The roar of the racing engines continues unabated at the Yas Marina Circuit: after the end of the Formula 1 tests, the three-day Formula 2 tests started today and will continue until Friday.
Youth series teams need to give their drivers good training before the long winter off-season, but it is even more important to ‘break in’ the rookies, giving them a chance to adapt to more powerful cars. These will be the last tests on which the Dallara F2 2018 chassis will be used, as Formula 2 will switch to a new generation of equipment next year: the Dallara F2 2024.
Each of the three testing days is divided into two sessions, with the morning session running from 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM local time. This will be followed by a two-hour break, after which the track will be worked from 2:00 PM to 5:00 PM.
Pirelli tire manufacturers brought soft and medium rubber compounds for testing, i.e. the same ones used by the teams in the final stage in Abu Dhabi. Each rider has five sets of medium and three sets of soft tires.
The test participants include 8 drivers who competed in Formula 3 last season, including the Brazilian Gabriel Bortoleto, the current champion of this series, who was accepted into the McLaren youth program in the autumn. Today he tests for the first time behind the wheel of a Virtuosi Racing team car.
Prema is working with the promising Italian Andrea Kimi Antonelli, a driver of the Mercedes youth program, who, in addition to F3, went straight from Formula Regional to F2, and with the British Oliver Berman, a student of the Ferrari Racing Academy.
Richard Ferschor will alternate driving the Trident team car with Christian Mansell. The Dutchman, who finished the F2 season in 9th place in the individual rankings, will be working on the track today, half a day tomorrow and will be replaced by the 18-year-old Australian on Thursday and Friday.
Ferschor is one of twelve drivers to have raced in F2 this year and are now busy with post-season testing in Abu Dhabi, but Isaac Hajjar and Jack Crawford will switch teams in 2024, so these days the Frenchman will be working with Campos Racing. and American – with DAMS.
Formula 2 has calculated that representatives from 18 countries will participate in the tests at the Yas Marina Circuit.
List of test participants
| Pilot | Team |
| No. 1. D. Hauger | MP Motorsport |
| No. 2. F. Colapinto | MP Motorsport |
| Number 3. Z. Maloney | Rodin Carlin |
| Number 4. R.Miata | Rodin Carlin |
| Number 5. S.O’Sullivan | ART Grand Prix |
| Number 6. V.Marten | ART Grand Prix |
| No. 7. C. Antonelli | Prema |
| No. 8. O. Berman | Prema |
| No. 9. P. Aron | Hitech GP |
| No. 10. A. Kordil | Hitech GP |
| No. 1. D.Crawford | CHECKERS |
| No. 12. J.-M. Correa | CHECKERS |
| No. 14. G. Bortoleto | Virtuoso racing |
| No. 15. K. Maini | Virtuoso racing |
| No. 16. D. Durksen | PHM Racing |
| No. 17. D. Mason | PHM Racing |
| No. 20. R. Fershor | Trident |
| No. 20. K. Mansell | Trident |
| No. 21. O.Goethe | Trident |
| No. 22. E. Fittipaldi | Van Amersfoort Racing |
| No. 23. R. Villagomez | Van Amersfoort Racing |
| No. 24. A.Hajjar | Campos Racing |
| No. 25. H. Marty | Campos Racing |
Source: F1 News
I am Christopher Clyde, an experienced journalist and content writer with a passion for sports. I have been writing about Formula 1 news for the past five years and am currently employed as an author at athletistic.com, one of the top sports websites in the US.
