In a world hit by recession or slowdown, any good news, however insignificant it may be, always has a cheering effect. The world of motorsport too been looking at cutbacks, and so the fact that 2009 will see a new racing series is very good news, especially as it’s been designed to be challenging and competitive while keeping costs low. Old timers will be reminded of the old days, especially as the new series has been named F2 or Formula Two. Anybody remember doctor turned F1 racer, Jonathan Palmer? His very capable company, Motorsport Vision Ltd., will be handling the show.

F2 has traditionally been a feeder series for F1, a job that’s been done till recently by a number of other series like F3, GP2 and FRV6. The new F2 series is cheaper than all of them. Importantly, the FIA is actively promoting it and has given it the status of feeder series to F1. Importantly too for India is the fact that our own Armaan Ebrahim is one of the first drivers to have signed up for this series.

The cars have been designed by a six man team from Williams F1, led by Director of Engineering, Patrick Head, and are being built by the Williams Formula 1 Team with technology borrowed from F1. Based around 400bhp, 1.8litre, turbocharged Audi engines, the cars will have a power boost facility. The 50bhp boost is actuated by a steering wheel button, and will be available for about six seconds per lap. The gearbox is a six-speed paddle shifter, quite similar to that used in current F1 cars. All cars will have a 620kg minimum weight, including the driver.

Now, the good doctor already has his own junior formula series called Formula Palmer Audi (FPA), and given that the new Formula Two series is also based around Audi engines, one might be tempted to think that Formula Two is just a glorified version of FPA. However, a look at the chart comparing the cars of the various feeder series should set that notion right. The dimensions are different, and while the Williams JPH F2 car is built by Williams, the FPA car is a Van Diemen design.

The championship gets underway with official testing in April, and the racing starts in May 2009 – scheduled to finish in November. There will be 8 rounds, with two races per round, making a total of 16 races. Each round will comprise of two practice sessions, two qualifying sessions and two races. Four of the rounds of this Europe-based championship will be run along with the World Touring Car Championship.

As mentioned earlier, the major attraction of the new F2 series is that it costs 1/4th the cost of the GP2 Series, and half the cost of the Renault World Series Championship.

While all the 24 cars will be built by the Williams F1 Team at their factory, the cars will be run by the mechanics and engineers appointed by Palmer Motorsport. That means that, though each driver is allowed his or her own personal engineer, actual work on the car will be done by the F2 appointed staff only.

The series gets underway on the 31st of May with two rounds at Valencia. Brno is the next venue on 21st of June, followed by Spa- Francorchamps (28th June), and Brands Hatch (19th July). Donington Park is next on 16th August, then come Oschersleben and Imola on the 6th and 20th of September respectively. The Series concludes in Spain at Barcelona on the 1st of November. At the end of it all, the winner of the F2 Championship will get a Test drive with the Williams F1 team, while the top 3 position holders will be awarded an F1 license by the FIA.

Having looked at both the GP2 Series and World Series by Renault, Armaan settled on the new F2 series for two reasons. One is budget - both GP2 and FRV6 are very expensive compared to the all inclusive (except accident damage) cost of£195,000 + VAT for the 2009 season in Formula Two. The other is visibility and exposure - as the series is in Europe, Armaan will be exposed to racing scouts, which increases his chances of being recognized by a major team. Armaan’s engineer, Chris Gorne, has been sponsored by Red Rooster Racing. Swiss A1 GP rookie driver, Natacha Gachnang, will be the sole woman driver in the series, which includes the likes of Julian Jousse, Robert Wickens, Andy Soucek, Jolyon Palmer and Alex Brundle, coming in from various Series like GP2, Formula Renault and F3.

	A1 GP	F3	F2	FPA
	Ferrari	MB/H/VW	Audi	Audi
Engine:	4.5L V8	2.0L I4	1.8L(T) I4	1.8L(T) I4
Power (BHP):	600	210	450	360
Speed (km/h):	285+	255+	270
Length (mm):	4814	4188	4390
Width (mm):	2028	1825	1590	1830
Wheelbase (mm):	3100	2885	2667
Weight (Kg):	720	550	620	530