2021 Formula 2 Championship
Mick Schumacher was the defending drivers champion having secured the title at the final race of the 2020 season at the Bahrain International Circuit.
Shwartzman faced trouble in the early rounds, suffering collisions at both Bahrain and Monaco, but he finished in the top six in all but one race from Baku until the end of the season.
Zhou took four wins, including the feature races at Bahrain and Silverstone, but his campaign fizzled out after difficult weekends at Sochi and Jeddah.
Dan Ticktum, Théo Pourchaire, Jüri Vips, and Jehan Daruvala took two wins each, but none of them were able to sustain a season-long championship challenge.
As the championship was a spec series, all competitors raced with an identical Dallara F2 2018 chassis with a V6 turbo engine developed by Mecachrome.
[9][10] Carlin hired former DAMS driver Dan Ticktum to replace Yuki Tsunoda, who graduated to Formula One with Scuderia AlphaTauri.
[19] Charouz Racing System fielded a new line-up as Pedro Piquet vacated his seat and left Formula 2 after one year in the series, citing financial reasons.
HWA Racelab entered a new driver line-up with FIA Formula 3 graduates Matteo Nannini and Alessio Deledda.
Matteo Nannini left HWA Racelab and the championship after the first round, citing sponsorship reasons and his desire to focus on his FIA Formula 3 campaign.
[28] Nannini returned to the championship for the third round at the Baku City Circuit, replacing Campos driver Gianluca Petecof who left the team for budgetary reasons.
[29] David Beckmann left Charouz Racing System prior to the fifth round at the Autodromo Nazionale di Monza, citing his financial situation.
Williams Driver Academy member Logan Sargeant replaced Jake Hughes at HWA Racelab and Olli Caldwell took David Beckmann's seat at Campos.
[33][34] MP Motorsport featured an all-new lineup, hiring FIA Formula 3 runner up Jack Doohan and third-place finisher Clément Novalak to replace Richard Verschoor and Lirim Zendeli, both of whom left the team for financial reasons.
[35][36] Jake Hughes returned to HWA Racelab for the final race of the championship at Yas Marina Circuit, replacing Logan Sargeant.
Guanyu Zhou set the fastest time in qualifying at the Bahrain International Circuit, giving him pole position for the feature race.
Théo Pourchaire started the first sprint race from pole position by virtue of qualifying 10th, but he lost the lead to Liam Lawson at the first corner and later retired with mechanical issues.
The safety car was brought out after Lawson and Felipe Drugovich collided, and a number of drivers elected to make a pit stop.
A safety car caused by Gianluca Petecof's fire extinguisher deploying allowed Marcus Armstrong to take the lead after all drivers had completed their mandatory pit stops.
The lead then passed between Piastri and Richard Verschoor before Zhou, who was in sixth place after the pit stop phase, reclaimed first position with four laps remaining.
Théo Pourchaire was fastest in qualifying at the Circuit de Monaco, with Guanyu Zhou starting the opening sprint race from pole position.
Liam Lawson set the fastest qualifying time at the Baku City Circuit and Robert Shwartzman started the first race from pole position.
Shwartzman controlled the race to take his first podium and victory of the season, whilst Lawson and Oscar Piastri were eliminated on the first lap due to an accident caused by Felipe Drugovich.
Despite failing to score in the feature or second sprint races, Zhou maintained the lead of the championship after the third round, albeit with his advantage over Piastri cut to five points.
Oscar Piastri topped qualifying at Silverstone Circuit and Christian Lundgaard started on reverse-grid pole position for the first sprint race.
Robert Shwartzman, who started the race in fourth place, took the lead before the first corner and held his position to take his second win of the season.
David Beckmann took reverse-grid pole position for the opening sprint race but lost the lead to Jüri Vips at the first corner.
A second safety car period came later in the race when Liam Lawson broke down, allowing Piastri to regain the lead as Ticktum pitted.
Ticktum moved from tenth place up to third in the closing laps with his fresh tyres, however his progress was halted as the race ended under the safety car due to a collision between Beckmann and Viscaal.
This ensured Piastri would take his first Formula 2 feature race victory to extend his championship lead to 15 points over Guanyu Zhou.
Dan Ticktum took reverse grid pole and controlled the race from start to finish, leading Juri Vips and Robert Shwartzman, while the top 2 in the championship did not score points at all.
