Race Incident

This year will mark the debut of yet another single seater formula. The name itself is very familiar and has a strong history to it, but this new series has only the Formula 2 name in common with its predecessor. The new F2 championship debuts in the midst of a grim economic situation and is therefor extremely well times as the unique selling point is its price. With a price of £195,000 it is considerably cheaper than most international single seater championships. Sure, final sum will probably be a bit higher than that, but it’s still much more affordable for a bigger group of people than the GP2 championship. The other, slightly unique selling point, is that this will be a pure driver’s championship. No teams are involved in the running of the cars so all drivers will race with equal equipment.

The car – the Williams JPH1

The F2 car has been designed and built by Williams F1 and features ground effect aerodynamics and is complying with the tough 2005 Formula 1 safety regulations. It has a six speed paddle shift controlled transmission. The engine is a 1.8 litre Audi turbo engine that produces 400 bhp in standard mode and 450 bhp with overboost. The overboost will be controlled by the driver using a button on the steering wheel.

The following clip shows the car in action during the launch:

The tracks

The FIA Formula Two Championship will run at eight different tracks during 2009. The season starts at Valencia at the end of May partnering the WTCC championship. Two dates in June; Brno with WTCC and Spa-Francorchamps with the International GT Open. There will be two British rounds in July and August. First the Brands Hatch GP circuit supporting the WTCC and then a round at Donington Park. September sees to rounds as well. Oscherleben in Germany followed by Imola in Italy. Both of these rounds as part of the World Touring Car Championship package. The final round, and hopefully the championship decider, will be at Circuit de Catalunya outside of Barcelona together with the GT Open.

The drivers

The 2009 line-up is a mix of experience and inexperience. It is probably a bigger spread of drivers when it comes to previous experience and ability than we are used to this far up the single seater ladder. With equal cars, the drivers will mostly have to look at themselves when it’s time to point the blame at someone.

2. Sebastian Hohental, Sweden
3. Jolyon Palmer, Great Britain
4. Julien Jousse, France
5. Alex Brundle, Great Britain
6. Armaan Ebrahim, India
7. Henry Surtees, Great Britain
8. Tobias Hegewald, Germany
9. Pietro Gandolfi, Italy
10. Nicola de Marco, Italy
11. Jack Clarke, Great Britain
12. Robert Wickens, Canada
14. Mirko Bortolotti, Italy
15. Mikhail Aleshin, Russia
17. Carlos Iaconelli, Brazil
18. Natacha Gachnang, Switzerland
20. Jens Höing, Germany
21. Kazim Vasiliauskas, Lithuania
22. Andy Soucek, Spain
23. Henri Karjalainen, Finland
24. Tom Gladdis, Great Britain
25. Milos Pavlovic, Serbia
27. German Sanchez, Spain
31. Jason Moore, Great Britain
33. Philipp Eng, Austria

Detailed stats and race results will be available over at Driver Database’s Formula 2 page.