2015 GP2 drivers and teams
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I expect Vandoorne to absolutely walk the championship this year. However I feel that the two DAMS drivers will be second and third, in which order however I am unsure.
@craig-o Same, but it remains to be seen how DAMS do.. Gasly has more time in the car, but Lynn more experience on Pirelli tyres. He might be stronger later in the year, once he adapts to the car. Marciello I expect to bring consistency to his pace next year, while Evans has a platform to be top 4 again despite the competition increase, and he needs a good finish to keep up his superlicence eligibility for 2016.
So Marciello is switching to Trident… I’m sure I’d heard he was staying with Racing Engineering so that’s something of a surprise. Hopefully the deadwood in the decent cars doesn’t mean talent like this gets stuck with the less-capable machinery. Maybe a RE seat for Ocon then?
I’m sure I’d heard he was staying with Racing Engineering
Me too and I had a look into that: that news came when it was announced that he’ll be Sauber’s test driver, but the Ferrari and Sauber statements only said that Marciello will stay in GP2 – but on most news sites they said in their articles that Marciello will stay with Racing Engineering.
I didn’t say it then, I’ll say it now..it was shoddy journalism from both Sky and Keith.
There was nothing official anywhere about Marciello joining Racing Engineering, as I insisted, in the comments section, at the time Ferrari confirmed he would do GP2. Unfortunately, Sky began circulating an assumption they had made, but I was more shocked that Keith took the bait and reported the assumption as well.
Shoddy journalism on both counts, though it pains me to say this. I hope in future, F1Fanatic will report official news, rather than simply reproducing assumptions made by supposedly reliable sites.@wsrgo I remember the article you’re referring to – there was a mistake on it initially but it was corrected the same day:
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2014/12/31/sauber-takes-marciello-reserve-driver/
My apologies Keith, I did write in my comment and then waited for quite a while, but I fell asleep early and didn’t check on it afterwards, so I wasn’t aware of the edition.
It does prove though, that we should think twice before reading on face value, the supposed ‘exclusives’ apparently reliable sites like Sky and Autosport give. Jumping the gun on the basis of their reports is unadvisable, though the latter definitely have a better hit rate.Trident turned Cecotto into a top-5 driver and got the most productive season out of Canamasas, who aren’t on the same caliber as Marciello by any stretch. And Marciello has already tested for Trident before in 2013 post-season testing and set the fastest time on the first day.
It may be political, but this is a solid move by a team who, just a year and a half ago, had to take Ricardo Teixiera as a paying option.
Here comes another Formula Renault 3.5 driver who dipped a toe in the series last year: Marco Sorensen joins Leal at Carlin.
Sorensen is a decent racer. Whilst I do not put him in the Vandoorne/Gasly/Lynn bracket, he is the sort of bloke who will pick up a lot of podiums with a team like Carlin.
@craig-o He certainly seemed to go better in GP2 than FR3.5 where he was struggling on his own at Tech 1 for much of the season. And had that big crash, of course. I wonder if Lotus are keeping him on or throwing all their weight behind Ocon?
Marciello moving to Trident is a step backwards in traditional performance terms, but as his Sauber reserve role means he is secure in Ferrari’s thinking (F1 practice runs next year? Race drive soon after?), and he is ‘the most eligible junior for a super licence’, being closer to base in Italy/Switzerland is probably more important.
I imagine Sorensen is secure with his backing, as they dropped Stanaway who had beaten him in German F3, as well as turning around the 2014 FR3.5 car for Vaxiviere. Lets see how much he can improve on last season’s GP2 performances, now in Nasr’s car, as more talents flock to the series (filling out the top ten again, where he’s likely to be with Leal).
@rjoconnell I thought Cecotto dragged them there really, that’s the driver we should have seen up till now. Unless he was driving Marciello’s car since testing…I wonder if Lotus are keeping him on or throwing all their weight behind Ocon?
@keithcollantine Well this tweet and the Saxo Bank sponsoring probably means they are keeping him. I wonder what happens to Ocon, things seem to be a bit quiet around him at the moment, and Lotus also hired Palmer last week. Maybe another team should pick him up as a junior driver, Williams seem to have an empty place on that front…@hunocsi Mercedes too, if Wehrlein will continue to be shunned by the FIA. What did they say about the Michael Schumacher return? Tough to diagnose that if say he never got to start his F1 career in 1991….
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