FIA Formula 2 Championship

FIA Formula 2 Championship
Category Single seaters
Country International
Inaugural season 2017
Drivers 20
Teams 10
Constructors Dallara
Engine suppliers Mecachrome
Tyre suppliers Pirelli
Official website fiaformula2.com
Current season

The FIA Formula 2 Championship[1] is a form of open wheel motor racing introduced in 2017 following the rebranding of the long-term Formula One feeder series, GP2 Series.

Designed to make racing affordable for the teams and to make it the perfect training ground for life in Formula One, Formula 2 has made it mandatory for all of the teams to use the same chassis, engine and tyre supplier so that true driver ability is reflected. Formula 2 mainly races on European circuits, but has appearances on other international race tracks as well with their most recent races in the 2017 season at the Bahrain International Circuit in Bahrain and the Yas Marina Circuit in United Arab Emirates.

Race weekend

On Friday, drivers have a 45-minute[2] free practice session and a 30-minute qualifying session. The qualifying session decides the grid order for Saturday's race which has a length of 180 kilometres (112 miles).

During Saturday's race (Feature Race), each driver must complete one compulsory pitstop and must use at least one set of each specification of dry-weather tyres.

Sunday's race (Sprint Race) is run over 120 kilometres (75 miles). The grid is decided by the Saturday result with top 8 being reversed, so the driver who finished 8th on Saturday will start from pole position and the winner will start from 8th place.

The exceptions to these rules are the Monaco and Budapest where the Feature Race is run over 140km (87 miles) and 160km (100 miles), respectively and the Monaco Sprint Race where the race is run over 100km (60 miles).[3]

Point system

Feature races will be run with a scoring system similar to the one used in Formula One:

Point system for Feature Race
 1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th   9th   10th 
25 18 15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1

The top eight finishers in a sprint race receive points as follows:

Point system for Sprint Race
 1st   2nd   3rd   4th   5th   6th   7th   8th 
15 12 10 8 6 4 2 1

Pole position for the feature race will now be worth 4 points, and 2 points will be given for the fastest lap in each race. Therefore, the maximum number of points a driver can score at any round will be 48.

Car specifications

The FIA Formula 2 Championship car is used by all of the teams, and features a Dallara carbon-fiber monocoque chassis powered by a Mecachrome normally-aspirated fuel-injected V8 engine and Pirelli dry slick and rain treaded tyres. Overall weight is 688 kg including driver.

Chassis

The F2 Championship currently uses 2011 specification GP2 car has been designed by Dallara Automobili. Currently, Dallara GP2/11 are the current chassis since debut in 2011. The price of Dallara GP2/11 FIA Formula 2 Championship cars are approximately up to €1.5 million-€2 million per car (including wheels, tyres, wings, steering wheel and other components excluding engine). The current FIA Formula 2 Championship chassis material is Carbon/aluminium honeycomb structure and also Carbon Kevlar honeycomb bodywork structure. The current FIA Formula 2 Championship car's front wing are wider and also narrow higher rear wing (similar to 2009-2016 Formula One car). FIA Formula 2 Championship officials have confirmed on July 4, 2016 that the series will continue to use the current fleet of Dallara GP2/11 chassis through end of 2017 season.[4] The series has left open the likely of going to a completely different chassis platform starting in 2018 (see below for full story).

Transmission, gearbox and clutches

The current gearbox has been manufactured by Hewland and features an 8-position barrel with ratchet body and software upgrades as well as a new transverse shafts fixing system designed to facilitate improved gear selection. Currently, the FIA Formula 2 Championship gearbox uses a 6-speed semi-automatic configuration with electronically-controlled paddle shifters with reverse operated by Reverse button on the steering wheel. The clutch of all FIA Formula 2 Championship cars are supplied by AP Racing with multi-plate clutch operated by hand-paddle clutch.

Wheel rims

O.Z. Racing exclusively supplies wheel rims for all FIA Formula 2 Championship cars.

Tyres

Similar to the 2011 change for Formula 1, Pirelli is now the sole tyre supplier for the series. The FIA Formula 2 Championship runs the different compounds and size as F1 since 2017 (due to in fact Formula 1 2017 season tyres are wider, FIA Formula 2 Championship carried over the pre-2017 Pirelli F1 tyres). The front tyre size are 245/660-R13 and rear tyre size are 325/660-R13. The compounds of Pirelli Formula 2 tyres are 4 dry compounds and 2 wet compounds due to ultra soft only used in Formula One.

Brakes

Brembo supplies monobloc brake calipers and disc bells, which are exclusive to FIA Formula 2 Championship. Hitco also supplies carbon brake discs and pads for FIA Formula 2 Championship. The brake discs are 278 x 28 mm in size (similar to Formula One).

Fuel tank

The current Dallara GP2/11 FIA Formula 2 Championship car's fuel tank uses FIA standard Premier FT5 tank with the capacity up to 125 litres.

Suspensions

The suspensions of all FIA Formula 2 Championship car is upper and lower steel wishbones, pushrod operated coupled with twin Koni dampers and torsion bars suspension (front) and spring suspension (rear) similar to current Formula One car suspension.

Steering wheel

Since 2011, XAP Technology exclusively providing the XAP single-seater F2 steering wheel as well as XAP SX steering wheel dash display for all FIA Formula 2 Championship cars. The XAP steering wheel features 6 buttons in the front with 5 paddles (DRS, gear shift and clutch) in the back of steering wheel.

Safety

The current safety innovation of FIA Formula 2 Championship is the top priority. Front, side, rear and steering column impact tests are the FIA safety standards. The all FIA Formula 2 Championship car include front and rear roll hoop, impact structures and monocoque push tests. Anti-intrusion survival cell protection panels are also featured since 2011. Wheel retainer safety cables are also featured to avoid wheel flying similar to Formula One, IndyCar Series (known as SWEMS) and other single-seater Formula racing series. The seat belts of all FIA Formula 2 Championship cars are supplied by Sabelt with 6-point seat belt configuration similar to Formula One.

The future of FIA Formula 2 car (2018 beyond)

In 2018 the championship will introduce the new Dallara F2/18 chassis as a cost control method, and FIA Formula 2 negotiated a price of over €1 million per chassis. The new specification also improved safety, lower noses and wider-lower rear wing (similar to current Formula One car layout). The current 2011-2017 spec Dallara GP2/11 chassis, which has been required since 2011 will be permanently retired from competition after 2017 season.[5][6] On July 18, 2017 Bruno Michel confirmed that Dallara F2/18 will finalize their unveiling on September 1, 2017 during Monza round.[7] The some parts of old Dallara GP2/11 such as suspensions, brakes, steering wheels, electronics, tyres, shocks and clutches are also retained due to cost reasons as it was explained by series CEO Bruno Michel.[8]

Engine

The 4.0-litre normally-aspirated electronic indirect fuel-injected Mecachrome V8 engine features internal, cartographic and software upgrades designed to improve performance and fuel consumption required since 2005 season and currently will be used until the end 2017 season. The engine produces 612 hp and 500 Nm (380 ft-lb) of torque @ 8000 rpm. FIA Formula 2 Championship engines are rev-limited to 10000 rpm and need a rebuild after 4000 to 4500 km. The valve train is a dual overhead camshaft configuration with four valves per cylinder. The Mecachrome V8 engine weight is 326 lb (148 kg). The crankshaft is made of alloy steel, with five main bearing caps. The pistons are forged aluminum alloy, while the connecting rods are machined alloy steel. The electronic engine management system is supplied by Magneti Marelli, firing a high-power inductive (coil-controlled) ignition system. The engine lubrication is a dry sump type, cooled by a single water pump. The price of Mecachrome FIA Formula 2 Championship engines are approximately €150,000 per engine unit.

Mecachrome came to the FIA Formula 2 Championship in 2005, and by the same year Mecachrome was clearly the dominant engine manufacturer as of 2017.

During that time, since the FIA Formula 2 Championship had only one engine manufacturer, Mecachrome still focusing on minimizing engine failure and minimizing costs instead of defeating rivals. As such, the engines were moderately de-tuned. The engines proved themselves to be quite durable—there had been no engine failures at all F2 tracks from 2005 to present, which also lowered the number of crashes. Most of the engines, including those used for the Monaco race, are used for multiple races and were intended to last 1,100 miles between rebuilds. The Mecachrome engines were only available via lease arrangement from Mecachrome currently.

Mecachrome V8 GP2 engines were crated and shipped to all FIA Formula 2 Championship teams on a serial-number basis as determined by the sanctioning body (FIA) to ensure equality and fairness in distribution.

Current FIA Formula 2 Championship engine formula specifications have been used since 2005. New engine regulations with 620 hp 3.4-litre V6 single-turbocharged direct-injected engines which resembles to GP3 Series engine model will be introduced for 2018 along with a new Dallara F2/18 chassis.[9] Dutch turbocharger company Van Der Lee will supplying the turbochargers for all FIA Formula 2 Championship all-new engines.

Fuel and lubricants components

At its inception, the all Formula 2 cars currently uses ordinary unleaded racing gasoline as fuel (similar to commercial vehicle unleaded street gasoline), which had been the de facto standard in second tier single-seater formula racing since the introduction of GP2 Series in 2005. Since 2017, Elf exclusively continues providing the LMS 102 RON unleaded fuel and also Elf HTX 840 0W-40 lubricants for all FIA Formula 2 Championship cars.

Other parts

The car also features internal cooling upgrades, a new water radiator, radiator duct, oil/water heat exchanger, modified oil degasser, new oil and water pipes and new heat exchanger fixing brackets.

Performance

According to research and pre-season stability tests, the 2005 model can go 0 to 200 km/h (124 mph) in 6.7 seconds. The car has a top speed of 320 km/h (199 mph) meaning that it is the fastest single seater racing car behind Formula One and IndyCar Series.

The 2011 model can go 0–200 km/h (0–124 mph) in 6.6 seconds.

The car has a top speed of 330 km/h (205 mph) with the Monza aero configuration.

Current specifications (2017)

Specifications (2018-beyond)

History

2017

The 2017 season consist of eleven rounds, ten supporting the F1 World Championship and a stand-alone event in Jerez.[1] It started in Bahrain on 15 April and will finish in Abu Dhabi on 26 November.

Television rights

The television rights are held by Formula One Management, which also manages the rights to Formula One. Sky Sports F1 show every practice, qualifying and race live in the United Kingdom.

See also

References

  1. 1 2 "Newly renamed F2 series to feature at 10 Grands Prix". Formula 1 – The Official F1® Website. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
  2. ↑ http://www.gp2series.com/Guide-to/The-regulations/
  3. ↑ "The regulations". Retrieved 5 Aug 2017.
  4. ↑ Simmons, Marcus (July 4, 2016). "Introduction of new GP2 car pushed back to 2018 car". Autosport.com. Autosport. Retrieved July 4, 2016.
  5. ↑ Khorounzhiy, Valentin (16 December 2016). "GP2 aiming for V6 switch, but not wider tyres for 2018 car". Motorsport.com. Motorsport.com. Retrieved 16 December 2016.
  6. ↑ Kalinauckas, Alex. "F2 boss reveals details of 2018 car". Motorsport.com. Motorsport.com. Retrieved 23 May 2017.
  7. ↑ Kalinauckas, Alex (18 July 2017). "F2 not expecting maximum capacity grid in 2018". Motorsport.com. Motorsport.com. Retrieved 18 July 2017.
  8. ↑ Kalinauckas, Alex (20 July 2017). "Further details of next-generation F2 car revealed". Motorsport.com. Motorsport.com. Retrieved 20 July 2017.
  9. ↑ "GP2 Series aiming for V6 switch, but not wider tyres for 2018 car". motorsport.com. Motorsport.com. 16 December 2016. Retrieved 13 March 2017.


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