2014 British F3 Silly Season

[jondownunder]

Thanks for that. Strange if he is/was receiving financial assistance from Fernandes that he wasn't publically announced as a Caterham Racing Academy driver (for '13 the announced roster was Rossi, Canamasas, Parry, Panis, Tan, Hishamuddin; for '14 Rossi, Stevens, Parry, Morris, Tan, Hishamuddin).

[simon drabble]

to be fair I only ever heard that second hand so cannot vouch for its authenticity

[Juntos]

Isn't Matt Rao testing this week in Italy for Fortec European F3 team? Couldn't hold my tongue.

Originally Posted by Moneyseeker

Couldn't agree more, shameful ....

That's ridiculous. If the champion would have been an Yokshire native, there was no problem here today. Seems the Chinese kid doesn't hold a special place in my heart--and stomach--of many brits.

[kipper]

Originally Posted by jondownunder

Thanks for that. Strange if he is/was receiving financial assistance from Fernandes that he wasn't publically announced as a Caterham Racing Academy driver.

The thought that springs to mind is that Fernandes's support of Rao - if it exists - could be a result of a commercial relationship between Air Asia and Airbus or Airbus's support of the F1 team, rather than forming part of Caterham's Young Driver programme. If it is the former, then it is possible that the support could continue, if it's the latter, then Rao will probably be looking for new backers.

[davyboy]

Originally Posted by Juntos

That's ridiculous. If the champion would have been an Yokshire native, there was no problem here today. Seems the Chinese kid doesn't hold a special place in my heart--and stomach--of many brits.

Nobody here has a problem about where the kid's from. It's purely down to his ability and the calibre of his competition this year. That's it. BF3 was arguably the greatest junior single seater series in the world and for decades attracted the very best drivers from every corner of the planet. That was what was so brilliant about it and that's what we're lamenting right now.

[Moneyseeker]

Originally Posted by Juntos

Isn't Matt Rao testing this week in Italy for Fortec European F3 team? Couldn't hold my tongue.



That's ridiculous. If the champion would have been an Yokshire native, there was no problem here today. Seems the Chinese kid doesn't hold a special place in my heart--and stomach--of many brits.

Nothing to do with nationality, where did you get this from?!

I have consistently posted about the fact that the championship has run with as few as 5 cars in a race, and on occasion with only 3 finishers. To compare the achievement of winning the title now and end up on the hall of fame with Senna, Hakkinen, etc, etc is hardly comparable.

I don't blame the drivers for racing, I blame the MSA for allowing it to continue and SRO for letting a great championship wither on the vine as their main focus is and always was, British GT

[simon drabble]

exactly - I think all agree thnat you cannot blame the drivers for competing, it is the demise of the series that we all regret.

However if you are a young driver and are really serious about developing a single seater career you would be mad not to go to GP3 and 2 so on that basis F3 regrettably has nowhere to go other than as a national/club series.

[edenrace]

SRO are not to blame.
In previous years drivers came to the UK to race in junior series, Ford, Renault, Vauxhall etc
Very sadly we do not have strong junior series and therefore the drivers head to Renault in Europe, once there they have no interest in driving at Rockingham, Snetterton, Donington etc
FIA F4 will help a little but then every other country is getting it so maybe not

[ivanalesi]

But the promotion is zero, they at least deserve a portion of the blame.
In the smartphone age, you can't find BF3 highlights, in fact you can find those from 2012 or smth, but not from 2014. How will the drivers ask their fathers to join the championship? They will expect to see these cars racing, they'll want to show them to their friends.
Of course FIA as the rule makers deserves the lion's share of the blame for the whole F3 failure, but everyone involved from the teams to the organizers still deserve some blame. Look at Toyota NZ, with little cash flow from the drivers they are getting huge national coverage.
Of course the cars need to be fixed, I felt asleep watching today's NEC race, but for some reason designers and organizers think that drivers don't need to develop overtaking as skill, yet someone like Magnussen openly admitted that he is not used to this level of battling for the whole race.

The point that I want to make is that in the US, NASCAR youngsters are progressing by finding sponsorship and collecting prize money, it's not sugar daddy or daddy's best friend. Indycar is going in the same direction as well, they have embraced the new media.

[davyboy]

It's over.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Originally Posted by davyboy

It's over.

I find myself agreeing with Trevor Carlin on this case, very sad if necessary.

[ivanalesi]

Should have happened last year, this last season was terrible. Cao is back of the grid against F3 Europe or even German F3 drivers.

[Richard B]

Looking at last weekend's Australian GP the undisputed driver of the race, Felipe Nasr was former British (not European,German or any other series) F3 champion.

Interestingly he was 5th followed by Daniel Ricciardo, who also won the British F3 championship, 7th was Marcus Ericsson,(former British f3 driver) 8th/9th Carlos Sainz jnr and Sergio Perez (3 years British F3 bewtween them). Not to mention Kevin Magnussen who was runner up to Nasr in F3 and Jenson who competed many more years ago.

With the demise of the British F3 series I wonder what F1 will look like in a few years time.....

[10TENTHS]

On the other hand, Rosberg / Hamilton / Vettel / Kobayashi / Grosjean / Hulkenberg / Bottas / Verstappen all went through the European F3 series... if anything there are still far too many single seater categories in Europe with no defined path to the top. The addition of F4 hasn't really changed that.