Formula 2 and Formula 3 announce new Sporting regulations

The FIA Formula 2 and Formula 3 championship announced the new weekend format and changes to the sporting regulations for 2021, which have been approved by the World Motor Sport Council.

The two championships announced earlier that, from 2021, each F2 and F3 event will comprise three races instead of two which means that the weekend format had to be revised.

The Friday will remain unchanged in both series, with one Free Practice session of 45 minutes and one qualifying session of 30 minutes.
However, the rest of the weekend is set to go through key modifications. In F2, two sprint races will take place on Saturday and will both consist of 120 kilometres or 45 minutes, whichever comes first.

The Feature Race will now take place on Sunday morning ahead of the Formula 1 Grand Prix. It will be still one hour long or 170 kilometres will keep a compulsory pitstop, in which all four tyres must be changed.

In F3, two races will take place on Saturday (Race 1 and Race 2) whilst Race 3 will occur on Sunday morning ahead of the Formula 1 Grand Prix. All three races will be forty minutes long.

The starting grid is set to spice racing up in both championships. In F2, The starting grid of Saturday’s Sprint Race 1 will be determined by reversing the top 10 finishers of Friday’s Qualifying session results. In contrast to that, the starting grid of Saturday’s Sprint Race 2 will be determined by reversing the top 10 finishers of Sprint Race 1. The starting order for Race 3 will be determined by the results of the qualifying session.

In F3, the qualifying session will play the exactly same role while the starting grid of Saturday’s Race 1 will be determined by reversing the top 12 finishers of Friday’s Qualifying session. The starting grid of Race 2 will be determined by reversing the top 12 finishers of Saturday’s Race 1.

The points attribution will not be dissimilar to what the two championships use currently. In F2, Sprint Race 1 and Sprint Race 2’s top eight finishers will be awarded points (15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1) while the Top ten finishers of the Feature Race will score (25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1).

In F3, the Top 10 finishers will be able to collect points (15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1). The top ten classified drivers of Race 3 will then be awarded more points (25, 18, 15, 12, 10, 8, 6, 4, 2, 1).

In both series, two points will be awarded to the driver who sets the fastest lap in each race. Any driver who is not classified in the top ten positions at the end of the race will not be eligible for points awarded for fastest lap.

When it comes to the tyre allocations, F2 drivers will be allocated six sets of dry-weather tyres per weekend instead of five. They will have four “prime” specification sets and two of the “option” specification. Each driver will also be provided with three sets of wet-weather tyres.

In F3, each driver will have five sets of dry-weather tyres (one more than previously) and two sets of wet-weather tyres available at each event.