With a one hundred percent chance of rain, a dry Sunday in Melbourne was ruled out from the start. At the crack of dawn, monsoon-like conditions were already unfolding, and the rain continued throughout the morning. As a result, the FIA decided to shorten the first races of the day, the Formula 3 race and the Supercars race, and to postpone the start of the Formula 2 race. But what does this mean for the Grand Prix?
Gabriele Mini has been stripped of his first F2 pole position at the Albert Park Circuit in Melbourne after allegedly impeding his competitors. Frenchman Victor Martins has inherited the pole in Australia.
Six Formula 2 drivers have incurred 10-place grid drops for both races in this weekend’s season-opening round in Melbourne.
DAMS pair Jak Crawford and Kush Maini, Trident duo Max Esterson and Sami Meguetounif, plus Rodin’s Amaury Cordeel and Alex Dunne have all incurred the same penalty.
The stewards issued further penalties to the three teams involved after discovering forbidden modifications to at least one of each team’s cars during testing. The teams made the modifications in order to fit sensors to their cars to gather data.
The modifications were found on four cars, driven by Esterson, Crawford, Dunne and Christian Mansell – Cordeel’s predecessor in the second Rodin seat – during testing at the Circuit de Catalunya last month. Maini and Meguetounif were penalised as the stewards ruled the information gained from their team mates’ cars would confer an advantage on the whole team.
The stewards fined the teams €10,000 for each infraction – Rodin therefore amassed a total fine of €20,000 (£16,700). The stewards also took the unusual step of recommending that Formula 2’s technical delegate imposes further sanctions on the four cars which were modified to cancel out any advantage which might have been gained.
The stewards explained the reasoning for their unusually severe penalties.
“The Formula 2 championship is based on a single chassis and single engine. Aerodynamic data is provided to all teams from the chassis manufacturer. The technical regulations specifically limit how the external airflow may be measured. In addition, the modification of a standard part is only allowed per the regulations, the user manuals, or a technical bulletin. The modification of a part so as to fit a sensor (which includes the tube to transmit the air pressure and the sensor itself) is forbidden.
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“The collection of this data from pressure sensors in the external airflow could be used to correlate with the data from the chassis manufacturer with the intention to gather more information on the aerodynamic performance of the car in on-track circumstances with different set-ups.
“Previously teams have requested such permission from the technical delegate and it has been denied.”
In each case the team “installed sensors by modifying a standard part,” noted the stewards. “It is impossible for the stewards to know for how long and how much data was collected,” they added.
In addition to the grid penalties and fines, the stewards have advised the technical delegate to restrict the running at the upcoming test in Bahrain of the four cars which were modified – those of Crawford, Esterson and the DAMS duo.
“The stewards strongly recommend limiting the track testing at the next promoter test (in Bahrain before round two of the championship) to two days only. The stewards strongly recommend the promoter to decide which day the team will be excluded. As per SR 10.2 those teams excluded from one day of the test will be limited to six sets of dry weather tyres only as the test is effectively a two-day test for them.
“The stewards strongly recommend the technical delegate to issue a technical bulletin for the Bahrain test allowing the teams the opportunity to apply for permission to use similar sensors for the duration of the test. The stewards recommend that the technical delegate should not accept the application from [Rodin/DAMS/Trident].”
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Victor Martins did not have the 2024 season he was expecting. With Formula 2 introducing a brand new car for last year, many teams struggled to extrac the performance and balance necessary to fight at the front on a weekend to weekend basis, ART, the Frenchman’s team included. However, Martins looks confidently ahead to the 2025 F2 season and will settle for glory and nothing else.
AIX Racing’s Joshua Durksen took the F2 field by surprise last year. With a surprise last minute announcement, the Paraguayan born driver stormed through the field and sealed off his maiden F2 campaign with two wins and four podiums total, but this year, as he eyes a future F1 promotion, he sets his sights on a clear goal.
Formula 3 champion Leonardo Fornaroli may have news soon. The Italian expects to join the training ranks of a Formula 1 team soon, he revealed in response to a question from GPblog.
After Christian Horner’s case surrounding alleged inappropriate behaviour ended after the team principal was acquitted last year, new developments came out today which have now resulted in the case continuing for the Red Bull team principal. Along with this, there has been a remarkable promise from Toto Wolff to Lewis Hamilton about Max Verstappen, and in the world of Formula 2, one of the leading talents in the junior formula is stepping away.
Max Verstappen is actively pushing for drivers to achieve success through an alternative route: namely through sim racing, in which he himself is active with Team Redline. This to the delight of Max Esterson, who followed this career path himself by starting with sim racing and eventually making the switch to real life motorsport. This year, Esterson will compete in Formula 2.
Formula 2 driver Christian Mansell has stunned the paddock by announcing he will pause his racing career on the eve of the new season.
The Rodin Motorsport driver announced his decision in a social media post today. “Just to let you know for personal reasons I have decided to step away from racing for a little while,” he wrote.
“Will keep you updated as to future plans,” added the 20-year-old.
Mansell was due to start his first full season at his home round in Melbourne next week. Rodin said it will “share further details on our line-up soon” as it is now in need of a new team mate for Zane Maloney.
He gave no reason for the sudden decision to put his racing career on hold. Mansell has type one diabetes and has previously been given a special dispensation to carry a mobile phone in his car so that his blood glucose levels can be monitored remotely during races.
He previously said he wants to be seen as a positive example to others with the condition. “It sounds very cliche, but it is true – if you do put your mind towards it, you genuinely can do anything,” he said.
“That’s why I’m such a big advocate for mental health, and that’s why I’m such a big advocate for sports people living with diabetes. Because at the end of the day, we can do it.
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“I think the more and more that I put myself on the world stage and show kids… I’ve gotten messages from parents saying that their kids would have never done anything sport related. I actually recently had a mother text me on my Instagram saying that their child is now doing karting. So it’s very, very sweet.”
Mansell arrived in the United Kingdom from Australia in 2020. He finished third in the GB3 series the following year, then graduated to Formula 3 the year after. He placed fifth in the championship last season, without a win.
He has started six Formula 2 races to date, all with Trident at the end of last year, peaking with sixth place in the feature race at Losail.
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F2 driver and former F3 champion, Victor Martins, has spoken out about his Alpine exit, revealing it was a mutually agreed upon decision by both parties to part ways.
