Who is everybody?

A driver preview split by car liveries that are probably wrong or will change. If you can’t be bothered to read this but want to know who you should support, here is a flowchart for you…

Red (Bull) cars

Dennis Hauger is one of those young, fast, super talented people that suddenly appear out of nowhere and win everything, including the 2021 F3 championship. The only hope the other Red Bull juniors have of besting him is by stealing the lucky amulet his grandmother gave him.

In 2020, I wrote a vaguely hopeful preview of Jehan Daruvala. Two years later, not so much. Yes he’s ok, but he’s not very exciting, although apparently Red Bull beg to differ as they haven’t dropped him yet.

Liam Lawson came ninth in F2 last year, but no one noticed because we were all too distracted by *that* DTM final.

Following in the footsteps of Yuki Tsunoda, Red Bull/Honda driver Ayumu Iwasa has a lot of work to do to fill the swear jar as quickly as his predecessor.

Blue cars

Son of massive motorbike champion Mick Doohan, Jack was second in the F3 championship last year as well as having a taste of F2 and being pretty good. He switched from Red Bull to the Alpine Academy this year, thankfully, because let’s face it, the less Red Bull cars on the grid the easier it is to actually see who is who.

Marino Sato‘s career history involves either totally dominating or basically finishing last in a championship. I wonder what type of year it will be for him this year.

In 2020, Logan Sargeant came third in the closely contested F3 championship. Financial issues prevented him from progressing into F2 last year, but now he’s apparently sorted that, reviving his F1 dream and giving everyone else the chance to talk about how all F1 and Haas need are an American driver, and here one comes!

It feels like Roy Nissany has been doing F2 since the dawn of time (was 2018 the dawn of time?). Apparently his motto is widely known as “Sky is not the limit, the mind is,” but of course, with that being so widely known, you knew that already. Williams also allow him to drive their F1 car from time to time.

Black and white cars

Frederik Vesti is one of the rare Mercedes junior drivers and is also very good at coming fourth. Importantly, he always tries really hard to look enthusiastic and happy when doing videos and social media stuff, while also maintaining an underlying look that makes it clear that if you’re not with him, you’re against him. I can’t look away.

Théo Pourchaire almost won his rookie F3 season and is crazy young. Last year he came fourth in F2, despite breaking his hand. He is also mysteriously a part of the Sauber driver academy, despite the fact that Sauber haven’t had an F1 team since the dawn of time (was 2018 the dawn of time?).

Something and white cars

Newly recruited Alpine Academy member Olli Caldwell raced in F3 last year, having done all of the F4 before that. According to his website, “Olli has been pushing the barriers and claiming records throughout the junior formulae he has competed in.” Wonder if it’s time to tell Olli that he’s supposed to stay away from the barriers, not push them?

RALPH BOSCHUNG is the absolute best. No one hustles and blogs like Ralph. (Heartfelt plea to Ralph to bring back the “Ralph Boschung F2 blog”.

Orange and black and black and orange cars

Felipe Drugovich is back for his third F2 year and I’ve been constantly wrong about him so I give up.

Clément Novalak is a French-Swiss-used-to-drive-under-a-British-license-but-is-now-french-again dude who came third in F3 last year,

Ranked 21st in the prestigious F2 2020 Rockstar Rankings, Jake Hughes is always just randomly there to do a few races, but this season it seems he might stick around, if he has time in between the podcasting.

Amaury Cordeel came 23rd in F3 last year, so now is the time to step up to F2, naturally.

Look the same but are actually two different teams red, blue and white cars

Positivity guru and merch Lord Richard Verschoor is in his second season of F2. No need to bother with any “for sure” puns, he’s got that covered. Tweet him if you need life advice.

Calan Williams apparently bought all his own karting gear by age seven from earning money doing chores around the house. It’s his first year in F2 after some impressive moments in F3 last year.

Enzo Fittipaldi is the grandson of F1-great Emerson Fittipaldi and is nicknamed “little shark”. What more reasons do you need for supporting him?

I’m not going to pretend I know anything about Cem Bölükbaşi. *Googles*. Oh he’s esports. That explains it.

Just ditched their sponsors and could be any colour (silver) cars

It’s Marcus Armstrong‘s third year of F2 and he’s no longer part of the Ferrari Driver Academy. He used to look really cheery when he was winning things, but less so these days. Poor Marcus.

We’re all still feeling sorry for Jüri Vips after he nearly had his racing career wrecked by COVID in 2020 and was beaten to F1 by Yuki Tsunoda, despite being seen as the the Red Bull junior front runner for a while. Please can we just have a bit of Jüri luck.