This year marks the 20th anniversary of the Formula 2 championship’s inception (then under the GP2 mantle), but there’s another reason why it represents a landmark for the series: F2 has four drivers graduating directly to Formula 1 – something that had not happened since 2010, when the F1 grid expanded from 20 to 24 cars. In other words, this is rather unprecedented in normal circumstances.
As a consequence, the much-renewed field of nine returnees and 13 rookies has much to prove to have a chance to grab an F1 seat in 2026, especially as teams may bank on experience in the first season of F1’s incoming technical rules with a new engine formula.
Among those 13 debutants, only four are rookies in the purest sense of the term – Arvid Lindblad, Sebastian Montoya, Alex Dunne and Sami Meguetounif. The other nine made their F2 debuts in the last few rounds of the 2024 season, with this experience crucial to hit the ground running in the 2025 campaign.
One obvious favourite, however, will be veteran Victor Martins, a Formula 3 champion whose extremely tight title fight with Oscar Piastri in the 2019 Formula Renault Eurocup boosted the Australian’s career as he came out on top and joined the Renault academy while the former lost the French brand’s backing and had to stay put in the series.
As Piastri flew towards F1, Martins had a slower rise up the ranks. He joined Alpine again, took those Eurocup and F3 crowns, then was the best F2 rookie in 2023 – but last season was a catastrophe with bad luck compounded by driving errors, leading to his exit from the Enstone programme.
“Let’s say my goal and their goal were not on the same line,” the 23-year-old Frenchman succinctly explained. As for the upcoming campaign, the ART Grand Prix driver added: “I have no problem for people to put me as the favourite.
“I feel this year is going to be different. In my mind, I feel like I jump from 2023 straight to ’25! ’24 hasn’t really existed, or let’s say it doesn’t affect my goal, my motivation, my confidence in the team and the people I work with. I know I’m working with the best engineers in Formula 2 and they will give me the best car.”
Martins will be facing a host of younger rivals, many of them F1 team proteges. Jak Crawford, a former Red Bull junior now part of the Aston Martin programme, is the highest returning driver from 2024 and will enjoy continuity as the 19-year-old American stays at DAMS for his third campaign at this level.
Many eyes will be on Lindblad, Red Bull’s next big hope, who secured the 40 points required for a superlicence when he won the Formula Regional Oceania title in New Zealand last month. Although the 17-year-old Briton is too young to actually be awarded the licence yet, he is known to be the main contender to an F1 seat next year if Yuki Tsunoda leaves the fold or his new Racing Bulls team-mate Isack Hadjar falls short of expectations.
After Bortoleto was somewhat discreet at the F4 and Formula Regional levels, he took F3 and F2 by storm and landed a seat at Sauber. Everybody on the grid will try to emulate him, but only one driver actually has the credentials to do so
Lindblad’s F2 debut with Campos will be scrutinised, though he says Red Bull has not given him a specific goal for 2025 despite the expectation being “quite high”. And don’t call him “the new Max”, for he may not appreciate it.
The Prema squad, whose 2024 campaign was somewhat of a shocker considering its pedigree as both Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Oliver Bearman struggled throughout the season, should not be discounted either with Alpine junior Gabriele Mini – F3’s runner-up in 2024 – and Juan Pablo Montoya’s son Sebastian, both 19 years of age.
“They know that last year they struggled at times, and they tried really hard in the winter to understand why they were struggling,” Montoya said. “I think they got a better idea at the end of the season – they were a lot more consistent, they were a lot more at the front and they got to a point where they were on the podium almost every week at the end of the year."
Mini added: “Looking at testing a few days ago, I think they understood many things, and it looks like a positive one.”
Meanwhile, on the back of a very private Ferrari F1 test at Barcelona in January, Dino Beganovic will attempt to build on two solid F3 campaigns. The 21-year-old Swede joins Hitech – whose top driver Paul Aron took third in the 2024 standings – alongside Williams junior Luke Browning, 23, who was third in F3 last year.
“We want to win both titles, and I think that’s clear from Paul’s performance last year, and from having a driver line-up strongness. Me and Dino, I think we’re one of the strongest on the grid,” Browning claimed.
“Experience counts a lot,” Beganovic insisted, before adding some nuance: “I think the prime example is Gabriel [Bortoleto]’s F3 and F2 seasons, it’s something I think a lot of people look up to.”
After Bortoleto was somewhat discreet at the F4 and Formula Regional levels, he took F3 and F2 by storm and landed a seat at Sauber – the future Audi F1 team. Everybody on the grid will try to emulate him, but only one driver actually has the credentials to do so: Leonardo Fornaroli.
Fornaroli took a similarly unexpected F3 title last year in a consistent but winless campaign, and will now attempt to replicate the Brazilian’s feat with the same Invicta outfit – though the 20-year-old is keeping his expectations in check.
“The main thing for this season, for me, is to concentrate on myself, not to repeat the mistakes of last year, and always be consistent,” he said. “But I will not set a crazy goal for me, also because I’m a rookie.”
This sounds reasonable. But let’s not forget how, 12 months ago, rookie Bortoleto’s expectations shot up as he took pole in his maiden F2 qualifying session. The truth is, in F2, you never really know what to expect.
