Top Five Drivers Of 2021 F2 Season

With the 2021 F2 season officially finished, it is time to reflect with the annual roundup of the top five drivers of this campaign.

This season saw ten different race winners crowned across a new eight-round format which featured 23 races in total, following the cancellation of the second Russian Sprint Race due to scheduling issues caused by wet rainfall.

Across 23 races under the new race weekend format though, there has been plenty of highs and lows throughout the grid complete with surprise improvement from returning drivers and rookies making instant splashes.

2021 also saw 29 drivers in total participate in F2 with 18 drivers in total completing a full campaign, whilst 11 drivers endured guest stints or financial issues which cruelly curtailed their seasons earlier than expected.

Now, here are my picks of the top five drivers of the 2021 F2 season with honourable mentions for those who just missed out on the list.

 

5 – Guanyu Zhou (UNI-Virtuosi)

Having made strong progress across 2019 & 20 seasons, Guanyu Zhou entered this season as the title favourite yet 2021 has been a mixed bag for the Chinese driver who will graduate to F1 with Alfa Romeo next season.

Zhou started the season with a pole position in Bahrain but his overall race performances this season hasn’t exactly been consistent under the new race format, with an average grid position of 4.6 yet he only finished six of the first Sprint Races each weekend with average finish position of 4.75.

One positive from Zhou’s season though has been that his average Feature Race finish of 4.25 has has higher than his average Qualifying result, which proved enough to give him third in the standings as he finished third this season in the championship.

It is hard to pin-point exactly what went wrong for Zhou this season because he has been a consistent top ten finisher in races that he finished, yet he has just lacked that extra quality to maintain a title challenge but a mixture of strategic and rare mistakes proved costly.

 

4 – Ralph Boschung (Campos)

Having taken a sabbatical in 20202 for financial reasons, Ralph Boschung has certainly hit back fighting with massive improvements in his performances, although he did encounter some ruts on traditional circuits yet he was a stand-out star on street circuits.

If I had to pick out a single weekend this season where Boschung was at his most impressive, it has to be Monaco because he was just an unexpected star that weekend with three top-six finishes which I wasn’t expecting from him after a tricky season-opener in Bahrain.

Boschung though did ensure that his Monaco adventures weren’t a blip with further strong race performances across Azerbaijan, Russia and Saudi Arabia, which offers plenty of promise for 2022 as he sticks with Campos and F2 for another season.

Another positive of Boschung’s overall improvement is that despite achieving an average Qualifying position of 8.9, he actually achieved a higher Qualifying position for the Feature Race in six of the eight rounds this season, which marks a major step forward in one-lap pace.

Tyre management though has been Boschung’s Achilles heel at times this season but having had a season to reacclimatise himself back into the F2 environment and Pirelli rubbers, Boschung should hopefully be able to build on his performance next season and handle the tyres better.

Now if he does that and continues his upward trend, I can see him and Campos being ones to watch in 2022 in terms of challenging for regular podiums and potentially wins, off the back of a return to the two-race weekend format next season.

 

3 – Robert Shwartzman (PREMA)

Having missed out on the title in 2020, Robert Shwartzman entered this season as a title contender but continued to encounter issues in nailing his single lap pace in Qualifying as evidenced by his erratic Feature Race grid positions of; 11th, 2nd, 10th, 7th, 12th, 7th, 2nd & 4th on the grid.

Shwartzman consequently was in luck that his race pace was excellent because he often recovered positions in Sprint Race One and Feature Races, whilst showing strong consistency after a bumpy start in the opening two rounds.

The Russian’s eight podiums also serves as further evidence of his consistency en-route to finish as Vice-Champion, yet he has decided to move on and become Ferrari’s Test Driver next season which is a brave gamble at this stage of his career.

 

2 – Theo Pourchaire (ART GP)

Theo Pourchaire has certainly demonstrated in 2021 that his stunning 2020 F3 season was no fluke because he stepped up to F2 with ART GP this season, where he continued to show real maturity on top of even racing with the after-effects of a wrist injury.

Just to put Pourchaire’s season into perspective, he was 17 years-old in the first four rounds yet his inexperience didn’t faze him on any level, as highlighted by an unexpected pole position and first F2 win in Monaco which was his finest weekend of the season.

‘Consistency’ though is the correct word to sum up Pourchaire’s season because he has just been an exceptional joy to watch with top-ten finishes in every Qualifying session plus each race that he finished this season.

Pourchaire also found himself caught in incidents in Azerbaijan and Saudi Arabia yet was able to recover from a wrist fracture and knocks to race in Great Britain and Abu Dhabi respectively, in which he went on to finish in the top ten highlight incredible resilience.

Now with a full season under his belt in F2 machinery and the top four drivers all moving on to pastures new, Pourchaire surely has to be the hot favourite for the title in 2022 if he can manage expectations and continue to develop his style.

 

1 – Oscar Piastri (PREMA)

Following Formula Renault Eurocup and F3 success in 2019 & 20, Oscar Piastri arrived in F2 with a fearsome track record yet he refused to let the challenge of F2 daunt him with incredible consistency and race management from the get-go.

Piastri’s one-lap pace in particular was stunning because despite not setting the timesheets alight in Practice throughout the season, he always found a way to hook it together at the crucial moments in Qualifying culminating in five consecutive pole positions.

High Qualifying results though often left Piastri stuck in midfield in opening Sprint Races but he intelligently navigated that particular danger with calmly composed drives, which in turn benefitted him in second Sprint Races especially in Saudi Arabia where he took two crucial wins.

When not dominating out in front, Piastri also showed excellent racecraft in battling those around him sensibly, particularly after a mistake in Bahrain Feature Race in his fight with Ticktum for third caused a race-ending spin for the Aussie yet served as a valuable lesson.

Piastri also carried a laid-back attitude on and off the track with very few if any tantrums on team radio, which is impressively mature for the 20 year-old who has now won three separate titles in three consecutive seasons.

2022 though sees Piastri take a back seat as he joins Alpine as their F1 Reserve Driver which is a huge shame when he is riding a huge wave of confidence, whilst highlighting that he really deserves a race seat next season on pure merit.

Finally, Piastri’s overall performance across single lap and race pace has just been stunning for a rookie driver with immense maturity and professionalism, which has genuinely made him my top driver of the 2021 F2 season.

 

Honourable Mentions

• Dan Ticktum (Carlin) – Enjoyed a strong consistent season with a fourth-placed finish but just lacked that stand-out edge at times to push for further podiums and wins.
• Juri Vips (Hitech GP) – Endured a frustrating opener in Bahrain but regrouped and made progress throughout season with consistency and two wins.
• Richard Verschoor (MP Motorsport/Charouz) – Struggled for a racing budget all season yet drove his heart out all campaign with some crafty drives and a dominant Sprint win at Silverstone.
• Jehan Daruvala (Carlin) – Made further progress in his second F2 season but just lacked consistency at times to push higher despite having a strong teammate in Ticktum.
• Marcus Armstrong (DAMS) – Dealt numerous doses of rotten luck this season yet still stayed upbeat and hard-working, which paid off with a strong win in Saudi Arabia.
• Bent Viscaal (Trident) – Often held back by a generally uncompetitive car but outdrove the car’s potential with two well-earned second-placed podium finishes in Italy and Saudi Arabia.
• Jack Doohan (MP Motorsport) – Adapted swiftly to F2 in final two rounds and bettered three full-time drivers in standings, before continuing his form in post-season test for UNI-Virtuosi.