GP2 Silly Season
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Sure, this is an F1 blog/forum, so why am I writing about GP2? Simple; F1’s next generation will all have to go through GP2 (with some moving straight from Formula Renault 3.5 into Formula One), so GP2 provides for a who’s who of F1’s next crop.
With champion ROMAIN GROSJEAN bound for Formula One, his seat at DAMS will probably be filled with a Gravity-sponsored driver. Candidates include DAMS’ Russian AutoGP ace SERGEY AFANASYEV and Estonian Formula Renault star KEVIN KORJUS. In fact, the pairing of Korjus and Afanasyev as teammates may happen if DAMS drop their struggling 2011 rookie, PÅL VARHAUG.
The ADDAX Team has always fielded quick and experienced drivers. With the unlikelihood of another GP2 campaign for GIEDO VAN DER GARDE, his seat may be filled by a number of candidates, including SAM BIRD, JOSEF KRAL, JOLYON PALMER, CHRISTIAN VIETORIS, MARCUS ERICSSON, ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ, and STEFANO COLETTI. These drivers are also candidates for seats at TRIDENT, too.
iSPORT, according to the Finnish press, may field GP3 champ VALTERRI BOTTAS, who might also race for LOTUS ART. Another Lotus ART candidate is JAMES CALADO along with 2011 driver Esteban Gutierrez.
AIRASIA looks set to field development driver ALEXANDER ROSSI of the U.S. His teammate may be 2011 driver LUIZ RAZIA or Asian talent RIO HARYANTO.
ROBERTO MERHI looks set for a seat, as he is on the cusp of winning the F3 Euro championship. RUPERT SVENDSEN-COOK of British Formula Three is also eyeing a drive.
ANTONIO FELIX DA COSTA might race for Portuguese outfit OCEAN as he is managed by team owner Tiago
Monteiro.
There are several well-funded drivers looking for a GP2 seat, including JOHNNY CECOTTO, RODOLFO GONZALEZ, LEONARDO CORDEIRO, JULIAN LEAL, FABIO LEIMER, WALTER GRUBMÜLLER, and MAX CHILTON.
Also looking for a drive is impressive Spanish Formula Renault star ALBERT COSTA.
British F3 champion-elect Felipe Nasr must be looking at GP2. Edoardo Motara, 2010 F3 euroseries champ is impressing in DTM this year so he could be in the running for a seat. I agree that Korjus might probably be in at DAMS, he has impressed everyone in his debut FR3.5 season, and I think that many of the top GP2 drivers like Pic and Bird may have to stay on due to lack of chances of F1, but maybe with a change of team for a new challenge. Others in with a shout may be GP3 frontrunners Nigel Melker, Nico Muller, Alex Sims and Adrian Quaife-Hobbs.
I ultimately think Nasr will end up in the World Series with Carlin.
Mitch Evans is an option for Arden. Merhi might pull a Vietoris and do a dual schedule with DTM.
I ultinately think Nasr will end up in the World Series with Carlin.
That would be a mistake. GP2 is now a two-year program, so running in the WSR is just a waste of time. I quite liked Will Buxton’s recent article that pointed out the way the GP2 and WSR were formed after a schism when the original GP2 series wasn’t billed as being a Renault-based championship or some such. So they went and made their own series, but the only drivers that have graduated from the WSR have been a part of the Red Bull driver program (who also had a falling-out with GP2). And Kubica, but that was before the hierachy was established with GP2 on top.
WSR is substantially cheaper than GP2. It’s better to run Formula Renault 3.5 with a top team than GP2 with a mediocre team. Nasr would have a better chance of winning WSR than GP2. Carlin are the best in the World Series, but not GP2. It would be best for Felipe to maintain the Carlin connection and win the World Series.
Except that he’d then still be looking down the barrel of two years in GP2.
Sure, it’s better to be in a good WSR team than a mediocre GP2 one, but Nasr could do one year with a mid-field GP2 team, and then step up to a front-running team like Addax or ART if he impresses.
Nasr doesn’t have enough sponsors to make the jump to GP2. He’ll need to win the World Series in order to attract more sponsors for a GP2 campaign. He’s apparantly being eyed by McLaren and Ferrari (who need a new Felipe!) for junior programs partly due to his manager, Steve Robertson (Button, Kimi) but mostly because of his junior formulae dominance.
I’m more interested in which extra rounds will be added to the GP2 calendar. The mergers with GP2 Asia (more like the cannibalism of that series) means they’re expanding beyond Europe for a few extra rounds. I’m guessing they might do Albert Park and Sepang, and then two of the first four races in the final away leg: Singapore, Suzuka, South Korea and Buddh. Or even the Austin-Sao Paulo double-header.
Scuderia Coloni
Scuderia Coloni was eyeing Luca Filippi before the Main Series started (he competed with them in one round of GP2 Asia), and if he doesn’t graduate to F1 (he would be the first second-placed driver to do so, although some have reached F1 a couple of years later) he is likely to remain at the Italian team where he did so well in the second half of the season.
Paolo Coloni is also watching Stefano Coletti, as he has both Monegasque and Italian passports, creating an “all”-Italian dream team.
Lotus ART
ART has always kept its drivers when they graduated from lower formulae (Gutierrez from 2010 GP3 to 2011 GP2), and Bottas has great potential and I’m sure they’d want him, but:
1 – If Bianchi graduated to F1, a team with Gutierrez and Bottas would be too young and unexperienced to fight for the title;
2 – If Bianchi remained in GP2, he is most likely to remain with ART, in which case Bottas would either replace Gutierrez or land a seat in another team;
3 – Charles Pic is rumoured to be in contention for a seat at ART, as lead driver to fight for the title, in which case Gutierrez is more likely to remain second driver instead of Bottas, as he has done his rookie year with the team and now that he has more experience with the series he is more likely to be more competitive (if they want strong drivers, certainly it would have been better to put a rookie in another team and sign him once he’s experienced).
4 – James Calado has finished second in GP3, again with ART, and although he’s less likely to challenge the ART seat against Bottas, he is another driver likely to graduate from GP3, and will test for ART at Jerez.
Drivers
Michael Herck has failed to shine, especially against his new team mate Luca Filippi, and probably won’t be reconfirmed at Coloni unless there is no other driver to sign.
Fabio Leimer, Rodolfo Gonzalez and Rupert Svendsen-Cook will test for Racing Engineering at the Jerez test sessions, and obviously are being considered for next year by the Spanish team.
Jolyon Palmer, Carlos Iaconelli, Tom Dillmann and Nathanael Berthon will test for iSport at Jerez. Berthon tested previously for ART at the end of last year and drove in GP2 Asia for Racing Engineering, whilst Palmer has driven in 2011 for Arden, where he was beaten by his team mate Kral.
Simon Trummer and Nigel Melker will test for Arden at Jerez.
The drivers of the AirAsia team will most probably be Team Lotus’ test drivers (as Razia and Valsecchi this year), but the two current ones have had plenty of time in the series and not as many good results.
Davide Rigon, who missed all bar one of the rounds this year due to a leg fracture, should be considered for next year.
Fairuz Fauzy, who took his 5 points of his GP2 career all this year out of three seasons, doesn’t have the talent to remain in GP2 again, but Brendon Hartley, who drove for ORT in two rounds, might be looking for a permanent seat next year.
Romain Grosjean is the most likely to reach F1 next year, but Luca Filippi’s result is also thanks to a great experience in the series, a la Giorgio Pantano, and he may suffer the same destiny.
Jules Bianchi was tipped to fight Grosjean, but he failed to and improved in the second half of the season equalling his best result of 3rd overall in the series and taking his first win.
Giedo van der Garde was supposed to do better, but is rumoured for an F1 drive next year.
Sam Bird was Mercedes GP’s unofficial test driver, but now that Vietoris took this role his links with F1 are less strong, and Vietoris probably will continue his GP2 campaign in 2012 along with his testing duties for Mercedes GP.
I think Coloni are interested in KEVIN CECCON, as Paolo Coloni runs AutoGP, whrre he has been impressed with Ceccon’s pace. He would be an ideal teammate for LUCA FILIPPI.
ADDAX are likely to drop CHARLES PIC in favour of perhaps ESTEBAN GUTIERREZ. The ART situation is interesting; if they pick up Pic to partner BIANCHI, then BOTTAS may find himself at iSPORT.
RIGON is an option for COLONI and RAPAX. I think GONZALEZ will end up at RAPAX.
AUTOSPORT has reported that JAMES CALADO and YUKI SHIRASHI will test for OCEAN. As I correctly predicted, ANTONIO FELIX DA COSTA will also test for Ocean.
As a portuguese, I would like to see António Félix da Costa in other team than Ocean because ORT doesn’t seems to get along with this car and the F1 bosses look at the results, mostly. But it’s his choice, so I won’t criticise him for anything.
Well, Robert Wickens has won the FR3.5 title … by crashing out. Jean-Eric Vergne also retired from the race, so Wickens won by default. I wouldn’t be surprised to see him as Virgin’s test and reserve driver next year – certainly in their young driver line-up at Abu Dhabi – and maybe doing a GP2 program. But where Virgin/Manor had a GP3 team that he drove for last year, they don’t support a GP2 team, which could hurt his chances.
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