2021 Formula 2 Championship


The 2021 FIA Formula 2 Championship was a motor racing championship for Formula 2 cars that was sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. The championship was the fifty-fifth season of Formula 2 racing and the fifth season run under the FIA Formula 2 Championship moniker. It was an open-wheel racing category that served as the second tier of formula racing in the FIA Global Pathway. The category was run in support of selected rounds of the 2021 FIA Formula One World Championship. As the championship was a spec series, all teams and drivers competing in the championship ran the same car, the Dallara F2 2018. The championship was contested over twenty-four races at eight circuits. It began in March 2021 with a round in support of the Bahrain Grand Prix, and ended in December where it supported the Abu Dhabi Grand Prix.
Mick Schumacher was the defending drivers champion having secured the title at the final race of the 2020 season at the Bahrain International Circuit. Schumacher was promoted to Formula One with Haas for the 2021 F1 season. Schumacher's team Prema Racing entered the season as the defending teams champions having also secured their title at the final race of the 2020 season at Bahrain.
A new chassis package was due to be introduced for the 2021 season, but in a bid to cut costs in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, the lifespan of the Dallara F2 2018 chassis package was extended until 2023.
Oscar Piastri secured the Drivers' Championship in Race 1 at Yas Marina, the season finale. Piastri became F2's first rookie champion since George Russell in 2018. He took five consecutive pole positions, from Silverstone to Yas Marina, and won all four feature races in the second half of the season in addition to sprint race victories in Bahrain and Jeddah. The strong results of Piastri and team-mate Robert Shwartzman, the championship runner-up, allowed Prema Racing to secure the Teams' Championship with a round to spare. As of March 2024, Prema Racing are the only team to win the Teams' Championship twice in the championship's history.
Piastri's dominance after the summer break quickly dented the title hopes of early title favourites like Shwartzman and Guanyu Zhou. Shwartzman faced trouble in the early rounds, suffering collisions at both Bahrain and Monaco, but he finished in the top six in all but one race from Baku until the end of the season. Zhou took four wins, including the feature races at Bahrain and Silverstone, but his campaign fizzled out after difficult weekends at Sochi and Jeddah. Dan Ticktum, Théo Pourchaire, Jüri Vips, and Jehan Daruvala took two wins each, but none of them were able to sustain a season-long championship challenge. Other race winners were rookie Richard Verschoor – who had his maiden F2 victory in the second sprint race at Great Britain – and two drivers from New Zealand: Liam Lawson – who crossed the finish line first on his debut race – and Marcus Armstrong – who won the first sprint race in Saudi Arabia.
In an effort to cut costs during the COVID-19 pandemic, series organizers adopted a new format for both F2 and FIA Formula 3 for the 2021 season. Notably, each weekend comprised three races rather than two. The traditional feature race with the mandatory pit-stop was moved to Sunday morning, while on Saturday, there were two sprint races with reverse-grid formats based on the results of qualifying and Race 1 respectively. The extra race was made possible because F3 races were run on different weekends to F2, with the exception of the Sochi round, leaving more space in the timetable of each race weekend. However, the large gaps between rounds – eight weeks between the first two rounds and between Rounds 4 and 5, and ten weeks between Rounds 6 and 7 — made the format widely unpopular, and it was reverted to the previous format ahead of the 2022 season.

Entries

The following teams and drivers competed in the 2021 championship. As the championship was a spec series, all competitors raced with an identical Dallara F2 2018 chassis with a V6 turbo engine developed by Mecachrome. Teams competed with tyres supplied by Pirelli. The same eleven teams who competed during the 2020 season were retained for the next three-year cycle.

Driver changes

hired reigning FIA Formula 3 champion Oscar Piastri to replace Mick Schumacher, who graduated to Formula One with Haas F1 Team.
UNI-Virtuosi Racing signed former MP Motorsport driver Felipe Drugovich to replace Callum Ilott, who left the championship to become a test driver for Formula One team Scuderia Ferrari.
Carlin hired former DAMS driver Dan Ticktum to replace Yuki Tsunoda, who graduated to Formula One with Scuderia AlphaTauri.
Hitech Grand Prix fielded a new driver line-up. Nikita Mazepin graduated to Formula One with Haas F1 Team and Luca Ghiotto joined Deutsche Tourenwagen Masters. They were replaced with Red Bull juniors Liam Lawson, who graduated from Hitech's FIA Formula 3 outfit, and Jüri Vips, who temporarily raced for DAMS in 2020 as a replacement driver.
ART Grand Prix signed FIA Formula 3 runner-up Théo Pourchaire, who briefly debuted in Formula 2 with HWA Racelab in the final rounds of 2020. He replaced Marcus Armstrong, who left the team to join DAMS.
MP Motorsport hired FIA Formula 3 graduates Lirim Zendeli and Richard Verschoor. Giuliano Alesi left the team and the series to join Super Formula Lights.
Charouz Racing System fielded a new line-up as Pedro Piquet vacated his seat and left Formula 2 after one year in the series, citing financial reasons. Louis Delétraz also left the team to join the European Le Mans Series. Charouz hired FIA Formula 3 graduate David Beckmann and former Campos driver Guilherme Samaia.
DAMS parted ways with Sean Gelael, who left Formula 2 after six years in the championship and its predecessor GP2 Series to join the World Endurance Championship. The team hired former Trident driver Roy Nissany to partner Marcus Armstrong.
Campos Racing hired Ralph Boschung, who deputised for the team at the final round of the 2020 season and previously raced for them in. Boschung was signed alongside reigning Formula Regional European champion Gianluca Petecof. Jack Aitken left the team to compete in the GT World Challenge Europe series.
HWA Racelab entered a new driver line-up with FIA Formula 3 graduates Matteo Nannini and Alessio Deledda. Nannini will combine his Formula 2 campaign with a second season in FIA Formula 3. Artem Markelov left the team and the series after seven years in Formula 2 and GP2.
Trident signed FIA Formula 3 graduate Bent Viscaal to replace Roy Nissany.

Mid-season changes

Matteo Nannini left HWA Racelab and the championship after the first round, citing sponsorship reasons and his desire to focus on his FIA Formula 3 campaign. He was replaced by former Campos driver Jack Aitken for the following three rounds.
Nannini returned to the championship for the third round at the Baku City Circuit, replacing Campos driver Gianluca Petecof who left the team for budgetary reasons.
David Beckmann left Charouz Racing System prior to the fifth round at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, citing his financial situation. Enzo Fittipaldi was promoted from Charouz's FIA Formula 3 outfit to replace him. Beckmann was then hired by Campos to replace Matteo Nannini. The round also saw Jake Hughes join HWA Racelab in place of the injured Jack Aitken.
The seventh race at Jeddah Corniche Circuit saw four drivers promoted from the 2021 FIA Formula 3 Championship to make their Formula 2 debuts. Williams Driver Academy member Logan Sargeant replaced Jake Hughes at HWA Racelab and Olli Caldwell took David Beckmann's seat at Campos. MP Motorsport featured an all-new lineup, hiring FIA Formula 3 runner up Jack Doohan and third-place finisher Clément Novalak to replace Richard Verschoor and Lirim Zendeli, both of whom left the team for financial reasons.
Jake Hughes returned to HWA Racelab for the final race of the championship at Yas Marina Circuit, replacing Logan Sargeant. Charouz Racing System driver Enzo Fittipaldi was ruled out of the final race due to injuries suffered in a crash during the Jeddah feature race. Richard Verschoor returned to the championship to replace him.

Calendar

A provisional calendar was published in November 2020. An updated version due to the postponement of the 2021 Australian Grand Prix, which required several Grands Prix to change dates, was revealed in January 2021.

Calendar changes

As a consequence of cost-cutting measures, the Formula 2 and Formula 3 championships adopted a new format. The two championships alternated between Grands Prix meetings and didn't appear together on the support race bill. Although this reduced the number of rounds, both championships ran three races at a Grand Prix instead of two, keeping the overall number of races the same as in previous years. The format change was designed to cut costs for teams competing in both championships by allowing them to rotate staff between each championship.
As the 2020 championship was disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the 2021 calendar featured substantial revisions:
The Circuit Zandvoort had been included on the 2020 calendar, but was removed from the schedule in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was initially expected that the round would feature on the 2021 calendar, but it was not included on the provisional calendar. The circuit was included on the Formula 3 calendar instead.