As I sat and watched Logan Sargeant’s Formula 2 title dream possibly slip away from him at Le Castellet, I thought to myself: surely there’s a series just as good. If you’re paying around £2,500,000 a season to compete in the final stepping stone up to Formula 1, you’d at least expect the car to be reliable. 

The problem? In order to compete in Formula 1, the FIA’s squeezing of the junior ladder renders it nearly impossible to enter the pinnacle of motorsport without passing through F2. The ladder has been slimmed down so significantly that young drivers are forced into competing in F2, and as a result they must find a couple of million even to think about achieving their dreams. 

As of July 2022, there are two ways to instantly obtain 40 super license points and thus eligibility to race in Formula 1. You must finish in the top three in Formula 2, or win the Indycar championship. 

For young drivers, one of those options is redundant. The first (and only) rookie to win the Indycar championship is 1992 Formula 1 world champion Nigel Mansell. To even imagine having a young driver arrive in the USA and successfully take on the likes of Scott Dixon, Will Power and Josef Newgarden in their first couple of seasons is ludicrous.

So, we can cross that one off our list of ways to get a super license.

Now onto Formula 2. I started off this article talking about Logan Sargeant and his Formula 2 journey. For too long now the Mecachrome engine has been too faulty, consistently ruining a driver’s race. Juri Vips suffered four mechanical DNFs in 2021 over just 9 rounds of the season. The car doesn’t even have anti-stall, meaning one slip of the clutch has huge consequences. If I had to pay the best part of three million pounds for my seat, I would be livid too. 

Up until the mid 2010s, there was a rival series to Formula 2: Formula Renault 3.5. Carlos Sainz, Daniel Ricciardo, Kevin Magnussen and Pierre Gasly all progressed through this championship, and are now well respected and top level drivers in Formula 1. The series was seen as equal to GP2 (now Formula 2) in terms of competitiveness and in showcasing a driver’s skill. It meant there was no linear path to Formula 1, but instead provided young drivers with a wide range of series within which they were able to hone their skills. 

Equally, a path to Formula 1 should not just be ‘European centred’.

For all his flaws, Helmut Marko knows talent when he sees it. There is a reason why he sends young Red Bull junior drivers in the wings of Formula 1 to the Japanese Super Formula. The series separates out the wheat from the chaff. In the last seven years three Red Bull juniors have been sent to Japan, and from there only one has returned to race in Formula 1 for Red Bull. Pierre Gasly made the cut. Pato O’ward and Dan Ticktum did not. 

The other good way up the ladder is heading to the ‘Road to Indy’, which for a budding Formula 2 driver would mean a stint in Indy Lights. Alex Peroni followed this option after his promising Formula 3 season in 2020, but actually struggled. Formula 2 was too much of a stretch for his budget, and so the challenges he experienced in Indy lights after success in Formula 3 was strange. It’s a competitive series which, much like Japanese Super Formula, forces a driver to adapt to new surroundings, new tracks, new culture and new cars. Proper Formula 1 preparation. 

What do the Formula Renault 3.5 (now folded), Japanese Super Formula and Indy Lights all have in common? They’re all great feeder series, arguably on the same level as Formula 2 (or above in the SF case!), but they all warrant less super license points than Formula 2. Winning Formula Renault 3.5 used to grant 35 points to the winner, and just 25 and 20 to the other podium finishers respectively. Japanese Super Formula provides 25 to its victor, with 20 and 15 to its second and third placed finishers. In Indy Lights, the champion earns just 15. 

What is clear to see is that, perhaps selfishly, the FIA has made the route to Formula 1 extremely linear. This only works for drivers on a wealthy budget, or those snapped up by a Formula 1 junior team. Many slip through the net. 

I say give Formula 2 a rival series like Formula Renault 3.5 in order to make sure the series is not complacent, meaning drivers actually get their money’s worth. For too long the Formula 2 system has let down drivers, and now a change of machinery, budget scope and mentality are all necessary. Super Formula costs £800,000 a year, and Indy lights just £600,000, significantly cheaper than Formula 2 (£2,500,000). There must be attainable seats on a diverse junior formula ladder to allow the best drivers to prove their talent. If a driver is quick enough in whatever series they race in, they will be able to prove this. 

I know there is a counter argument to this that talent may now be spread over around three series rather than just Formula 2, but if Alessio Deledda is able to get a 2021 Formula 2 seat after a 34^th place finish in Formula 3 in 2020, and Logan Sargeant was not after just missing out on the very same Formula 3 title, then my argument has some substance. Change is definitely necessary.  

I mentioned this in my last article on Formula 2, but I felt a deeper dive was now necessary. May the fastest drivers snap up the Formula 1 seats. Not the richest ones.