Frederik Vesti will make his Formula 2 debut with ART after the team announced his promotion to the category with them this season.
The 20-year-old moves up from Formula 3 with the same ART team he raced for in the third-tier championship last year. After two seasons in F3, will compete alongside Theo Pourchaire in his first Formula 2 campaign.Together, Vesti and ART secured fourth place in last year’s FIA Formula 3 championship, with five podiums and a race victory. He also finished fourth in his first season in the series in 2020 with Prema, taking three wins in his debut year.
Vesti described stepping up to Formula 2 as a “big thing” for his career.
“We worked incredibly hard in F3 last season and to continue the progress into Formula 2 together is important for my next step,” said Vesti. “Now it is crucial to understand all the small details of Formula 2 to achieve the maximum in 2022.”
Vesti’s graduation to Formula 2 comes after Mercedes signed him to their junior driver programme last January. Prior to stepping up into the premier F3 championship, Vesti had taken the Formula Regional European title in 2019 with Prema, securing 13 wins along the way.
ART CEO and president Sebastien Philippe said that Vesti’s promotion to Formula 2 was a “logical” next step in their partnership.
“The first year of the partnership was fruitful for both sides with several podiums and a win that saw Fred end the year in fourth place with a total of 17 top tens in 20 races,” said Philippe. “Some details kept him from fighting for the title, but we know he has what it takes to do so.”
“After two years of F3, the logical continuation of our collaboration goes through F2. The off-season testing has met our expectations and in 2022 we will aim to fight at the forefront”
Vesti completed over 1,300 kilometres of testing in a Formula 2 car with ART during December’s post-season test in Abu Dhabi. He finished the two day test having set the 18th quickest time of the 22 drivers who took part.
Formula 2 drivers confirmed so far
| Team | Driver | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| ART | Theo Pourchaire | Frederik Vesti |
| Campos | Ralph Boschung | TBA |
| Carlin | Logan Sargeant | Liam Lawson |
| Charouz | Cem Bolukbasi | TBA |
| DAMS | Roy Nissany | Ayumu Iwasa |
| Hitech | Juri Vips | Marcus Armstrong |
| MP | Felipe Drugovich | Clement Novalak |
| Prema | Jehan Daruvala | Dennis Hauger |
| Trident | Calan Williams | TBA |
| Van Amersfoort | Jake Hughes | Amaury Cordeel |
| Virtuosi | Jack Doohan | Marino Sato |
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Mashiat (@mashiat)
21st January 2022, 16:18
Not a bad driver by any means, but I expect him to be shown the way by his teammate.