2019 was a rollercoaster season of emotions in Formula Two but from amongst the highs and lows, we have picked out our top three drivers from this season.
With eight different race winners and a series of brilliant drives throughout the field, these three drivers all stood out from the rest for a variety of different reasons.
Without further ado, here are our top three F2 drivers of 2019.
Jack Aitken
After struggling in his first season at this level last year alongside eventual champion – George Russell at ART, Aitken could of become one of those drivers who failed to fulfil his potential but he was one of the surprise drivers of the campaign with Campos and increased support from Renault F1.
Aitken made a modest start in Bahrain but took advantage of the chaos that is Baku (when has F2 races in Baku not been chaotic?) to record a double podium and a first F2 victory, from which he simply kicked on with a series of strong performances throughout the season.
Like most drivers, Aitken however was prone to slices of bad luck at times this season but given the car’s limitations, he has been one of the most competitive overtakers this season with his home sprint race winning move in mixed conditions at Silverstone ranked as one of the season’s best.
👊 2019’s TOP TEN OVERTAKES 👊
2️⃣ Royally good move from King
1️⃣ Aitken sending it for victory👑 @JaitkenRacer 👑#F2 #RoadToF1 pic.twitter.com/JY8H5PXvrf
— Formula 2 (@FIA_F2) December 27, 2019
He also had to cope with having three different teammates alongside him across the season, which is probably one of the toughest challenges that any racing driver can experience in a single year.
It’s therefore isn’t hard to single Aitken out for high praise after guiding Campos to their most successful second tier season since 2015 in GP2, whilst we will hopefully see him return in 2020 for a title tilt in a stronger team.
Nyck De Vries
It would be silly to not include the 2019 F2 champion amongst the top three drivers because Nyck De Vries has been one of the stand-out performers this season.
There is very little to say about De Vries other than he was Mr Consistent throughout the first half of this season, amassing 196 points and three race wins despite failing to score in the French Sprint Race after a tyre management issue.
He then simply cruised to the title after the summer break, with four podium races from four point scoring races plus the four points for pole at Spa Francorchamps, despite both races being cancelled for tragic reasons.
Abu Dhabi might not of been the way he wanted to bow out but his dominance of 2019 is underlined by the fact that he took the most poles and race wins apiece, whilst teammate- Nikita Mazepin struggled to finish higher than eighth on three occasions.
De Vries is now racing in FIA Formula E with Mercedes where he is enjoying a strong start despite technical errors costing him valuable points, which will certainly make him stronger in 2020.
It therefore isn’t hard to see why De Vries is one of my top drivers from this F2 season given his consistency and dominance, and hopefully he will eventually reach F1 after having parted company with McLaren at the start of this year.
Anthoine Hubert
Whilst drivers like De Vries, Aitken and Nicholas Latifi produced great seasons, we however should take a moment to reflect on the success that Hubert enjoyed as a rookie during his short time in F2, until the tragic events during the Feature Race at Spa-Francorchamps in August.
The Arden car wasn’t exactly the best qualifier but Hubert’s talent was something special, because he always found something extra as demonstrated back in Bahrain when he qualified in 11th before finishing fourth in the Feature Race.
It would become a theme that we would associate with Hubert throughout the season, although he did produce some top race performances with Monaco being a notable highlight.
Hubert qualified seventh before dropping a position to eighth in the Feature Race, only to then produce a masterclass around the Monegasque streets in controlling the Sprint to eventually edge Carlin’s Louis Deletraz in a photo finish by just 0.059s.
That was just unbelievable from a fan perspective at home and definitely marked the Frenchman as one to watch, especially after another exceptional Sprint performance in front of his home crowd less than a month later.
We however must remember that Hubert also faced tough challenges at times, especially after an engine stall at the start of the British Feature Race wrecked that weekend because he always displayed excellent positivity in his tweets with some examples below.
The car stalled at the start… Nothing I could do! Tomorrow will be a tough one but we’ll try to have some fun 😉💪🏼 #BritishGP #Silverstone pic.twitter.com/ASGamyHaOm
— Anthoine Hubert (@AnthoineH) July 13, 2019
ROUND 7 – SILVERSTONE 🇬🇧
Tough weekend! No points so obviously very disappointed about it but we know we could have get good points without the stall in Race 1. We’ll analyse in order to be stronger in the next rounds and make sure we enjoy the summer ☀️🏖🚴🏼♂️ See you in Budapest pic.twitter.com/coAxmkL9qo
— Anthoine Hubert (@AnthoineH) July 15, 2019
Nevertheless, I believe that Hubert would of been a serious title challenger in F2 and F1 next decade if given the best car available given his intelligent yet awesome racing ability.
There are therefore very little words to sum up how huge a loss Hubert is to not just F2 but motorsport as a whole, because he definitely would of been a future champion in whatever racing series he went on to race in.
RIP
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