This weekend sees the new FIA Formula Two season get underway in Bahrain with plenty of changes throughout the grid.
Here, we roundup every important detail and provide a full guide to the season ahead from the team and driver line-ups to this season’s race calendar and more.
Team and Drivers
| Team | Driver | Driver |
| ART GP | Nikita Mazepin | Nyck De Vries |
| BWT Arden | Anthoine Hubert | Tatiana Calderon |
| Campos Racing | Jack Aitken | Dorian Boccolacci |
| Carlin | Louis Deletraz | Nobuharu Matsushita |
| Sauber Junior Team | Callum Ilott | Juan Manuel Correa |
| DAMS | Sergio Sette Camara | Nicholas Latifi |
| MP Motorsport | Jordan King | Mahaveer Raghunathan |
| Prema Racing | Mick Schumacher | Sean Gelael |
| Trident | Giuliano Alesi | Ralph Boschung |
| UNI-Virtuosi Racing | Luca Ghiotto | Guanyu Zhou |
Driver Changes
- As champion, George Russell isn’t permitted to continue in this category and graduated into F1 with Williams.
- Lando Norris and Alexander Albon as vice champions also made the step up to F1, racing for McLaren and Toro Rosso respectively.
- Nyck de Vries moved from Prema Racing to ART GP, with whom he raced for in GP3 in 2016, partnering Nikita Mazepin who steps up from now defunct GP3.
- De Vries is replaced at Prema Racing by 2018 F3 Champion, Mick Schumacher.
- Sergio Sette Camara left Carlin for DAMS. Carlin therefore signed Louis Deletraz from Charouz alongside the returning Nobuharu Matsushita to replace Sette Camara and Norris.
- Jack Aitken left ART GP to sign for Campos Racing, partnering Dorian Boccolacci who joins from MP Motorsport as both replace Luca Ghiotto and Roy Nissany respectively. Ghiotto signed for Uni Virtuosi, partnering rookie – Guanyu Zhou with Artem Markelov moving onto the Super Formula Series.
- BWT Arden replaced Maximillian Gunther and Nirei Fukuzumi with GP3 graduates, Anthoine Hubert and Tatiana Calderon.
- Ralph Boschung joins Trident from MP Motorsport, partnering Giuliano Alesi who steps up from GP3. Arjun Maini therefore departs for the European Le Mans series.
- Sauber Junior Team will field GP3 graduates, Callum Ilot and Juan Manuel Correa.
- Jordan King returns to the series with MP Motorsport after a year out but will skip Monaco to fufill his Indycar commitments at Indy 500. King will be partnered by 2017 BOSS GP champion, Mahaveer Raghunathan.
Team Changes
- Uni Virtuosi Racing replaces Russian Time who were sold following the end of 2018 season.
- Charouz Racing System got renamed Sauber Junior Team as part of a new partnership.
Calendar
| Round | Circuit/ Country | Feature Race | Sprint Race |
| 1 | Sakhir, Bahrain | 30-Mar | 31-Mar |
| 2 | Baku City Circuit, Azerbaijan | 27-Apr | 28-Apr |
| 3 | Circuit de Catalunya, Spain | 11-May | 12-May |
| 4 | Circuit de Monaco, Monaco | 24-May | 25-May |
| 5 | Circuit Paul Ricard, France | 22-Jun | 23-Jun |
| 6 | Red Bull Ring, Austria | 29-Jun | 30-Jun |
| 7 | Silverstone, Great Britain | 13-Jul | 14-Jul |
| 8 | Hungaroring, Hungary | 03-Aug | 04-Aug |
| 9 | Spa Francorchamps, Belgium | 31-Aug | 01-Sep |
| 10 | Monza, Italy | 07-Sep | 08-Sep |
| 11 | Sochi Autodrom, Russia | 28-Sep | 29-Sep |
| 12 | Yas Marina, Abu Dhabi | 30-Nov | 01-Dec |
Broadcasters
The following countries will show the FIA Formula Two Championship this season.
Africa –
SuperSport
Americas –
| Pan Latin America | Fox Sports |
| USA | ESPN |
Asia Pacific –
| Australia | Fox Sports Australia |
| New Zealand | Spark Sport Channel |
Europe –
| Bosnia/ Kosovo/ Montenegro/ Serbia | SportKlub |
| Croatia | Arena Sport/SBTV |
| Czech Republic/ Slovakia | AMC Networks |
| Finland | C More |
| France | Canal Plus |
| Hungary | M4 |
| Italy | Sky Sports Italia |
| Israel | 5 Sport |
| Malta | TSN (Go) |
| Romania | Digisport/ Telkom Sport |
| Slovenia | TV3 |
| Spain | Movistar F1 Channel |
| United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland | Sky Sports F1 |
Title Favourites
After a tough 2018 with Prema despite finishing best of rest, Nyck de Vries will definitely be the title frontrunner as he returns to ART but faces tough competition.
Sergio Sette Camara and Louis Deletraz will also be in the mix alongside Nicolas Latifi, who is expected to hit back after struggling to adjust to the Dallara F2 2018 car last season.
Mick Schumacher and Anthoine Hubert are expected to lead the rookies looking to follow in the path of George Russell and Charles Leclerc, who won the last pair of F2 titles in their debut season in this category.
We however cannot discount names like Jack Aitken, Guanyu Zhou and Tatiana Calderon from producing surprise tilts at the title in unfancied teams.
Now brace yourself for another season full of thrills, twists and collisions as F2 looks to produce another crazy corker of a season.
Leave a Reply