The revival was motivated by the FIA's concern that the cost of motor racing at a level sufficient to progress into Formula One had grown prohibitively high for many drivers. The FIA tender to supply and operate the championship was awarded to MotorSport Vision Racing, a British company owned by former Formula One driver Jonathan Palmer, who had previously raced in the sport himself during the 1980s.
The series aimed to level the playing field entirely. All cars were prepared and entered centrally by MotorSport Vision at its Bedford Autodrome facility, and each driver worked with a single dedicated mechanic throughout the season alongside a rotating pool of engineers. This arrangement meant that a driver's financial resources had no bearing on their car's preparation or performance — an explicit design principle of the championship.
The championship used the Williams JPH1 chassis, named after Williams engineering director Patrick Head and team principal Jonathan Palmer, who oversaw its development. The car featured a carbon fibre composite monocoque survival cell designed to comply with 2005 FIA Formula One safety regulations, with head protection conforming to 2009 F1 standards. The chassis was designed by a six-man engineering team from Williams Grand Prix Engineering led by Patrick Head. Engines producing 480 bhp were developed by Mountune Racing and supplied by Audi. Cars were assembled and serviced between races at the Bedford Autodrome.
Roadwheel tethers and other detailed safety features were incorporated into the design, reflecting the contemporary safety priorities of the FIA.
In the championship's early seasons, each race weekend featured 90 minutes of free practice followed by one hour of official qualifying, with the race itself covering approximately 175 kilometres. From 2011 the format was revised to two 40-minute races per weekend, increasing the amount of competitive running available to drivers without significantly raising costs.
The 2009 season used a points structure of 10-8-6-5-4-3-2-1 for the top eight finishers. From 2010 onward the series adopted the same expanded scoring system introduced in Formula One that year, awarding points to the top ten finishers in each race. Points were awarded equally for both races in a given weekend.
Races were broadcast live by Motors TV, with repeat screenings at fixed times. The championship also produced a one-hour highlights programme distributed worldwide and appeared prominently in the Motorsports Mundial programme. Live streaming was available free of charge on the official Formula Two website, an early example of a single-seater series making all its races accessible online at no cost.
In December 2012 MotorSport Vision announced that the series would not run in 2013, bringing the championship to a close after four seasons. The FIA Formula Two name lay dormant until 2017, when the GP2 Series was rebranded under that title in a new and entirely separate championship.
The 2009–2012 FIA Formula Two Championship represented an earnest attempt to create a genuinely affordable route toward professional single-seater racing at a high level. Its fully centralised car preparation, spec chassis from a Formula One constructor, and Audi-backed engines gave it credibility, while Palmer's advocacy for cost control echoed concerns that would continue to shape junior formula discussions for years afterward. The series did not attract the driver numbers needed to sustain it financially, but its model of factory-equal preparation remained an influential reference for later discussions about how junior formulae might reduce the wealth gap in motorsport.