Formula 2’s new chassis for 2024 will be designed to better suit female racing drivers as well as males, the series’ CEO Bruno Michel has confirmed.
FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem told media last month that future junior single-seater cars “had to accommodate” for the physical differences between men and women. Michel told media including RaceFans work is already underway with FIA technical figures to meet that goal.
“We are taking that very seriously, of course, and especially because it’s coming from Ben Sulayem,” Michel said.
Some female racing drivers have described F1 cars as being easier to handle than the machines used in support series because the top-flight machines have power steering. Tatiana Calderon, who returned to F2 this year, is among those to have made that observation.
W Series champion Jamie Chadwick has voiced concerns about the physicality of high-level single-seater cars and found it difficult to use a standard steering rack in Formula Regional whenever W Series’ lighter one was not in place, to the point where it had “scared me off ever struggling physically in a car”.
But Michel is now “working very closely with the FIA” on the next cars for F2 and for Formula 3 – the latter due in 2025 – and says power steering “of course, is something that we’re looking into” if it can viably be incorporated while meeting other design targets.
There are no women among the current roster of drivers F2 calls upon to drive its development car, and who would likely be responsible for the first on-track testing of the upcoming new design.
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“We will see what we have to do in regards of the conclusions that we will make on this new car,” Michel continued. “We know that we need to make sure that it’s not going to be an issue for female drivers, for sure. That’s the whole idea of what we are doing.
“But on the other end, we don’t want to complex-ify the car if we don’t need to do it. So it’s always something, it’s a tricky one. But we’ll make the right decision and, as I said, we will make the decision with the FIA.”
Costs will influence whether F2 deems power steering suitable to add to its cars. Other elements of car design are a priority for the series’ operating company Formula Motorsport Limited to ensure teams will want to purchase the…
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