Andy Soucek crowned Formula 2 Champion

[BuiltForSpeed]

Andy Soucek was excellent again in Imola - taking a podium in race 1 and a dominant win in race 2. He has almost double the points of second placed Rob Wickens and has taken the title with apparent ease.

He'll get a test with Williams later this year - does anyone think he is in with a shout of a full time role with the team? I can't see how he could've done any more this season and he deserves a chance. At 24 this is probably his last opportunity.

[N.A-D.R]

His best chance is being a reserve driver, the only way he has any chance at all is with a race seat is if Rosberg and Nakajima leave, but i still doubt he will get a drive.

[Flavio Galtieri]

I hope he gets a seat somewhere, he deserves it.

F2 has been a revelation this year, separating the drivers who can from the rest without the complication of how much money they have to buy their way up the grid as in British or EuroF3 or GP2.

[Peat]

But Andy has already been able to afford seasons in World Series AND GP2. And to no expectional results.

The F2 field was quite poor i felt this year... 'Super Formula Palmer' is very apt.

I think Soucek could well find himself a seat within someone like Campos or Lotus should they ever materialise.....

[Flavio Galtieri]

Well, that's an opinion and fair enough.

But the "quality of the field" as you put it is just a sample of who's out there with you at the time. You can only beat who is in your race that day. Maybe next year it will be higher "quality" from your perspective.

It must surely be a better yard-stick for judging driver talent than just taking results from series where money buys you a team with better set-up data or a more powerful engine? Which let's face it is the status quo in F3 and GP2.

"Super Palmer Audi" or not I thought he, and a couple of others, proved they were a step above the rest. Something you can't always say when discussing other series.

[F3 Rocks]

Originally Posted by Flavio Galtieri

I hope he gets a seat somewhere, he deserves it.

F2 has been a revelation this year, separating the drivers who can from the rest without the complication of how much money they have to buy their way up the grid as in British or EuroF3 or GP2.

Are you kidding to get to the top in F2 you need more money to seperate the drivers, extra costs example a Ghost engineer £1,000 per day, test days (Many Many test days) €8000 per day this is the one series extra budget does put you to the front its not a level playing field at all. I am in no way suggesting Andy did not deserve to win the championship but money plays a bigger roll in this series than the others..If you only have the published budget forget it or of course if you are over qualified for the series and can't get a Super Licence any other way.

[Keyfabe]

think his only chance is to bring some cash to one of the new teams, Williams will have the Hulk in one car already they wont use 2 rookies

[Spudy]

He was one of the most experienced guys in F2 so anything less than a championship would have been a disaster.

I think it is very unlikely we'll ever see him in F1 there are just too many good drivers in GP2 etc with probably some sponsorship as well to compete with and money rules the world unfortunately.

I think Di Grassi, Senna, Petrov and Hulkenberg will all step up next year so I've heard so that doesn't leave a lot of space for Soucek. Hes a good driver though so perhaps he'll get a top ride in another series or perhaps even America.

[ghinzani]

Beating Jolyon Palmer and Alex Brundles one thing, but could he have beaten Viktor Jensen?

What a pathetic and tragic insult this shhh series is to the name of F2.

[Mak]

Originally Posted by ghinzani

Beating Jolyon Palmer and Alex Brundles one thing, but could he have beaten Viktor Jensen?

What a pathetic and tragic insult this shhh series is to the name of F2.

Not really a worth the effort the above post. Could say similar things about any championship. Not sure that K Jenson rates a call as 99% of people on here would know that Soucek is in a different (highter) class. Are you aslo knocking F3 champion Ricciardo/championship because he only beat the likes of K Jenson ect.. All class suffer with depth these days, but I think F2 has as good as any championship currently.

[ghinzani]

Originally Posted by Mak

Not really a worth the effort the above post. Could say similar things about any championship. Not sure that K Jenson rates a call as 99% of people on here would know that Soucek is in a different (highter) class. Are you aslo knocking F3 champion Ricciardo/championship because he only beat the likes of K Jenson ect.. All class suffer with depth these days, but I think F2 has as good as any championship currently.

F3 is proper racing, people involved in racing know that. They also know FSPA isnt.

[BuiltForSpeed]

Ghinzani - Your views are pretty extreme and perverse I must say, and defy all logic. I shouldn't rise to it, but here goes....

Soucek has comprehensively beaten this year:

Jousse - Renault 3.5 runner up
Wickens - FBMW USA Champion & winner in A1GP, Renault 3.5 and Euro F3
Bortolotti - Italian F3 Champion
Sanchez - Spanish F3 Champion
Hohenthal - British F3 race winner
Aleshin - Renault 3.5 race winner
Eng - FBMW World Final winner

He's been a class act all year and dominated a very close category of racing by being THE BEST DRIVER. F2 has also given young drivers like Kazim Vasiliauskas the chance to make an instant impact and he's done it through the skill in his driving, not the size of his wallet. He could well have been lost in F3 I suspect.

I'd bet money on Soucek doing an excellent job in the test with Williams - F2 certainly needs him to do well to maintain credibility for the championship - but the 'Super FPA' criticisms are starting to look a little thin and tiresome.

[jab]

The field was indeed quite strong, but what you have to consider is that Soucek was by far the most experienced driver out there - I think he was the only one to have done GP2, and only Eng, Bortolotti and Piscopo have also driven F1 cars other than Soucek (who tested for Toyota a few years ago). He's a good driver but so is Giorgio Pantano, and winning GP2 at 29 didn't do him any favours

Ironically the one with the best chance of making to F1 as it stands right now is Gachnang, who has finished in the top 10 once next year - she's been strongly linked with becoming Campos' test/reserve driver. Money talks

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by jab

Soucek was by far the most experienced driver out there - I think he was the only one to have done GP2

Iaconelli, Pavlovic, Karjalainen and Aleshin have all done GP2, the latter two only brief exscursions however.

[jab]

Ah, forgot about them. Iaconelli's the only real major one out of those. The others have only done 3, 2 and 4 races respectively

[FFfan]

Originally Posted by BuiltForSpeed

Andy Soucek was excellent again in Imola - taking a podium in race 1 and a dominant win in race 2. He has almost double the points of second placed Rob Wickens and has taken the title with apparent ease.

He'll get a test with Williams later this year - does anyone think he is in with a shout of a full time role with the team? I can't see how he could've done any more this season and he deserves a chance. At 24 this is probably his last opportunity.

Its a sad indictment of our sport when someone is considered to be past there sell by date at 24! I'm all for promoting young talent but lets not get so blinkered that drivers of a more "mature" vintage don't get a look in. Damon Hill only made his race debut in Formula Ford in 1983 at the age of 23! He made his real F1 debut 10 years later at Wilimams at 33 and was World Champion at 36. Would he be given this opportunity with today's mindset?

I notice even the Autopsport/McLaren Young driver competition has now been changed to admit drivers only of 21 years and under when it used to be 25. This is writing off a wealth of talent and putting too much pressure on younger drivers to have to have made it by the time they are out of their teens or they are over the hill!!!

[Flavio Galtieri]

Originally Posted by FFfan

Its a sad indictment of our sport when someone is considered to be past there sell by date at 24!

Especially when one of the leading contenders for the F1 title is in his late thirties. It shows a certain lack of imagination I would say.

And as for the snobbery surrounding the "Super FPA" taunts all I can say is that as a TV viewer F2 has provided some excellent races this year, including many instances of a manoeuvre rarely seen in F3 called overtaking.

[Petrol Head]

Originally Posted by Flavio Galtieri

And as for the snobbery surrounding the "Super FPA" taunts all I can say is that as a TV viewer F2 has provided some excellent races this year, including many instances of a manoeuvre rarely seen in F3 called overtaking.

I have to agree with Flavio. Some of these people knocking the series are also those that said it would never happen, then when it was confirmed they said F2 would only get Palmer Audi drivers, then when F2 signed some GP2, F3, A1 drivers they said they wern't good enough...

It was obvious they were not going to get drivers from the top three or four in those championships as the drivers were probably happy with the team choices they made. It was going to get drivers who felt they couldn't afford to run with the best teams?

I love GP2 and F3 also but it is very easy to just assume that these are both 'excellent' in their strength in depth, when actually I am not convinced by some of the teams/drivers in either catergory right now. It is just that the talent has been diluted across more championships and you can't blame people without the money who decide to go to something like F2. It has had live TV coverage and pretty good exposure on the whole and I have enjoyed watching some of the races on TV.

Don't get me wrong, I am not placing F2 above other things but I think it has certainly proved its worth (and yes we know it is not like the old F2 but times change).

As for Soucek, I have been pretty impressed with him as I thought Wickens would take the title. The Williams test should be interesting.

[Flavio Galtieri]

Originally Posted by Petrol Head

Don't get me wrong, I am not placing F2 above other things but I think it has certainly proved its worth (and yes we know it is not like the old F2 but times change).

Petrol Head I agree totally. F2 has proved it's worth and as such Soucek should be able to hold his head high as a worthy superlicense holder.

GP2 and F3 Euroseries are great series with a top class fields but do suffer from drivers in the top teams being able to buy an advantage. BF3 in particular, with so much more grip than power, is more an engineers' series in my view. For example it's taken Chilton three years, three teams and I bet he has no change out of £1.5m, to win his first single seater race.

I think even the most hardened "SFPA" critic might at least accept that F2 today offers more value and possibly a more cost effective route for a driver.

Time will tell. Let's see who enters in 2010.

[Go_For_Pole]

Originally Posted by F3 Rocks

... test days (Many Many test days) €8000 per day

Could you please explain what sort of testing you refer to?

[Mak]

Originally Posted by Go_For_Pole

Could you please explain what sort of testing you refer to?

I imagine he is talking about the fact that drivers can go and do some extra testing in another formula to get extra track time or learn circuits. Not really relevant as drivers in any other formula can do the same.

[Spudy]

Originally Posted by Go_For_Pole

Could you please explain what sort of testing you refer to?

I believe in F2 its not as straight forward and fair as some people think. Drivers have been able to pay for extra test days and also pay for an extra engineer on top of what they get.

I'm not convinced by F2 as a series. On its own its good but to call itself an F1 feeder, well lets face it, its not going to be like GP2 and WSR.

My reason for thinking this is in F2 there are no teams, or pit stops. So the drivers miss out on developing relationships with engineers and mechanics to improve performance and get a team behind them. This is important preparation that they are missing because up in F1 its huge with so many people, if you don't have at least a little expereince of that professional environment its difficult to adapt.

I will be interested to see how he does in the test, especially in comparison to Hulkenberg. I just think Soucek needs to increase his PR and image a bit to get people talking about him. Hype is a big thing, even really talented guys need people talking about them.

[Mak]

Originally Posted by Spudy

I believe in F2 its not as straight forward and fair as some people think. Drivers have been able to pay for extra test days and also pay for an extra engineer on top of what they get.

I'm not convinced by F2 as a series. On its own its good but to call itself an F1 feeder, well lets face it, its not going to be like GP2 and WSR.

My reason for thinking this is in F2 there are no teams, or pit stops. So the drivers miss out on developing relationships with engineers and mechanics to improve performance and get a team behind them. This is important preparation that they are missing because up in F1 its huge with so many people, if you don't have at least a little expereince of that professional environment its difficult to adapt.

I will be interested to see how he does in the test, especially in comparison to Hulkenberg. I just think Soucek needs to increase his PR and image a bit to get people talking about him. Hype is a big thing, even really talented guys need people talking about them.

Spudy, I think you are wrong in thinking that drivers have been getting extra testing in F2 cars. As far as engineers go they do not pay F2 extra for a second engineer, however drivers can, as in any formula bring alone people(engineers) to advise them on set up. This could be a concern, if it were not the fact the engineers are an extremely experienced group and any advantage in this is minimised.

[Flavio Galtieri]

Originally Posted by Spudy

My reason for thinking this is in F2 there are no teams, or pit stops. So the drivers miss out on developing relationships with engineers and mechanics to improve performance and get a team behind them. This is important preparation that they are missing because up in F1 its huge with so many people, if you don't have at least a little expereince of that professional environment its difficult to adapt.

Interesting points, but I wonder how much that really matters.

In the end the driver's main relationship should be with be with his engineer, just like in Formula Ford or Formula Renault or whatever. How many mechanics are available to change one wheel at a pit stop shouldn't really matter should it? The total number of personnel in the team really shouldn't matter.

Hitting your mark at a pit stop shouldn't take long to learn, I don't see that as a problem. But I take the point that it is a different way of doing things and only time will tell if it's a success.

[Spudy]

what about the tyres? I think using Avon tyres is a disadvantage as the Bridgestones are a tricky and exotic compound to understand how to get the best out of.

Soucek will be ok as he is used to already using them with GP2 but I think the young inexperienced guys would find it difficult. In these days of limited testing young drivers don't have very long at all to get up to speed, they are expected to get in the car and go fast straight away.

And I do think relationships with the team outside of the engineers is very important from my experience. And pitstops are not easy for drivers at all, a lot can go wrong and even seasoned pros miss their spot even with all their practice, and they stall.