GP3 2012 Silly Season

[FFfan]

Originally Posted by bella

slightly off topic, and it's my pet soapbox at the moment but wsr spa shouldn't have happened because of the weather, qed. both the serious accidents wouldn't have happened if the visibility hadn't been pretty much zero at the time. the organisers need to play their part too.

back on topic, and i agree with everything. i also don't think there's a good example being set at the top - for example how is it that maldonado can be such an idiot in f1 and he hasn't been kicked hard by the stewards? it's saying to everyone on all sides that it's tolerated. this is peoples lives at stake. going fast is not the be all and end all. i'd rather see an INSANE formula ford race with passing left right and centre than a bunch of overpowered vacuum cleaners racing around. gp3 really should be something really basic and slow (like fford) that actually allows young drivers to showcase themselves. then they can go off elsewhere with that recognition and race in something else before going back to gp2 as proper drivers - the kind of serious racers that sam bird and jules bianchi are. if you watch the fr3.5 races this year and follow what they're doing you'll know what i mean - their racecraft is superb. in our current system it's cost them an arm and a leg to learn all that, but they shouldn't be the exception to a rule. they should all be able to race with a bit of brains. why are they that good? bianchi's done 2 seasons of f3, a year and 2 seasons of frenault, 2 seasons of gp2. bird's done 3 seasons of f3, 2 seasons of gp2, fbmw and frenault uk. that's the kind of experience you want from someone in serious cars...

so part of the problem is making it affordable for as many drivers as possible to take their time on the ladder, isn't it? all the while making sure that someone doesn't just jump the steps for the sake of it.

Spot on Bella!

[ivanalesi]

There is another side of the story. Especially last season in GP2, some young drivers with a lot of experience in FR2.0 & F3 had trouble adjusting to the powerful car and if they have had experience in a 400bhp GP3 car, I'm pretty sure it would have been easier for them.
But if the licensing system was working as it was supposed and the overtaking rules were like 10x more concrete than the 2 paragraphs currently and much less open to interpretation, then it would be OK 18 year olds with proven record in FR2.0 & karting shouldn't create the kind of dangerous situation that recently happened in a 400bhp GP3s.

P.S. I don't believe Bruno Michel on the costs, I mean, I'll believe it when the team managers confirm it.

[bella]

Originally Posted by ivanalesi

There is another side of the story. Especially last season in GP2, some young drivers with a lot of experience in FR2.0 & F3 had trouble adjusting to the powerful car and if they have had experience in a 400bhp GP3 car, I'm pretty sure it would have been easier for them.

does that not just say they're not good enough though?

[HaydenFan]

Originally Posted by bella

does that not just say they're not good enough though?

Not necessarily. But hasn't that always been an argument about GP2 though? Whether you are prepared to GP2 or not, haven't many drivers who did well in the lower formula struggled in the class?

The one example just recently is Jules Bianchi. Did well in the category, but when he comes in as the F3 Euro Series champ, running for the top team in GP2, he was pretty much expected to duplicate the results of Hamilton, of Hülkenberg.

[chunterer]

Could that have been a result of the rather drastic and unnecessary changes to GP2 car and tyre regs making it something of a lottery though?

[ivanalesi]

It's all part of the problem, some of them weren't good enough, the car and tires were quite complicated, but I'm sure many ppl inside the teams will acknowledge the fact that it's still quite a big step to go from 220 or 280bhp to 600bhp w/o powersteering! If F3 and GP3 are 400bhp, it will be a much smaller step to go to GP2 and yeah, it'll again save on damage bills. Bianchi is really a good example, he had quite a few big unnecessary crashes in GP2, while in F3 I don't remember any such notable crashes and I'm sure Van der Garde doesn't

[bella]

Originally Posted by ivanalesi

Bianchi is really a good example, he had quite a few big unnecessary crashes in GP2, while in F3 I don't remember any such notable crashes and I'm sure Van der Garde doesn't

he had a fairly big one at brands hatch in the euro race there a couple of years ago. he's no stranger to shunts. funny how so far despite being elbow deep in the fr3.5 field in a couple of rounds there's been no penalties, no grumbling and no incidents for him so far.

[Flavio Galtieri]

Originally Posted by bella

he had a fairly big one at brands hatch in the euro race there a couple of years ago. he's no stranger to shunts. funny how so far despite being elbow deep in the fr3.5 field in a couple of rounds there's been no penalties, no grumbling and no incidents for him so far.

He also shunted the Force India on his out lap at the pre season test.......

[gomick]

Mitchell Evans & Patric Niederhauser shared the race wins around the streets of Valencia...

STANDINGS (after 6 of 16)

Mitchell Evans - 78
Aaro Vainio - 74
Daniel Abt - 42
Patric Niederhauser - 39
Marlon Stockinger - 39
Matias Laine - 38
Kevin Ceccon - 35
David Fumanelli - 35