2012 GP2 Silly Season

[ivanalesi]

When you get Super Nova down, drivers with budget like Melker signing up to backmarker team, the budget itself is about 3x more than WSbR, TV is so so, promotion is ... I don't know about it.
If you need 3mln EU budget, you won't get THE best drivers.
You have Calado & Melker, but where are Bottas, Merhi, Wickens, Muller, Juncadella, Nasr, Wittman, Hobbs, Sims, Bortollotti or Zanella? All are heading into WSbR, except for Bottas(who was) & Wickens. GP2 is so crazy expensive that Aleshin couldn't complete the season after winning WSbR, Turvey who won in his debut season to end the season as title favourite for 2011 is driving GT3s!

[Supertec]

Originally Posted by ivanalesi

When you get Super Nova down, drivers with budget like Melker signing up to backmarker team, the budget itself is about 3x more than WSbR, TV is so so, promotion is ... I don't know about it.
If you need 3mln EU budget, you won't get THE best drivers.
You have Calado & Melker, but where are Bottas, Merhi, Wickens, Muller, Juncadella, Nasr, Wittman, Hobbs, Sims, Bortollotti or Zanella? All are heading into WSbR, except for Bottas(who was) & Wickens. GP2 is so crazy expensive that Aleshin couldn't complete the season after winning WSbR, Turvey who won in his debut season to end the season as title favourite for 2011 is driving GT3s!

It dosent end with the extortionate budgets the drivers have to find, they (and their band of followers and sponsors) are second fiddle to F1 with hardly any of the GP crowd to watch their races, work out of awnings on the side of the trucks, all the hotels near the tracks are taken by F1 so they are forced into expensive second rate hotels or far from the track. When they do reach the track they cannot have their own hospitality they have to pay through the nose for mediocre food in GP2's official hospitality. The whole concept is to swell the bank balance of a select few. WSBR on the other hand let the teams have their own hospitality, Renault provide a comfortable professional hospitality service at a reasonable cost. All but 2 races the teams work out of garages, and above all the drivers in WSBR have a better record recently of getting to F1.

Red Bull show the way yet again

[p-matt]

Originally Posted by Supertec

above all the drivers in WSBR have a better record recently of getting to F1.

Besides the Red Bull juniors, no other drivers have stepped up from FR 3.5 to F1. The Red Bull juniors don't count because Red Bull places them where they want, and they will always have access to an F1 seat if they are good enough. GP2 is still the premier feeder series to F1 and that is fact.

[Alex K]

Really, no other driver than Red Bull junior?!

[danoli]

I agree with p-matt, FR3.5 may be cheaper, but for drivers trying to get into F1, it is very rare, even by winning the championship, that that driver will be going into F1 the year after, unless as p-matt says, they have red bull backing. GP2 on the other hand has had the champion all but once go into F1 the year after, and has averaged 3 drivers a year going from GP2 to an F1 race seat.

[Supertec]

Originally Posted by p-matt

Besides the Red Bull juniors, no other drivers have stepped up from FR 3.5 to F1. The Red Bull juniors don't count because Red Bull places them where they want, and they will always have access to an F1 seat if they are good enough. GP2 is still the premier feeder series to F1 and that is fact.

Robert Kubica, Jaime Alguersuari, Daniel Ricciardo, Jean Eric Vergne, Sebastian Vettle,
F1 Test drivers, Robert Wickens, Esteban Guerrieri, Brendon Hartley, Adrian Valles, Fairuz Fauzy, Jan Charouz, James Rossiter,

and Giedo van der Garde soon to be announced at Williams.


Seems pretty impressive to me


and Will Power one of Indy's top drivers



GP2 has produced one F1 World Championship, WSBR Two so at the pinnacle of Motorsport its 2-1 to WSBR

[danoli]

Supertec, all of the ones that you have mentioned getting into F1 are red bull backed except Kubica, who was still only made a reserve driver despite dominating FR3.5 in his first year, and only stepped in when Villeneuve was not fit to drive.

Why Van der Garde is in there I don't know, seeing as he has just done 3 series of GP2, and if he does get in to F1 than it won't be because he won FR3.5

20 drivers in F1 from GP2 compared to 5 from worldseries, (4 Red Bull and 1 through another driver's injury).

[edenrace]

A few thoughts
Red Bull are not stupid
They bring drivers through British F3 and then World Series Renault , why.
Because both series give the drivers the best possible training

[Robbe]

Does it matter, at all? Look at how many drivers have entered F1 via F3 Euroseries and look where it is now.
Budget, media coverage and calendar are much much more important than how many drivers found the way to F1 via the series in the past.

[medler]

It's not so much what GP2 has done in the past, although out of those 20 drivers, how many paid for thier F1 seat?

It's what happens now that a seat in a GP2 car is maybe 2.5 times the price of of a seat in a Renualt 3.5?
When GP2 started I don't think there was such a great difference in the budgets. I think the first year it was round the £1m mark.

For a lot of drivers and thier sponsors a Renault seat got to look far more attractive now and in many cases the only option.

[bella]

Originally Posted by edenrace

A few thoughts
Red Bull are not stupid
They bring drivers through British F3 and then World Series Renault , why.
Because both series give the drivers the best possible training

this, i think. though personally i don't think it matters exactly which f3 series you do so long as it has access to as diverse a selection of circuits as bf3 does.

look, every driver is a unique case. they each have unique contacts, funding issues, sponsors to look after and court, and areas they need to improve their skills.

on that basis, there's no perfect set of series for anyone - you do whatever you can afford and best suits your needs.

however, i believe if as a driver, you've left it as late as gp2 to try and get noticed by f1 teams then you're most likely going to waste your money. so why not do an all-but equal series that gives you more opportunity to learn, improve and consolidate?

it's fair to say that fr3.5 champions generally don't end up in f1 any more, particularly in the short term but it's not an end-goal formula unless you're in the red bull scheme. it's another string to your bow, particularly if you've competed and shown well in the really competitive years.

this whole "you have to do x, then y to get into f1" mentality is ridiculous.

[ptclaus98]

If your goal is to have a professional career in European motorsport, I would say that WSbR is a can't miss step as it prepares you for big cars, on big tracks all over Europe. Even if you don't make it to F1, you're prepared for and have track knowledge for any top level series out there. Combine that with the technical knowledge one would gain with an season of F3, and you're pretty much good to go. It is a shame that most top level karters go straight to FR2.0 as I still think FF is a great place to hone your skills even for a wings and slicks car.

[Supertec]

[QUOTE=bella;3004281]


it's fair to say that fr3.5 champions generally don't end up in f1 any more,

What a strange comment, 2011 Ricciardo, Vergne, Wickens,

[formula_fan]

Realistic budgets for each I believe are around 1.4-2 million Euros for GP2 and around 800k-1.1 million Euros for FR3.5, both depending on team. Of course as we get closer to the season budgets will come down significantly for both as they try to attract more drivers to the grid with realistic budgets.

FR3.5 is a very good championship, though I don't think it competes with GP2. Aleshin won FR3.5 last year and was extremely mediocre in the GP2 races he competed in this year. Wickens won't be in F1 next year (may go GP2) and Rossi could well end up in a GP2 car.

Maybe worth noting that as far as I can see GP2 has 8 drivers announced and FR3.5 has 7. Not a big difference between them.

[bella]

Originally Posted by Supertec

What a strange comment, 2011 Ricciardo, Vergne, Wickens,

ricciardo and vergne weren't champions, wickens is on the bench for a race seat in 2012.

perfectly correct, i think you'll find

[kurski]

Qi-Meritus Mahara replacing Super Nova?

[p-matt]

Story on Autosport today that Rapax say that their inexperienced line up cost them last year. So they will probably have a decent pair of hands next year. Clos probably, maybe Bird instead or as well

[bella]

clos is one of those drivers who needs to pull their finger out isn't he? he's clearly quick, but a decent season just hasn't come together for whatever reasons.

[skells22]

1st of all Happy New year. People are still asking about those UK TV rights and still no near any closer in finding out which channel will take over GP2. I just hope we get a firm answer soon.

[jondownunder]

Happy New Year!

I really would like to hear something firm soon. I'd like to think that Sky would recognise the importance of GP2 and commit to showing every race live. There's still enough space around them to show plenty of F1 build up and background features etc, for those who like such fluff.

Can't remember if it was said that Eurosport would be continuing with GP3 or not? I'd like Sky to show that too. They proved they could do a proper job with dedicated coverage when they showed A1GP, and their IndyCar coverage has generally been reliable (some rain delayed events aside). Eurosport are rank amateurs and I'd not miss their dismal 'edited' highlights. Only drawback would be losing Martin Haven. Carlton Partridge less so!

[chunterer]

Eurosport has been poor for the last few years imo.

Back when it showed CART live on Sunday nights and it was brilliant.

[Juntos]

Please don't crack a fat! We all know TV is not a priority for GP2. That's a big league issue.

[skells22]

@ jondownunder yes it was tweeted a while ago that GP3 will stay with Eurosport, let get back on the other step of the ladder for a mo and let see who gets the 1st driver to be placed in a GP2 car in this year. any news of whoever takes last year winning team car?

[Supertec]

'QI-Meritus' team have replaced Super Nova in GP2 today

[Juntos]

And Bruno Michel is calling for scrutineering reinforcements...