Pit Debrief and other media outlets recently spoke to Sander Dorsman, James Robinson and Adrian Campos, F3 and/or F2 team principals at MP Motorsport, Invicta Racing and Campos Racing respectively.
During the media roundtable, a number of topics got discussed following the Saudi Arabian round of the 2025 F2 season.
Robinson firmly against a cost cap introduction in F2
Formula 1 introduced a cost cap in 2021 as the sport attempted to cut costs, and more importantly try to make it a more even playing field for teams such as Haas.
On track, the field has certainly got a lot closer over the last 12 months as Red Bull’s 2023 advantage was wiped out by McLaren and Ferrari in 2024. Teams like Haas and Alpine made big strides last year. Williams have done the same so far this campaign. Qualifying continues to be very exciting.
However, Invicta Racing boss in F2 James Robinson is firmly against a cost cap getting introduced for various reasons when the team bosses were asked about what changes they would consider making.
“I definitely wouldn’t advocate a cost cap, because I think personally, the cost cap has been a complete waste of time in Formula 1. I look at the company’s house filings from the F1 teams, and I don’t see any material drop in operating expenditure. They’ll tell you something different, but that’s just my personal opinion. I think cost caps are really hard to enforce.
“And I think from a sporting perspective, I think we’d like to see, I think we want this to be a meritocracy. I think, especially in Formula 2 and Formula 3, where the purpose is to identify the best drivers for Formula 1.”
Robinson also suggests changes to the VSC rules in F2 and F3
A controversial aspect of the categories below Formula 1 is the fact a a mandatory pit stop counts under a VSC once the pit window is open. If you pit under a Safety Car it does not count for a mandatory tyre change.
Zak O’Sullivan took full advantage of the VSC rules in Monaco to take a victory in the F2 Feature race last year from 15th on the grid.
As Robinson points out, it can led to skewed results when a driver who has controlled the whole races loses a win through no fault of their own.
“And I think the VSC and Safety Car pitting rules and disparity between the two is something that creates race results that sometimes don’t reflect the performance of the drivers. You can be very lucky and very, or very unlucky.
“Now, I think over the course of a season, it probably balances itself out. But I think it is a shame sometimes that the fastest guy doesn’t often win the race if there’s an inopportune VSC.”
Too many strict rules on overtaking, says James Robinson
Formula 1 has struggled in recent years to set out a form set of rules regarding overtaking, as seen towards the end of 2024, and this year as well.
Robinson brought up incidents at the first chicane as something that the series could improve on in the future.
“And I think also, we saw, especially in Jeddah, some of the things around the chicane. I think some of the guidance around overtaking has been, is probably a little bit over-prescriptive. I think to let them race would be certainly my personal thought towards this.”
Happy with things overall
Despite the three points he mentions above, Invicta Racing boss James Robinson is happy with things overall and the quality of F2 right now.
“But I think generally speaking, the championship does a really excellent job in producing so exciting racing. You just have to watch Formula 2 to know that. I mean, everybody on this call knows that better than anyone.
“So I think it would be, any regulation change from my point of view would be relatively small. I don’t think there is a huge amount that needs to be done.”
The issue of track limits in F2 and F3 alongside Formula 1
Adrian Campos brought up the issue of track limits. It has been a consistent thorn in the side of the FIA in recent years. However, solutions have been coming and improving things. A gravel strip introduced at the Red Bull Ring proved to help a lot last year.
Nonetheless, the Campos Racing team principal believes better compromises can be found.
“Overall, I would like to add just something that it’s been discussed a lot in the last years, which is something more general, not only for our championships, which is the track limits.
“It’s a mess to have the qualifyings and the races looking more at the track limits than pure speed and trying to be as quick as possible.
“So yeah, from our side, we wish to to see in the future more tracks that when you go outside of the track, it’s just slower. You don’t need to look.
“If a guy went out and by two centimetres, you’d delete one lap, which could be a pole position. At the end, it’s very difficult for the driver to control this.”
Sander Dorsman on letting the drivers race
MP Motorsport team boss Sander Dorsman is a believer in letting the drivers race. The Dutchman thinks penalties can be too harsh at times. In races where the gaps are generally quite close, a 5 or 10-second penalty can be very costly. Former MP Motorsport F3 and current Rodin F2 driver Alex Dunne has found that out.
“Yeah, not much to add, to be honest. I agree with James [Robinson]. I think, yeah, sometimes you see that little, yeah, not even incidents, but lead to penalties and especially that could be quite severe penalties if you look at the final results.
“And I think it’s also important to let the drivers race. And that’s what we all enjoy.
“I think if you look back at the races in Bahrain and Jeddah, there were fantastic races, and I think that’s in the end what we all want to see.
“So yeah, those penalties sometimes are not helping us.”
