Photo: Maserati

Formula 2 race-winner Jehan Daruvala will race in Formula E next year for the Maserati team.

The 24-year-old Indian will be switching team allegiances since this year he was Mahindra’s reserve driver and was called up by them for FE’s rookie test in Berlin and for the rookie free practice session at the Rome E-Prix. He previously spent three years as a Red Bull Junior Team member.

Daruvala has been racing in F2 since 2020, spending his first two seasons with Rodin Carlin and picking up three wins, adding another win last year with Prema and then joining MP Motorsport for 2023. He is currently 12th in the standings with three podiums, and can finish no higher than 10th in the points table. He came seventh in 2021 and ’22.

“FE is a championship that I have admired for a long time, and after taking part in two test sessions, I’m very happy to have the opportunity to step up to a full-time race seat,” said Daruvala.

“From my experiences so far, the Gen3 car is completely unique to drive, but I’ve found it to be a very rewarding experience. I would like to thank James and Maserati MSG Racing for giving me this chance and I can’t wait to learn more about the car and get to know the team better in pre-season testing, before hitting the ground running in Mexico City in January.”

Reigning F2 champion Felipe Drugovich had been one of several drivers considered by Maserati for next season, having done the rookie test and practice session with them earlier this year, and the Aston Martin and McLaren Formula 1 reserve driver is reported to have recently been courted by other teams in F1 and IndyCar.

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Photo: Maserati

Reigning Formula 2 champion Felipe Drugovich leads the junior single-seater racers and graduates called up to participate in Formula E’s rookie free practice session at this weekend’s Rome E-Prix.

Drugovich is currently serving as Aston Martin and McLaren’s reserve driver in Formula 1, and in April drove for the Monaco-based Maserati team (which previously competed as Venturi) in FE’s rookie test in Berlin where he topped the times.

In Rome there will be an additional practice session to be contested by ‘rookie’ drivers under the same eligibility criteria as the series’ rookie tests.

As Drugovich is yet to race in FE it means he is able to take part, and it provides Maserati a further opportunity to assess the 23-year-old in the car while it considers its driver line-up for next season.

“My first experience of FE in Berlin was very positive, and I found the Maserati Tipo Folgore very fun and rewarding to drive,” said Drugovich.

“The series is unique in comparison to any other single-seater category, and after discovering the nuances of the Gen3 car earlier this year, I’m excited to continue my own development as a driver in Rome.

“Representing such an iconic Italian brand in the heart of its capital city will be a very special experience, and I would like to thank the team for their continued support. I can’t wait.”

In the announcement of his Rome outing, Maserati said Drugovich “collected data that was vital to the Monegasque marque’s recent return to form” in his Berlin test. The team had scored 29 points in first eight races of the season, and in the four races since the Berlin test has scored 66 points including taking two poles, a victory and two other podiums.

“Felipe really impressed us in Berlin, and after showing strong technical understanding and awareness – despite having never driven a FE car before – he was our natural first choice for Rome,” said Maserati’s team principal James Rossiter.

“Nurturing the next generation of talent is a key part of who we are as a team, and to provide this opportunity to Felipe, who is one of motorsport’s most promising young drivers, is very meaningful to us. We can’t wait for him to gain more experience behind the wheel.”

Andretti Autosport will run Red Bull junior Zane Maloney in Rome practice, having also called up the F2 racer for the Berlin test. Maloney is currently ninth in the standings in his rookie F2 season, with three feature race podiums.

Mahindra meanwhile has called up its reserve driver Jehan Daruvala, another to have contested the Berlin test. He is 11th in the F2 standings right now in his fourth year in the series.

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Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Jehan Daruvala benefited from others’ mistakes to reach the podium in the Formula 2 feature race in Jeddah, but he was close to becoming a victim of the circuit’s walls.

The MP Motorsport driver finished third in both races last weekend and is now fifth in the standings, having recovered from a difficult feature race at the Bahrain season opener.

“Yesterday I would say I was disappointed that I didn’t win, but today I’m happy to be third,” Daruvala stated after the Jeddah feature race.

“I didn’t quite have the same pace I had yesterday, and I just stayed out of trouble, picked up the mistakes from the other guys. It feels good to be back in the front this weekend.

In spite of having “stayed out of trouble”, Daruvala admitted to have had a couple of close calls during the race.

“The car was still good, towards the end of the stint especially it was very good. But I had two warnings, I hit the wall twice, so then I said I’ll just settle for the podium. It was getting close. It was one of the things where you hit the wall and you look at the steering wheel, in my mind it’s bent, but it was still kind of straight.

“I didn’t have the race-winning pace of Frederik [Vesti], but maybe I could have come second if I did a better job myself. The car was good, no complaints, two podiums in two days and three podiums in a row in Jeddah. So obviously this track works quite well for me, and hopefully we can take this on into Melbourne.”

With Formula 1 “a distant dream away now”, the Indian also spoke about the mentality with which he is approaching his fourth full F2 season while also acting as Mahindra’s reserve driver in Formula E.

“The championship is really, really long. So it is there in the back of my mind, but I just want to win races, be fighting at the front. Clearly yesterday I wasn’t thinking too much about the championship, I just wanted to win the race.

“I think that’s going to be my mindset for most of the year. The more you win, the more points you score.

“I guess sometimes you have to be careful with the risk and reward, but from what I see from all the drivers, we’re all just going for it. That’s how it should be, and the championship’s really, really long.”

He then added: “I need to win a lot, keep doing well, and hopefully good results here and there and I can at least secure my future in FE next year. That’s still the target to get a race seat there. But yeah, I only came back this year to win. I joined the team that won the championship, so no regrets. I’m here to win, and it’s that simple.”

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Photo: Dutch Photo Agency

Jehan Daruvala fought for victory in Formula 2’s Jeddah sprint race and eventually finished third. However, he had no regrets about how his race turned out.

The MP Motorsport driver appreciated his pace turnaround since the Bahrain season opener, but felt he had enough speed on Saturday to win.

“It’s a bunch of mixed emotions,” he said. “I would definitely say I was disappointed I didn’t win because the car was very good and I had a lot of pace today. But coming from Bahrain, if someone told me I would have this much pace in Jeddah in the race, I would definitely take it.

“Being on the podium, I’m disappointed but also not disappointed because I took a lot of risk to win. Ayumu [Iwasa, the winner] was really good in the last sector, and I wanted to stay close. The only chance to attack him was turn one. I was taking a lot of risks in turn 22, and that’s when I made a mistake and Victor [Martins] got close and I lost the position.

“I have no regrets, I tried to win the race and in the end it didn’t pay off.”

Daruvala was asked post-race about his lack of pace at Bahrain, where he finished 17th in the feature race, and admitted he is clueless to the reasons behind his struggles.

“Honestly, I don’t have an answer,” he said. “I’ve always been fast in Bahrain. It’s probably been my best track in record, and the feature race two weeks ago I was pretty much last. I went backwards the whole race, and I still don’t have an explanation. It was good to bounce back like this.

“Apart from Victor yesterday, who was in another league in qualifying, I had the pace to be on the front row, and today I had good pace, probably similar to Victor’s. All-in-all I’m happy, and I think I can even fight for the win tomorrow in the feature race.”

He told Formula Scout that “after round one I was not mentally in the best place last week, and we had a lot of motivation, worked hard on the simulator and we’ve come back strong this weekend”.

Daruvala is determined to use the ups and downs of his Jeddah sprint race to improve for Sunday’s feature race.

“If I could do anything better, putting myself in a better position to overtake the cars. I was in an aggressive mindframe, which was good, but that couldn’t quite win the race. I’m disappointed because I felt like we had a lot of pace, and could have won.

“I will definitely look back at the race and learn as much as I can. Tomorrow is going to be hotter, there’s going to be supersoft tyres, which is going to have some degradation.”

He added: “I expect it a difficult and physical race, more than a race of tyre degradation. I think we will be pushing from start to end, and it should be pretty entertaining.”

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Photos: Formula Motorsport Ltd

No more McLaren and no more Red Bull for Jehan Daruvala in 2023, as he starts to look for a future away from F1 while continuing to race in F2. He explained what has influenced his approach to this year

Last season “didn’t really go to plan” for Jehan Daruvala, but it was not a year lost for the Indian who was then in his third Formula 2 campaign. He claimed his first feature race win, conducting several private Formula 1 tests with McLaren and was part of the Red Bull Junior Team. A few days after the F2 finale, Mahindra announced him as its Formula E reserve driver.

But the negatives outweighed the positives, ultimately leading to him leaving Red Bull for 2023, and it meant he had to start thinking more creatively through the year about how to continue his racing career. Without F2 success, options were limited.

“I kind of had to look for options outside of F1, and FE was kind of the best one for me,” Daruvala said to media at last weekend’s F2 season opener.

“And with Mahindra being an Indian team, me being an Indian driver, I think it was the best suited combination. So it worked well for both of us. A reserve driver is one thing, I want to be in the real seat soon. I still have to do well in F2. It’s not a given, I have to be fighting for the championship here and earn my seat wherever I go.”

F2 has 14 rounds this year, and two of those clash with FE. That leaves seven e-prix where he will be available to Mahindra, but his duties with the team won’t just be trackside.

“I also have to be at Mahindra, do correlations, do simulator [work[, and also be at quite a few of the FE events. It’s going to be a busy year for me, but it’s busy in a good way and hopefully my season does go well and I can be racing in FE next year.”

Mahindra, like Red Bull before it, is expecting “quite a lot from” Daruvala in terms of results.

“I’m going to only get that seat on my head and not because I’m Indian, so I need to be fighting at the front winning races. I mean F1 is still not impossible, I would say, I need to definitely win a championship and then see how it goes.”

Staying in F2 for a fourth year initially was not the plan for Daruvala, and it was not until late January that he was actually confirmed as joining reigning champion team MP Motorsport, possibly the best move for realising his title-winning goal.

“I think it was a pretty hard decision midway through last year when things wasn’t going to plan, I pretty much had enough [of F2]. I didn’t want to do it, continue doing it.

“But I think my future lies mainly in FE, and either going to America or to Japan for one season would not really make a lot of sense. And also doing nothing for a year wouldn’t really make a lot of sense either. So I had the opportunity to be back in F2 with MP. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t in a top team.”

Daruvala reckons his 2023 plans came into place “at a similar time” last year, although comments he made at the end of 2022 and the late announcement of his MP deal left many wondering whether he would stay in the series.

“Actually, even with MP, it was like done, not kind of done, it was like I wasn’t sure myself if I was going to be here or not. So I’m glad it all went through in the end. I would say maybe two or three weeks before [the F2 finale in] Abu Dhabi I knew that I would be with MP, and probably a similar time for Mahindra.”

The 24-year-old was with top teams in previous F2 campaigns, starting with two seasons driving for Rodin Carlin. In his second year he won two sprint races and was seventh in the points, an end result he matched with reigning champion team Prema in 2022. The lack of improvement on the previous year, and a failure to qualify on the front row, did not look good.

“I think qualifying and speed-wise, I’ll probably say my first year [in F2] was the best in quali,” Daruvala admitted.

Photo: Red Bull

“Last year, sadly we just weren’t quick enough with the package that we had. Even the feature race that I won in Monza, we were good that weekend. There was also a little bit of luck on my side, but I feel like last year was the best I drove in my three seasons of F2 and I still didn’t get the result that we wanted. Hopefully I just have a package that can help me show the world what I can do, and I believe that I can be the best and fight at the front of the championship.”

Despite his disillusionment with F2, Daruvala “wanted to stay in single-seaters” for 2023, and explained why the alternative options to F2 weren’t worthwhile.

“There’s FE, IndyCar and Super Formula [at the top level]. I think also I want to be more racing in Europe. I’m used to the environment in Europe. I know a lot of the people, a lot of the people know me. If I went to America or Japan, it would all be new to me.

“Apart from that, I think FE has got a high level of teams, high level of manufacturers and also the drivers that are super high level. So I want to be racing with the best drivers in the world, and I think FE would have that. So it’s a suitable option for me and definitely a profession that I think will suit me well.”

Formula Scout asked Daruvala if the change in his mindset late in 2022 to look towards FE rather than F1 was what led to his Red Bull exit, given the brand does not race in the series.

“No, my exit from Red Bull was not related to that,” he replied. “Some relationships come to an end, and that one did.

“Obviously they didn’t see me in their F1 seat this year, and didn’t really give me any options to be a reserve. So it didn’t really make sense for me to continue in the academy. Obviously they still have a huge amount of drivers in F2. It was three good years for me to be part of them, but sometimes, like I said, things do come to an end. Hopefully I can make them regret that decision at the end of this year and beat all the juniors that are in F2.”

Photo: Nick Dungan

He also confirmed that there will be no continuation of the McLaren tests, despite the end of his Red Bull junior status removing a conflict in interest that testing for a rival previously had.

Daruvala’s car racing career

The post How a fourth year in F2 became key to Daruvala’s new career plan appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Red Bull Content Pool

Predicting the pecking order in Formula 2 is about much more than simply ranking the talent on show. These are the drivers the Formula Scout team thinks will be in the mix

As the popularity of Formula 1 grows, so too does the spotlight on the young drivers in Formula 2: each of them targeting a standout season that would allow them to achieve their goal of racing in the premier series. Twelve of the 22 drivers are official junior drivers of F1 teams, with the colours of Red Bull, Alpine, Williams and Alfa Romeo Sauber all represented in this year’s liveries.

As well as a host of returning race-winners, a number of rookies step up from Formula 3 – many of whom are still in their teens. Will one of these talented newcomers be able to adapt to the championship’s demands and repeat Oscar Piastri’s feat of winning the title at the first attempt? Or will Felipe Drugovich’s successor as champion be another driver who uses their experience to make good on their potential?

Contributions from Alejandro Alonso (AA), Bethonie Waring (BW), Ida Wood (IW), Peter Allen (PA), Roger Gascoigne (RG).

10. Zane Maloney Carlin
Test pace 17th (100.934%)   long run 16th (101.036%)  2022: 26th in F2, 2nd in FIA F3

BW (1st): Underestimate Zane Maloney at your peril. He has been one of the most continually surprising drivers over the last couple of years. His end to the Formula 3 season was incredible and he will surely be entering 2023 on a high. It may be a bit much to ask for him to repeat the last four rounds of the F3 championship throughout the year but that level of performance could earn him his first single seater title since British Formula 4 – coincidentally enough, a title he took with Carlin. Maloney is an incredible driver and Carlin is a very capable team. Expect good things. 

AA (7th): Testing data isn’t backing Maloney at the moment, but his previous results do. The newly Red Bull junior joined Carlin —the team he won the 2019 British F4 championship with— for his maiden season in F2, and that must be already a boost. The Barbadian ended the 2022 season on a high despite not claiming the FIA F3 title. However, he must have learned from the mistakes made if he wants to shine in Formua 1’s main support category. Carlin has always been competitive in the series, so he should have several opportunities to showcase his talent.

9. Isack Hadjar Hitech GP
Test pace 13th (100.686%)   long run 10th (100.609%)   2022: 4th in FIA F3, 3rd in FRegional Asian Championship

RG (7th): Hadjar was one of the surprises of 2022, despite losing out on the F3 championship with an error at Monza. His charging style has obviously enamoured him with Dr Marko at Red Bull. Hadjar does not lack confidence, although he can be very harsh on himself, and will, I am sure, not be looking at 2023 as a learning year. Hitech is a proven winner in F2 and, on his day, Hadjar can be simply unstoppable. A win or two would not be a surprise but a lack of consistency may prevent a championship challenge.

AA (10th): Even though he hasn’t won a title in his car racing career yet, Hadjar is undisputedly one of the most promising talents in the junior single-seater scene nowadays. His lack of experience could play against him in what is such a tough series. Notwithstanding, if Hitech performs at the same level it did last year, the Red Bull junior shouldn’t have much trouble stepping on the podium from time to time. A top-10 result in the standings would be a reasonable outcome in preparation for a title attack in his second season.

8. Jehan Daruvala MP Motorsport
Test pace 12th (100.613%)   long run 18th (101.115%)   2022: 7th in F2

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

BW (5th):Daruvala is my wild card of the season. It’s his fourth year in the championship and the pressure is on to perform. Being with the reigning champions should be promising for Daruvala, and he’ll be a good benchmark for Dennis Hauger to compare himself with in their second year as team-mates. He has had some stand out moments throughout the past couple of seasons, and if he can get that consistency under control, he should be inside the top 10 by the end of the year.

RG (9th): Returning for a fourth, and surely final, season in F2, Daruvala moves to the champion team, MP Motorsport, as indeed he did, with ultimately disappointing results, for 2022. While he has been a consistent frontrunner, a solitary feature race win in three years is a poor return and has in effect cost him Red Bull backing for this campaign. Nevertheless, experience counts in F2 and with many drivers moving on, to be replaced by a cohort of rapid rookies, Daruvala should be a regular points scorer, although a title challenge looks improbable.

7. Victor Martins ART Grand Prix
Test pace 2nd (100.008%)   long run 2nd (100.052%)   2022: FIA F3 champion

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

AA (6th): The reigning FIA F3 champion is debuting in F2 alongside Theo Pourchaire, who is the toughest team-mate one could have. However, Martins is fast, knows the team well, and is incredibly mature according to his team boss Sebastien Philippe. Thus, performances and results similar to those delivered by his team-mate in his first year in the category are on the cards for the Alpine junior. The big gap between both ART GP drivers in previous campaigns is the only reason not to think he could finish the season higher up in the order. Perhaps he is the driver capable of turning that around.

IW (9th): Despite looking super impressive in testing, I can’t see both ART GP drivers then being at the front during this season. That’s not a reflection of a gulf in talent or F2 experience between Martins and Pourchaire, but simply an assessment based off the team’s form in this championship. Martins is also a driver who tends to get the most out of a situation when he does not have the fastest car (once he’s got used to it), but is not always the outright fastest when he does have the best equipment on the grid. I’m expecting a lot of points finishes but not a high position in the championship standings.

6. Frederik Vesti Prema
Test pace 18th (100.939%)   long run 3rd (100.081%)    2022: 9th in F2

Photo: Prema

AA (3rd): Frederik Vesti could well be the underdog in the 2023 F2 title fight. The Mercedes-AMG junior returns to Prema after two seasons with ART GP, where neither the expectations were matched nor the goals achieved. The Dane, who is a methodical worker, has a great chance to put his name on the radar for the future, and to do so he will need to bring Prema back to winning ways after a complicated 2022 season and beat his young but rapid team-mate Ollie Bearman. Not being among the most-hyped title favourites might help him to do so by allowing him to focusing on extracting the maximum out of his package.

PA (5th): Vesti remains an interesting prospect given the ongoing faith of the Mercedes F1 team, and he’ll hope that returning to Prema will allow him to get the best from himself. After all, his seasons with the Italian team in Formula Regional and then F3 remain the most impressive of his career so far. His growing experience should be valuable in helping Prema overcome whatever held it back last year, but he might need to use all of it to establish himself over his highly-rated rookie team-mate early on.

5. Ayumu Iwasa DAMS
Test pace 8th (100.467%)   long run 12th (100.672%)    2022: 5th in F2

PA (4th): Iwasa was the surprise package of 2022, and you wouldn’t have blamed Red Bull and Honda for moving him to one of F2’s more fancied frontrunners for this year. But it’s easy to forget that DAMS were absolutely one of the top teams not so long ago, and there didn’t seem much wrong with its car last year, with its tyre warm-up issues seemingly solved. The French F4 graduate also seems very much at home in Le Mans, and the biggest question mark might be how he handles being a favourite rather than an underdog.

AA (4th): Iwasa and DAMS are among those bringing a successful collaboration from 2022 into 2023. The tandem was perhaps the biggest surprise of the last F2 season as both team and driver came from discrete 2021 campaigns. Indeed, DAMS drivers had struggled to put temperature in the tyres for a couple of seasons, but it all changed with the new synergies created within the team after the Japanese arrived and former F1 driver Charles Pic took over the French squad. The very last step is always the most difficult one. Therefore, a top-three finish in the championship is unlikely, but they should be right behind ready to capitalise on others’ mistakes and misfortunes.

4. Ollie Bearman Prema
Test pace 10th (100.490%)   long run 9th (100.583%)   2022: 3rd in FIA F3, 15th in FRAC

Photo: Rudy Carezzevoli / Formula Motorsport Ltd

RG (2nd): Having come within a couple of laps of snatching the F3 title as a rookie in 2022, Bearman’s palpable disappointment clearly demonstrated his ambition. After just a season under Ferrari’s wings, he is already Maranello’s best hope in the junior ranks. If he can eliminate some of the early season errors that cost him in F3, he will get stronger as the year progresses and should be in contention for the title at the end of the year. And while Prema suffered a poor year by its high standards in 2022, it rarely stays in the doldrums for long.

BW (2nd): Bearman is one of the most exciting drivers on the junior ladder at the moment. Finishing third in his rookie F3 season, with F4 his main experience, was an incredible accomplishment and I expect to see great things in his debut F2 season also. Prema knows how to put on a winning performance and should never been underestimated. The pairing of Prema and Bearman promises to be almost unstoppable and if he can shake off the few problems he had last season we should see him towards the top of the order. 

3. Dennis Hauger MP Motorsport
Test pace 4th (100.233%)   long run 20th (101.305%)   2022: 10th in F2

PA (2nd): Hauger was champion in his second year of F4 and in his second year in F3, and I don’t see too many reasons why he can’t do the same in F2. He has a slightly bigger step forward to make than others who were more frequent frontrunners last year, but he hardly looked out of his depth as a rookie and he’s now jumping into last year’s dominant package at MP Motorsport. In theory he had a similar position at Prema, but it’s his strong record of second-year improvement – not unlike his good friend Mick Schumacher – that is most encouraging here.

IW (3rd): As mentioned above, 2023 could be another example of title-fighting brilliance from Dennis ‘second year’ Hauger. He’s already got two F2 wins to his name from his rookie season, and he almost made it three wins from his first 12 races. The end to his 2022 campaign was particularly strong, and moving to the reigning champion team should enable him to build on that. But testing was inconclusive from the outside, and Hauger has been known to get lost at times so if this season has as much woe as wins then it will be difficult to maintain a title challenge.

2. Jack Doohan Virtuosi Racing
Test pace 7th (100.375%)   long run 8th (100.540%)   2022: 6th in F2

Photo: Alpine F1 Team

AA (1st): The combination of Doohan and Virtuosi Racing proved to be extremely fast and competitive in the Australian’s first full season in the series. If they are able to build on 2022 and learned from the mistakes made, they are definitely going to be in the mix and Doohan will potentially emerge as champion. Winning could be a must for the recently named Alpine F1 team reserve driver if he wants to be in Formula 1 in 2024 given the lack of seats available and the brand’s reluctance to strongly bet on their own juniors in previous years.

IW (2nd): Doohan grew massively as a driver last year, both on and off the track, and he was second only to the dominating Felipe Drugovich on one-lap pace. But from high qualifying positions he scored surprisingly few feature race points, averaging five per race across the final five rounds. If he continues to be one of the top qualifiers, avoids the bad luck that hit him at times last year and also – with Virtuosi – improves his race competitivity at some tracks then Doohan will probably be the biggest challenger to Pourchaire for the title. I can anticipate him starting the year strongly with several poles and several podiums.

BW (9th): Perhaps a little harsh on Doohan after what was a solid year in his rookie season, but he didn’t stand out much last year and I would expect more of the same this year. It’s another case of there being a lot of talent in the championship this year, and you will need something special to finish high in the championship standings. But Virtuosi will be hoping to make a comeback this year, after a disappointing 2023, and it will fall to Doohan to lead that charge. 

1. Theo Pourchaire ART Grand Prix
Test pace 3rd (100.024%)   long run 1st (100%)   2022: 2nd in F2

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

PA (1st): The only way Pourchaire can really gain from a third year in F2 with the same team is to firstly return as an obviously stronger version of the driver who stuttered last year, and secondly claim the title in a convincing fashion. Reading too much into a single Bahrain test can be dangerous – see Liam Lawson last year – but it was certainly promising. Resolving whatever has held him back in qualifying would help, but the Pourchaire-ART GP alliance ought to become ever more potent in race trim with all the mileage they now have together.

AA (2nd): Pourchaire needs the 2023 season to be a third time lucky. After brilliant maiden F2 season, his sophomore campaign was full of misfortunes, reliability issues and driving mistakes. Nevertheless, he was still capable of finishing runner-up with three feature race victories to his name. Returning for a third season together, the Frenchman and ART Grand Prix showed dominant pace in Bahrain’s pre-season testing. That might not be a guarantee of success, as we have learned in the past, but it is a solid starting point. The pressure and expectations generated —especially now he has become Alfa Romeo’s F1 reserve driver— may be his biggest enemy considering he already struggled to deal with them in 2022.

BW (3rd): Pourchaire was one of the favourites for the past two years, but has been unable to deliver on that. 2022 should have been his season, and for him to finish so far behind Drugovich has got to be frustrating for him. There will be a lot of pressure on Porchaire this year: when you finish second in a championship and comeback the next year, there’s only one way to go. He will also be up against some of the most talented young drivers we have seen in a long time. It will be hard for Pourchaire to match expectations. 

The post Formula Scout predicts the 2023 Formula 2 season appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Mahindra’s Formula E reserve driver Jehan Daruvala has decided to stay in Formula 2 for a fourth season, and will race for MP Motorsport.

The 24-year-old has won three sprint races and one feature race over his first three years in the championship, and came seventh in each of the past two seasons. He spent his first two years in F2 with Carlin, then drove for Prema in 2022.

Daruvala joined MP for last year’s post-season test at Yas Marina Circuit, and was second fastest on the second morning of testing. He follows his Prema team-mate Dennis Hauger to MP, although the pair will not both have Red Bull-liveried cars now as Daruvala has left the Red Bull Junior Team for 2023.

“I’m really pleased to be back in F2, and to be able to team up with MP Motorsport makes it extra special,” said Daruvala.

“Last year, I was stunned by MP’s remarkably consistent front-running pace, and in 2023 I hope to be the beneficiary of that myself. Together with Dennis, I’m confident that our combined experience and speed will contribute to MP fighting for wins once again.

“I really enjoyed working with the team in the post-season test and look forward to 2023 testing and the season that lies ahead.”

MP had a stunning 2022, with a spree of technical hires from Prema over the last few years culminating in double title success in F2 and improved form in Formula 3.

“We are delighted to welcome Jehan to our F2 team,” said MP’s team principal Sander Dorsman.

“He has been a consistent frontrunner right from his debut in the category, taking wins in every F2 season he has competed in. His experience will be of great value to the team, so we are very much aiming for a repeat of last year’s form. Also, matching him up with Dennis will allow us to build on a smooth co-operation between team-mates who already know each other well. With such a strong driver pairing for 2023, I can’t wait to go racing.”

Highlights of Daruvala’s career below F2 include wins in Formula Renault 2.0, the Toyota Racing Series, Formula Regional Asia and the FIA’s European F3 and current Formula 1-supporting F3 championship.

The post Daruvala heads to MP Motorsport for fourth year in F2 appeared first on Formula Scout.

30. Jehan Daruvala

Up 5 • Monza feature race win the highlight after Prema F2 move

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Jehan Daruvala has been a consistent pedaller throughout his Formula 2 career, and 2022 was no different despite a switch to the Prema team that has been so strong over the last six years.

The team seemed to go off the boil slightly this year compared to its all-conquering form with Oscar Piastri in 2021, but Daruvala remained a persistent podium threat throughout much of the season. That continuous high-level performance in this incredibly strong championship is why he has been a mainstay of the top 50 in recent years.

However, his peaks have not been particularly outstanding, and have been too far and too irregular for him to warrant moving up the order.

He did, at least, take a superb first feature race win at Monza – the only real strong weekend of a very challenging second half of the year where he was clearly outshone by rookie team-mate Dennis Hauger and some other names who made good strides in the second half of the season.

29. Juri Vips

Down 17 • Early speed overshadowed by mistakes on and off track

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

For a driver who had already come very close to a Formula 1 seat in the past, 2022 was only really a disappointment on and off the track for Vips despite him having the opportunity to make his F1 free practice debut as Red Bull’s reserve driver.

Three weeks after his F1 run at Barcelona he took his second Formula 2 pole of the year in Baku, but two days later crashed out of the lead of the feature race after being put under pressure by Hauger. A week on from that, he was suspended by Red Bull due to a racial slur on an online stream.

Red Bull terminated his reserve driver contract and dropped him from its junior team, and the F2 organisers chose to publicly question Hitech GP’s decision to keep Vips on for the rest of the season. Having effectively blown his chances of becoming an F1 driver off-track, he then needed to do more on it in F2 to earn the backing to stay in the series for 2023.

Vips finished second and first respectively in the Hungaroring and Monza sprint races, but only got one top-five result in a feature race after his sacking and sank to 11th in the standings. It’s hard to see where he goes from here.

28. Hunter McElrea

New entry • Scored back-to-back wins as Indy Lights rookie of the year

Photo: Chris Owens

Photo: Joe Skibinski

Perhaps often overlooked when talking about rising Road to Indy stars in recent years is Hunter McElrea, but he firmly put himself on the radar in 2022 with an impressive run in Indy Lights.

McElrea was always running towards the front in both USF2000 and Indy Pro 2000 with Pabst Racing over the previous three years, and for his move up to Lights the Australian Formula Ford champ switched to Andretti Autosport as part of its strong line-up for this season.

However the form of HMD Motorsports, and in particular Linus Lundqvist, meant that it was always likely an uphill fight this year. To boot, McElrea’s season couldn’t really have got off to a worse start.

Crashes at St. Petersburg (from a debut pole) and Barber (with team-mate Matthew Brabham) left McElrea over an entire race win behind Lundqvist after just two races. Former Indy Pro rivals Sting Ray Robb and Christian Rasmussen – also Andretti team-mates – were picking up some solid scores in the early part of the season.

The main high points came at Mid-Ohio and on the oval at Iowa – winning both from pole – but he slipped down the order slightly as Robb and Brabham overhauled him in the standings in the final few races. Despite that, he held on to clinch Rookie of the Year honours and the Los Angeles-born, Australian-raised New Zealander sticks with Andretti for 2023 as he goes for a full-on title assault.

27. Luke Browning

Re-entry • Added GB3 title to growing resume

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

Photo: Jakob Ebrey Photography

There was a weekend in 2021 which offered a glimpse of what Luke Browning could produce in GB3 – where he finished second on the road on debut at Oulton Park only to be disqualified, and he won his second race in the championship in a strange set of circumstances.

After a rather challenging year in ADAC F4, Browning returned to the UK to race in GB3 full-time in 2022 with Hitech GP. Again at his local circuit Oulton Park, Browning brilliantly won the two ‘main’ races of the weekend to assert himself as a major championship threat early on.

Aside from a scrappy second Silverstone weekend – where he had to recover from being excluded from qualifying on a technicality, Browning took at least a second position in each of the eight rounds this year, and added a fine double win at Spa to his season-starting double victory at Oulton Park.

It was the ‘main’ races where Browning set up much of his title push, but he also proved to be effective in the reversed grid races too – 15 places gained at Silverstone, nine at Donington’s finale and seven each at Brands Hatch and Donington’s first round showcase Browning’s racecraft that he displayed so effectively in British Formula 4 a few years ago.

Browning was pressed hard by Joel Granfors but kept his cool and was able to come through to take a second title on British soil in three years. He went on to win the Aston Martin Autosport BRDC Award as further confirmation of his ability, but his next step is unclear.

26. Oliver Goethe

New entry • Surprise package dominated Euroformula and starred in F3 cameo

Photo: Fotospeedy

Photo: Fotospeedy

Nobody would have expected Goethe to be Euroformula champion. He had a best finish of ninth from 33 FRegional races, and won one Spanish F4 race before that, but he came alive in the Dallara 320 and won 11 races with the dominant Motopark.

If not for a bad start he likely would have won the Pau Grand Prix, and still came third thanks to an incredible overtake on the twisty street circuit, and he won all three races at Spa-Francorchamps.

He also claimed seven pole positions and 12 fastest laps, despite a frequent habit of exceeding track limits, and seven times when he wasn’t starting at the front he made up more places in a race than anyone else. Four of those instances resulted in wins.

While his racecraft could be excellent, it could sometimes also be a little too agressive, and he arguably should have wrapped up the title before the final round but only two of his wins came in the last 11 races.

Another demonstration of Goethe’s remarkbly improved form was in FIA Formula 3. He was Campos Racing’s fastest driver in his first qualifying session, turned reversed-grid pole into points on debut, then qualified fourth for his second round. After a big sprint race crash with Zane Maloney, he ended his F3 stint with fourth place in the feature race. Next year he will race in F3 with Trident.

25. Frederik Vesti

Down 7 • Rookie F2 campaign had its highs and lows

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

For the first couple of race weekends in 2022, Vesti looked all at sea in F2. The pace was not there and mistakes were too frequent.

Towards the end of the season, however, he was able to fight with the best of them and in ART Grand Prix equipment that was not as strong as several teams on the grid.

Vesti’s a calm head, and he was able to keep himself grounded, not lose focus of things and work with the team to improve the performances on his side of the garage. It’s also pretty apt that he would take his one victory of the year at Baku’s sprint race – which has traditionally become a bit of a crashfest and requires a calm head to get the best result possible.

Similar could be said of Vesti’s best overall weekend of the season, which was at Monza where he nabbed a pair of seconds from what often also tends to be a wild weekend. In addition, he picked up a fine pole at the Red Bull Ring, even if that weekend didn’t particularly go his way overall.

Mercedes continues to show its faith in Vesti, handing him his first F1 test at the end of the year, and in 2023 he will have the chance to reunite with Prema – a team with which he has good memories – for his second F2 season.

24. Dennis Hauger

Down 21 • Shone on his day during challenging first year in F2

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

Photo: Red Bull Content Pool

The 2021 FIA Formula 3 champion did a brilliant job last year to earn his place back into the Red Bull Junior Team, after being ‘demoted’ to just being a RBJT-supported driver, but he may be back in that position in 2023.

It was a tricky rookie F2 campaign for the Norwegian, who would have expected he would be stepping into a title-winning package with Prema. He was continuing with his Formula 4 and F3 engineer Pedro Matos too. But the usually excellent combination could often lack results, and confidence.

Hauger was on course for a win in round two before getting an unusual penalty for entering a closed pitlane in Jeddah, and a breakthrough at the in-season Barcelona test led to victories in the Monaco sprint race and Baku feature race. The latter was noticable for his pressuring of Vips leading to him crashing out.

Yet a month later he was talking of “hopeless” races and feeling “a bit lost”, and scored only once in 10 races. Hauger did make an end-of-season bounceback, finishing five of the last six races in the top four, and moves to MP Motorsport for 2023.

23. Paul Aron

Down 1 • Won more races than anyone in FREC

Photo: FRECA/DPA

Photo: FRECA/DPA

On his day, Aron was simply unstoppable this year. The Mercedes junior took seven poles in FREC, three more than anybody else. At Zandvoort he was simply in a separate class, cruising to two dominant wins. Losing an outside shot at the title and then an almost certain runner-up spot within 24 hours at Mugello was beyond cruel.

Having completely dominated the three previous races at the Tuscan circuit, the magic touch deserted him on the final Sunday. He suffered more niggling mechanical problems than his rivals, but occasional mistakes cost him too, notably an off in qualifying in Monaco which completely wrote off his weekend as his rivals prospered.

A gamble on pitting for clicks in Austria failed to pay off, wasting one of his poles, although his battle with Beganovic for the win at Paul Ricard showed he was able to get his elbows out when needed.

Aron’s hard work through 2021 undoubtedly played a major role in Prema’s revival as the series frontrunners, even if ultimately it was his team-mate that secured the main prize.

True to its philosophy, Mercedes steered him back for a third season at this level rather than pushing him to FIA F3 before it felt he was ready. For 2023 there were no doubts and Aron can be expected to shine as a rookie at the next level.

22. Richard Verschoor

Down 5 • Led Trident back to winning ways in F2

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Having impressed in 2021 on a race-by-race deal with MP, Verschoor moved to Trident for a full F2 campaign in 2022.

His season got off to a flying start with sprint race victory in Bahrain, putting him briefly into the points lead, followed by a feature race second place in Jeddah. However, once F2 went to Europe, he struggled to maintain the form, scoring just 17 more points before the summer break.

He was unfortunate to lose a superb victory on the road at the Red Bull Ring for failing to provide the required fuel sample, having carved through from eighth on the grid to the lead in just eight laps as other more illustrious names floundered on the wrong tyres.

Once the series returned at Spa, he scored points in the run-in each of the remaining eight races including another feature race P2 on home soil at Zandvoort to underline his undoubted potential. He trounced his team-mate, scoring all but five of Trident’s 108 points. A third season in F2, this time with Van Amersfoort Racing, is likely to be his final chance to put it all together over a full season.

21. Zak O’Sullivan

Up 3 • Home pole the highlight of battling FIA F3 campaign

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

It might seem slightly odd to have a driver who only finished 11th in his championship so high up on this list, at least when that driver wasn’t racing in F2, but Zak O’Sullivan dazzled on plenty of occasions in FIA F3 with a team that has traditionally struggled to achieve such highs.

While Carlin remains one of the powerhouses of junior single-seater racing, its performances in FIA F3 have left a lot to be desired. Therefore, when you have a driver taking a pole position, a couple of podiums and some other decent point-scores on merit, it becomes really noteworthy.

Remember, this is the team that had finished in the bottom three of the championship in each year since each year since 2019.

To get ‘in the mix’ in a FIA F3 weekend, you have to be in the top 12. With four or five really, really competitive teams in FIA F3 and three drivers – mostly handy ones – in each, it becomes more and more difficult to be in that crucial top 12. O’Sullivan was so regularly able to achieve this and when he didn’t, he was usually pretty close.

He rarely squandered his chances in the races, scored nearly all of Carlin’s points and was one of the classiest in the field in his first year of racing outside of the UK. A switch to Prema awaits for the Williams junior, where he will almost certainly be among the championship favourites.

The post Formula Scout Top 50 Drivers of 2022: 30-21 appeared first on Formula Scout.

The Red Bull junior recently tested with F2’s reigning champion team MP Motorsport, and looks set to embark on a fourth season in the series in 2023. He has won four of the 74 races he has contested since stepping up into F2 in 2020.

His junior single-seater CV also includes a Formula Renault Northern European Cup win, victory in the 2017 New Zealand Grand Prix, three wins in Formula Regional and four wins in Formula 3. This year he also began a private Formula 1 test programme with McLaren, despite his Red Bull affiliation, and was previously a protege of the Force India F1 team.

“To be a part of an Indian motorsport team is a dream come true,” said Daruvala. “FE is very competitive, and I am really excited about this new chapter of my career.

“Season 9 promises to be very exciting with the all-new Gen 3 car and I am looking forward to learning and contributing, especially to car development and supporting the team. Mahindra Racing’s pioneering efforts in promoting sustainability globally are commendable and I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute.”

The 2023 F2 and FE seasons have three date clashes. F2’s Imola round on May 19-21 is scheduled for the same weekend as the yet-to-be-announced eighth event of the FE season, then the Jakarta E-Prix two weeks later clashes with F2’s races at Barcelona. The season-ending London E-Prix on July 29-30 and F2’s trip to Spa-Francorchamps also run on the same dates.

Mahindra chairperson Asha Kharga said: “We are delighted to welcome Jehan to our team. As a founding member, Mahindra Racing has diligently worked towards promoting FE globally and we are pleased to bring a young, accomplished Indian race driver to this fantastic sport.

“Jehan, with his experience and results across single-seaters, will add a great wealth of knowledge to our development program. With FE’s debut race in India, this is an especially exciting year for us, and we are excited to give the Indian fans a truly global experience.”

The Hyderabad E-Prix, FE’s first ever race in India, will take place on February 11, 2023.

The post Jehan Daruvala joins Mahindra as Formula E reserve driver appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Formula Motorsport Limited

Prema’s Jehan Daruvala took a long-awaited first Formula 2 win of the season at Monza, and was pleased to see last year’s champion team be back on the pace.

Daruvala spent much of the season’s first half occupying third place in the championship standings, with the third-year F2 driver having picked up five podiums in the first 11 races.

However his form curtailed after that – and rookie team-mate Dennis Hauger, twice a winner in the season’s first half, said he began to feel “a bit lost” as the results got worse. After scoring just once in 10 races, Hauger rebounded with a sprint race podium two weeks ago at Zandvoort, and Daruvala followed at Monza with a sprint race podium and his first feature race win.

“It is very satisfying [to finally win],” said Daruvala, who had bemoaned earlier in the year that he had been lacking the final bit of pace in his car to claim victories.

“One thing is winning, but the other thing is having really good pace. We haven’t had that in the last few weekends. So I’m really, really pleased, it was good steps forwards and we’re fighting back where we should be.”

“It was a good race I think overall. On lap one, I got hit from behind in turn four and I damaged my bargeboard. I thought I would have to pit, but luckily for me it flew off and I could continue driving. The race in the beginning was just about going long on the option tyres, but when the safety car arrived it was good timing for me, so I managed to get the free stop.

“We had a really good pitstop and after that it was just about managing, staying out of trouble with the guys who hadn’t pitted, staying in DRS and saving my tyres.”

Daruvala hopes the “good step forward” by Prema continues into the final round in Abu Dhabi, “so hopefully we can finish off the season strong as well”.

Hauger finished ninth with fastest lap in the Monza sprint race and then fourth in the feature race despite a drive-through penalty for not having all four wheels fully attached to the car when the three-minute signal was given on the grid.

“A decent race. The start wasn’t great but there were some collisions out front as well, so I avoided them and got away with it,” he said.

“The drive-through lost a bit on us. Some people pitted and some didn’t and the people we had behind were in the top five, while we were back in P14. That was a bit of a shame, but the recovery we did and the pace we had was pretty good.

“Just struggled a bit in the last couple of laps, but overall, it was a fine recovery and in the end, we maximized the stuff we could on track.”

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