Surtees: The Official Website

Rebirth of Formula 2
Snetterton 5 & 6 May
The FIA inspired Formula 2 programme took to the track with a full grid of 24 cars for two days of shake down tests. It was very much a getting to know you programme for all concerned with the Jonathan Palmer team that had been put together to run the Series, together with entrants and drivers all coming together for the first time. The achievement of the joint Palmer/Williams companies in putting this together in the short time span available was to be applauded.
Henry Surtees was having his first taste of 400bhp and having to switch off for two days from his current A level programme and think of the challenge ahead. This was very much a time for drivers to get together with their new car, working in quite a different team structure to the norm with purely one mechanic per car and one engineer per three cars being there to look after their needs.
Henry’s programme went smoothly with some delays for what were acceptable problems with a new car. It is a programme which has to be entered realising that a season’s racing is before you and you have one car and a limited amount of testing before the first race in Valencia on 29-31 May. Times on this occasion were not that important, that will get more serious when the whole show moves to Silverstone on 18 May and after the cars have had the small number of modifications done to them that showed up in the testing.
Both myself and Henry were delighted with the appearance of the car which has a colour scheme reminiscent of the Surtees European Championship winning Formula 2 car of 1972. He revelled in the amount of power available and the general reactions of the car. His main disappointment being that the two runs he got on new tyres had to be aborted because of red flags or other problems. But the data was very reassuring.
All in all I think the very high quality and international field all enjoyed themselves and most importantly were able to prove to those pundits who suggested it wouldn’t happen, but they got it wrong.
I look forward to this being a welcome addition to motor racing not only for the very close and exciting racing I am sure we are going to see but because of the benefits it can bring to young talented racing drivers in introducing them onto the world scene.
John Surtees
7 May 2009