monza aero configuration.

Specifications (2017)

  • Engine displacement: 4.0 L (244 cu in) DOHC V8
  • Gearbox: 6-speed paddle shift gearbox (must have reverse)
  • Weight: 1,517 lb (688 kg) (including driver)
  • Power output: 612 hp (456 kW)
  • Fuel: Elf LMS 102 RON unleaded
  • Fuel capacity: 33 US gallons (125 litres)
  • Fuel delivery: Fuel injection
  • Aspiration: Naturally aspirated
  • Length: 5,065 mm (199 in)
  • Width: 1,800 mm (71 in)
  • Wheelbase: 3,120 mm (123 in)
  • Steering: Non-assisted rack and pinion

Current specifications (2018–2020)

History

2017

The 2017 season consisted of eleven rounds, ten of supported the 2017 FIA Formula One World Championship and a stand-alone event in Jerez.[1] It started in Bahrain on 15 April and finished in Abu Dhabi on 26 November.

2018

The 2018 championship will consist of twelve rounds, with all twelve rounds supporting the 2018 Formula One World Championship. It started in Bahrain on 7 April and will finish in Abu Dhabi on 25 November. The 2018 season also introduced the new Dallara F2 2018 car as well as the all-new Mecachrome 3.4-litre V6 turbo engine with its large single turbo with double waste gate, a world novelty supplied by Dutch turbocharger manufacterer Van Der Lee Turbo Systems.

Champions

Season Winner Second place Third place Team winner
2017 Monaco Charles Leclerc (Prema Racing) Russia Artem Markelov (Russian Time) United Kingdom Oliver Rowland (DAMS) Russia Russian Time

Drivers graduated to F1

Driver F2 F1 Other major titles after F2
Seasons Races Wins Podiums Seasons First team Races Wins Poles Podiums
Monaco Charles Leclerc 2017 22 7 9 2018–present Sauber 17 0 0 0
Russia Sergey Sirotkin 2017 2 0 0 2018–present Williams 17 0 0 0
United Kingdom Lando Norris 2017–2018 24 1 8 2019 McLaren 0 0 0 0
United Kingdom George Russell 2018 22 6 10 2019 Williams 0 0 0 0
  • Bold denotes an active Formula One driver.
  • Gold background denotes a Formula 2 champion.
  • Drivers marked with a † started Formula One on mid-season.
  • Sergey Sirotkin spent two seasons in Formula 2 forerunner GP2

Television rights

The television rights are held by Formula One Management, which also manages the rights to Formula One. Sky Sports F1 show every practice, qualifying and race live in the United Kingdom, and so does Movistar Fórmula 1 in Spain. In Brazil the races are shown live by Sportv and delayed by Fox Sports, that also shows Formula One. Coverage in North America is available exclusively online on TSN GO (Canada) and ESPN3 (USA). In South East Asia, the races are shown live on Fox Sports Asia.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Newly renamed F2 series to feature at 10 Grands Prix". Formula1.com. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  2. ↑ http://www.gp2series.com/Guide-to/The-regulations/
  3. ↑ "The regulations". Retrieved 5 August 2017.
  4. ↑ "GP2 Series aiming for V6 switch, but not wider tyres for 2018 car". motorsport.com. Motorsport.com. 16 December 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2017.
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