The Junior Series Thread

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Rob Dylan
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by Rob Dylan »

yannicksamlad wrote:...Meanwhile those drivers who've been in F1 for 5 years or so, can feel safer knowing that many new entrants will never get the chance to develop and possibly challenge them .

And further on that point, although I know some of you may disagree with me on this, I think for a long time there was a really bad combination of 1.) not enough seats to allow drivers to grow and improve, and 2.) teams at the front being far too conservative in their pickings. The most obvious example of the last decade was Ferrari, who kept Massa despite his complete uselessness all the way from late 2010 to the end of 2013. Instead of hiring Hulkenberg, who was a promising prospect who could quite clearly wring out good results from subpar machinery, they hired a deflated Raikkonen who couldn't get a win out of a top-two chassis until 2018, and then when the car was totally illegal.

There will always be cases in F1 of people being kept on for too long despite being useless (Grosjean since 2017 or so), and it made me think about Jenoch's old article from 2013 that discusses this very thing.

Even back then we were saying how all these drivers who have risen through the ranks 20 years ago are still hanging around taking up seats: Kimi is in his 19th season and started two decades ago; Hamilton and Vettel are both in their 15th seasons and both look to be hanging around a few more years at least; Alonso has made a comeback, and while it's going well, it's still one of only 20 seats being taken up by someone who has long ago proved themselves as an all-time great. Not saying that there's no room for all-time greats on the grid, but it would also be nice if there was room for those who were on their way to score a fantastic 4th place one day in their career. The crazy, and most important, thing for me is that it seems that there is nothing forcing these older drivers to retire. There seems to be no end to the number of seasons they could do if they wanted to keep driving (and Kimi clearly does). Teams like Alfa seem more than happy to keep him in spite of his complete sub-par quality, and he could go on to hold every "number of races" record for the next two decades at this rate.

Seeing as Verstappen will likely be on the grid forever at this rate, he'll be easily able to beat the current season participation record of 19. In his 20th season he'd be "only" 36/37, and if he wanted to drive into his 40s he could surpass that. I don't think anyone would make 30 seasons (famous last words), but 25 would be more than possible if everyone starting F1 these days is 21 or younger.
Murray Walker at the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix wrote:The other [Stewart] driver, who nobody's been paying attention to, because he's disappointing, is Jan Magnussen.
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dr-baker
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by dr-baker »

In W Series qualifying yesterday, 6 cars all ran wide and hit the wall/each other in quick succession in the middle of Eau Rouge, causing some to go airborne. It is scary to watch, but fortunately everyone was OK.
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BJ McLeod
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by BJ McLeod »

Deledda genuinely has a decent shot at points here

No, I can't quite believe it either
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by dr-baker »

Disappointed that Abbi Pulling has run out of funding for her season in F4 British Championship certified by FIA — powered by Ford for this year. :( But at least she has had a couple of outings in the W Series to supplement her year.
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
MCard LOLA
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by SammiRei »

It looks like following his release from Williams' junior driver programme Dan Ticktum's chances of making it to Formula 1 are getting even longer following the announcement that he's landed a seat at Formula E's perennial backmarkers Nio 333.
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dinizintheoven
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by dinizintheoven »

He'll do better than Ma Qing Hua ever did. Not that that's aiming high...
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by yannicksamlad »

As we head to Spain for full F2 and F3 and W Series action, lets see how those cars get on with providing exciting racing versus the 'new rules' F1 cars.. Will the F1 boys tyre-save/fuel save? Will impossible-to-predict F2 Pirelli drop off effect reduce the F2 to a lottery?
And one more point about Montmelo that occurs to me - its not much liked in the UK at least, and clearly it's nothing like the type of track Liberty like to add to the calendar these days (Saudi or Miami, or Las Vegas, or other crunchfests), but as an established , permanent circuit at least it provides non-F1 motor racing opportunities year round , and is part of the structure of Junior series racing
I started supporting Emmo in 1976 (3 points )....missed 75, 74, 73, 72...
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Rob Dylan
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by Rob Dylan »

I have not been following junior series closely. Who is to watch out for this year do we think?
Murray Walker at the 1997 Austrian Grand Prix wrote:The other [Stewart] driver, who nobody's been paying attention to, because he's disappointing, is Jan Magnussen.
Felipe Nasr - the least forgettable F1 driver!
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by yannicksamlad »

I still find F2 and F3 fascinating and exciting . F2 still slightly blighted by Pirelli randomness , but Lawson seems to have upped his game , Ralph Boschung has matured nicely and we all await Hauger to replicate his F3 form from last year ( or will he replicate his F3 form from before that?)
Lawson and Daruvala seem well placed for the title, but Pourchaire looks a little behind his expectations ( and ours?) .

F3- Arthur Leclerc is so brave and impressive at racing, but his quallie lets him down a lot. Even so - I think he might come through
I started supporting Emmo in 1976 (3 points )....missed 75, 74, 73, 72...
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by yannicksamlad »

And now Pourchaire has one of his better weekends ...So much for my previous comment
I started supporting Emmo in 1976 (3 points )....missed 75, 74, 73, 72...
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Bleu
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by Bleu »

The point system was made more in favour of feature races and it really shows. Drugovich and Pourchaire have shared five feature race wins between them.
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by yannicksamlad »

Yes - good point about the shift in points system , which I like . The old system was way too generous for pole. And now - a bad sprint race is really not all that bad at all
I started supporting Emmo in 1976 (3 points )....missed 75, 74, 73, 72...
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Bleu
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by Bleu »

Amaury Cordeel has accumulated 12 penalty points throughout six race weekends so far. Which means he is banned for next race. Seven race weekends remaining after that, a chance to do it again.
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by yannicksamlad »

Yes, not sure I feel that Cordeel is a hazard to himself or other drivers, but he's managed it! I dont know if he tried hard to avoid it, or was just unable to...
Meanwhile - F2 and F2 off to Australia...in flagrant contravention of the attempts to control costs . I can only hope the teams are being recompensed by F2, or Australia or..anyone but the driver. Drivers have to bring so much already , and we have enough relatives of billionaires , insiders etc already
I started supporting Emmo in 1976 (3 points )....missed 75, 74, 73, 72...
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by dr-baker »

Looks like Santino Ferrucci still isn't winning friends amongst his fellow competitors States-side, based on how Josef Newgarden phrased his reply to the following tweet.
watka wrote:I find it amusing that whilst you're one of the more openly Christian guys here, you are still first and foremost associated with an eye for the ladies!
dinizintheoven wrote:GOOD CHRISTIANS do not go to jail. EVERYONE ON FORMULA ONE REJECTS should be in jail.
MCard LOLA
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by yannicksamlad »

F2 and F3 penalties dished out for track limits and bad behaviour - seems a welcome 'firm line' was taken, but then they had to admit there was an error or two ( Vips took a 10 sec stop/go and should have been 'just' 10 sec, and Maini had a penalty rescinded) .

F2/F3 penalties do seem a bit harsh and random at times, and I dont like that a driver is banned for a meeting when they were never really dangerous or causing collisions, but mostly I wonder..
How come the F1 boys dont seem to get anywhere near the number of penalties? Are they better at keeping within the track limits ( maybe because they are conservatively running around saving fuel and tyres) ? Do they run rivals off the road less frequently? Maybe- as they dont spend so much time in a 'desperate battle' ( as opposed to when they accept that it's 'not their race').
Oh well..
I started supporting Emmo in 1976 (3 points )....missed 75, 74, 73, 72...
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Bleu
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Re: The Junior Series Thread

Post by Bleu »

Two of the banned drivers (Cordeel and Caldwell) got a lot of penalty points for track limits. Especially as four infringements gave one penalty point and then all further gave two each.

Nissany on the other hand had more collision based penalty points.
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