British F3 Nurburgring: Walker wins!!

[bella]

yeah, that was the year adam carroll won the scholarship class and bothered the front end of the grid iirc (and cracked the tub at oulton and wasn't quite as fast in the spare car after that?). this year though, i'm not sure the 2004 car is faster - apart from the fact there's no carroll level drivers, no-one's shown any real accidental pace or anything.

surely by logic if the cars weren't faster than last years at the start of the year, they should be at least a lot more than 2/10ths quicker by this stage? or the others who have had considerably more testing time should be quicker? or the engine should have gained some over the winter?

i still absolutely stand by my judgement that parente is not as good as people say, and he's just not f1-quick.

i've also seen a lot of euroseries races, and there's maybe 2 or possibly 3 drivers at a stretch that i could see ending up in f1. and they would all imo be quicker than parente in the same car, both in a couple of laps and across a race-length stint.

[AMT]

Originally Posted by bella

i still absolutely stand by my judgement that parente is not as good as people say, and he's just not f1-quick.

Well, you know best

Originally Posted by bella

i've also seen a lot of euroseries races, and there's maybe 2 or possibly 3 drivers at a stretch that i could see ending up in f1. and they would all imo be quicker than parente in the same car, both in a couple of laps and across a race-length stint.

There I do agree with you! Alvaro has a particular driving style, which demands a very different set-up from most drivers (e.g. Kimball and Bakkerud). Put him in their car and he would be off the pace. But the same has been true of several great F1 drivers.

[Russfeld]

I think Alvaro's "driving style" is to have more experience in that class of car than his competition probably have in their entire career in single seaters.

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by Russfeld

I think Alvaro's "driving style" is to have more experience in that class of car than his competition probably have in their entire career in single seaters.

Well that "driving style" works quite well for him it would seem!

[Russfeld]

Not all British F3 championships are created equal. This year was like watching a scholarship class grid.

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by Russfeld

Not all British F3 championships are created equal. This year was like watching a scholarship class grid.

Yes it certainly wasn't one of the best years for it in terms of strength, but it wasn't like watching a scholarship class grid, there are some decent drivers in the top 10.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by runshaw

Yes it certainly wasn't one of the best years for it in terms of strength, but it wasn't like watching a scholarship class grid, there are some decent drivers in the top 10.

Agreed, i only saw first 2 rounds trackside but kept up with others on CH 4. I'd say that it's much harder to stamp authority over a single season these doors...much more likely that it'll take even a top line budding talent a couple of years to be in contention for title.

I'd say that Parente's experience and finally getting the right equipment had lot to do with it and Dirani, Asmer and possible Kane aside ( 2 of those having not totally competitve cars much of the time) being the only other quick guys with previous A Class F3 experience, it fell right for him.

The 'newcomers' like Conway, Walker, Senna and maybe couple of others will be challenginf for title next year? Lewis would be good as well if he signs for right team....

However i'd also agree with earlier post no one really stands out as potetial WDC's do they?

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by chunterer

The 'newcomers' like Conway, Walker, Senna and maybe couple of others will be challenginf for title next year? Lewis would be good as well if he signs for right team....

However i'd also agree with earlier post no one really stands out as potetial WDC's do they?

Yes if Conway, Senna and Clarke stay on next year, they are likely to be challenging for the title, as would Bakkerud. Not sure about Walker, although he is an okay driver, but maybe not as good as those just mentioned.

It's difficult to say if anyone stands out as a potential F1 driver in this years field, only time will tell. But it is true that in the previous few years, it was more aparent IMO that some drivers were likely to get to F1 than they are this year. Look at last year, im sure Piquet will be in F1 one day, and Carroll and Rossiter are already on the BAR driver development scheme. This year no-one has stood out as much as drivers in previous years (IMO) but that doesn't mean to say they are not good. Senna, Kimball and Parente are the most likely candidates IMO.