Jake Hughes will make his Formula 2 debut in Russia this weekend at HWA Racelab in place of Giuliano Alesi, who will switch to MP Motorsport.
Hughes has competed at Formula 3 level since 2016 and for the last two seasons has raced with HWA Racelab, taking three wins to place seventh in the standings.
He will now make the step up to the secondary category for this weekend’s event at the Sochi Autodrom where he will join Artem Markelov at the squad.
“I am really looking forward to my first races in Formula 2,” said Hughes.
“The Formula 3 season finished recently after nine race weekends in eleven weeks, so I am totally in the racing routine.
“I will have to get used to the cars first, as they have significantly more power than the Formula 3 cars. But I am looking forward to taking on this challenge.”
Alesi graduated to Formula 2 with Trident in 2019 and for 2020 switched to HWA Racelab, but failed to add to his points tally after opening the delayed campaign with sixth in Austria.
He will now replace ex-Honda protégé Nobuharu Matsushita at MP Motorsport from the Russia round onwards.
“I am super happy, excited and most of all motivated to be working with MP and starting this new adventure in Formula 2”, said Alesi.
“So I’m really looking forward to Sochi, and can’t wait to get in the car and get started.”
Matsushita has taken seven wins in Formula 1’s feeder series, most recently in the Feature Race in Spain last month, series since joining under its GP2 Series guise in 2015.
