Formula 2 CEO Bruno Michel believes that the spectacular 2024 season ranks as “probably the best” in the championship’s history.
With a title battle that went down to the wire, 18 different race winners and, for the first time in history, all teams taking at least one victory, it is very easy to get caught up in the hype.
Asked by Motorsport.com to assess the first season with the new Dallara F2 chassis, Michel said: “I think it has been probably the best season we have had in F2. I think the level of the grid was absolutely amazing, I think the racing was great all season long with very, very impressive races, and I think the result of that is that there are going to be quite a lot of drivers coming from Formula 2 to Formula 1 at the end of this season.
“The fact that we had two F2 drivers that started in F1 in the middle of the season – Oliver Bearman in Jeddah and Franco Colapinto [from Monza] for the rest of the season – they did well and they showed everybody that they were ready for F1, which is the main objective of Formula 2.
“So altogether, I am very happy with the season and very happy with the new car.”
But all things considered, is Michel right?
The F2 contenders
Both 2018 and 2024 featured an impressive depth of talent, with numerous race winners. While the latter set a new high bar with 18 different drivers taking to the top step of the podium, 2018 saw 10 different victors.
Another similarity is the number of drivers that have since stepped up to F1 - either immediately or further down the line. From 2018, George Russell, Lando Norris, Alex Albon, Nyck de Vries, Nicholas Latifi and Jack Aitken all subsequently made their F1 debuts, while 2024 had Gabriel Bortoleto, Isack Hadjar, Bearman, Andrea Kimi Antonelli and Colapinto.
With further talent in each that have either moved to IndyCar, WEC, Formula E or further afield, these were certainly two of the strongest grids seen to date.
With the drivers proving impossible to use as a deciding factor here, we look to the teams, and 2024 comes out on top due to the fact that all 11 teams scored at least one win across the year, a first for F2.
The F2 title fight
Unlike when discussing the field, there is a clear winner here. With the 2024 battle reaching Abu Dhabi with just half a point separating Bortoleto and Hadjar in what was the closest battle in the championship’s history, there is no competition.
With such a depth of talent on show, Paul Aron, Hadjar and Zane Maloney had all enjoyed their moments at the top of the pile, but Bortoleto’s consistency ultimately saw him win out – even if a stall for Hadjar in the decisive feature race did mean things ended on a flat note.
In 2018, Russell may have had to wait until the Abu Dhabi feature race – then the first race of the weekend – to take the crown, but his eventual margin of 68 points to Norris highlights the limited threat he was under in the final weekend.
The F2 champion
This is very much comparing apples and apples, with Russell and Bortoleto both becoming F3 champion the previous year in their rookie season, before repeating that success in F2.
But unlike in the previous two categories, Russell edges this one for 2018 due to his seven wins compared to Bortoleto’s two.
We may have prattled on about the strength of the 2024 grid, but to win as much as Russell managed against the field he faced was no small feat, especially when you consider that Norris scored only a single victory that year – a success that came in the Bahrain season-opener.
Bortoleto very much grew into 2024, enduring a slightly bumpy patch across the Saudi Arabian and Australian weekends where reliability and being caught up in the incidents of others cost him. Beyond that, he was stunning but not spectacular – save for his last to first performance in Monza.
A driver’s view
“I would say 2024 was better because I was not driving!” joked record appearance holder Ralph Boschung when in conversation with Motorsport.com. “Definitely in terms of the show and how close things were getting – I think 2024 was absolutely amazing, with that half-a-point difference and all of that stuff.
“And what is also great to see is that some teams who struggled a bit in the past are able to go for a championship, like Campos and MP improving a lot over the year.
“2018, obviously, with big names in the series like Alex [Albon], George [Russell] and Lando [Norris], that was also an extremely exciting year.
“But I would still say ’24, at least from a spectators’ point of view. It’s definitely one that was extremely exciting.
“It’s two different eras in a way because the car is a lot different and in 2018, I do remember that there were still some issues a little bit with the car at the beginning of the year.
“Both were extremely exciting in different ways, but I would still say that 2024 is the one that, for me personally, I was enjoying my popcorn in front of the TV with.”
Motorsport.com says
While 2018 was an undeniably brilliant year, by all the fine margins with which we have judged it here, 2024 comes out on top.
The variety of winners, be these teams or drivers, the closeness of the title battle and the thrilling action made it a campaign to remember.
History will judge whether this was a case of recency bias, but if both Michel and Boschung agree with our conclusion, the odds appear to be in our favour.
2018 remains a very close second, however, and we would certainly advise scrolling the highlights of both years should you need a racing fix over the festive period.
