Formula Two actually first started in 1948 when the FIA established it as a smaller and cheaper complement to the Grand Prix cars of the era. Engines were either 2 litre normally aspirated or 750 cc supercharged and attracted new smaller manufacturers like Cooper.

In fact Formula One was so expensive that in 1952 and 1953 all World Championship Grand Prix races were run with Formula Two cars.

A new 1.5 litre F2 was introduced in 1957 with entries from Ferrari with the famous shark nose Dino, Porsche, and Cooper. F2 became 1 litre from 1964 to 1966 but then as the power gap was too much a 1.6 litre F2 ran from 1967 to 1971, with the 220 bhp Cosworth FVA powering many cars.

At this time many F1 drivers also drove in F2 and indeed Jackie Ickx made his GP debut at the Nurburgring in a F2 car. Tragically Jim Clark was killed in 1968 during an F2 race at Hockenheim.

In 1967 the FIA introduced a European F2 championship, won by Jacky Ickx, and by 1972 F2 made its final step to 2 litre engines, which continued until the end of F2 in 1984. BMW 4 cylinder engines dominated in the early years until 1976 when pure race engines were permitted which lead to powerful 300bhp V6 engines from Renault and later Honda, which often had the edge over the 4 cylinder BMWs.

The European Championship ran from 1967 until 1984, and every champion progressed to Formula 1, some extremely successfully. Just take a look at the heritage of F2 and the roll call of famous names who raced in it and became champions: