2016 GP2 silly season thread

[Formulahistory]

We are heading the end of the season and I think it's time for the first speculations about who will drive where in 2016:

Some word's about my guesses:

- Nyck de Vries is McLaren junior and as ART is McLaren Junior team, it is very likely that the Dutchman will drive for ART in GP2 alongside Honda Junior driver Nobuharu Matsushita, who wasn't that this season. But if Vasseur will be Renault F1 team principal, ART could become Renault Junior team with a driver like Rowland.

- Status looks like to work together with Lotus (WSbR). With Renault very likely to buy the Lotus F1 team it could have an affect on both teams (Status and Lotus), but with the situation not clear yet my thought is that Vaxivière will move to Status GP2.

- Gelael is very likely to stay at Carlin and with Giovinazzi also supported by Sean-GP it could be his team-mate again.

- With links between MP and Manor and perhaps Manor as Mercedes junior team it could be a Mercedes Junior at MP. Rowland is testing the Mercedes simulator and the Briton had also done GP2 races yet with MP. So perhaps it could be Rowland at MP for a full season.

- James Allen reports that Esteban Ocon could be Force India test driver next year with 8 to 10 outings in practice. As Hilmer is the Force India partner team this could be combined with a seat at Hilmer. There are also strong rumours about Charles Pic buying the Hilmer team (Hilmer denied it) which could end in a place for Arthur Pic.

Possible line-up 2016:
ART: Nobuharu Matsushista - Nyck de Vries
Racing Engineering: Jordan King - Jazeman Jaafar
Campos: Arthur Pic - Brandon Maisano
DAMS: Alex Lynn - Pierre Gasly
Rapax: Robert Visoiu - Kevin Ceccon
Russian Time: Artem Markelov - Sergey Sirotkin
Trident: Luca Ghiotto - Lance Stroll
Status: Richie Stanaway - Matthieu Vaxivière
Carlin: Sean Gelael - Antonio Giovinazzi
MP: Oliver Rowland - Meindert van Buuren
Lazarus: Sergio Canamasas - Patric Niederhauser
Arden: Norman Nato - Nicholas Latifi
Hilmer: Nick Yelloly - Esteban Ocon

What are your suggestions with some explanations?

[kotkot]

Ocon is one of those drivers whose future depends on whether Manor switches to Mercedes engines. If they do, Wehrlein will most certainly be one of their drivers and Ocon will take his place in DTM. If not, he can still end up in DTM just not clear who he'd replace. Anyway, Mercedes took Wehrlein out of junior single-seaters the minute it was possible, I don't imagine they will let Ocon around for long either. But if he joins GP2, I'd guess he will aim for a better team than Hilmer.

Giovinazzi seems to be first in line for an Audi DTM seat and even if they said they don't really want to change on the line-up, the Italian will probably focus on that. Gelael will surely bring someone along though, might just be Dillmann.

It looks like Rowland will end up in GP2 but the Mercedes connection is a bit too far-fetched especially as they already have Wehrlein and Ocon. RSF's support will still be enough.

As for De Vries, if the new 3.5 series ends up looking good enough, he will stay there to win it - there is no point rushing in the current state of Mclaren's junior team.

I don't see why Stroll would like to move ahead when he can stay and fight for the F3 title next year. Sirotkin is supported by SMP, while (the old) Russian Time and Markelov are from a different side, he is not going to join them, it will be a very promising seat for someone with little budget though.

Niederhauser would be a fine addition but he switched to Lamborghini Super Trofeo and he won't be able to afford GP2. Ceccon and Maisano are similarly poor and finding a seat anywhere will be a challenge for them. Same goes for Stanaway except he already has an Aston Martin GT seat.

Also, where is Marciello? Ferrari would be foolish to fire him even if he's having a disappointing season as their other proteges are also a bit shaky this year.

[Rf1 Fan]

I'm pretty sure Mercedes won't spend 2 million euros on Ocon for GP2.

IMO he will go to DTM.

[p-matt]

Weren't there rumours that Ferrari were going to pull the plug on their junior programme? All of their drivers underperformed this year.

I can't see Mercedes yank Ocon out of single seaters yet. He's achieved much more than Wehrlein, best not to move him to DTM yet.

[Formulahistory]

Ferrari said they will continue with their Junior programme but perhaps with some new drivers replacing some current juniors.

[Go_For_Pole]

Who would like to join them given how they dumped Marciello to a mediocre team?

[Alessio]

Marciello to FR3.5 or maybe a Sauber driver pre-season merry-go round as per this season..? Marciello definitely looked stronger with FR3.5 in testing a couple years back.

[cds_uk]

Originally Posted by Go_For_Pole

Who would like to join them given how they dumped Marciello to a mediocre team?

Is that the same mediocre team that Cecotto finished 5th with last year, picking up a pole position, two wins and a few podiums on the way?

[gert]

Originally Posted by cds_uk

Is that the same mediocre team that Cecotto finished 5th with last year, picking up a pole position, two wins and a few podiums on the way?

Well, I wouldn't call them mediocre either, but nevertheless I think it's a step down from Racing Engineering.

[Go_For_Pole]

Exactly my point, thanks Gert

[cds_uk]

Ok, point taken, but even so he has been distinctly underwhelming this year.

[chunterer]

I'm pretty sure Rowland will need a lot more money than RSF can provide alone...

Similarly what will Red Bull do with their guys?

Has Gasly done enough to be kept on? Don't think he has myself but...

Will Stoneman get a reprieve after so much bad luck for another year of RPM 3.5 or will they move him on?

I'd wager Dean would outpoint Pierre if in the same car.

[Rf1 Fan]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Has Gasly done enough to be kept on? Don't think he has myself but...

Will Stoneman get a reprieve after so much bad luck for another year of RPM 3.5 or will they move him on?

I'd wager Dean would outpoint Pierre if in the same car.

I don't agree , if Sainz Jr was able to stay in the Red Bull Junior team in 2014 after two bad seasons i don't see why Gasly would be fired.

If we look to the facts, Gasly has outqualified 5 to 3 Lynn but more importantly Gasly lost 33 points (25 lost at Monza, plus 8 lost in Bahrain due to Norman Nato brainfail) at the very least due to bad luck. He would be easily in the top 5 for a rookie year in GP2 for a 19 year old kid, it's not too shabby.


Gasly clearly did not have the expected impact but his rookie year is still high standard.

He did 2 big mistakes in Austria and in Spa but for a rookie it understandable.

Moreover Gasly at 18 year old and in his 4th year of car racing finished P2 of a feeder series.

I don't see any evidence showing that Stoneman is making a bigger impact in 3.5 series than Gasly.

[Rf1 Fan]

Gasly confirms he will stay in GP2 next year.

http://www.normandie-actu.fr/intervi...confie_158560/

However he needs to bridge a gap of 200K€ for his budget.

[gert]

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

as ART is McLaren Junior team

That is a far stretch.
ART is running one of McLaren's junior driver, but that's about it.
McLaren were thinking about moving Vandoorne to DAMS but in the end decided not to - so it is not a given that a Mclaren driver will automatically move to ART.

In WorldSeries FR3.5 DAMS is running Stoneman and De Vries, so what would you call that?
A McLaren junior team? A Red Bull junior team?

I think it's neither. McLaren wanted to place one driver with a good team and picked DAMS. Red Bull likewise. Nothing less, nothing more.

[Formulahistory]

It's a difference between DAMS and ART as ART isn't just running Vandoorne, but also Matsushita, all because of Honda. So ART really is a McLaren Honda junior team which run in the same livery as well.

[gert]

I think the phrase "Junior Team" is overrated.

What is a junior team anyway? Livery means nothing, even being supported by the "Senior Team" means nothing.
Otherwise half of the Renault 3.5 grid is or used to be a Red Bull junior team (Arden, DAMS, Zeta Corse, Tech-1, ISR, Carlin)

And DAMS FR3.5 - are they the McLaren junior team (De Vries runs in McLaren livery) or the Red Bull junior team (Stoneman)?
IMO they are just DAMS and happen to run a driver supported by McLaren and one by Red Bull.

A team can be allied to a F1 teams for one reason or another, but most of the times that is just temporary.
IIRC: SuperNova: Benetton junior tean, Williams junior team, Renault junior team, Jordan junior team.
In the not too distant past ART was the Lotus "junior team".

I'll believe it when a "senior team" starts a team in a lower category, otherwise "junior team" is just a short-term marketing trick.

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

It's a difference between DAMS and ART as ART isn't just running Vandoorne, but also Matsushita, all because of Honda. So ART really is a McLaren Honda junior team which run in the same livery as well.

Vandoorne was there in 2014 before Honda allied with McLaren. He would have been even if McLaren ran Mercedes or Porsche engines. He is a McLaren junior driver. Matsushita is only there because of Honda, that has nothing to do with McLaren.
They're just running a McLaren-supported driver and a Honda-supported driver.

[Mekola]

There were various "Benetton Junior Teams": first was Astromega and later Durango. Same about Red Bull Junior Teams: First RSM Marko, later Coloni, later Arden.

[Formulahistory]

Short update again:

ART: Nobuharu Matsushita, Nyck de Vries
Racing Engineering: Jordan King, Jazeman Jaafar
Campos: Arthur Pic, Brandon Maïsano
DAMS: Alex Lynn, Pierre Gasly
Rapax: Robert Vişoiu, Kevin Ceccon
Russian Time: Artem Markelov, Sergey Sirotkin
Trident: Gustav Malja, Luca Ghiotto
Status: Richie Stanaway, Matthieu Vaxivière
Carlin: Sean Gelael, Antonio Giovinazzi
MP: Oliver Rowland, Meindert van Buuren
Lazarus: Sergio Canamasas, Patric Niederhauser
Arden: Norman Nato, Nicholas Latifi
Hilmer: Nick Yelloly, Esteban Ocon

[jodi]

Prema are to takeover Lazarus’ entry in GP2 next year.

[Formulahistory]

And I heard Hilmer was sold as well.

[Formulahistory]

Hilmer just missing the Sochi round and hopes to return for the Arabia races. He hasn't sold the team yet, with two bidders have not the money to buy Hilmer. One of these should be Charles Pic.

[Razzzor]

How is Markelov keeping that RT seat, does he bring stacks of cash? Evans has absolutely dominated Markelov for two years, save for a few aggressive drives this year from Markelov which usually ended up in mistakes. It's easy to look at a few aggressive moves and remember him, but apart from those runs he's at the back of the field.

It's a pretty fresh field though. Apart from Markelov, Canamasas (good god how does this guy continue for another year in Gp2?), Ceccon (have the teams forgotten he was a backmarker in GP2 4 years ago?), everyone else is new from 2014. No one left from 2013, except those 3. Kind of sad really. If that were F1, Ricciardo would have had to leave a couple years ago, and about the only drivers left would be Kvyat, Verstappen, Nasr, Sainz and the Manors. Ouch.

Those Dams boys will be hard to beat next year.

[peebee2]

Markelov owns RT

[Razzzor]

Oh well that explains it. And actually, Markelov wasn't here in 2013 anyway so only 2 drivers dating back more than a year.