Mosley has been banging on about racing being too expensive for a long time. Sometimes his argument is undermined by changing the F1 rules, like V8 engines or KERS, which initially cost a fortune, but his argument is generally valid that it doesn’t have to be this expensive to go racing.
He saw this recession coming long before most people in racing and so he set up F2, partly to give Bernie a bit of a tweak, but also to set in motion a new model for racing. The car, built by Williams under the direction of Patrick Head and powered by an Audi turbo engine, has to comply with exacting FIA crash tests, so it’s not cheap to build, but the FIA said that the series must cost no more than £200,000 a season.
Palmer won the tender to run F2 for five years and is sinking £6 million of his company’s money into it. The key to it is that he will operate all 24 cars, so they will all be equal. This is the main point of departure from F3 and GP2, where the best teams spend money on developing their car to make it faster. Their drivers usually win the races and the championship. But can you be absolutely sure that the best driver won, or was he just driving the best car? This is how it is in F1, because the teams have to build their own car and some do it better than others, but why does it have to be that way in the feeder series? Why waste all that money on car development when what you really want to know is, who’s the best driver?
It is a model that other series have used before, but it’s very interesting that it’s now being used at this level. Feeder level racing is not about the teams and wasting money on development. This aligns with recent thinking in F1 cost saving. The F1 teams now know that the best way to control costs is to eliminate areas where they do not need to compete with each other on development, like engines, gearboxes or suspensions. Being F1 they need to have some areas of competition between the teams, so they work on aerodynamics (in a more limited way than before), electronics and mechanical solutions. Below F1 there is no need to spend any money on developing the car, so why do you need teams at all?
F1 teams will arguably be able to evaluate the drivers more effectively in F2 because the cars are all the same and an company with an active young driver programme, like Red Bull, can evaluate several drivers for the price of one in GP2. Red Bull have bought three cars in the F2 series.
It seems to me to be the right product for the moment because young drivers have to race every year, otherwise their career stalls and there are surely many more youngsters right now who can get £200k together than there are able to raise £1.3 million?
Another point in its favour is that the F2 brand is easy to understand. If you stop the man in the street and ask him what is the feeder series for F1 he’d say F2. Simple.
So where does this leave the teams at feeder level? Well the FIA believes that they will realign according to the economic circumstances, some will merge, some will race in other series. But if the F2 experiment works it will put pressure on many of the feeder series like World Series by Renault and Formula 3 to adopt a similar low-cost approach and take the money away from car development and teams competing.
Palmer has sold 18 of the 24 cars so far, four of them to sons of ex Grand Prix drivers and believes that drivers holding out for a GP2 budget will realise too late that they missed the boat. Time will tell. GP2 is a strong package, I really enjoyed commentating on it in 2006 and 2007, but keep an eye out for the entry list of F2. It could be worth watching. Live coverage is on Eurosport… always chaotic, but at least they show things. Here’s the calendar. Check it out.
F2 calendar 2009
31/05 Valencia Ricardo Tormo, Spain
21/06 Brno, Czech Republic
28/06 Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
19/07 Brands Hatch Grand Prix
, GB
16/08 Donington Park, GB
06/09 Oschersleben, Germany
20/09 Imola, Italy
01/11 Barcelona, Spain
allenonf1.wordpress.com 
Surely F2 should be the feeder for A1, the same principles apply same cars only the driver are different.
So in F2 are the cars allocated by ballot at each race? Are they really the same or are the teams allowed to change suspension components, brakes, injectors. intakes? (Yeah Ok, know I should go away and read the rulebook, I will, I will)
Even when club single make racing started all the same, the guys with more money had new tyres, shocks, and disposables every race so at all levels of motor racing its always the money that wins.
Its always been about money to get anywhere you need bucket loads and then later skiploads.
A budget cap on F1 would be a great leveler but we have lost the original intent. It used to be FOCA not FOTA “Constructors” being the operative word and the intent to construct the winning vehicle. The driver was in some cases a necessary evil.
But then we shall never see Schumi in a McClaren or Lewis in Massa’s Ferrari. What percentage of the winning package is the driver? Could Schumi have won the same races in a Minardi? No! what about a BMW? Still no! what about in the McClaren? Yes why?
F2 sounds like a great concept but the thing that is to F2’s disadvantage in its appeal is that it is not supporting the Grands Prix and so the F1 teams are not going to be watching the drivers automatically as they do with GP2, obviously. You said F2 will be on eurosport, do you know where we can catch GP2 this year? Are we going to be hearing you commentating anywhere at all in 2009 such as on GP2 or F2? Would be great to hear you – will miss your commentaries as I’m sure will a lot of people. Where are you going to be within the F1 media this year? – Joe
[…] Where will the next F1 stars come from? – James Allen’s Grand Prix Diary"While it is true that F2 was announced in the midst of the Mosley/News of the World situation, on closer inspection it is a serious project and it could turn out to be a threat to GP2, which is why Bernie was scathing. I spent some time recently with the man charged with running the series for the FIA, ex F1 driver Jonathan Palmer, and got a look at what he and the FIA think is the model for the future of motor sport…" […]
[…] It’s become clear for some time that, while circuits squabble over events and accusations of management wrongheadedness and unfair dealings are made left right and centre, that the real man to watch in British motorsport is Jonathan Palmer. While keeping entirely clear of all the trouble at t’mill, his company MotorSportVision has been quietly getting on with making plans for circuit development at Snetterton and collaborating with Williams F1 on the new Formula 2 series, currently slated to feature Martin Brundle’s son Alex. So it was interesting to see that James Allen, writing in his blog, rates the future of this event: “Can you be absolutely sure that the best driver won, or was he just driving the best car? This is how it is in F1, because the teams have to build their own car and some do it better than others, but why does it have to be that way in the feeder series? Why waste all that money on car development when what you really want to know is, who’s the best driver? It is a model that other series have used before, but it’s very interesting that it’s now being used at this level. Thought-provoking stuff. […]
I think F2 is a brilliant idea and I think if it eventually follows the GP circuit around it will definitely succeed. The only drawback I can see is that if you take the teams out of the way, then a driver will loose the experience of being involved in car development the political aspects of driving within a team i.e. rivalry with your team mate and how to handle and establish yourself within a team. All of which I think is a major part of F1 and should be taught at the earliest possible chance. Drivers without this may not fulfil their potential. If you look at past drivers Prost, Senna, Mansell, Schumacher they were all political animals and played the game to get where they where.
Are we overlooking something here. Am I right in thinking that a feeder series not only develop the drivers but also gives the experiance to engineers and allow them to progress to F1.
If we move to a standardised format in all feeder series surely this could lower the innovation in F1.