Sakhir Preview: Lights out in 2023

It has been little under two weeks since the teams got their first bit of on-track action during pre-season testing, but who has benefited most going into the first race weekend of 2023?

Plenty of contenders will want to stake their claim for the 2023 Formula 2 Drivers’ Championship at the first opportunity, but they aren’t alone. There are more than a few rookies wanting to make a name for themselves after stepping up from F3.

What does Round 1 of the F2 season have in store for us then?

WE GO AGAIN

Nine rookies join the F2 ranks for the 2023 season, with reigning F3 Champion Victor Martins joined by all six of his title rivals from last season.

Martins partners Théo Pourchaire at ART Grand Prix to make it an all French line-up. Elsewhere, there’s been a little movement on the driver market. Enzo Fittipaldi has moved to Rodin Carlin and is partnered by 2022 F3 Vice Champion Zane Maloney. Frederik Vesti has moved to PREMA Racing and he is joined by Oliver Bearman after his top three finish in F3 last year.

Reigning Teams’ Champions MP Motorsport have a brand new line-up, with Dennis Hauger and Jehan Daruvala swapping red for orange. Clément Novalak moves back to Trident for his second F2 campaign, joined by rookie Roman Stanek who also drove for the Italian team in F3.

Hitech Pulse-Eight will have two rookies in their cars this year, with the double Red Bull Junior Team act of Isack Hadjar and Jak Crawford. Arthur Leclerc moves up to partner Ayumu Iwasa at DAMS, while Benavides joins Roy Nissany at newcomers PHM Racing by Charouz.

Ralph Boschung returns with Campos Racing, and he is partnered by Indian driver Kush Maini at the Spanish outfit. Invicta Virtuosi Racing retains Jack Doohan for his second full F2 campaign alongside new arrival Amaury Cordeel. Last but not least, Juan Manuel Correa makes his Formula 2 return with Van Amersfoort Racing alongside Richard Verschoor.

Formula 2 is also breaking new ground this season from a technical standpoint. 2023 will be the first season in which Advanced Sustainable Fuels are used in all cars, in collaboration with Formula 1 Global Partner Aramco. Over the next four years, Formula 2 will gradually increase the sustainable elements year-on-year from the 55% in 2023 and eventually introducing a 100% sustainable fuel for the 2027 season.

FROM THE GRID – Théo Pourchaire, ART Grand Prix

“Racing at the Bahrain International Circuit is very good. It’s the first race of the season so we are always excited to come and race here. It’s also got very warm weather which is good in winter, and it’s a good track with a lot of overtaking opportunities.

“There’s a bit of everything really, slow corners, high-speed corners. I really like the section of track from Turn 5 to Turns 6 and 7, which is very high speed and downhill. You can’t see the exit of Turn 7 which is very difficult and in an F2 car, it’s amazing.

“For overtaking for sure it’s Turn 1 after the main DRS zone, there is a hairpin so you can break really late and defend or attack which is great. After Turn 2, the second DRS zone, at Turn 3 and Turn 4 you have another opportunity. Also, before Turn 11, which is difficult, but possible.

“It’s normally a hard track for tyre management, but last year it was not so difficult, so let’s see, this year could be a bit more difficult! It’s normally pretty difficult because it’s warm and we have soft tyres.

“I will try to have a clean Round 1, for two years in a row it’s not been very clean. I won last year, but we had an issue in the first race, so let’s see. I hope to have a great pace, and I will give my best this season to get the best result possible.”

RACE STRATEGY

The majority of drivers opted to start on the hard compound tyres last year, but it was those on the softs that had the early advantage. An early Safety Car allowed Marcus Armstrong, who was the highest-placed driver on the softs at the start, to extend his first stint and make several overtakes on those fitted with the hards. That advantage was erased in the second half of the race, and those on the conventional strategy benefitted from the swap to soft tyres. In the end, it was Théo Pourchaire who took victory, running the hard-to-soft strategy for ART Grand Prix. With the Bahrain International Circuit featuring one of the most abrasive track surfaces on the calendar, there’s no shortage of strategic options available to teams and drivers.

Pirelli Motorsport Director, Mario Isola

“For the first round of the Formula 2 season in Bahrain we have nominated the P Zero White hard and P Zero Red soft compounds: the same tyres that we supplied last year. Although it’s a track the teams and drivers know quite well from testing, the characteristics of the Sakhir circuit always seem to make for an exciting start to the season in F2.

"In particular, we have seen a wide variety of strategies deployed there over the years: we all remember Charles Leclerc winning the sprint race in 2017 after an optional pitstop to change tyres, and this unconventional strategy has been relatively common since. The large gap between the hard and soft tyres certainly encourages some out-of-the-box thinking, on a circuit where the very abrasive surface contributes to high degradation. An added complication is that the F2 sessions will take place in different temperatures at day and night, although the pre-season test allowed the teams and drivers to experience running in all conditions.”

STAT PACK

• Despite an average age of just 21 years old, the grid shares a collective of 597 race starts.
• Ralph Boschung is the driver with the most experience in the second tier, holding the record for the most starts with 95.
• Seven drivers have already claimed a win in Formula 2, Théo Pourchaire (5), Jehan Daruvala (4), Jack Doohan (3), Richard Verschoor (2), Dennis Hauger (2), Ayumu Iwasa (2) and Frederik Vesti (1).
• Over half the grid has already stood on a Formula 2 podium, with twelve drivers collecting 65 rostrum finishes.
• Four drivers have previously claimed pole positions in the second tier: Doohan has three poles to his name, Iwasa has two, and Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti have one each.
• There are two Formula 3 Champions on this year’s grid, reigning Champion Victor Martins and 2021’s victor Dennis Hauger.
• Just one team, Hitech Pulse-Eight, has opted for a full rookie line-up in 2022 with Jak Crawford and Isack Hadjar graduating from Formula 3.
• An incredible 16 nationalities are represented in this year’s driver line-up. Two new nationalities, Bajan and Czech, take the total number of nationalities represented in the modern era of F2 to 34.

DID YOU KNOW?

A new team makes their debut in Formula 2 this year, with PHM Racing by Charouz set to contest their first season in the second tier. The German outfit, hailing from Berlin, was founded in 2021 by Paul H. Müller.

Last year the team took part in the Formula 4 Championship in the United Arab Emirates, the German ADAC F4 and the Italian ACI F4 Championship.

In 2023 they will take on Formula 2 for the first time, pairing experience with youth in their driver line-up, signing veteran racer Roy Nissany with Formula 3 graduate Brad Benavides.