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westfallintro/background
okay! so… if you follow me on my main twitter you've probably seen me a) live tweeting races, b) posting about my favorite drivers (car boy biases…), or c) some kind of insane mix of both. what d hale do lav be talking about, and why r some of these car boys kind of cute… well story time! about a year ago, i accidentally conned myself into getting into formula 1 racing while i was researching for water over wine. since then, it's been a crazy year of falling deeper and deeper into formula racing and motorsport in general. my favorite tiers by far, however, are formula 2 and formula 1, with formula 2 winning out as my most favorite.
but what is formula 2, and what is its relationship to formula 1? what's the big fuss, and why am i tweeting about car boys every weekend?! if you've ever wanted to know more about my car boys and racing, you're in the right place! so read on~
what is formula racing?
formula racing is a single-seater, open-wheeled motorsport. the cars are not stock-cars (the cars you might drive on the street—nascar is a stock-car racing motorsport), and instead look like the more race-y kind of vehicles you might associate with indycar or go-karting. formula racing has several different tiers of professional racing, with its participants/drivers starting from as young as 14 years old. formula 1 is the top tier, and is arguably the best kind of car racing there is!! underneath f1, formula 2 through 4 + formula regionals all serve as feeder-series, through which drivers compete in the hopes of being good enough to move up the tiers and eventually end up in formula 1.
if you'd like to learn more about formula 1 specifically, please see dia's f1 primer! it's awesome and has everything you need to know to dive into the world's best and topmost level of racing. it's not strictly necessary before reading this primer, but honestly the f1 and f2 worlds are sooo intertwined that it's kind of inevitable that you'll end up learning about both since they can't really exist without the other. but in this primer i'll be sure to give enough background on f1 to make that easier.
what is formula 2?
formula 2 is the topmost level of the feeder-series formulae. its main purpose is to prepare drivers to compete in the elite tier, formula 1, and for this reason most closely resembles f1 in its season organization, calendar, and points system. drivers who participate in f2 racing are generally younger than those in f1, though this is not a hard rule. the best kpop analogy i can think of is the following: if f1 can somewhat be likened to nct or exo (drivers are in their early to mid twenties or older... much older lol), f2 is somewhat like nct dream (drivers are in their late teens to early twenties), and f3/f4 are somewhat like sm rookies (very young drivers, mostly in their early to mid teens). it's not the strongest analogy, especially since sm's done away with the dream graduation system, but i think it gets the point across.
one key difference between f1 and f2 is that the f1 teams and drivers are allowed to customize, make, and/or outsource all components of their cars, whereas the f2 championship requires all cars to use the same chassis (body-build), tyres, and engines. this makes f2 essentially a battle of drivers, as opposed to both drivers and cars. since f2's main purpose is to try to prepare a driver for a future career in f1, creating an even playing field by requiring all cars to be the same allows interested f1 teams to assess the true skills of each driver, and hopefully better determine if the driver has a future career with them.
another major difference is that drivers in the feeder series are often part of a junior racing program that is separate from their official team. the official team is the unit that enters officially into the championship (i'll list the 11 teams in a bit), whereas a junior racing program is an organized training program under a current formula 1 team that is meant to mentor and develop younger drivers. usually, acceptance into a junior program comes with the understanding that you could be routed directly into that f1 team if you prove to be good enough. examples of junior racing programs are ferrari driver academy, mercedes young drivers program, renault sport academy, redbull junior team, etc. 
(2018 red bull junior team)
in f1, your official team essentially becomes 90% of your identity for the season, but in the feeder series i would argue that your junior racing program is almost more important than your actual team. a good kpop analogy would be to think of the formula 2 grid as equivalent to any kpop survival show—while all entrants are individuals competing for a spot in the final group, they're also already training under an entertainment company (and trainees from notable companies may face more attention and/or higher expectations). similarly, drivers from more prestigious junior racing programs are under intense scrutiny to deliver results, and they are almost always acknowledged for their junior program first, rather than their team for any particular season.
for example, take callum ilott and guanyu zhou—they were both uni-virtuosi teammates during the 2020 season, and at the same time they're in different junior racing programs (callum is part of ferrari driver academy, while guanyu is part of renault sport academy). you could actually see this visually with the virtuosi cars, which had different paint colors for each driver that correspond with their junior program instead of having a unified paint scheme for both of them (callum's car was black and red, to reflect ferrari, whereas guanyu's car was black and yellow, to reflect renault—see below). this is actually very common in the formula feeder series!
(sexy split paint jobs of uni-virtuosi cars... i really love the yellow/black for guanyu bc it makes his car look like a giant killer hornet when he comes racing up to overtake<3)
basics + mechanics of f2
so the formula 2 2020 season concluded this past weekend! i'm so happy to have watched my way through my first season, but ofc i'm devastated that it's over. this season, there were 11 teams with 2 drivers each (though there were some driver swaps for various reasons), for a total of 22 drivers competing during every race weekend.
here were the 2020 season entries:
the f2 season typically starts in march in bahrain (compared to f1 which begins in melbourne) and concludes in december in abu dhabi. this year due to the pandemic, the season was shifted to start in july and was overall a fairly unconventional calendar, due to certain races being cancelled and/or rescheduled. overall, however, f2 races are designed to overlap with f1 events, and are generally considered part of the formula 1 race weekend leading up to the f1 grand prix on sunday. this allows fans who are going for f1 events the chance to watch the up and coming drivers, and it also allows f2 drivers the chance to observe the main f1 races.
since the f2 race weekend format will be changing next year, i'm going to explain the 2021 format below. the main components of an f2 race weekend are free-practice, qualifying, sprint race 1, sprint race 2, and the feature race.
race weekend begins on friday, consisting of a single 45 min free-practice session + one 30 min qualifying round.
- free-practice allows the drivers to acclimate to the track and make any minor adjustments to the cars as needed. it also allows the teams to monitor other teams' performances
- qualifying determines the starting grid order for the sunday feature race. a driver's main goal during qualifying is to set the fastest lap time possible. it is not an actual race, so the driver is allowed as many laps as they want to try to increase their best time. then the starting grid for the feature race will be determined by every driver's best time at the end of the session. the driver who sets the fastest lap time during qualifying will start at the front of the grid (also known as pole position), with the rest of the drivers ordered behind him accordingly based on their times (fastest at the front, slowest at the back)
on saturday, there are two sprint races that are 45 min each. sprint races differ from the main feature race in that pit-stops are not required, and they are much shorter than the feature.
- sprint race 1's starting grid is determined by reversing the order of the top 10 drivers from qualifying
- sprint race 2's starting grid is determined by reversing the top 10 finishers of sprint race 1
on sunday, the f2 feature race is held before the formula 1 grand prix (which is always considered the main event or highlight of every race weekend). the feature race is a full-length race, and may span from an hour and a half to two hours. drivers are required to make at least one pit-stop during the race. the starting grid is determined by the friday qualifying session.
to compete in the championship, drivers score points through securing a top 8 result in the sprint races or a top 10 result in the feature race. the point distribution is as follows:
the driver who earns pole position during the friday qualifying session earns an additional 4 points that weekend. in addition, the driver who sets the fastest lap and finishes in the top 10 of the feature race will earn 2 additional points.
at the end of the season, the driver with the most points is crowned the season champion, and the team with the most combined points of their drivers is crowned the team champion. the 2020 f2 season was won by mick schumacher, and his team prema racing also won the team championship.
okay… so what makes it so good?
i'm a huge fan of both f1 and f2, but honestly f2 surpassed f1 for me a couple of months ago because of two main things: 1) the driver dynamix, and 2) the actual racing.
f2 drivers are very rotatable, and the shipping potential is delicious imo. a lot of the drivers in the 2020 season essentially grew up together and most likely competed against each other in f3, f4, or even karting when they were kids. overall, i would say that f2 drivers are very close with each other, since many of them have been friends for most of their formative years. i guess some f1 drivers could say this too (e.g. pierre gasly and charles leclerc), but the age-range in formula 1 is much wider, and you don't get the same kind of inherent closeness, camaraderie, and shared history that i think is deeply embedded into the f2 experience. once a driver moves up into f1, much of this is lost. you're suddenly racing against people who have been in f1 for anywhere from five to ten years, and it's much harder to foster that tenderness or intimacy of racing someone you deeply understand. as someone who stans nct dream, i think liking f2 is a really similar experience. just a bunch of teenagers/early-20somethings messing around with each other off the track, but then putting on their game faces when it's time to get down to business and absolutely killing it… it really is the boysboysboys of it all T__T
in addition, i just think that f2 drivers have more to prove—they're not yet in f1, but they're trying to get there so badly, and many of them are desperate to prove themselves worthy of an f1 seat. but in order to do that, stepping on other people in order to claw to the stop is a depressing necessity. this is where all those close friendships that they all have with each other could even become liabilities. when you've raced someone for almost your entire life, you know just exactly how hard he's worked. you've beaten him, you've lost to him. you know how badly he wants this, because you want it badly too, and you want to see him succeed just as much as you want your own success. and anyone who does rise up into the ranks of f1 eventually has to leave the others—his FRIENDS—behind!!! agh!!! it's so tasty. the tension and intimacy of competing against people you know almost as well as yourself….. unmatched. and when you translate all of these dynamix and relationships to the actual track, you get some fucking amazing races.
i've relatively new to motorsport, so i can't really speak on this broadly, but for the 2020 season i just think f2 races are so much more fun and exciting to watch since everyone is using the same car and the drivers are much more evenly matched. i still love f1 for various reasons, but sometimes watching the grand prixs can get really… boring lol. there's a huge gap between constructors and drivers, so the podiums are pretty much predictable. on the other hand, f2's had 12 different race winners this season, and you can almost never predict who will end up on the podium. i also think f2 races are way more fun to watch because i like so many of the drivers and it's hard to know who to cheer for ;w; i think a majority of the drivers are incredibly likeable (i'll elaborate on my 2020 favorites below), so it's easy to get sucked in!
meta/personal thoughts
this is where i will now break down my favorite drivers/dynamix from the 2020 season and push unto you my various agendas >:)
guanyu zhou (1999 - gemini sun/sag moon)
MY FAVORITE F2 DRIVER T___T you are my boy so much. guanyu started to catch my eye after i found out that he won the f2 rookie of the year award in 2019, and i started paying more attention to him during the virtual grand prix championship in the spring. guanyu is extremely quick in the car and a BRILLIANT driver. he's known for his famous pass-two-cars-at-once overtakes + incredible recovery drives (starting from the back of the grid to finish on the podium or in the top 5). at the beginning of the 2020 season, guanyu was probably the one of the favored drivers to win the championship, but unfortunately he experienced a lot of car trouble this season</3 but luckily he got his first win in sochi so we finally got to see him stand on the top step >:) i was really hoping that guanyu would have been promoted to f1 next year, but at least he's staying in f2 for 2021<3
off the track, guanyu is really into fashion so he ALWAYS looks sharp/dresses on point, and he's michievous and playful when he's not in the car (particularly with callum and marcus - more on that later). overall just beloved gemsun/sagmoon vibes and i adore him to pieces. i'm devastated he didn't get the f1 seat but i'm still so happy to be able to watch him race next season<3
callum ilott (1998 - scorpio sun/leo moon)
guanyu's 2020 teammate!! callum is an ace of a driver who had 6 podiums this season, and was the championship runner-up (it was quite close!). at the beginning i think he was overlooked because more eyes were on guanyu, but he ended up taking the championship lead for the first half of the season. he's part of the ferrari driver academy and almost got chosen for an f1 seat next year, but ultimately didn't</3 and apparently he's not driving in f2 next season which T____T devastation… but i have no doubt that he'll come back to motorsport one day so i'm keeping my hopes up ;A;
off track, callum has all of the charming british boy magneticism/charisma that you would expect of a scorpsun/leo moon. he's got a dryer sense of humor but i think he meshes well with guanyu, since they're extremely good friends and seem to do a lot of things together outside the circuit. to me, callum's vibe is like the polite son of a well-to-do family lol, but once he gets going with his mates he's as boyish and silly as the rest of them~
marcus armstrong (2000 - leo sun/cancer moon)
hailing from new zealand, marcus is callum's best friend and fellow ferrari driver academy mate<3 this was marcus' first year in f2, but he managed to land second place in the very first race of the season! unfortunately after that his season went downhill, so he stopped attracting as much attention in the later races, especially as he started to get overshadowed by his 2020 teammate christian lungaard.
off the track, marcus is truly gremlin of the circuit lol<3 he is very goofy, overdramatic, and flirts with everything and everyone (help). he and callum tease each other quite a bit, but marcus also gets along well with guanyu and are often seen hanging out together. he likes to repost shippy fan-edits (yes, he's that kind of person) and has walked around the paddock in a feather boa and giant oversized sun-glasses (yes, he's that kind of leo).
mar/cal/yu dynamix
okay so guanyu and callum actually used to be in the same f3 team and junior program (prema racing/ferrari driver academy), and then callum was promoted up to f2 first while guanyu stayed behind and eventually left prema/fda to join renault sport academy (do what you will with THAT devastating bit of information). then after a couple of years they were in the same team again for this season, and i'm happy to report that their friendship not only survived the team moves, it also seemed to be stronger than ever this year. generally speaking, i think to an extent all drivers are friendly with one another, or at least civil/politely amicable, but it is so clear to me that callum and guanyu's friendship is something special. they spend so much time together off the track and they are constantly in each other's instagram stories. sooooo yeah i'm. calyu-ist.
marcus and callum are best friends, and probably have been best friends for most of their lives because they did karting together. as i mentioned before they're also in the same junior program, ferrari driver academy. tbh callum is pretty introverted, but i think being around marcus brings something out in him bc marcus is Such A Leo and callum is Such A Scorpio. actually i just found out that they share an apartment at the fda homebase which. well then. thoughts are being thinked.
then of course the three of them are just so funny together… honestly i can open up any of their ig stories and there's a 90% chance i will find at least one of the other two in them, if not both. i just love these three so much…. tfw a gemini and a leo share a scorpio<3 delishus!
(callum and marcus imitating zgy on instastory lmao....)
there were also a ton of other drivers who i LOVED from this season such as jack aitken (virgo, half scottish-half korean, just a meme, would bet money that he is leo rising), yuki tsunoda (taurus, CUTIE OF DA WORLD, smol, quick as fuck in a car); christian lungaard (leo, guanyu's renault sports academy mate, marcus' 2020 teammate—together, they were the #LeoTeam), and mick schumacher (aries, michael schumacher's son, 2020 champion!!, promoted to f1 for next year and will be driving for haas).
finally, f2 drivers to look out for next season: jüri vips, liam lawson, logan sargeant… i cannot wait!!
essential media to watch
okay, so hopefully at this point i've convinced you to give my car boys a try… so how can you learn more?! well unfortunately, f2 doesn't have as much curated content the way that f1 does, but i can still recommend some things to watch if you'd like to learn about the 2020 drivers, formula racing in general, and the history of the sport.
1. f2 driver "speed dates" (originally posted on the f2 twitter account, but thankfully this kind soul uploaded them all to youtube).
i'm only linking a selected few, but all the driver interviews from the 2020 season can be found on the channel. they're less than 3 min each and are really cute and fun ways to get the know the drivers!
i'm also going to link some other driver content here:
- guanyu zhou interview with sports scene (sxc suit content)
- guanyu zhou, callum ilott, mick schumacher shenanigans (when they were all in prema together during their f3 days)
- more prema trio shenanigans (same three as above)
- f2 drivers making reaction gifs (CUTE)
- marcus armstrong silly moments (you are a leo so much...)
- jack aitken vlog
- guanyu, christian, and another rsa driver answering some questions
2. f2 race highlights and/or full races
i would argue that the best way to get into motorsport in general is to straight up watch a race. f2 is so, so exciting, and it's extremely rewarding to cheer on a driver from the moment the lights go out to the moment the winner crosses the finish line. but if you're not keen on sitting through an hour of racing, the f2 youtube channel also uploads 5-7 minute highlight reels from every race. though if you only watch the highlight reels, you do miss out on the whole roller-coaster experience of watching a race from start to finish.
i'll link some of my favorite races from this season, both the highlight reel and where you can replay the full race:
- austrian feature race: highlights / full race (race 1)
- belgium feature race: highlights / full race (race 1)
- tuscan feature race: highlights / full race (race 1)
- tuscan sprint race: highlights / full race (race 2)
- sochi sprint race: highlights / full race (race 2)
- sakhir feature race: highlights / full race (race 1) - EXCELLENT RACE
3. "1" - docufilm narrated by michael fassbender, available on amazon prime
while this isn't strictly about formula 2, i think it was an awesome watch and extremely informative. as a newer fan of formula racing, i really wanted to learn the history behind the sport, and this did an amazing job of that while being interesting and engaging. HIGHLY recommend.
4. formula 1 drive to survive - series on netflix
again, this is about f1, but you might as well binge watch this series because it's extremely delicious. i will admit that a lot of the f1 going-ons covered in both seasons are over dramatized, but the series is a really great entry point into f1. please note: content warning for season 2 episode 6, for fatal car crash.
........
well there you have it! a quick course on the wonderful, anguishing, delightful world of formula 2 racing. i got into this completely by accident, but i don't regret it one bit T__T it's such a fun, exciting, rewarding motorsport to follow, and i sincerely hope you'll give it a try! if anything, you'll at least know who i'm talking about when i livetweet races.....
THANK YOU FOR READING ;A; if you have any questions, please leave them below and i'll try to answer them<3 CHEERS EVERYONE!
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Date: 2020-12-10 02:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2020-12-15 11:26 am (UTC)