GP2 races @ Hungary 2014

[skells22]

and now for the 2nd part of the busy part for GP2, off to the Hunagoring before taking a summer break.

[chunterer]

Unlikely as it seems possible for mr consistency a couple of difficult races for Palmer would set the title race alight!

[Razzzor]

It's pretty much sewn up now unless Palmer gets some real bad luck. But I'm interested in watching Evans, Vandoorne and Marciello storm back up the points order as their speed is becoming more consistent. Seems like Marciello, Evans and Palmer have been in a different race to some of the others lately with Vandoorne finally getting back to the top lately as well.

All three could displace Cecotto, who's far higher in points than he should be, and although Nasr has got a lot of points, it's mostly from consistency and top 5s.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

I think catching Nasr will be a big ask for those guys, as he is consistently around the top 5 in the feature race, and as a result normally has a good chance of winning race 2 and if he's not around 5th for race 1, he's further up.

[skells22]

I wonder if Palmer and Cecotto might be asked to see the clark of the course after this FP is done as i just been told there has been a contract and Cecotto is back in the pits to check his car

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Felipe Nasr claimed his maiden pole

1 Nasr
2 Dillmann
3 Pic
4 Sato
5 Vandoorne
6 Palmer
7 Marciello
8 Cecotto Jr
9 Sorensen
10 Richelmi
(11 Evans, 12 Leal, 15 Coletti)

[p-matt]

Say what you want about Vandoorne, Evans and Marciello's speed, but Nasr's consistency and driving style is just perfect for F1 now. And he's marrying that with raw pace in quali.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Originally Posted by p-matt

Say what you want about Vandoorne, Evans and Marciello's speed, but Nasr's consistency and driving style is just perfect for F1 now. And he's marrying that with raw pace in quali.

Having been a Nasr fan since he fell off the road at Thruxton 2010 in British F3 (it's funnier the more you see it), I believe he has a near-perfect mix of natural speed, consistency, racecraft and smoothness, and his qually pace isn't bad either! And if you watch his drive to dominate the 2011 British F3 feature race at Brands Hatch, you'll rate him. Felipe>Felipe, if you get what I mean

[Juntos]

Suprise, surprise, surprise, Arthur Pic!

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Lol Nasr is still my bet for a victory. In race 2

[el_cat]

Coletti and Marciello both penalised 20s........

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/115165

Thought Coletti's was a little harsh, his clash with Leal was 50-50 I thought

[maximus]

I don't rate Palmer that highly but Nasr whining about him again, just remember what you did in turn 2 to him twice yesterday eh Felipe?

Edit: Now being investigated? Really!?

[maximus]

No further action, sense has been restored. I still can't believe a penalty isn't being handed out for the Cecotto and Colleti incident.

[p-matt]

Originally Posted by maximus

I don't rate Palmer that highly but Nasr whining about him again, just remember what you did in turn 2 to him twice yesterday eh Felipe?

Edit: Now being investigated? Really!?

Agree with what you say. But what more does Palmer have to do for people to rate him? Right now he is the most complete all round driver in any F1 feeder series, and demonstrates that week in week out. Just because it's taken him more time to get there in a pretty complex car doesn't mean that he doesn't have all the ingredients to excel in F1.

[maximus]

Good drives from the top 3 Vandoorne is definately something special. Strong drive from Palmer too, some gutsy stuff considering he is leading the championship.

Edit: Nasr still at it, come on man!

[Razzzor]

Palmer was pretty sensational in that second race huh, passing more cars that anyone else, even passing Nasr. Was expecting more from Marciello and Evans but I guess you can't always get it right, especially on a sh-t track you can't pass on.

Vandoorne doing that fastest lap on the last lap was pretty amazing. I'm surprised it's taken him all this time to win again after he dominated his debut race.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Vandoorne had race 1 at Hockenheim sown up, but didn't take his chances near the end.

[gomick]

Palmer was impressive - silly question, will he be Formula 1 material in 2015 or will he miss the boat? He didn't hold back on the podium saying Nasr was crying when he got passed

[p-matt]

I get the feeling Palmer and Nasr will be teammates somewhere in F1 next year, either in Marussia or Caterham. They really have a lot of history between them now; I don't get the sense they were best buds last year as teammates.

Vandoorne is certainly good now that he's managed to control his tyres a bit more. But he's still lacking a bit on wheel to wheel combat for me. The fact he couldn't pass the clearly slower Dillmann yesterday showed that. But he's clearly brilliant, McLaren are training him well, and he'll be a definite championship contender in GP2 next year if he stays on.

[chunterer]

The problem I'm having with this series at the moment is that far too many journeymen are being made to look a lot better than they really are and the properly talented guys aren't able to get the best out of the cars...

Palmer is definitely making the most of it but it's clear his car has so much more balance, poise and grip than anything else out there most of the time.

No wonder Nasr is teed off. He knows full well he's the better driver (as I'm sure do quite a few of them) yet Jolyon can drive round him at will in a far superior package in race trim.

The fact that Sorensen can come in and do a reasonable job without any testing and in a currently uncompetitive team is also interesting. Plus it shows his natural ability and what a waste of time his Tech 1 drive is in FR3.5..

The Stewards were a bit iffy ladt weekend. They got the Palmer Nasr Sunday incident right but then penalised the Racing Engineering guys and noone else?

Cecotto was back to his boneheaded best and Dillman's last lap lunge was well ott.

[olev]

Originally Posted by chunterer

The fact that Sorensen can come in and do a reasonable job without any testing and in a currently uncompetitive team is also interesting. Plus it shows his natural ability and what a waste of time his Tech 1 drive is in FR3.5...

Couldn't agree more

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

I feel the same as Chunterer. Palmer won 3 Formula Palmer Audi races in 49 starts, and finished 2nd in Formula 2 to Dean Stoneman in 2010. And after 2 reasonable seasons in GP2 (highs and lows), he is suddenly the clear series leader.

Felipe Nasr dominated the 2011 British F3 series, is a FMBW Europe champ in a strong field, but isn't quite good enough to challenge Palmer. Imo he's one of the best in the field - even this field with your Vandoorne's, Marciello's, Evans', etc - but all of these quality talents are being destroyed by Palmer. The fact that 50% of the races are reverse grid doesn't help.

[bella]

i think dams are car magicians. their 3.5 is as magical as their gp2 car. i don't necessarily get why, given how similar all the cars are set up in a spec series and how long the current version of both cars have been around. but they're epic.

as long as your names aren't richelmi and nato

i think palmer suffers from the same inevitable prejudice and clouded judgement as piquet jnr did. back in the day, young piquet got a lot of stick for daddy setting up a team for him. he had the same people running him in any car, and a decent amount of money was thrown at the team to make sure they had plenty of testing/did a decent job. palmer's old man effectively did the same for him - let's face it, f2 was in a roundabout way set up for him, albeit in a "theres no market for the kind of thing my son and others need for their next step, so i'll create it" way. both situations create environments outside of the norm, and make it difficult to say "well he did x in a y car, so he knows his stuff" and that sort of thing.

in the defence of the people doing the judging (me included), when someone acts as if they have something to hide, invariably they do.

[p-matt]

Originally Posted by chunterer

The problem I'm having with this series at the moment is that far too many journeymen are being made to look a lot better than they really are and the properly talented guys aren't able to get the best out of the cars...



Palmer is definitely making the most of it but it's clear his car has so much more balance, poise and grip than anything else out there most of the time.



No wonder Nasr is teed off. He knows full well he's the better driver (as I'm sure do quite a few of them) yet Jolyon can drive round him at will in a far superior package in race trim.



The fact that Sorensen can come in and do a reasonable job without any testing and in a currently uncompetitive team is also interesting. Plus it shows his natural ability and what a waste of time his Tech 1 drive is in FR3.5..

I think that does a disservice to Palmer. Just because he hasn't looked stellar earlier in his career doesn't mean he's not a worthy championship leader now. Ok the DAMS is a very hooked up car and the team really understand the tyres, but it's all down to the man to deliver, and you can't say Jolyon hasn't done that. Certainly, Ericsson,who was once highly rated on here, didn't, and it's not like Richelmi is on the podium every weekend.

I've been so impressed with how Palmer has absorbed the pressure of leading the championship and has delivered consistent weekends with the right balance of aggression and playing the championship. And this is coming from someone that didn't rate him before. The guy can qualify, overtake, manage his tyres, and has sublime race craft. That alone makes him more complete than most of the recent F1 graduates. And to think that it only clicked for him a year and a half ago. Without the two years before that when he struggled, you'd be praising this guy right now.

I don't believe the car is the factor here - it seems to me that Jolyon is doing the best job, followed by Nasr. Vandoorne, Marciello, Evans, Coletti have all had their moments but they aren't delivering consistently.

[ivanalesi]

I was expecting Palmer to be fading by now, he's consistent. The guy just improved, it's not only the experience. However I agree on the talent.
Btw, do you remember Melker? He did the same from FR2.0, where he was totally backmarker to be leader in GP3 & F3 with Mucke, I think he got podiums in GP2 with ORT(talking about team influence) and he was very good in FR3.5. All this from being a backmarker in FR2.0! Drivers change, it's hard, but they can change.