British F3 Finale at Donington

[runshaw]

I predicited Smith would immediately be in the top 10 but he's done even better than that! He's a bloody quick driver, beat Sam Bird in FBMW to the title and has done a solid job in FR, was also nominated for the Autosport Young Driver award last year. He hasn't had many results this year in the Eurocup, but has set race laps in the top 6 for the majority of the year. Impressive performance this weekend, he firmly trounced Ericsson who's been in the Fortec car all year and who many tip as being a future F1 star.

Alguersuari has been the most complete package you have to say, and shouldn't be looked at as not having outright pace- has has 5 wins (same as Hartley) and was always there or thereabouts when Turvey, Hartley and Perez were winning. They always the end of the year is important to see what drivers are doing, and Jamie won the last 3 on the bounce, brilliant performance IMO!

[bella]

alguersuari was absolutely a deserving winner, he pulled it out of the bag when it was necessary and when it wasn't he was always scoring points. you can't really say fairer than that. others hadn't managed to pull their socks up quick enough, or made stupid mistakes, but like egomeister said he was consistent and competant.

dean smith did very well - i'm not sure how that'd translate into a full year next year but he certainly justified the one off appearance. excellent sneaky last race podium by nick tandy too - he was one of the best non carlin cars this weekend i'd say, along with smith.

[runshaw]

Tandy is excellent, him and JTR have done a superb job this year, their overall pace was pretty much the same as Ultimate's was and they are a much bigger operation. Wouldn't mind seeing what Joe Tandy can do, he runs Nick now despite himself being 2005 FPA champion and young driver finalist!

[Ssom]

Massive congrats to Jamie, he may have lacked the raw speed of Turvey and Hartley, but his ability to keep his head screwed on won him the championship.

Hartley will be left with a bit of soul-searching to do after the season, far too many DNF's (2 admittedly not his fault - the engine and the wheelnut) took the shine off some stellar drives. If he doesn't watch it he'll become the new Massa.

Also a shame Turvey was so distracted by studies earlier on in the season, he's an immensely talented driver.

[runshaw]

I agree with everything that you say Ssom, but there is a feeling amongst everyone that Jamie lacked raw speed...I used to think this but now I think he's just as quick. He has the most wins (equal with Hartley) and had 3 wins to round off his season and absolutely blinding speed, he's come a long way. He was many points off Turvey, but clawed it back in the best way possible with absolute pace and precision to claim the title. It wasn't just evident this year, however, as whilst Hartley claimed the Eurocup last year, Alguersuari beat him in the Italian FR ch'ship to 2nd overall. It's a geat all round performance by the Carlin team...must be a record to have 3 drivers from 1 team to finish in the top 3 at the end of a season??

[Armco Bender]

Hartley will be left with a bit of soul-searching to do after the season,

He has an F1 test next week,so not too far to search.

[Ssom]

That's excellent to hear, but this season was disappointing considering what an incredibly quick driver he is. Still, it could have been far worse.

[Armco Bender]

They said the same thing about James Hunt...

[chunterer]

Congrats to Jaime then, most people did not figure that he'd be in the title hunt, so it's a bit of an upset really!

Good job!!!!

I hadn't realised Dean Smith was running and it sounds like he did exactly what he needed to do to remind people that he is very good indeed?

Overall though feel bit sorry for Perez. That demolition derby in Romania finished his season for him I think?

[bella]

he wasn't in a top 3 position in the races in bucharest anyway if i remember rightly, so i think it was gone a bit before that. but it certainly didn't do him any good.

[strider]

Sergio was still in with a shout before Bucharest, but two DNFs there wrecked his hopes. The fact remain remains that he and T-Sport are the highest non-Carlin runners, and with a Mugen-Honda engine, which says a lot for them all.

So far as Jaime is concerned, his first ever F3 race was at Oulton Park on Easter Monday, so he picks up the Rookie of the Year Award as well. Remarkable.

[Alex K]

Strider we should also remember that he's had a lot of training in Spainish Formula 3 over the season, he's good and I hope he can achieve good results in FR3.5 or GP2 whateva he does.

Still a bit shattered by what has happened to T-Sport, but as you said 1. of the rest, still great season, possible new entries for NBE, should be good. Do we know anything about VW coming to UK?

[strider]

I heard that VW engines had been offered to one team, but that was a while ago and nobody seemed to know which team.

[Alex K]

Probably have heard same rumours, maybe even from same person in summer... but thought smtg came out, keep us informed.

[cg7aa]

I saw the race highlights on MotorsTV today. I went to watch the race in person but I didn't realise Jaime had been waving his hands that much at the backmarkers! At one point, he had both hands off the wheel gesticulating.

There were some cracking onboard shots from race two from Hartley's car with Sergio sat alongside him and Tandy sneaking through at Starkeys. Great shots!

Impressive drive from Surtees too. I need to pay more attention to circuit commentary as I didn't know Adriano Buzaid made an appearance at the last round.

Does anyone know the reason for the switch from Avons to Cooper tyres for next season? Why not Kumho's if there was going to be a switch?

[cg7aa]

So many questions for next season - Will JTR become the works Mygale outfit running more than one car? Will Hitech and Double R find form to challenge Carlin etc etc?

[bella]

isn't avon and cooper exactly the same thing, just like saying firestone and bridgestone...

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by bella

isn't avon and cooper exactly the same thing, just like saying firestone and bridgestone...

You are absolutely right.

[Charlies]

Just like cg7aa I was at Donington and although Jaime was clearly losing a lot of time I didn't realised he was quite so agitated. I thought it was a little out of character as he's normally very calm.

The Hartley/Perez/Tandy scrap was some of the best racing of the season (at least on this side of the Channel) and Martin Haven summed up my feelings when he said, "Aargh, that's tight!". Brilliant stuff.

Have to second the opinion that Turvey was unlucky to be caught out in qualifying, but Jaime thoroughly deserved the title. I personally do believe that Hartley was the quickest in raw pace, in part as a result of the qualifying reports that suggested he did put in some supreme laps on a couple of occasions.

Dean Smith was impressive, and will be one to watch next season. I'm assuming that the top five in this year's championship will move up the ladder, but will Ericsson do another year? Have any other names been mentioned for 2009 yet? Hopefully it won't be another Carlin walkover.

[strider]

Originally Posted by Charlies

Have to second the opinion that Turvey was unlucky to be caught out in qualifying, but Jaime thoroughly deserved the title. I personally do believe that Hartley was the quickest in raw pace, in part as a result of the qualifying reports that suggested he did put in some supreme laps on a couple of occasions.

I agree with you all the way there, Charlies.

Turvey might have done even better if he had not been preoccupied with exams mid-season, but the fact is Jaime delivered on the day, literally, and we saw a great pair of races.

As you say, Brendon's reputation as the fastest man out there was underlined by some sensational times, like the 1m 11.9s in first qualifying in Bucharest and the 60.9 in Thursday testing for Donington, both of which had even seasoned observers slack-jawed in amazement.