New Zealand’s Marcus Armstrong has not had the season he would have wanted so far in Formula 2. The answer for him might be in America.

By Tyler Foster

The DAMS driver has only achieved three points finishes through twelve races at the halfway stage of the season. A 5th place finish at Bahrain, a 7th place finish at Baku with a highlight of P2 in the second sprint race at Silverstone; meaning that the Kiwi is sitting down in P14 in the Drivers’ Standings on 24 points.

While DAMS are certainly struggling this year, down in P7 in the Constructors’ Standings, this is a disappointing start from the man who finished P2 in the Formula 3 Championship in 2019 and managed a better start to the season in last year’s Formula 2 campaign.

With such a strong and competitive field this year in F2, it seems that scrutiny is evermore while opportunities less so. As a result, a number of drivers have begun to look at options outside of Europe. One of these options is IndyCar. 

America

It was Formula 2 driver Christian Lundgaard who was first to make the trip across the Atlantic to fill in for Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course in a cameo appearance. Since then other drivers have been connected to moves to America for the future and one of those is Ferrari Driver Academy’s Marcus Armstrong.

“The culture over there is cool and unique. We went just to Nashville for the weekend”, Armstrong said after recently attending the inaugural Music City Grand Prix in Nashville.

IndyCar

When asked about his intentions for racing next season, Armstrong said, “Of course it’s exciting. The option is certainly there but whether I come back for another season of Formula 2 is still up in the air. We are trying to figure things out at the moment but with the season being so long it has made things more difficult. To be honest if the [Formula 2] season was more compact and shorter we probably would know by now what we are doing next year.”

“I would love to go to America but we still have a long way to go this season and things can and will change. I’m just focusing on things here at the moment and looking forward to racing for the rest of the year.”

Rosenqvist

After multiple European drivers have managed the successful transition to IndyCar over the last few seasons, including Marcus Ericsson, Felix Rosenqvist and Romain Grosjean, the idea of IndyCar is slowly becoming more appealing to those currently racing in Europe’s many junior categories.

Speaking to NBC Sports in the United States a few weeks ago, Felix Rosenqvist spoke about the topic. 

“I saw Marcus Armstrong and Christian Lundgaard are now looking. Not only Indy Lights drivers trying to get in, but it’s like all the guys in F2 who think they can’t get into F1 for different reasons. It’s so difficult to get into F1. There’s so much politics and money, and those guys obviously want to have a career, and they start looking here now.”

With four rounds remaining in a long Formula 2 season, there is still a way to go for these drivers to decide their futures. We travel to Monza and the Temple of Speed this weekend to see F2 action after the long Summer break.

Hi there! Like our content? Consider supporting us by following the banner below, so we can continue reporting on all the single-seater feeder series. This is our only stream of income so everything is welcome.