F1 snore-fest shows new cars badly needed: Up/Down Japanese GP
The 2025 Japanese GP showed a much more extreme change than next year's technical regulations is needed to make racing at classic F1 tracks interesting
Fifty years on from the inaugural European F2 championship, the iconic name is back with two new race series.
While the first – FIA Formula 2 – reclaims its position of yesteryear as the final rung on the motor sport ladder before Formula 1, European F2 Classic is a flashback to the ferocious yet light-hearted days of ’60s to ’80s F2 competition. When an opportunity arose to race the latter, it couldn’t be refused.
Even for a man with the calibre of Motor Sport track tester Dickie Meaden, though, the prospect of racing a Chevron B42 was a daunting one. Spa-Francorchamps was ordinarily wet, a wheel-spinning 300 horsepower was poised beneath the flex of a foot and lined up alongside were 17 other priceless F2 cars.
Experiencing peak-era F2 was a thrill, as Meaden writes in the September issue, available now from our shop in print or digital form.
Download the app to read it instantly.
The 2025 Japanese GP showed a much more extreme change than next year's technical regulations is needed to make racing at classic F1 tracks interesting
Max Verstappen looks set to be pitched into a hectic, high-stakes battle for F1 victories in 2025, between at least four teams. How will fans react if he resorts to his trademark strongman tactics?
Red Bull has a new team-mate for Max Verstappen in 2025 – punchy F1 firebrand Liam Lawson could finally be the raw racer it needs in the second seat
The 2024 F1 season was one of the wildest every seen, for on-track action and behind-the-scenes intrigue – James Elson predicts how 2025 could go even further