F2 to support F1 in Saudi Arabia, F3 gets new Zandvoort, Austin slots

The revamped Formula 2 and Formula 3 championship calendars have been released for the 2021 season.

F2 and F3 will undergo significant changes in 2021 as part of a major cost-saving package, a move headlined by revised schedules featuring three races, with the championships continuing to support F1 but on separate weekends for the first time. 

F2’s calendar will comprise 24 races across eight rounds, kicking off on 26-28 March in Bahrain.

The second round will take place in Monaco in May, with the championship also supporting F1 in Baku and the British Grand Prix at Silverstone before a month’s break follows in August.

The F2 season will resume with races in Monza and Russia and include a visit Saudi Arabia for the first time for the inaugural F1 grand prix in Jeddah, before rounding out the campaign at the Abu Dhabi finale on 5 December.

F2 CEO Bruno Michel said: “As announced last week, one of our costs control measures for 2021 is to limit the number of rounds which will automatically lessen the teams’ budget. But thanks to F1 and the FIA’s support, we will now have three races per event. This means that although we have reduced the number of rounds to eight, the season will still consist of twenty-four races overall as per the past three seasons.

“The 2021 F2 provisional calendar is a mixture of European and overseas circuits, with venues that have always been very popular amongst the drivers and the fans alike. The addition of Jeddah in Saudi Arabia makes it all the more exciting. I’m also pleased to confirm that once again all F2 events will run alongside Formula 1.”

F3 will begin its 21-race, seven round campaign in Barcelona on 7-9 May, and go on to support F1 at events in France, Austria, Hungary and Belgium.

For the first time, F3 will also visit Zandvoort to feature on the support bill for the returning Dutch Grand Prix in September, before rounding out the season with a first trip to the Circuit of the Americas on 22-24 October.

“As part of our cost control measures for 2021 which we detailed last week, we have decided to limit the number of rounds per season in order to reduce our teams’ budget," Michel added. 

“Thanks to F1 and the FIA’s support, we will now have three races per event which means that we may have gone from nine to seven rounds, but we have effectively increased the number of races overall from eighteen to twenty-one. This will automatically increase the mileage over one season which is something that needed to be addressed as well.

“I’m quite interested to see the F3 cars run at Zandvoort and Austin. These are two exciting new venues for us. We will also go back to Le Castellet where we saw great racing in previous years. F3 may no longer be racing on the same weekends as F2, I am pleased to confirm that all F3 events will take place alongside Formula 1."