GP2 round 5-6 Turkey

[bella]

i'd have thought you'd be used to tv coverage being unreliable by now... life's a bit short to let that cause drama!

[skells22]

back on topic for me as i have some roll over pen news to say about, whenever Ericsson qualfys he will have to take a ten place grid drop at the streets of Valencia. reason an avoidable crash

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Peralta

Perez once again being led down by his team. I wonder if he was conserving fuel the last ten laps or so of the race adit sees he pulled over after the checker flag and later being disqualified due to thecarbeing underweight for lack of an extra few gallons of fuel.

Great sprint race from the back of the grid to get 7th.

Brilliant drive yes. To come from that far back with little in the way of retirements in front is some feat. It was a display of controlled aggression we used to see from Michael Schumacher in Ferrari days!!

Drive of the weekend.

As for the weekend in general, Maldonado's win on Saturday was also very, very good, dispatched with Valsecchi almost immediately and then simply cleared off into the distance.

The ART drivers proved interesting, Getting a bit worried about Bianchi: where's the superstar the Todt's are so keen on pumping into Ferrari?!! That move on Pic into T5 on Saturday was ridiculous!! Then this morning he was completely at sea. The kid needs to calm it down a bit, signs of desperation creeping in and affecting his race day perfomances.

Bird was much better value, but seemed hampered by either brakes or tyres in both races I thought?

Poor Oliver Turvey had a right mare as well!!!

[bella]

bear in mind with bianchi that he was a bit slow to get going in the f3 euroseries as well at first after formula renault - by the end of his first season he was on it and remained there until he won the championship.

[Last2LiftOff]

A life is short and art is long sort of deal Bella.

[bella]

i suspect he has as much time as he needs to put in the results. so long as he wins it in the next year and a half i can't see ferrari chucking him out.

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by bella

bear in mind with bianchi that he was a bit slow to get going in the f3 euroseries as well at first after formula renault - by the end of his first season he was on it and remained there until he won the championship.

Don't think thats true tbh. With Bianchi, comparisons are made between him to the likes of Hulkenberg, Hamilton, and Grosjean I think, after they all dominated their 2nd years in the Euroseries with what was effectively the same team (ASM, ART). And Jules had a bloody good first year, he was 3rd in the championship and winner of the F3 Masters, just the same as Hulkenberg. And in fact, he was much better than Hamilton and Grosjean managed in their debut years in F3 before graduating to GP2.

So thats why the expectations are so high and the pressure is on Bianchi, I guess. Unfortunately for him the continuation as reigning F3 Euroseries Champion with ART to their GP2 squad is looking nothing like as good...but there is still time.

[F1 Prospects]

What is the scoop with Maldonado? He is 25 and been in GP2 for 4 years. The rumors about him going to Sauber seem to have died down so I am wondering, does this guy have a future in F1? He seems to be getting long in the tooth now. Anybody hear any rumours that he is close to anything for 2011?

[Peralta]

Originally Posted by F1 Prospects

What is the scoop with Maldonado? He is 25 and been in GP2 for 4 years. The rumors about him going to Sauber seem to have died down so I am wondering, does this guy have a future in F1? He seems to be getting long in the tooth now. Anybody hear any rumours that he is close to anything for 2011?

If Chandock can get a ride so can Maldonado. If you have bags of money and your still young I believe he has a chance but there are no rumors of him going anywhere. Perez I see as going to F1 next year from these drivers cause he is talented súper young and has backing.

[p-matt]

Originally Posted by runshaw

Don't think thats true tbh. With Bianchi, comparisons are made between him to the likes of Hulkenberg, Hamilton, and Grosjean I think, after they all dominated their 2nd years in the Euroseries with what was effectively the same team (ASM, ART). And Jules had a bloody good first year, he was 3rd in the championship and winner of the F3 Masters, just the same as Hulkenberg. And in fact, he was much better than Hamilton and Grosjean managed in their debut years in F3 before graduating to GP2.

So thats why the expectations are so high and the pressure is on Bianchi, I guess. Unfortunately for him the continuation as reigning F3 Euroseries Champion with ART to their GP2 squad is looking nothing like as good...but there is still time.

It has to be remembered too that this time last year Hulkenberg was finding his feet in GP2 as well. OK he was doing a better job than Bianchi at this stage, but it did take until the Nurburgring for him to get the double victory and the momentum for the championship. Give him time.

[Peralta]

Originally Posted by Mekola

There was no delay in South America - I watched todays race live!
Delayed one usually is the Sunday race, because it will be live at 4-5 AM here.

I too watch the races on televisión here in Mexico live but if you guys in the first world can't get to watch it, you can try a website called Justintv.com. They stream sports events LIVE and live only including World Cup games just tupe in the game you want to watch. I have never tried GP2. The question is if gp2 is popular enough to be streaming. I watched the indy 500 on my iPhone during Mass.

[cg7aa]

What's up with Turvey's luck? There must have been something wrong with his pit limiter on Saturday surely? Mind you, Zaugg has had some pretty appalling luck as well as has Vietoris.

Bianchi could do with taking a deep breathe and calming down a bit.

Will Rodolfo Gonzalez ever return to the form he showed all those years ago in the scholarship class of BF3? Answers on a postcard please!

[runshaw]

Originally Posted by cg7aa

Will Rodolfo Gonzalez ever return to the form he showed all those years ago in the scholarship class of BF3? Answers on a postcard please!

No he won't. He dominated the class, he will never dominate in GP2! I think its clear even in 2007 when he moved to the International class that he was nothing special anyway, he only scored 1 podium I think. All it shows is that 2006 was a pretty poor year in the National Class, he had zero competition. He wasn't even handy in Formula Renault prior to that. And thats that! Look at his pace compared to Pic...

[cg7aa]

Originally Posted by runshaw

No he won't. He dominated the class, he will never dominate in GP2! I think its clear even in 2007 when he moved to the International class that he was nothing special anyway, he only scored 1 podium I think. All it shows is that 2006 was a pretty poor year in the National Class, he had zero competition. He wasn't even handy in Formula Renault prior to that. And thats that! Look at his pace compared to Pic...

Well, that's me told!. To be honest, those are my thoughts exactly. I recall sometime around 1999 or 2000 reading an article in a newspaper motoring supplement where a very young Rodolfo was featured in an article and was being hailed by the journo as the next greatest thing to come out of Venezuela and someone to watch in ten or so years time, that's the reason I've followed him to see if it would ever happen.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by p-matt

It has to be remembered too that this time last year Hulkenberg was finding his feet in GP2 as well. OK he was doing a better job than Bianchi at this stage, but it did take until the Nurburgring for him to get the double victory and the momentum for the championship. Give him time.

Good point, Nico was noticeably off of Maldonado and the ultimate GP2 pace for the first few rounds and then bang, he was gone!!

However, Bianchi has been on the pace but I don't recall Nico making such rash moves on rivals as Bianchi has done relative to Nico's first few races last year.

Originally Posted by cg7aa

.....Rodolfo was featured in an article and was being hailed by the journo as the next greatest thing to come out of Venezuela and someone to watch in ten or so years time, that's the reason I've followed him to see if it would ever happen.

Also since then one or two markedly more talended drivers have come onto the scene from that country, with some more coming I think?

[jab]

As I accidentally posted in the GP3 thread...

Can someone tell Mark Glendenning of Autosport that Pastor Maldonado didn't win at Monaco? Because he based his title, subtitle and the first paragraph of his Istanbul race report around Maldonado being the first double winner of this season...which he isn't