Grand Prix Rejects

andrew wrote:

Ataxia wrote:Driver swaps for Spa!

Nyck De Vries and Louis Deletraz swap teams, and Deletraz now joins Rapax as De Vries hooks up with Racing Engineering as they attempt to save face from a dodgy opening few rounds.

Oh, and Roberto Merhi's in the other Rapax, and replaces Canamasas to the dismay/delight of many.

I think the only people dismayed are those who wish to see Armageddon at the race,

Such as myself...but the rest of the grid is fully capable of that at Spa.

Merhi has one strange caused crash in his CV:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OUsl6FLICk

Won't be surprised if markelov looses 2nd. Even though he was forced off the track.

Looks like he's kept 2nd, which is good. I am not a fan of the habit of squeezing the car on your outside off the road when they are alongside. Ollie Rowland can be a bit too tough , in my view.
Pirelli were a bit too fragile today ( Campos lost all their points in the last couple of laps as they went 4 seconds a lap slower), but otherwise it was entertaining as always. The cars always look a bit of a handful, and they looked fast and fun round Spa.

Leclerc and Rowland disqualified from the feature race, Markelov awarded victory

Wow.

East Londoner wrote:Leclerc and Rowland disqualified from the feature race, Markelov awarded victory

Wow.

Blimey, so Markelov rather than loosing second gets the win.

Sergio Sette Camara: F2 Race Winner

Nope, still doesn't sound right.

Agree: Sette Camara hasn't really looked to have the speed to run at the front at all. But that's the random element of F2 /GP2! He picks up a half decent finish in race 1 from all the DSQ and mayhem..and then a good start, reasonable pace and a safety car finish to protect him, and bingo!
The DSQs were a shock, but they've punished infractions harshly before (Sette Camara knows this, and for tiny tyre pressure issues etc)..but wow! They do seem to run cars low, bottoming a lot; presumably it helps.
And then Leclerc; such speed, in both races. Awesome.

And the driving standards looked a match for F1...
Sette Camara may go down with Josef Kral and Giacomo Ricci ( in a DPR team car) as surprise winners in GP2/F2. Karun Chandhok was a surprise to me too

Sean Gelael is handed 4 FP1 outings with Toro Rosso later this season... Quite curious deal, because I don't see Jagonya Ayam! as a "natural" sponsor choice for STR. Unless, of course, Ricardo Gelael has ideas for his son's career for 2018 at the expense of a russian and overtaking a frenchman in the fight for the second STR seat.

Miguel98 wrote:Sean Gelael is handed 4 FP1 outings with Toro Rosso later this season... Quite curious deal, because I don't see Jagonya Ayam! as a "natural" sponsor choice for STR. Unless, of course, Ricardo Gelael has ideas for his son's career for 2018 at the expense of a russian and overtaking a frenchman in the fight for the second STR seat.

I think it just reflects that these days an FP1 outing ( like a young drivers test day appearance) is the only way some drivers get to drive an F1 car . Years ago if you had some money and reasonable talent your career could include a few Grand Prix entries ( in a Coloni, Osella, Brabham ( late - model) , AGS, Forti, Simtek, Pacific, Arrows, Minardi , Jordan , Prost etc) . These days - not much chance. So you spend your sponsors money on an FP1 appearance instead.

As you say - there's no chance he's getting a race seat, surely. So its probably the best he can get. So why not?
Toro Rosso can manage without full race-team driver input from an FP1 session ...its not likely to affect them much, so why not let him have a go ?

If Sean had a race seat, and Rio got another chance- they could have that Indonesian GP with a capacity crowd.

( Bring back spare cars - but make the teams race them for 20 laps on Saturday with a driver having fewer than 10 GP races experience..or something)

Just caught up with the Belgian F2 races. Leclerc is mindblowingly quick. I know it doesn't count for toffee when they make it to F1 but he's certainly wanted the chance now. Meanwhile Gasly who made a meal of it is left swinging in the wind. I'm echoing Gene Haas but F1 badly needs though backmarker teams who can give opportunities to up and coming drivers.

Personally I'd like to see Markelov in F1 if he could sort his one lap pace out.

Utterly bananas race in F2 just now. I still don't understand what De Vries was trying to achieve on the final lap there, all he had to do was keep his line and he'd have stayed ahead of Leclerc.

Sean Gelael finished 6th after all that.

East Londoner wrote:Utterly bananas race in F2 just now. I still don't understand what De Vries was trying to achieve on the final lap there, all he had to do was keep his line and he'd have stayed ahead of Leclerc.

Sean Gelael finished 6th after all that.

That was insane...

GHIOTTO!!!!!!!!!!!!!
but in all seriousness Fouco will probably be given that win.

An Italian driving for a Ferrari junior team winning the Italian Grand Prix. Fuoco is getting destroyed by Leclerc, but at least in one race he archived the Ferrari dream.

And congrats to Sette for showing a good form in both races. Looks like he isn't a "one hit wonder" anymore.

Surprised no-one's mentioned Deletraz Jr's performance at Monza... I mean in the sprint race he frigging led it for a bit

Leclerc's luck this season has been outrageously awful. I sure hope he doesn't bring that with him whenever he gets to F1. We had Austria where he had bad luck tapping his teammate, Hungary where he started last after getting pole, the disqualification after winning in Belgium, being punted off by de Vries in Monza. His luck is the only reason he hasn't sown up the title ages ago, and I find it genuinely frustrating. Both races were fantastic, though, I highly enjoyed them.

My Dangerous Driver of the Weekend nomination is certainly going to Latifi throughout the entire sprint race. Bumping into cars, cutting corners and not giving back the place, etc. Multiple drivers got damage from contact with him while he continued swerving around all day. I'm surprised he didn't get a warning flag.

GP3 has been good this year as well. Russell really solidified himself as the top driver this year over the last few races. Although the commentator definitely takes a shine to him, I think Aitken just isn't at Russell's level. Under direct comparison, Aitken just isn't as fast or consistent. Bad luck for Fukuzumi as well after all that. Only a matter of time before Russell gets the title.

Yep, Leclerc has just made the rest of the field look a bit silly this year. In a way it's a bit of a shame as there are some pretty decent drivers in F2 but on the other hand we want to see the best drivers in F1 and if you can't stay with the leading driver then maybe you're not F1 material.

Of course there are the exceptions who have had so-so junior careers and taken to F1 exceptionally well. Should a team take a punt on a driver like that?

I stopped watching GP3 a couple of seasons ago as the racing was a bit follow the leader. Will watch the last 2 rounds though this year I hope.

It annoys me the way they have his enormous gap with one race in October and then at Abu Dhabi.

http://www.racer.com/scca-home/item/144 ... 3-americas

I'm contacting my solicitor...

Thoughts on F3 in Austria?

In my opinion, Norris is a little too reckless and needs to be reigned in. I get it, he's young and talented. But he's not going to get far in Formula 1 in the future if he operates without a championship mindset. The crash that occurred in race 3, in my opinion, was a racing incident and not really either driver's fault, and the reason I think Norris shares some of the blame was that he was driving like his championship depended on it - in reality it cost him the opportunity to win outright before Hockenheim. The commentator was saying throughout that he needed to calm down and take safer lines under the circumstances, and after the collision with Eriksson (another racing incident for me) there was absolutely no reason to push Aron as far as he did.

The kid's fast, but it comes across like nobody has whispered in his ear to think about more than the here and now. Plenty of F1 drivers have really suffered because they didn't have that forward-thinking attitude, and hopefully this will teach Lando that it does cost you.

Good to see something of a comeback for Eriksson and Ilott after a long slump for much of this season. After that impressive run in Pau, Gunther has never really come back, has he...

I wonder if footage from F4 race in Sepang appears...apparently all cars ran out of fuel.

https://twitter.com/diegofmejia/status/ ... 36/photo/1

We have an early runner for Malaysia ROTR!

Four drivers have been shortlisted for the 2017 McLaren Autosport BRDC Award. The fact that Dan Ticktum is one of those four makes a mockery of this award.

What the bathplug were Galel and Deletraz doing at the end. GET OUT OF THE BATHPLUGGING WAY IDIOTS!!!!!!

George Russell gets the GP3 title

C'mon mate, the pearly gates of F1 are another step closer!

andrew wrote:What the bathplug were Galel and Deletraz doing at the end. GET OUT OF THE BATHPLUGGING WAY IDIOTS!!!!!!

Délétraz is well... a Délétraz... and Gelael is a legend of his own.

andrew wrote:What the bathplug were Galel and Deletraz doing at the end. GET OUT OF THE BATHPLUGGING WAY IDIOTS!!!!!!

To be fair their tyres looked in far better condition than the leaders, and they were quicker. But it actually looked like they were trying hard not to unlap themselves as they didnt want to overtake leaders, and they didnt get blue flags so they didnt feel the need to park by the side of the road and let the rest of the field go past and lap them.
I actually felt they looked uncomfortable but didnt know what to do .
Race 1 was bad enough as a tyre lottery after the safety car had negated all the tyre management the drivers had been doing. But Race 2 Jerez GP2 was a pure Pirelli casino with a result that bore little resemblance to driver skill and performance. Shame on Pirelli for that ; these drivers should be allowed to show their skill without having their results determined by random tyre effects

Good luck to Gasly in Japanese Super Formula.

The 2018 team entry list is out. We regain Carlin after just one season away and also gain Fortec and Charouz. Sadly we still don't have a full grid as we lose Rapax and Russian Time.

And so, World Series Formula V8 3.5 has climbed down the curtain and joined the choir invisible.

Not too much of a surprise following the Fortec/Charouz news, but a shame nonetheless. The WEC's move to an autumn-spring series was one of many nails in the coffin.

https://www.autosport.com/f2/news/133146/prema-racing-signs-sean-gelael-for-2018-f2
For all you Galael fans out there, Prema have just signed him up for F2 2018! I can't say I remember a single thing he's done this season, so I'm putting the decision down to money

Rob Dylan wrote:https://www.autosport.com/f2/news/133146/prema-racing-signs-sean-gelael-for-2018-f2
For all you Galael fans out there, Prema have just signed him up for F2 2018! I can't say I remember a single thing he's done this season, so I'm putting the decision down to money

I remember this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lzfijS19BH8

Holy...

Has anyone this young been in a YD's academy before now? Either way, I'm wishing Seb Montoya all the best, if he makes F1, (it's probably at least 5 years away) hopefully he can top what his dad achieved.

A Montoya, the Fittipaldis (Enzo and Pietro), a(nother) Maldonado, there's another Leclerc too, there a couple of Schumachers out there...there's only 20 places in F1- could they all be filled by relatives of current/previous F1 drivers ( at some stage in the future?)
And what would that say about F1...?
Aurelian Panis, though , seems unlikely to make it

good_Ralf wrote:Holy...

Has anyone this young been in a YD's academy before now? Either way, I'm wishing Seb Montoya all the best, if he makes F1, (it's probably at least 5 years away) hopefully he can top what his dad achieved.

Not sure, how old was Hamilton when he got picked up by McLaren?

Only the 10 teams for FIA F2 it seems. Fortec havent turned up after all. Racing Engineering have left, but Russian Time remain. Seems a shame they can't manage at least the 22 cars we were hoping for ..
I think they should get a little more TV money. ( I have to say my Sky F1 payments bring me a lot of F2 and GP3 value) .

The F3/GP3 jump to F1 has been a favourite route, and if its hard to get the money for a F2 season, you can see why . And if you're in an F1 team driver programme and you did well in GP3/F3 and have the superlicence points, then in the past once the ART, DAMS and Prema seats have been filled, F2 can seem less attractive. You might not look so good after a year in the melee of F2 midfield.....

Separately - I do hope that when they merge GP3 and F3 they keep the GP3 car , with its decent power. F3 cars seem a bit second-rate to me , compared to a GP3 car.

This wrote:

good_Ralf wrote:Holy...

Has anyone this young been in a YD's academy before now? Either way, I'm wishing Seb Montoya all the best, if he makes F1, (it's probably at least 5 years away) hopefully he can top what his dad achieved.

Not sure, how old was Hamilton when he got picked up by McLaren?

Hamilton, as far as I can tell, was 13 when he was picked up by McLaren - I believe that Vettel signed for Red Bull when he was 13 too.

However, there is another driver in F1 who beats both of them, and I think he also beats Sebastian Montoya too, for being signed at a young age - I believe Lance Stroll was only 11 when he signed up for Ferrari's Driver Academy.

yannicksamlad wrote:Only the 10 teams for FIA F2 it seems. Fortec havent turned up after all. Racing Engineering have left, but Russian Time remain. Seems a shame they can't manage at least the 22 cars we were hoping for ..
I think they should get a little more TV money. ( I have to say my Sky F1 payments bring me a lot of F2 and GP3 value) .

The F3/GP3 jump to F1 has been a favourite route, and if its hard to get the money for a F2 season, you can see why . And if you're in an F1 team driver programme and you did well in GP3/F3 and have the superlicence points, then in the past once the ART, DAMS and Prema seats have been filled, F2 can seem less attractive. You might not look so good after a year in the melee of F2 midfield.....

Separately - I do hope that when they merge GP3 and F3 they keep the GP3 car , with its decent power. F3 cars seem a bit second-rate to me , compared to a GP3 car.

Yeah i hope they keep GP3 car and then keep the F3 car for the national series.

GP3 testing kicked off at Le Castellet last weekend, following a flurry of driver signings in the preceding days. Have some pictures from the front line (excuse the greyness, it was VERY overcast...).

Ataxia wrote:GP3 testing kicked off at Le Castellet last weekend, following a flurry of driver signings in the preceding days. Have some pictures from the front line (excuse the greyness, it was VERY overcast...).

Thanks for the pics.
I really enjoy the GP3, F2 racing and seeing drivers in what is pretty quick machinery having some great racing.
Looking forward to the new season

guys, I did it