Winning any championship isn’t easy, so to win three in a row is a remarkable feat. That is what Oscar Piastri did in 2021, by adding the FIA Formula 2 title to his 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup and 2020 FIA Formula 3 triumphs.
He also emulated both George Russell and Charles Leclerc by becoming F2 champion in his rookie season. What made his success even more impressive is that it was his most dominant performance in single-seaters so far. His F3 title was based around consistency but, on making the step up to F2 with Prema, he added some blistering speed to his armoury – making him almost untouchable later in the year. It suggests that Piastri is capable of performing on the biggest stage in Formula 1 – when he gets the chance.
Consistent start lays foundations for dominant crown
Piastri only qualified outside of the top three once – lining up seventh for the opening feature race in Bahrain. By the time the race started, he had already bagged his maiden win after a three-way battle on the final lap of the second sprint race. But he retired from the feature race after a collision with Carlin’s Dan Ticktum.
It proved to be a rare slip-up for the Australian, who finished on the podium in every feature race thereafter. He scored two second place finishes during a solid weekend in Monaco. And he bounced back from being taken out of the first sprint race in Baku to finish second again in the feature race.
Silverstone was the scene of Piastri’s maiden pole, and it is also where the title momentum started to shift in his favour. He finished in the top six in all three races, enabling him to take the championship lead for the first time, despite having just one victory to his name at the halfway stage.
It’s an advantage he would not relinquish after finding another level of performance in the second half of the season. He took four poles in each of the final four rounds – converting all of them into feature race victories. And he only missed out on points in the remaining sprint races on two occasions, the second of which came at the Abu Dhabi finale, after he had already clinched the title.
In his own words, Piastri is likely to be “champion of sitting on the couch” in 2022 as Alpine’s official F1 reserve driver. If he isn’t promoted to a race seat for 2023, then there is sure to be interest from elsewhere on the grid.
Zhou does enough to secure F1 promotion
In his third season of F2, Guanyu Zhou finally delivered on the promise he displayed in his previous two campaigns. Needing to deliver in 2021, Zhou made a strong start by winning the feature race from pole at the season-opener. He made it two wins in a row by leading home a Virtuosi one-two in the first sprint race at Monte Carlo, but was hampered by a bad tyre call in wet conditions in the second race.
His early points lead evaporated after that, with the next two rounds summing up the Chinese driver’s season. A podium in the first sprint race in Baku was followed by a race-ending mistake at the first corner in the second encounter. And a commanding victory in the Silverstone feature race was slightly dampened by an opening-lap spin the day before which effectively cost him the chance to score any points in both sprint races.
Zhou found more consistency in the second half of the season, scoring points in all-but two races. But he was no longer a match for Piastri – in fairness nobody was. He signed off his F2 career with a strong performance in Abu Dhabi, taking his fourth win of the year as well as a second place in the feature race behind Piastri.
It wasn’t enough to prevent him from narrowly missing out on second in the standings. But a strong campaign overall in which he largely dominated team-mate Felipe Drugovich – outqualifying him at seven of the eight rounds – showed that Zhou’s F1 opportunity in 2022 with Alfa Romeo is justified on talent alone.
The other rookies who impressed
Theo Pourchaire was an early contender for best rookie before Piastri stamped his authority on the season. The Frenchman delivered one of the performances of the year around the streets of Monte Carlo by becoming both the youngest F2 polesitter and race winner. Apart from a sprint race triumph at Monza, he wasn’t able to replicate those results again. But, on average, he was the third best qualifier behind Piastri and Zhou. He also consistently outperformed his more experienced – and IndyCar-bound – team-mate Christian Lundgaard at ART. Pourchaire has targeted the title in his second season in 2022, and he will also spend the year testing F1 machinery for Alfa Romeo, whom he has close ties with.
Red Bull junior Liam Lawson also impressed early on in his maiden F2 campaign, which he dovetailed with a title-contending season in DTM. He made his mark immediately by winning the season-opening race in Bahrain and taking third in the feature race. The Kiwi won on-the-road again at Monaco in the second sprint race, only to be disqualified for a technical infringement with his car. A pole followed in Baku, where Hitech proved to be the team to beat, but incidents cost him in the races. His form tailed off in remaining rounds, only visiting the podium once, but there was little to choose between him and team-mate Juri Vips across the year.
The potential title contenders who fell short
Robert Shwartzman was many people’s favourite for the title in 2021 after an impressive rookie campaign. The Ferrari junior again showed occasional star-quality in his second season, such as his front-row qualifying effort at Monaco and his sprint-race wins at Baku and Silverstone. But, he also retained his qualifying weakness for the most part, which left him too much to do in the feature races. Only a late-season resurgence enabled him to snatch second in the standings behind Prema team-mate Piastri, who mostly had the upper hand. He will be an official F1 test driver for Ferrari in 2022.
A switch to Carlin for his sophomore season gave hope of a title challenge for Dan Ticktum. The Briton had a solid campaign overall, getting the better of team-mate Jehan Daruvala more often than not. He took two wins and seven podiums en-route to fourth in the championship. But, too many collisions during the year – even if not all were his fault – were costly. His form slightly dipped towards the end of the season, after his departure from his role with the Williams team effectively ended his F1 hopes. But Ticktum secured his motorsport future by signing for the NIO 333 team in Formula E for 2022.
A stunning double victory in Baku propelled Red Bull junior Juri Vips into early title contention. Despite another podium finish at the next round at Silverstone, the Estonian’s one-lap pace fell away slightly for the remainder of the year, qualifying no better than eighth. Four non-finishes in the second half of the season, three of which came in the feature races, resulted in him slipping to sixth in the standings.
Other highlights
Jehan Daruvala won twice in his second season at Carlin, but wasn’t consistent enough to finish higher than seventh in the championship. Marcus Armstrong showed signs of improvement after switching to DAMS for his second campaign, but he couldn’t produce his best form often enough. The Kiwi took a maiden win in Jeddah, but he could have taken two further sprint race triumphs. A car issue denied him a pole start in Monaco, and he broke down from the lead in Abu Dhabi.
Richard Verschoor impressed during a race-by-race deal with MP Motorsport, taking a maiden victory at Silverstone after some consistent early-season form. F2 veteran Ralph Boschung returned for a fifth campaign, and was one of the stars of the midfield runners at Campos. He scored his first-ever podium in the Jeddah feature race, and took another in the second sprint race in Abu Dhabi.
Felipe Drugovich and Christian Lundgaard entered their second seasons as potential title contenders. But both failed to win races during difficult campaigns.
Images credit: @formula2 official twitter
