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1 Sep 2009, 16:35 (Ref:2532577) | #1 | |
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Who will graduate to F1 from F2?
My money is on Andy Soucek (dead cert for the title and the Williams F1 test). Soucek was apparently at Valencia as a guest of Williams and if they biff off Nakajima and Rosberg goes to McLaren that's two seats going spare.
Wickens is clearly very good and is quick in any series he races in, but is he the real deal? |
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1 Sep 2009, 16:45 (Ref:2532586) | #2 | ||
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Tbh, I think Jonathan Palmer has a better chance then any of them... The only possibility is Soucek going to Campos, although they appear to be full.
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Taki Inoue, the only driver in F1 history who's been driven into by a course car, twice! |
1 Sep 2009, 17:52 (Ref:2532622) | #3 | ||
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Soucek definitely seems to be the class of the field...
As for Wickens, I haven't seen him race in Europe live.. but from this weekend at Mosport in Atlantic, I'd have to say he is the real deal. Sure, he qualified 5th in a 10 car field, but he hadn't been in the car in 2 years, had *minimal* practice and testing, and during the race, he was lapping with the leaders and all over his teammate's gear box. That said, from what I've read of European career, he seems to have issues with consistency - a spin or win driver? I'm not sure he's ready for the F1 world yet - I think he'd do well to have a season or two of GP2. |
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"I used to hate writing, but now I enjoy it. I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog!" - Calvin and Hobbes |
1 Sep 2009, 18:00 (Ref:2532628) | #4 | |
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Soucek will be a Williams test driver next year. After what he did to Coloni in GP2 at the weekend he has completely burnt his bridges there, so he must know he was an F1 future guaranteed.
Wickens and Bortolotti will also be in F1. Wickens will probably be Red Bull's reserve driver next year and Bortolotti will be in a Toro Rosso by 2011 |
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1 Sep 2009, 18:07 (Ref:2532633) | #5 | ||
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Unlikely anyone from Super Palmer Audi will progress to F1
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1 Sep 2009, 18:18 (Ref:2532640) | #6 | ||
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I would be moderately supprised if the FIA Formula 2 champion didn't end up in F1 next year.
The clue is in the series name, if F2 does not lead to F1 then what is the point? (from a PR, not reality perspective) |
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There's an old F1 adage, 'If you want to finish first, first you have to be a duplicitous little moaning git' |
1 Sep 2009, 19:07 (Ref:2532662) | #7 | |||
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Quote:
Williams look set to take on Hulkenberg next season, I definitely can't see them having two rookies as they've talked about needing more experience in their line-up. Soucek might get another shot at GP2 as a result of this years campaign... |
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Taki Inoue, the only driver in F1 history who's been driven into by a course car, twice! |
1 Sep 2009, 20:16 (Ref:2532735) | #8 | |
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The calibre of the field's just not good enough. Soucek's wiping the floor with them all and it would be his GP2 experience that would get him to F1, not this season in F2.
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1 Sep 2009, 21:42 (Ref:2532786) | #9 | ||
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Quote:
I think that the drivers are of a good calibre, but the F2 system is not an ideal method of creating the best drivers. Soucek is the class act at the moment and probably the best candidate for F1 from the F2 championship,(just because of his GP2 experience). Souceks not wiping the floor thou with only 3 wins from 10 races, with 2 other multiple winners., |
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1 Sep 2009, 22:42 (Ref:2532821) | #10 | |
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I think whoever wins F2 has a seat in F1 guaranteed (at least tester) for the simple reason that Jonathan Palmer needs won of "his" drivers to succeed into F1 in order to make the own F2 have sense at all. So Palmer himself is going to help the F2 champion get into F1. In that sense, F2 will only be sustainable in the way it is now, if this happens... That way F2 becomes one of the real feeder series... and drivers will kill to get in (as it happens in GP2 nowadays but with the advantage that F2 is much cheaper)
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2 Sep 2009, 08:04 (Ref:2532940) | #11 | |
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Wickens or Bortoloti, Palmer doesn't have the power to make any F1 team to get Soucek. It's too expensive, with Justin Wilson it was FPA - F3000, now it's F2 - F1
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2 Sep 2009, 08:50 (Ref:2532959) | #12 | |
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The problem at the moment is that there are far too many feeder categories and its very difficult to accurately assess the relative strength of the drivers. To compound the situation, there are rumors that a number of seats in the new GP teams next year will be filled with pay drivers... so performance will be superceeded by wallet size - a reminder that motor racing is not a meritocracy.
As far as I remember though, all that F2 promised was a superlicence to the championship winner and definitely not a guaranteed GP seat. |
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2 Sep 2009, 10:12 (Ref:2533002) | #13 | |
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Davyboy
From what I understand, superlicences are awarded to the top three in the championship and the winner gets a test with Williams, which is probably more valuable these days as testing is so rare in F1. All the cars in F2 are the same and there are no 'teams', so I'd have thought it's easier to gauge talent here than in other series like GP2? Depends on the strength in depth of driver talent in the field, I guess... |
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2 Sep 2009, 18:22 (Ref:2533283) | #14 | ||
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Despite all best intentions, I've never seen a series that could accurately make all of the cars equal - there are just too many variables. That said, I think most people who have been around the racing world long enough can watch a car/driver and recognize, to some extent, if it's car or driver pushing the pair forward.
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"I used to hate writing, but now I enjoy it. I realized that the purpose of writing is to inflate weak ideas, obscure poor reasoning, and inhibit clarity. With a little practice, writing can be an intimidating and impenetrable fog!" - Calvin and Hobbes |
2 Sep 2009, 19:13 (Ref:2533315) | #15 | |
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If Peter Sauber buys his team back, and they run Ferrari engines, I have to imagine Mirko Bortolotti will be involved in some capacity.
I've followed Robert Wickens since Formula BMW, and while he has a lot of talent, I don't think he's ready to be in F1. As mentioned earlier, he's pretty inconsistent. Getting beaten by Soucek kind of reflects negatively upon all of these drivers, though, doesn't it? He didn't exactly do much in GP2. |
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3 Sep 2009, 14:19 (Ref:2533816) | #16 | |||
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Quote:
I personally think that Wickens has the talent but he does need to show more consistency. I don't know enough about Bortolotti but I presume he is pretty good as Red Bull wouldn't have picked him up?!? I watched the Donington races on TV and I was really impressed with Vasiliauskas. It may be too early for him but for an unknown to be performing like that this season is very good indeed - maybe he is the best bet out of the lot? |
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4 Sep 2009, 07:30 (Ref:2534225) | #17 | |
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Only Soucek as a test-driver, no one else as a racing driver in close 2-3 years.
Last edited by sauber11; 4 Sep 2009 at 07:59. |
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7 Sep 2009, 10:28 (Ref:2535755) | #18 | |
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8 Sep 2009, 22:54 (Ref:2536788) | #19 | ||
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Here's the deal afaiac.
Soucek experienced, quick and quite probably better than his GP2 results suggest. F1 driver? Not likely. Anyone else? To my mind Hegewald is extremely rapid and promising, but Bottas more than dealt with him in the Motopark Acadamy Renault team last year so, ultimately how good is Tobias, if Bottas is one of those 'every 10 year's' levels of driver? Wickens, quick but probably not going to make it. Bortolotti is supposed to be good? There's noone in F2 this season who looks a cast iron F1 potential. Maybe next seasons entry will have much greater depth. |
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9 Sep 2009, 20:35 (Ref:2537304) | #20 | |
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I would be very surprised to see anyone move up to F1 as apart from Soucek, no-one has stood out and F2 has not gained the importance from within motorsport it thinks it should have.
Soucek is clearly a good driver but only joined F2 as all other options had dried up and after competing in GP2 he had nowhere left to go. Some drivers like wickens or bortolotti may go to GP2 but that will really be a kick in he teeth for this Super FPA series. Also a point to note is that none of the former FPA drivers have done well at all this year, is that kinda like shooting yourself in the foot? |
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9 Sep 2009, 20:48 (Ref:2537312) | #21 | ||
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I imagine that only Soucek stands any real chance of racing in F1 next season - presumaby with one of the new teams. Whilst Wickens has the potential, as Red Bull and Toro Rosso are likely to be full next year a move to a F1 race seat will pronbably mean a move away from Red Bull - which is something of a risk. Similar circumstances would probably apply to Bortolotti, although of if the replacement for BMW uses Ferrari engines there may be a chance.
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9 Sep 2009, 21:59 (Ref:2537365) | #22 | |
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Kazim Vasi... looks very promising for the future considering his experience and results against guys like Soucek, Jousse and Wickens.
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9 Sep 2009, 22:16 (Ref:2537378) | #23 | ||
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Sadly, the one person who should have made it to F1 in a couple of years is no longer with us.
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I used to be with it, until they changed what it is. Now what I'm with is no longer it. |
10 Sep 2009, 16:20 (Ref:2537881) | #24 | |||
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Quote:
It is easy to say no-one has stood out but GP2 has had even more race winners so that would suggest that other than Nico - there haven't really been any standout drivers in GP2 either?? Jousse was runner up in World Series and even people like Kazim, Hegewald and Eng seem to have been on a similar pace as him at times along with the obvious names being even quicker. Strength in depth is always an argument but I think the same can be said about many of the junior formula this year? I would say that Soucek and Wickens are worth a shout at being given a test - maybe Kazim, Bortolotti, Eng, Hegewald need another year to show if they are good enough or not? |
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11 Sep 2009, 11:39 (Ref:2538433) | #25 | |
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Petrolhead
Agree Kazim is a star and ,like Bortolotti, if he stays in F2 next year he's got a shot at the championship. Considering where he's from (Lithuania I think), his age and experience he's doing remarkably well to be up there with people like Jousse and Wickens. I wouldn't be suprised if Red Bull snap him up for their young driver programme - he's probably got more potential than Aleshin or Wickens. In terms of having greater depth, don't forget that Hohenthal, a Renault UK champion and British F3 race winner (not to mention a top bloke), has struggled to make the grade this year, so I don't think there's a shortage of talent in F2. It's just that with no teams there's nowhere to hide if you're not good enough, and the cream will always rise to the top - just like it should. |
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