[Alan 52]

I have always thought that if A1 is going to take off and achieve the level of interest and financial backing needed to sustain a world wide series of this magnitude then the drivers would have to be the best/best known representatives of their country not currently racing in Formula1.For example this might mean that GB has Anthony Davidson, Canada has Paul Tracey,New Zealand has Scott Dixon,US has AJ Almendingeretc.Without name drivers the series will struggle for credibility.The nation v. nation thing will only work if people think they are cheering the best representative of their nation.Without that its like picking the English football team without any Premier League players or America selecting its Ryder Cup team from the Nationwide Tour.It seems to me that the star quality of this years A1 field was down even before the Verstappen withdrawal with teams like Brazil (Piquet,Fittipaldi),South Africa(Schekter) and Ireland(Firman) have less known names this year than last.I am a great fan of the series and will be at Eastern Creek in February but I fear the great potential the series has is being wasted and I'm not feeling too confident about an A1 series 3.