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I feel some of the posts have missed the point.
The whole reason that FPA failed was because drivers didn't want to do the series - full stop.
If it was as equal and level as people seem to think, then why didn't drivers with back of the grid F Renault budgets who will never beat a Manor Motorsport car in a million years, sign up for FPA?
Because it is a formulae that takes you precisely - no where. Aside from Wilson who got the first and only F3000 drive, what has having FPA on their CV done for other drivers.
Richard Tarling - former champion - no drive this year
Somebody mentioned Darren Turner - the reason he has good links with McLaren Mercedes was because he is a previous McLaren Autosport winner - not because of FPA - in anycase I seem to remember that he fluctuated from the front of the grid to the back of the grid - as per Dan's comments.
I always felt that JP was to ringmasterish with the whole thing, with his 'favoured' drivers - whatever anyone says there are so many cases of weird driver performance.
Richard Lyons went well in the winter series but was nowhere
in the main series. Tarling won it one year - no where the next. Mark McCloughlin - always at the back of the grid in FPA - but front of the grid in F Renault.
FPA never became a serious career path or step on the ladder, once the F300 prize went - the incentive to spend a year in a back water was lost. Career drivers are not out there to just gain experience and have fun , they are out there to win championships that count.
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