GP2 Singapore: Champion Crowned!

[chunterer]

Well Davide Valsecchi claimed this year's GP2 title in a solid yet highly unspectacular fashion in Sinagpore this weekend.

Max Chilton..... and Giedo van der Garde claimed the 2 wins.

[p-matt]

GP2 Singapore surely?!

I wouldn't knock Valsecchi's championship win. It all came in the early rounds when he clearly had the speed and tyre management when no one else had.

[bella]

title duly changed. pull your finger out chunty

fair play to valsecchi, he really was a class apart at the start of the season as p-matt said and kept scoring points in the meantime. if you look at any of the opposition and ask if they did anything more to deserve the title, then imo it's a no.

i don't know where valsecchi might go from there though - and to a similar degree, razia too.

[p-matt]

Razia tested with Force India, and he has a bit of cash behind him. I wouldn't be surprised if he has an F1 3rd driver role with someone.

Valsecchi is in a very similar position to Pantano after he won GP2. Neither had any F1 proposects at all. Who did Giorgio end up doing in '09? I'd say Davide will be linked to an Indycar ride, but it will fall through exactly the same way it did for Filippi this year.

I'm really not sure what to make of Max Chilton after these last few rounds. He's shown exceptional pace, but he had done nothing in his career before that. Now Daddy's money has got him a Marussia reserve driver role, I would hate to think he would be a race driver there next year. But it's looking likely.

[chunterer]

I guess Chilton's got a bit of an age and financial momentum behind him over the likes of Valsecchi or Razia (and other long time series runners) even if he no more skills than they have?

[bella]

Originally Posted by p-matt

I'm really not sure what to make of Max Chilton after these last few rounds. He's shown exceptional pace, but he had done nothing in his career before that. Now Daddy's money has got him a Marussia reserve driver role, I would hate to think he would be a race driver there next year. But it's looking likely.

i agree about the pace he's demonstrated in gp2, it's been good to see that the investment in his career is proving to be justified. is there really much point in chasing around in gp2 for another year though? if the chilton money secures the future of marussia and their employees for another season heck, let him have a go. pic's got enough financial muscle and has built a good reputation to go on and score himself a better seat further up the grid.

[NaBUru38]

There's too few seats in F1. Even decent drivers like Kovalainen and Glock get poor rides. Some of these drivers should better look to find a place in sports car racing.

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by NaBUru38

There's too few seats in F1. Even decent drivers like Kovalainen and Glock get poor rides. Some of these drivers should better look to find a place in sports car racing.

The difference between Chilton and most of the rest though is that he already has a foot in the door at Marussia.
After that, as long as he performs well against whoever is his teammate when he gets promoted (which I think he will at some point, probably 2014) then he can take his money to a better team.

Personally I think Kovalainen and Glock would be better off moving to sportscars. Both are just wasting their talent in F1 right now, Toyota and Audi may be glad of some fresh F1 blood in their sportcar ranks.

[bella]

you realise there's not enough paid factory sportscar drives to go around as it is? it's all very well saying that but the reality of le mans for example is that there's two manufacturers, with very few seats available to drivers who don't already have their feet under the tables.

[Zen]

Originally Posted by chunterer

I guess Chilton's got a bit of an age and financial momentum behind him over the likes of Valsecchi or Razia (and other long time series runners) even if he no more skills than they have?

Valsecchi winning, Chilton getting a spot at Marussia, Fillipi coming back in from the wilderness and winning Van der Garde not winning the championship all this is a bad case scenario for GP2, whats the point of this 'Feeder series' the only way into F1 for a few years to come is a big bag of money, talent is not needed because they will be driving an H R T or a Marussia, or a Caterham. The GP2 teams will have a difficult winter trying to sell their over priced seats. Auto GP will be supplying at least one F1 driver next season at a fraction of the cost of GP2 and prize money to boot.

GP2 is going down R I P

[Go_For_Pole]

Well, same is true for WSR generally, one driver wins the title, the Red Bull Jr gets F1 promotion regardless

[racecontrol]

Originally Posted by Zen

The GP2 teams will have a difficult winter trying to sell their over priced seats. Auto GP will be supplying at least one F1 driver next season at a fraction of the cost of GP2 and prize money to boot.

GP2 is going down R I P

It is really going to be difficult for teams... GP2 costs too much (and GP3 also).
Coloni has been in the game from the F300 times, but now is also over..

[Zen]

Originally Posted by Go_For_Pole

Well, same is true for WSR generally, one driver wins the title, the Red Bull Jr gets F1 promotion regardless

True , where's the incentive to pay millions into the F1 dream when the drivers of the future are already picked... I just hope Calado is one of them...

I congratulate Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and his management for not getting sucked into the expensive dead end world of GP2 and winning Auto GP....thus getting an F1 chance.........well done to him he deserves his it..

Supernova also proved there is more to racing than GP2

[bella]

Originally Posted by Zen

Supernova also proved there is more to racing than GP2

looking at it from a business point, you have to go wherever there's drivers and wherever there's enough money to pay the bills. if gp2 doesn't do that for a team then it's time to switch things up or go to a different series. which they've done.

and yeah, fair play to quaife hobbs for going elsewhere and getting off the treadmill - is that almost a luxury though? don't drivers who don't already have their feet under the table have to try and impress people that matter. and that's a bit difficult to do in a series without a strong opposition and in its first few seasons surely? you can't really cite the grosjean example because he was in a totally different boat.

blazing a trail is definitely more difficult than it sounds.

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by bella

you realise there's not enough paid factory sportscar drives to go around as it is? it's all very well saying that but the reality of le mans for example is that there's two manufacturers, with very few seats available to drivers who don't already have their feet under the tables.

Yeah it is far easier said than done, I just think it'd be worth them trying (assuming they haven't already of course).

[Hawkwood]

Originally Posted by Zen

Valsecchi winning, Chilton getting a spot at Marussia, Fillipi coming back in from the wilderness and winning Van der Garde not winning the championship all this is a bad case scenario for GP2, whats the point of this 'Feeder series' the only way into F1 for a few years to come is a big bag of money, talent is not needed because they will be driving an H R T or a Marussia, or a Caterham. The GP2 teams will have a difficult winter trying to sell their over priced seats. Auto GP will be supplying at least one F1 driver next season at a fraction of the cost of GP2 and prize money to boot.

GP2 is going down R I P

I may have not understood something, but why are those things bad for GP2?
It was Valsecchi's 4th year of GP2, so I can understand it being 'better' if a newer guy wins it, but VdG was also in his 4th year, so why is it bad he didn't win? Surely Valsecchi, VdG, Razia, Ericsson (off the top of my head) are all much of a muchness?
I agree Fillipi coming back yet again isn't ideal, but as bella has pointed out to me already in this thread, moving elsewhere is easier said than done.
And why is Chilton being a Marussia test driver bad? He's shown some good pace, won some races and finished 4th in the championship. That isn't bad.

*edit - it's only Ericsson's 3rd year, but still, he was expected by a lot of people to finish higher than 8th.

[Supertec]

Originally Posted by Zen

True , where's the incentive to pay millions into the F1 dream when the drivers of the future are already picked... I just hope Calado is one of them...

I congratulate Adrian Quaife-Hobbs and his management for not getting sucked into the expensive dead end world of GP2 and winning Auto GP....thus getting an F1 chance.........well done to him he deserves his it..

Supernova also proved there is more to racing than GP2

I agree, if Valsecchi doesn't get a F1 drive and he wont, GP2 has no value its not fulfilling what it was set up to do... supply drivers fit for F1 Valsecchi has been stuck in GP2 since 2008..Its not about racing its all about lining a few pockets..

[NaBUru38]

Originally Posted by bella

you realise there's not enough paid factory sportscar drives to go around as it is? it's all very well saying that but the reality of le mans for example is that there's two manufacturers, with very few seats available to drivers who don't already have their feet under the tables.

There's privateers too. If after three GP2 seasons I didn't find a spot in F1, I'd go to Blancpain GT Pro-Am or WEC LMP2. DTM or GTE Pro would be even better, of course.

[Mr Pink]

Originally Posted by Ostrogothicus

I may have not understood something, but why are those things bad for GP2?
It was Valsecchi's 4th year of GP2, so I can understand it being 'better' if a newer guy wins it, but VdG was also in his 4th year, so why is it bad he didn't win? Surely Valsecchi, VdG, Razia, Ericsson (off the top of my head) are all much of a muchness?
I agree Fillipi coming back yet again isn't ideal, but as bella has pointed out to me already in this thread, moving elsewhere is easier said than done.
And why is Chilton being a Marussia test driver bad? He's shown some good pace, won some races and finished 4th in the championship. That isn't bad.

*edit - it's only Ericsson's 3rd year, but still, he was expected by a lot of people to finish higher than 8th.

Regarding Ericsson, he was the best point scorer of the last three weekends IIRC but , yeah, he hasn't shined during his time in GP2

[ptclaus98]

Originally Posted by bella

you realise there's not enough paid factory sportscar drives to go around as it is? it's all very well saying that but the reality of le mans for example is that there's two manufacturers, with very few seats available to drivers who don't already have their feet under the tables.

Manufacturer isn't the only way to get paid as a sportscar driver. It's not easy, but I would imagine guys like Lucas Luhr and Joao Barbosa earn a living by racing in different series alongside gentlemen drivers.

[bella]

Originally Posted by ptclaus98

Manufacturer isn't the only way to get paid as a sportscar driver. It's not easy, but I would imagine guys like Lucas Luhr and Joao Barbosa earn a living by racing in different series alongside gentlemen drivers.

few and far between, and by no means to be considered a guaranteed career option. the glocks and kovalainens of the world would be wanting considerably more than what is on offer to slap the pants off a porsche and then hand it over to a guy who was 4 or 5 seconds a lap slower.

the couple of single seater guys who have swapped from fr3.5 and stuff and gone into sportscars this season are doing very well, but will they be able to make a career out of it? who knows. depends if they make the right contacts and impress the right people.

[DiamondJim]

Autosport claim that Max Chilton will be full-time at Marussia next year - cost is a cool £9.8m! Crumbs...

[ptclaus98]

Originally Posted by bella

few and far between, and by no means to be considered a guaranteed career option. the glocks and kovalainens of the world would be wanting considerably more than what is on offer to slap the pants off a porsche and then hand it over to a guy who was 4 or 5 seconds a lap slower.

the couple of single seater guys who have swapped from fr3.5 and stuff and gone into sportscars this season are doing very well, but will they be able to make a career out of it? who knows. depends if they make the right contacts and impress the right people.

I would think Glock has a very good connection in Toyota. If not to go straight into the LMP1 program, then to get a seat with a Toyota squad in Super GT/Formula Nippon.