TrappedInGravel, Author at In the gravel trap

F2 Belgium 2022

TrappedInGravel August 31, 2022August 31, 2022 F2

After a summer break that was simultaneously incredibly fast and painfully slow, the F2 gang arrived in Belgium, minus a few members but plus a few others. Firstly Jake Hughes announced that he was going to be leaving F2 to focus on his other racing commitments, such as Formula E and generally being a bit of a Mercedes guy. He handed his VAR seat over to David Beckmann, which means everyone will stop having to refer to him as a super-sub, because obviously now he is an ultra-sub. Also making a (hopefully) permanent return for the season was Ralph Boschung, who seems to have fought off his recurring neck issues, ready to take back his car from its trusty caretaker Roberto Merhi. Also taking on the role of ultra-sub for the rest of the season is Tatiana Calderón (who last drove in F2 in 2019), replacing Cem Bölükbasi at Charouz, after Bölükbasi and the team apparently had some awkward contract talks…

F2 Hungary 2022

TrappedInGravel August 3, 2022August 3, 2022 F2

The driver substitute situation was the same as in France, with Roberto Merhi fast becoming a part of the F2 2022 furniture and David Beckmann remaining as much a piece of F2 furniture as it feels like he’s always been. Lucky for Merhi and Beckmann, unlucky for Boschung and Hughes, because apparently drivers LOVE this track, as they kept saying. All weekend. Their reason? Because it’s fast and cool? No, because it’s really technical. The geeks…

F2 France 2022

TrappedInGravel July 25, 2022July 27, 2022 F2

The important news of the weekend was that Ralph Boschung’s MoonMobile would once more be driven by Roberto Merhi (while Ralph recovers from a neck injury). Questions were raised (by me, just now) whether Merhi could get another podium that he would lose due to a penalty but then get back again due to someone else’s penalty, or whether we could just have a race where the people who finish in the top three get to be on the podium. Also missing this week’s race was Jake Hughes, who tested positive for COVID and handed over his car to VAR reserve driver David Beckmann…

F2 Austria 2022

TrappedInGravel July 12, 2022July 27, 2022 F2

The Austrian weekend started badly for Ralph Boschung who withdrew before anything even happened due to his apparently relentless neck issues. While Ralph did all the doctors appointments or whatever, he asked Roberto Merhi to step in “to drive the MoonMobile” and, quite frankly, if I were in that situation I would also hand over my car to an ex-F1 driver. In Amaury Cordeel news, he was back after his Silverstone ban and with a clean slate, free to start collecting penalty points again…

F2 Great Britain 2022

TrappedInGravel July 5, 2022July 5, 2022 F2

The F2 drivers had all been very busy since the last race a few weeks ago. Jehan Daruvala and Olli Caldwell made their dreams come true, testing for McLaren and Alpine Formula 1 teams, while Jüri Vips made sure he wouldn’t be getting any F1 testing by outing himself as being racist and subsequently getting fired from his Red Bull reserve driver role. Rather than also firing him, Vips’s F2 team Hitech decided he could stay, but probably only because super-sub David Beckmann was already busy, replacing Amaury Cordeel who is serving a one-weekend ban, having racked up all the penalty points by being a bit too rubbish at driving…

F2 Azerbaijan 2022

TrappedInGravel June 16, 2022June 16, 2022 F2

It was back to Baku and Boschung was also back, again. Chaos and Safety Cars also promised to be back, as the teams braced themselves to spend most of their weekend fixing bits of broken car. Although I’m not sure anyone was prepared for drivers getting banned, while parents and trainers fought it out in the paddock…

F2 Monaco 2022

TrappedInGravel May 31, 2022June 1, 2022 F2

Monaco, the jewel in the formula one crown and also a quite nice place for F2 drivers to drive around, or so they say. Until they get frustrated because they can’t overtake the car in front, or they get frustrated because they try to overtake the car in front but get crashed into a wall instead. Still, at least we know we can enjoy the lovely slow-mo shots of cars brushing the barriers, intersected by shots of massive yachts…

F2 Spain 2022

TrappedInGravel May 26, 2022May 26, 2022 F2

Back to good old familiar Barcelona and all the excitement it usually holds. There’s always so much to look forward to, such as lots of talk about tyre degradation that will probably never happen but is our only hope as overtaking isn’t a thing, or how well everyone knows this track because *surprise* it’s used for testing…

F2 Emilia Romagna 2022

TrappedInGravel April 27, 2022April 27, 2022 F2

It was the first time second-tier motorsport had been to Imola in AGES so all the drivers were made to talk about how much they loved the history. Everyone except Cem Bölükbasi, who had fractured a rib after crashing a load of times and was replaced by David Beckmann. Get well soon Cem!

F2 Saudi Arabia 2022

TrappedInGravel March 30, 2022March 30, 2022 F2

I apparently wasn’t as full of creative flourish when writing this as I was for last year’s round in Saudi Arabia, so if you want to read F2 meets some kind of Lord of the Rings/Star Wars hybrid mash-up then go read that post, or if you just want to know what happened this weekend then continue…

In the gravel trap

Author: TrappedInGravel