F2 not expecting maximum capacity grid in 2018
The application process for teams hoping to enter the 2018 Formula 2 season has opened and series boss Bruno Michel expects all the existing squads to re-sign.
Start of the Formula 2 Race
FIA Formula 2
The Frenchman, who is also in charge of GP3, says several teams from outside the championship have also expressed an interest in entering the Formula 1 support series.
The 2018 season forms the start of F2's three-year cycle of entries and the championship is also introducing its first new car since 2011, which will be modelled on the current generation of F1 machinery.
"We've been approached, number one by all our present teams, and number two by teams coming from other categories," Michel told Motorsport.com. "And by teams who want to create something from scratch."
F2 will be contacting the applicants next week to ask for background information to ensure they can commit to the three-year cycle, which will run until the end of the 2020 season.
Michel explained that this was a necessary step to make sure all the teams hoping to enter can have a sustainable business approach and do not have to rely on signing drivers with budgets that may not be able to complete a full season.
"[We will be asking for] historical information, sporting information – most of the teams we know already – and also financial information; a business plan," he said.
"Stuff like this to make sure that they can be solid over the next three years."
The 2017 F2 grid only features 20 cars – the lowest number of competitors since it began as GP2 in 2005.
When asked if he was hoping to attract a maximum capacity field of 26 cars for the 2018 season, Michel admitted he is not expecting to hit that figure for next year.
He said: "We will be aiming for what the market can support now and we need to be quite careful, because in the past having 26 cars was not a problem, now the market is a little bit more difficult.
"So I don't think we'll go with 26 cars, at least for the first year. Now we've got 20 cars, probably we'll go [to] somewhere between those two figures. But I reserve my rights to see what we want to do at the end of the day."
The new F2 car will be revealed at the Monza round of the 2017 championship in September, and Michel reckons it is helping to attract interest from new squads.
"Definitely, because for a new team it's less risky to come in and be at the same level as everybody else because they have to start to work with a new car," he said.
On the topic of cost control in F2, Michel described the new car as "an investment" and explained the series had stipulated that it would only need a small number of people – 12 – to run it alongside existing restrictions, such as a wind-tunnel testing limit.
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