Formula 2 will lean into Formula 1’s new visual language with its next car, but Bruno Michel has been clear on one point: the category isn’t about to follow F1 down the hybrid rabbit hole.
With Formula 1 already deep into its 2026 reset — active aero, a different overtaking toolset and a very different way of extracting laptime — the natural question in the paddock has been whether the final step on the ladder would feel pressured to mirror the top tier more closely. F2 is due a new-generation car in 2027, three seasons on from the current chassis that arrived in 2024, and the series knows perception matters. The cars are part of the theatre; they’re also part of the training.
Michel, speaking in Miami, framed 2027 less as a revolution and more as a cost-conscious refresh. The plan is to update the aerodynamics to give the car a familiar look aligned with the latest F1 machines — a deliberate nod to the category’s role as the final audition for future grand prix drivers — but without turning the project into a financial arms race.
“Actually, what we’re going to do for next year’s car is an update,” Michel said. “I don’t want to make a brand new car because I want to try to limit the cost.
“Every time you make a brand new car, the problem is that not only do the teams have to buy the cars, but they also have to constitute a stock of spare parts, and it makes a big difference.
“So what we’re going to do, we’re going to change the aerodynamics of the car to try to give it a familiar look with the F1 car.”
That matters because F2 is a spec championship in the purest sense: teams aren’t constructors, they buy in, and the championship’s health depends on grids staying full and budgets staying sane. The current Dallara, overseen by F2 technical director Pierre-Alain Michot, was designed with a three-year cycle in mind. The next step is meant to evolve, not detonate.
The more interesting tension is philosophical rather than cosmetic. Formula 1 has binned DRS in favour of its new approach, but F2 is still using the drag-reduction system and has no immediate urge to bin a tool that does exactly what it says on the tin: create overtaking opportunities without rewriting the whole category.
Michel didn’t commit to DRS staying forever, but he made it clear F2 is exploring options rather than preparing a grand pivot. Push-to-pass style ideas are on the table, yet even that comes with trade-offs — detuning the engine to create a meaningful performance delta, for instance — and Michel’s tone suggested this is the kind of debate you have when you’re trying to make the product sharper without sending the invoice to the teams.
“We have different possibilities,” he said. “At the moment we are doing it for this season, we have the possibility to continue, or we can have some other systems, like Formula 1 have… that’s something we’re discussing, having some kind of push-to-pass, having some kind of different possibilities, but with the same power unit, which means that, if you want to put a push-to-pass, but then you need to detune the engine a little bit to make it efficient.
“So there are a lot of questions that we’re asking ourselves at the moment, but we’re not going to make a massive change and go hybrid, for sure.”
That final line is doing a lot of work. F2 currently runs a 600-horsepower Mecachrome V634, a 3.4-litre turbo V6 designed to last the season — intentionally “old-school” in an era when F1’s complexity is the point. While the chassis can be nudged toward F1 aesthetically, the power unit can’t be dragged into the same technical universe without exploding the cost model that keeps F2 functioning.
Michel didn’t dress it up.
“We have absolutely no resources to go in that direction. There’s no doubt about that,” he said.
Instead, F2 will continue to hang its sustainability argument on fuels rather than electrification. The series moved to a 55 per cent bio-sourced fuel blend in 2024, developed with Aramco, and has been running on 100 per cent sustainable bio-fuel since 2025. Michel says the next push is towards synthetic fuels “as soon as we can”, describing it as the strategy that makes sense for F2 — tangible progress without turning the championship into a miniature, unaffordable version of Formula 1.
“But I would say that’s more our strategy than going into a 50/50 engine as they have in Formula 1, because, in terms of Formula 2 costs, it will make absolutely no sense,” he added.
Of course, the awkward bit for F2 is that F1’s 2026 cars have forced a genuine behavioural change. It’s not just that they look different — it’s that they’re driven differently, with energy management now so central that the fastest way around can feel counterintuitive. Drivers have had to recalibrate, and the sport is still tweaking details to reduce some of the more unnatural incentives that have emerged.
That raises an uncomfortable but fair question: if F2 remains a pure “hustle it” formula — late braking, mechanical grip, elbows-out racing — does it still prepare drivers for the exact demands of modern F1?
Michel admitted it’s something the series has discussed internally, calling it a “good question”. But he pushed back on the idea that the ladder has suddenly lost its relevance, pointing to how quickly recent graduates have adapted at the top level.
“I think we’ve been showing, over the last two seasons, that we were delivering drivers that were immediately ready for Formula 1,” he said. “With F1 being different now, for sure, they will probably need a little bit more training with the Formula 1 teams than they had in the past.
“But what you also need to realise now is that most of the drivers coming to Formula 1 are part of team academies, and they have been working on a simulator… and they understand how things are working.”
And that’s the crux of it: the academy ecosystem is doing more of the “translation work” than it used to. F2 can stay affordable and raceable; F1 teams can teach the specifics of energy deployment, harvesting nuance and the new rhythm required to be quick over a stint. Michel’s view is that the best drivers will still make the jump quickly — perhaps not instantly, but quickly enough that it barely registers across a season.
“Maybe it will take a little bit more time,” he said. “But a little bit more time for a driver is what? A few laps… I’m not worried, because we are going to deliver the best drivers that can arrive in Formula 1 after that. Yes, they will need some kind of training. Definitely.”
So expect a 2027 F2 car that looks more like the thing it’s feeding, but don’t expect F2 to chase F1’s complexity for the sake of alignment. The ladder’s priority remains the same: produce drivers, keep the grids strong, and make sure the racing still looks like a fight rather than a systems check.
