In recent years\u00a0<\/span>there<\/span>\u00a0has been a strange phenomenon in\u00a0<\/span>the world of<\/span>\u00a0the minor series of Formula 1. Many F2 drivers have some\u00a0<\/span>difficulties getting into F1 and\u00a0<\/span>are forced<\/span>\u00a0to look elsewhere, as in IndyCar<\/a>, or have reserve roles in the team. Is it due to a problem in the Formula 1 market\u00a0<\/span>or<\/span>\u00a0has the level in the smaller categories dropped?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n In 2017, Charles Leclerc won the new FIA Formula 2 Championship. With<\/span>\u00a08\u00a0<\/span>pole positions (out of 11 races) turned to victory seven times, Leclerc quickly proved to be the talent he still is today. He won the championship with 72 points ahead of Artem Markelov. I<\/span>n 2018, he made\u00a0his debut in F1 with Sauber.<\/span>\u00a0A year later, he started his career in Ferrari. A similar dynamic for George Russell, who grew up in the Mercedes ranks. Lando Norris and Alexander Albon also managed to get into Formula 1.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n However, something began to go wrong in\u00a0<\/span>2019,<\/span>\u00a0when F2 champion Nyck de Vries did not find any F1 seat for the following year. The Dutchman then took part in the Formula E championship, where in\u00a0<\/span>2021<\/span>\u00a0he became champion.<\/span>\u00a0He joined the F1 lineup in 2023 with AlphaTauri but <\/span>due to poor results<\/span>,\u00a0<\/span>he was replaced<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>From 2019 until now, six drivers have arrived in Formula 1 from F2. Only Oscar Piastri is in a top team. The Australian is also the only recent\u00a0<\/span>winner of the series (2021)<\/span>\u00a0who managed to arrive in F1.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n 2022 champion Felipe Drugovich, who dominated the 2022 season is still third driver for Aston Martin. His future in the Formula 1 Circus with Aston Martin does not seem\u00a0<\/span>to be<\/span>\u00a0clear, as the Alonso-Stroll pair\u00a0<\/span>seems<\/span>\u00a0to be armored.\u00a0<\/span>Theo Pourchaire was crowned champion of the 2023 F2 season in Abu\u00a0<\/span>Dhabi<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0after a controversial championship<\/span>.<\/span>\u00a0Last year\u00a0<\/span>it<\/span>\u00a0seemed that the title had to go to Frederick Vesti\u00a0<\/span>but<\/span>,<\/span>\u00a0from Spa on, the orders in the ranking changed. Pourchaire won the title but had to stop there, despite Sauber seeming to have promised him an F1 seat.\u00a0<\/span>Among the other names much talked about in the\u00a0<\/span>paddock<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>there<\/span>\u00a0are Jack Doohan, Liam Lawson and Ayumu Iwasa.\u00a0<\/span>All<\/span>\u00a0excellent drivers\u00a0<\/span>but<\/span>\u00a0still seem far from the world of Formula 1, some more than others.<\/span><\/p>\n https:\/\/twitter.com\/formula2\/status\/1762490524181602774?s=46&t=QZdyZKGcjhQ0a8IVxAndkA<\/p>\n After the shake-up of Lewis Hamilton\u2019s transfer to Ferrari, the Formula 1 grid is still changing. The teams\u00a0<\/span>need to<\/span>\u00a0take on more challenges with the younger players who showed their talent on the track. A revolution that must start from the smaller teams\u00a0<\/span>to<\/span>\u00a0extend to the\u00a0<\/span>bigger<\/span>\u00a0names, as has always happened.\u00a0<\/span>However,\u00a0<\/span>what seems to be holding them back is<\/span>\u00a0the lowering of the performance level of recent editions.<\/span>\u00a0Last year, despite the victory, Pourchaire did not seem to have convinced Sauber with his performances, at times inconsistent. As well as Vesti, Iwasa, and Doohan are<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>experienced drivers but have made several mistakes that cost them the victory in the championship.\u00a0<\/span>This<\/span>\u00a0is why in F1<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>they prefer not to risk while waiting for new talents to come out of F2.<\/span><\/p>\n With several contracts expiring in F1 and the arrival of Audi in 2026, many things could change. In addition, some Formula 2 drivers already seem to be on the radar of some teams. For example, Oliver Bearman\u00a0<\/span>who<\/span>, after his debut in Saudi Arabia, surprised many teams.\u00a0<\/span>Especially Ferrari and Haas.<\/span> Also, his teammate in Prema, Kimi Antonelli, is one of the most talked about names for 2025 and beyond. However, besides these two, there are a few other names related to <\/span>the world of<\/span>\u00a0Formula 1 for now. The feeder series has always been a means by which drivers could practice and show off for the\u00a0<\/span>biggest<\/span>\u00a0series of Motorsport.\u00a0<\/span>The top names in the current Formula 2 championship<\/a> must show\u00a0<\/span>in all ways<\/span>\u00a0what it takes to reach the top series of Motorsport, showing their skills\u00a0<\/span>but also<\/span>\u00a0their constancy in getting good results.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a0In the last season, too many F2 drivers did not make it to F1. What is the reason behind this negative trend? In recent years\u00a0there\u00a0has been a strange phenomenon in\u00a0the world of\u00a0the minor series of Formula 1. Many F2 drivers have some\u00a0difficulties getting into F1 and\u00a0are forced\u00a0to look elsewhere, as in IndyCar, or have reserve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4754,"featured_media":20800,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[544],"tags":[2016,445,1686,587,1775,1569,1687],"class_list":["post-20505","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-formula-2","tag-andrea-kimi-antonelli","tag-charles-leclerc","tag-felipe-drugovich","tag-nyck-de-vries","tag-ollie-bearman","tag-oscar-piastri","tag-theo-pourchaire"],"modified_by":"Vincent van der Hoek","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20505","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4754"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20505"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20505\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20800"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20505"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20505"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/motorsports\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20505"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Past and present F2 Champions: what went wrong?<\/span><\/h4>\n
Too much inconsistency\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n
2025 F1 driver market\u00a0<\/span><\/h4>\n