Competitive order could evolve as teams’ understanding grows, says F2 Technical Director Michot

Five different teams have been victorious so far in 2024 through what has been a campaign of unpredictability and excitement.

Central to that has been the introduction of a brand-new car for the season, with the 2024 Formula 2 machine aimed at making racing even tighter than before whilst more closely mirroring the style seen in F1, giving drivers a more comprehensive preparation for the future.

F2 Technical Director Pierre-Alain Michot says that what we have seen so far is linked to the teams trying to learn the new car as quickly as possible. While some have hit the ground running, others are still identifying the direction that’s best to go in.

“The new F2 car has the same rear geometry as the previous car but the front has changed quite a lot,” he explained. “Also, the new aero requirement means the teams have a bit more to understand in terms of how the car behaves and linked to the new package with the F1 family look.

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“That might be trickier for some drivers to acclimatise to and some teams to find a good setup to exploit the best of the car. That’s the main reason for some different performances this year.”

After the first three rounds of the season, Rodin Motorsport and Zane Maloney lead the way in the Teams’ and Drivers’ Standings respectively, though nobody is taking anything for granted at this early stage.

During the Barcelona test, over 4000 laps were completed as teams sought to improve their understanding of the new car and put to use crucial data they accumulated in the early part of the year.

Michot agreed with those that labelled the in-season event as the most important of the year, with the likes of Hitech Pulse-Eight’s Paul Aron and Campos Racing’s Isack Hadjar indicating just how vital it was to maximise the three days.

“The Barcelona test was more important than the Bahrain tests because the teams have all of the data from across the first three rounds along with the pre-season test,” Michot added. “That test in Sakhir was really the first time they were able to adapt and change the car, but it was the first time they could really understand its behaviour.

“They have now been able to work on the car for the first three rounds, working properly using the data they’ve collected so far and came to Barcelona with a plan to help better understand what they have right and maybe not so right so far this season.

"They have a lot more data to work with now with regards to understanding the car, working on ideas that they can then explore on track"

“Maybe they wanted to explore some different ways of working or just fine tuning what they have already found which turns out was efficient. That’s why the in-season test was so important, because it’s a finalisation of their understanding of the new car.”

It was also the first time the teams were able to use the low downforce wing configuration designed for circuits that emphasise high-speed over outright aerodynamic demand.

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PREMA Racing were one of the first teams to trial the trimmed down wing setup on Day 1, though every outfit up and down the pitlane accumulated plenty of mileage using the low downforce spec as they built up their knowledge of how the car worked with it fitted.

Extensive effort would have also gone into building up a setup window for the various circuits that are coming up on the calendar says Michot, with the advantage being teams now having race relevant data to refer to after three race weekends in 2024.

“It’s not only that Barcelona is a more conventional track than what we’ve had at the first three rounds, they have a lot more data to work with now with regards to understanding the car, working on ideas that they can then explore on track.

“They can work on a wider range of setups than they would have tried early in the season. In Bahrain, they were doing simulations, obtaining numbers. With that data taken to the races, they were able to correlate everything they’ve learned since last year, and then make sure they were going in the right direction or find a new one they feel is better to follow.”

While Rodin are the early leaders in the Teams’ Standings, the competitive order has received somewhat of a shakeup to what was predicted in pre-season.

ART Grand Prix’s title defence hasn’t gone according to plan so far, but they along with the others were aiming to maximise the track time in Barcelona ahead of the upcoming rounds.

“We’re happy with how the car has performed. When we see the times, we were faster than last year, so it’s going in the direction we wanted to go”

Michot believes that all of the teams will be in a better position leaving the test after using what they learned in Rounds 1 to 3 to build out their run plans, identify weaknesses and target fixing them over the three days.

“I don’t know how each team has gone about things, but some might have come into this year with 2023 philosophy and trying to transfer that to ’24, but it hasn’t worked out perfectly. Others had a car that maybe wasn’t in the right place but have learned quickly.

“They are trying to transfer experiments from last year to the new car. For some teams, what they had last year is working with this new car, others are not going in the direction they want. It has shuffled the order a bit.

TEST NOTEBOOK: What happened during testing in Barcelona?

“All of them are trying to understand how their new baby works and to do that, having data from the beginning of the season is really important to them.”

Heading into Round 4 and Imola, the competitive balance continues to ebb and flow with every team satisfied with their work during the test.

So too was the F2 Technical Director, who added that it was a great sign to see the new car lapping the better part of a second quicker than what was seen on Day 3 of the same test last year.

“We’re happy with how the car has performed. When we see the times from Barcelona, we were faster than last year, so it’s going in the direction we wanted to go.”