The 2023 F2 season has been one to watch since the very beginning. With Theo Pourchaire having recently been crowned as the new F2 Champion, we review this hectic year in Formula 1’s feeder series.
With a grid plenty of young talents like Victor Martins, Jack Doohan, Oliver Bearman, Zane Maloney, Dennis Hauger, Ayumu Iwasa or Enzo Fittipaldi, two drivers showed up above all of them fighting until the very end: Mercedes Junior Frederik Vesti and Sauber Junior Théo Pourchaire.
It was the third consecutive season for the French driver in Formula 2, competing against the Dane in his second campaign.
Both of them have been very successful drivers in their junior career, with titles like ADAC F4 Championship for Pourchaire and the old Formula Regional for Vesti, and always racing at the top of the field in every series they have stepped into.
Pourchaire’s season went under the Paddock’s radar: it was his third Formula 2 campaign. Most people expected him to win the championship in 2022, but Felipe Drugovich denied him of that chance, and he had to settle for the runner-up spot. A third year is always dangerous when you are one of the favourites, it’s a risk a lot of drivers fall into, but the Sauber Academy driver achieved it in the end.
With just one victory at the first round in Bahrain’s Feature Race, Pourchaire has been able to keep a solid and consistent performance over the year, ultimately good enough to give him the championship.
After a successful first round, he struggled in Jeddah and recovered a little bit in Melbourne and Baku. With Austria an exception like Jeddah, he drove more strongly in Monaco, Barcelona, Silverstone, Hungary and Spa with six podiums overall.
Photo Credit: Alfa Romeo F1 Team Stake
Moving onto Frederik Vesti, it was a very absolutely different approach. The Dane was expected to be one of the strongest drivers on the field. He put on a great show winning six races, more than any driver this season, and the third (tied with Oscar Piastri) with most victories in a single season in the series’ history, only behind Charles Leclerc and George Russell, both of whom took seven triumphs.
Even though he started this 2023 adventure with a painful weekend without points in Bahrain, Jeddah brought him his first Feature Race victory.
A solid performance until Monaco and Barcelona, where he scored two more wins, put him as the strongest contender for the rest of the season. Everything was going well for Vesti, who scored one more win at Silverstone, until the Zandvoort weekend arrived, following a bad one also in Spa.
The Netherlands round could have already decided the F2 title as Pourchaire crashed in the Feature Race. Vesti was on his way to score, at least, a Top-5 finish in the Feature Race when both his rear wheels fell off as they were not fitted correctly during his pit stop. That sent the two contenders to Monza, with a slight advantage for the ART Grand Prix driver.
The penultimate Sprint Race of the season saw Vesti claim another win, that promoted him into the title fight once again, with Pourchaire in P4. Once again, Sunday’s race did not play in the PREMA driver’s favor as Roman Stanek crashed into him, finishing his race, while Pourchaire jumped onto the podium in P3. All to play for in Abu Dhabi: Pourchaire 191 points and Vesti 166.
Photo Credit: Prema Racing
The Yas Marina finale was as exciting as the rest of the season. Vesti once again won the Sprint Race, with P7 for the championship leader from 14th on the grid, that brought together everything even more for the final race, with a gap of 16 points between the two youngsters.
Another highly rated performance from the 2019 Formula Regional Champion saw him vault up to the podium in P3, gaining 6 six places in a masterclass of a race, includomg a superb move on Zane Maloney on the last lap.
But Pourchaire had something to say about it. Starting P14, he ended the race in P5, which was more than enough to become F2 Champion.
In spite of that high level battle between two brilliant talents, with an exciting future ahead, this season also has had brilliant performances by other drivers that will be as shiny as them (or more) in the near future. If we must pick, we should go with Oliver Bearman’s double win in Baku, the Brit is a very special driver destined for big things.
And also we should not forget Victor Martins’ Barcelona weekend when he bagged a double podium, or his stunning win at Silverstone.
A special mention also for Jack Doohan and Ayumu Iwasa, both with three victories and great drives this season, but they were not consistent enough to fight with the main drivers of this 2023 season: Théo Pourchaire and Frederik Vesti.
