Are Bearman and Antonelli that good?

[Adrian W]

Bearman has an F1 drive, Antonelli is a contender for the Mercedes seat but are they really that good, I've not really seen it, other drivers in F2 seem better, or is it a money thing?

[moffspeed]

The short answer is, I think, yes.

Prema have had real difficulties setting up/dialling in the '24 spec F2 car - which is a surprise in itself.

[super7]

Bearman was on pole in Jeddah, won in Austria, was leading in Imola….. so yes!!

F2 is Very competiitve… your good if you get only one win in a season. He had 4 last year…

[belleair302]

F2 tends to be very much based upon which team you drive for somewhat more so than in F3 years ago. Secondly drivers related to big F1 teams get significant time on the multi million pound simulators and with trainers and psychologists. This sorts out the quality and in many ways shows that F1 is way more about income than talent with a salary cap now in place.

[Adrian W]

super7 said:

Bearman was on pole in Jeddah, won in Austria, was leading in Imola….. so yes!!

F2 is Very competiitve… your good if you get only one win in a season. He had 4 last year…

When watching Victor Martins And Dennis Hauger Seem much better drivers, but don't seem to get the F1 opportunity

[Alex Z]

super7 said:

Bearman was on pole in Jeddah, won in Austria, was leading in Imola….. so yes!!

F2 is Very competiitve… your good if you get only one win in a season. He had 4 last year…

Does F2 have that many different winners in a season?
Sounds great. Can we just scrap F1 and have that as the top rung so we get more interesting racing?

Jokes aside, is it a bigger field and less variation between cars that makes the difference?

[n3il123]

belleair302 said:

F2 tends to be very much based upon which team you drive for somewhat more so than in F3 years ago. Secondly drivers related to big F1 teams get significant time on the multi million pound simulators and with trainers and psychologists. This sorts out the quality and in many ways shows that F1 is way more about income than talent with a salary cap now in place.

Salary cap?

[moffspeed]

Adrian W said:

super7 said:

Bearman was on pole in Jeddah, won in Austria, was leading in Imola….. so yes!!

F2 is Very competiitve… your good if you get only one win in a season. He had 4 last year…

When watching Victor Martins And Dennis Hauger Seem much better drivers, but don't seem to get the F1 opportunity

Hauger & Martins are both into their 3rd seasons of F2. In general terms these days that would put them on a predicted career path of either the WEC, Sky commentary team or Formula P/S (pipe & slippers).

Historically the real GP2/F2 hot shots get lifted out of the category after just one season - Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton, Piastri, Rosberg & Norris

Of the longer F2 incumbents Gasly had 3 seasons before heading to F1. Grosjean, Maldonado & Palmer (Jolyon) each had 4 seasons before their F1 conversions.

Outliers - Nissany did 5 seasons of F2 and thankfully, despite testing, never made it onto an F1 grid.

Latifi hit the big time after 6 seasons of F2.


I rest my case your Honour.

[Jasandjules]

I guess we will know next year.

[Sandpit Steve]

Six different feature race winners from eight races so far this season, and I think 12 winners overall including sprint races. It’s all been rather weird with the new cars for ‘24, many of the teams have been struggling to get them properly dialled in.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Formula_2_Cha...

The F1 teams really put their junior drivers to work, they’ll be doing a lot of simulator time and track time in old cars, as well as extensive physical and physiological training. We got to see Bearman step up into F1 when Sainz was sick, with a very creditable performance at a difficult circuit in Jeddah, and if Toto thinks that Antonelli is the next Lewis Hamilton then I’m not going to disagree. The teams will have very good benchmarks for their performance against the regular race drivers and sim drivers, and wouldn’t be putting the resources in if they didn’t think they were up to being future F1 drivers.

Mercedes could even go with Antonelli straight into the main team next season as an 18-year-old, which would be the biggest vote of confidence in a rookie since McLaren gave one Lewis Hamilton a drive back in 2007. The only thing that would seemingly get in the way of that promotion, is if the team can get Max Verstappen’s signature.

[Zammy]

moffspeed said:

Adrian W said:

super7 said:

Bearman was on pole in Jeddah, won in Austria, was leading in Imola….. so yes!!

F2 is Very competiitve… your good if you get only one win in a season. He had 4 last year…

When watching Victor Martins And Dennis Hauger Seem much better drivers, but don't seem to get the F1 opportunity

Hauger & Martins are both into their 3rd seasons of F2. In general terms these days that would put them on a predicted career path of either the WEC, Sky commentary team or Formula P/S (pipe & slippers).

Historically the real GP2/F2 hot shots get lifted out of the category after just one season - Leclerc, Russell, Hamilton, Piastri, Rosberg & Norris

Of the longer F2 incumbents Gasly had 3 seasons before heading to F1. Grosjean, Maldonado & Palmer (Jolyon) each had 4 seasons before their F1 conversions.

Outliers - Nissany did 5 seasons of F2 and thankfully, despite testing, never made it onto an F1 grid.

Latifi hit the big time after 6 seasons of F2.


I rest my case your Honour.

Good read and info, thanks for that. Always try to keep an eye on F2 but can just about keep up with F1 these days!

[bearman68]

Wow, thanks for the appreciation guys.

I always knew I was pretty special, but it's really nice of your guys to confirm it for me. Good on you all.

[Leithen]

They are damn good. Bearman has provided more evidence, Antonelli looks like he’s got the goods too.

The proviso is that F2 simply can’t guarantee anything. The new car has only made things more unpredictable.

Hadjar is proving that he’s got the perfect radio technique for F1, but that makes him equally unlikeable IMHO. He’s quick though as is Aron, Borteletto, Maloney, etc, etc.

[Forester1965]

Most of the F2 Teams have struggled to get a firm grip on the new cars, so you can only really judge between teammates. Antonelli is doing pretty well in this respect. He's scored in 8 races this season to Bearman's 5 and leads him by 25 points.

[Presuming Ed]

What is Bearmans background? When he speaks he sounds more German then British?

[epom]

Adrian W said:

super7 said:

Bearman was on pole in Jeddah, won in Austria, was leading in Imola….. so yes!!

F2 is Very competiitve… your good if you get only one win in a season. He had 4 last year…

When watching Victor Martins And Dennis Hauger Seem much better drivers, but don't seem to get the F1 opportunity

Is that only over this side though ? Perhaps they have their own home press on their side.
The British press are amazing to build up a talent (yes they have talent too) usually only so they can bring them down a peg or two later.
It sells tabloids or click bait these days.

[Adrian W]

Presuming Ed said:

What is Bearmans background? When he speaks he sounds more German then British?

Comes from Essex, another rich kid, I've been told by some of his peers that he wasn't liked at school

[Leithen]

Adrian W said:

Comes from Essex, another rich kid, I've been told by some of his peers that he wasn't liked at school

What's the beef about money? This is motorsport. He comes across in a far better way than some of his F2 peers. Kids aren't liked at school for all sorts of reasons. Sometimes it's the kids not doing the liking that are the problem. Any successful junior driver will have a very unusual school life due to the commitment required.

[super7]

Presuming Ed said:

What is Bearmans background? When he speaks he sounds more German then British?

He came out of Karting and won the F4 German And Italian series in the same year 2021. Also won in GB3 that year....... got promoted to F3 where he came 3rd in his first year and then into F2 the following year where he came 6th but with 4 wins and 3 poles. He also lives in Bologna (or somewhere over there!!)

Started testing with Haas in 2021 doing the season end rookie driver test. Since then he's being doing a lot of Ferrari testing, sim work, Haas testing, Haas practice 1 sessions.

So yes.... he's the real deal.

As to the other drivers, Antonelli has struggled this year.... He really should have done F3. His dad has even said he needs to learn to swim before playing with the sharks. Might have outscored Bearman but Bearman has had a few retirements and missed out on converting his feature race Pole at Jeddah. Hadjar... angry man, doing well but always seems to be angry. Crawford doing well. Aron was good start but has gone of the boil as has Maini and most of the others. Nobody seems to be consistent.

[epom]

super7 said:

Presuming Ed said:

What is Bearmans background? When he speaks he sounds more German then British?

He came out of Karting and won the F4 German And Italian series in the same year 2021. Also won in GB3 that year....... got promoted to F3 where he came 3rd in his first year and then into F2 the following year where he came 6th but with 4 wins and 3 poles. He also lives in Bologna (or somewhere over there!!)

Started testing with Haas in 2021 doing the season end rookie driver test. Since then he's being doing a lot of Ferrari testing, sim work, Haas testing, Haas practice 1 sessions.

So yes.... he's the real deal.

As to the other drivers, Antonelli has struggled this year.... He really should have done F3. His dad has even said he needs to learn to swim before playing with the sharks. Might have outscored Bearman but Bearman has had a few retirements and missed out on converting his feature race Pole at Jeddah. Hadjar... angry man, doing well but always seems to be angry. Crawford doing well. Aron was good start but has gone of the boil as has Maini and most of the others. Nobody seems to be consistent.

I think he means is he actually British ?