After four fly away rounds to kick off the 2023 FIA Formula 2 season, the Championship fight looks to be anyone’s but it’s Théo Pourchaire who arrives in Monaco with the lead. PREMA Racing’s Oliver Bearman made history in Baku to launch himself into the title fight and hand the Italian team the lead in the Teams’ Standings also.

Ahead of Round 6, here is everything you need to know as F2 gets ready to resume a closely fought season.

THE FORM BOOK

Pourchaire has been quietly going about his business after a fast start in Sakhir. While he hasn’t had another pole position or win since, his points scoring rate has him leading the Championship. The Frenchman has appeared on the podium in every Feature Race so far minus Jeddah. He leads the way on 65 points.

In Azerbaijan, PREMA was the dominant force, securing the top spot in every single session with Bearman, but Frederik Vesti’s form as of late has been impressive also. Following a difficult opening round in Bahrain, the Dane has finished inside the top eight in every race. Despite narrowly missing out on Sprint victory in Baku, he’s P2 in the Standings on 62 points.

default image

Ayumu Iwasa and DAMS will be aiming to bounce back immediately after a nightmare weekend in Baku. The team added just one point to its tally courtesy of Arthur Leclerc’s P10 in the Feature, while the Japanese driver left point-less and slipped to P3 in the Championship, still on 58 points.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS

It was the first time in FIA Formula 2 history that the same driver has topped every session on a race weekend and Oliver Bearman looks to be going from strength to strength in his rookie season. He arrives in Monaco fourth in the standings on 41 points.

Arguably the most consistent driver on the grid so far in 2023, Kush Maini makes it two rookies in the top five with a point-scoring record containing just a single blemish on it. The Indian driver has scored points in every race bar one and is tied with Bearman on 41 points also.

PREMA’s Baku performance helped the team become the first to break the 100-point barrier, leading the Teams’ Standings on 103. DAMS remains second despite a tricky Round 4 on 92 points, 10 clear of ART Grand Prix in third position.

default image

WHERE TO WATCH THE SESSIONS

FROM THE GRID – Arthur Leclerc, DAMS

"First, I like it because I was born there. Since I was young, every year there’s been a race and I’ve watched it. It feels very special to be a part of it and especially because my friend and family will be around me giving me huge support from Monaco and from all the fans there. It will be a special weekend. I think the first race I watched was 2007. I probably went before but I don’t remember. I only remember I didn’t have any ear defenders and I was almost crying because I couldn’t hear afterwards.

“Monaco is really difficult to overtake, especially in Formula 2 because it's a car that’s bigger than F3, which makes it difficult. I think the only opportunity is after the tunnel and maybe Rascasse, sometimes you see overtakes there, but it’s always tricky. It’s definitely the most important track of the year for Qualifying. When you look last year, Qualifying is always important in F2. It should be lower deg without the high-speed corners and with full downforce specification, which should help tyre management so it should be ok.

“The most difficult thing is to keep it outside of the walls and push to the limit. I’m looking forward to the atmosphere, the track and the feeling of racing the track and remember how I felt as a kid watching from the grandstands, it will be really special.”

default image

RACE STRATEGY

Both the red-walled soft and the purple supersofts Pirelli compound tyres will be in action this weekend on the streets of Monaco. The street circuit puts a lower level of energy through the tyres than a usual race weekend, with average speeds lower and minimal tyre degradation as a result. Utilising the supersofts tyres for as long as possible then is the preferable route to victory on paper. Strategy cannot be discarded though, with the chances of a Safety Car high and the relatively short pit lane resulting in a lower pitstop delta than other venues. Time a pitstop wrong and rivals could leapfrog others in the pits. Time it right though and you could leap up multiple positions around a track where overtaking is almost impossible.

default image

Mario Isola, Pirelli Motorsport Director

“As in previous years, we will bring our two softest compounds to Monaco: the P Zero Red soft and P Zero Purple supersoft. This gives the drivers the optimum grip to attack the demanding and technical street circuit, where tyre wear and degradation are very low together with the average speeds. Given the value of track position for the races, extracting the most from the rubber during the unique split qualifying session is always important. Still, we often see that tyre strategy and the timing of the mandatory pit-stop can be decisive for the result in the feature race, when the pit window is usually fairly wide and the probability for a safety car at any moment is high.”

STAT PACK

  • Only Lando Norris has made a better start to life in F2 as a rookie than Kush Maini. The Indian driver has achieved seven points-scoring finishes out of a possible eight, one short of Norris’ record.
  • Frederik Vesti has the best points-scoring streak currently on the grid, with six-consecutive scores arriving in Monte Carlo this weekend.
  • With Oliver Bearman’s pole position in Baku, PREMA Racing moved level with ART Grand Prix for most pole positions in FIA Formula 2 history, sharing the top spot with 23 apiece.
  • Oliver Bearman would become the first Formula 2 driver to win three consecutive races if he were to be victorious in the Monte Carlo Sprint Race on Saturday this weekend. He is currently one of 11 drivers to achieve two wins in a row in the Championship.
  • Only 2019 Champion Nyck de Vries has won twice in Monaco in F2 (2017 Sprint, 2019 Feature). Théo Pourchaire has the chance to join the Dutchman having won the Feature Race in 2021.

DID YOU KNOW?

With his Monaco victory in 2021, Théo Pourchaire became the youngest ever winner in Formula 2 history, claiming Feature Race glory at 17 years, 9 months and 2 days of age. 2023 title rival Oliver Bearman became the second youngest winner in F2 with his Baku Sprint Race win last month, shortly before turning 18.