F2 is better than F1 because it’s worse than F1

You like motorsport, you’re interested in knowing more about the rising Formula One talent that everyone is talking about and you’ve been meaning to get into F2 for a while. However, despite constantly being told “the racing in F2 is better”, that hasn’t quite given you the motivation to commit many more hours of your weekend to another racing series, even though you know you’d love it once you got into it. Well don’t worry, I’m here to give you that final little push into the abyss of no social life at all on race weekends… you’re welcome. 

So here’s the definitive guide for why and how you should get into F2.

Breaking the rules

Yes, we all like to watch the best of the best and these guys could become the best of the best in the future, but right now they’re making mistakes all over the place and it’s hilarious. When was the last time you saw an F1 driver getting a penalty for passing the chequered flag twice? It’s also not just the drivers. F2 teams don’t have millions of people to dedicate to reading the rules. They just make it up as they go along (I’m sure that’s not actually true) and as a result it’s all penalties for putting the tyres on the wrong way round, on the wrong car, or on at the wrong time. 

Swearing at each other

The drivers are also way less professional, not because they’re actually less professional but because that’s what happens when you put teenagers in fast cars, get them to drive around pumping full of adrenaline and then piss them off by having someone else drive into them. The result it pretty excellent team radio messages. You think Kimi Räikkönen’s radio messages are good? You haven’t heard Sergio Sette Câmara, or Yuki Tsunoda (who definitely isn’t a psychopath).

High-end technology 

It’s not just the rubbishness of the drivers and the teams that make F2 great. When an F1 car breaks it is straight to the pits to retire and be fixed in secrecy. Not in F2. Not only do they not even have garages to retire into in F2, but drivers aren’t so lucky as to get an early shower when their car has some electronic problem. Instead it’s time to hook the car up to the laptop to fix the issue (which doesn’t look lame at all) before going back out to toil around five laps down just to get some more practice in. It’s glamourous. 

Shattered hopes and dreams 

Finally, you think F1 is an emotional rollercoaster? Crying over a bad race or an emotional one-off win for someone that isn’t Hamilton? Well imagine watching a young person fighting hard to reach their dreams, leaving their friends and family behind in pursuit of one goal. They finally win the F2 championship, beating thousands of other on their way up the ladder to the ultimate Formula 1 fantasy, only to find that they don’t have enough money or status, or it’s just bad timing, and they have to go find something else to do with their entire lives, because no you can’t win F2 and then just stay there for another season hoping your F1 dream might still come true. It’s too late now. Tough. Go somewhere else. Decades of hopes, dreams and hard work shattered right in front of your very eyes. Now that’s emotional. 

Choosing who to support

Ok, so you’re convinced that you should watch F2, but who should you support? Yes the racing is great, but there’s only so much “just great racing” you can spend your weekend on, and having someone to get behind instantly gives the whole thing purpose. 

Of course, many people support drivers based on their nationalities, but what happens if there are no drivers of your nationality, there are too many drivers of your nationality, or that your nationality guy just seems like a dick? In this case you can check out the handy flow chart below and discover which F2 driver is right for you.