23 replies to this topic

[Erinnn]

I've been learning about F1 lately, but I haven't really figured this out: where do the F1 drivers race before F1?  Like NASCAR has the Busch Series and there's Champ Car Atlantic for Champ Car, but what about F1?  Is there like an F2 or something?  Is it like in NASCAR where the drivers from the higher series run in the lower ones?  Like does Fernando Alonso run in the lower level race on Saturday and then the F1 race Sunday?  Or are there rules against it?  Thanks for any help!

Ahh Sh#t, I do sound like an idiot, I said "I'll Probably Sounds Like an Idiot"  

Edited by Erinnn, 09 August 2007 - 09:43 PM.

[Eric]

No, you doesn't sounds like a idiots

There's a lot of series that drivers can come from, but the closest below F1 is GP2.  The F1 drivers do not run in GP2, I don't think it's allowed.

GP2 on Wikipedia
Lewis Hamilton won the 2006 GP2 championship which boosted him into F1.  GP2 used to be called F3000 and F2.

If you do a search for any driver on Wikipedia or go to their websites, you'll be able to find out their racing background and see the series they came from.

[pumpdoc]

Fixed your thread title, now drop and give me twenty!!!!!!!!!!

[Erinnn]

pumpdoc, on Aug 9 2007, 08:52 PM, said:

Fixed your thread title, now drop and give me twenty!!!!!!!!!!

[Silas Talbot]

There are a few other feeder series, such as DTM (german touring cars), Forumula Renault, British Touring Cars, A1GP, and the French/German/British F3. Generally these series feed into GP2, then from GP2 up to F1. A1GP and DTM are the only two other series that could (rarely) move a driver right into F1. All the others are not seen as strong enough, and a good prospect would go to GP2 first.

American open-wheel (Indy and Champcar) have got talents who may come over to F1, however those guys -- Doornbos and Bourdais-- both had stints in F3000 (GP2) before moving over to America.

Edited by Silas Talbot, 10 August 2007 - 04:46 AM.

[Erinnn]

Thanks for the info!

I find it interesting when you say Indy can be used for development.  Does racing on ovals really translate into doing well in all-road course F1?  Who was the last driver to go from Indy to F1?  How did he do?

[Eric]

No one has gone to F1 from Indy after the split, IIRC.  I actually the think the only post-split American Open Wheel driver to go to F1 was Juan Pablo Montoya, who went from CART.

I doubt that oval success would mean road course success.  In order to be considered for an F1 ride from IndyCar, you'd have to win at least 3 out of the 5, probably 4 out of the 5 road and street course races.

[pumpdoc]

Eric, on Aug 10 2007, 10:32 AM, said:

No one has gone to F1 from Indy after the split, IIRC.  I actually the think the only post-split American Open Wheel driver to go to F1 was Juan Pablo Montoya, who went from CART.

I doubt that oval success would mean road course success.  In order to be considered for an F1 ride from IndyCar, you'd have to win at least 3 out of the 5, probably 4 out of the 5 road and street course races.

This is why Marco need to get his butt into a Champ car.

[Kati]

Drivers generally come from GP2 (old F3000). Some of them have been in F3, ChampCar, WsbR or F.BMW before. I don't watch any of these series actually :/

[Eric]

pumpdoc, on Aug 11 2007, 03:48 AM, said:

This is why Marco need to get his butt into a Champ car.

I've been hearing he's headed for Newman/Haas/Lanigan, but than again, Robin Miller's been hearing the same thing and he just spews bulls##t when he talks about rumors.  According to him, Dario Franchitti will be in a Penske next year.  Yeah right.  Franchitti will stay or go ALMS with AGR.

But I agree that he needs to go.  It just doesn't seem likely, Michael might be losing Dario to ALMS, Kanaan to Penske, and Marco to CCWS.  The team would be in some deep Sh#t if that happened.

[pumpdoc]

Eric, on Aug 11 2007, 08:20 AM, said:

I've been hearing he's headed for Newman/Haas/Lanigan, but than again, Robin Miller's been hearing the same thing and he just spews bulls##t when he talks about rumors.  According to him, Dario Franchitti will be in a Penske next year.  Yeah right.  Franchitti will stay or go ALMS with AGR.

But I agree that he needs to go.  It just doesn't seem likely, Michael might be losing Dario to ALMS, Kanaan to Penske, and Marco to CCWS.  The team would be in some deep Sh#t if that happened.

Robim Miller has forgot more than you know, I'll trust Robin any day.

[Eric]

pumpdoc, on Aug 11 2007, 09:22 PM, said:

Robim Miller has forgot more than you know, I'll trust Robin any day.

Don't get me wrong, man, I love Robin Miller and he def knows his stuff, but I tell ya, some of the stuff he says just seems like stuff he wants to happen for the good of the sport he loves, not what he really thinks will happen.  The Marco thing seems baseless to me, more like "Oh, well grandpa and daddy drove for 'em, so why not Little Marco himself?"  Franchitti to ALMS makes sense, Kanaan leaving does too, he seems awful p**sed this year.

I can only hope Robin proves me wrong.

[Autumnpuma]

pumpdoc, on Aug 11 2007, 06:22 PM, said:

Robim Miller has forgot more than you know, I'll trust Robin any day.

Miller's not always right, but I agree with you anyway. Robin is the best defender of open-wheel racing in America right now. Miller is to open-wheel racing as Thomas Paine was to the American Revolution.

[Eric]

I just love Robin Miller because he asked my friend (yes, friend) Bobby Santos, III. if IndyCar was his goal, which is the question I've been meaning to ask Bobby when I talk to him again (which hasn't been much since he's been all around the country with midgets and ARCA), so I thank Robin Miller for that.  Santos will be an IndyCar champion if he goes in that direction.  Guarantee it.

[Autumnpuma]

Eric, on Aug 11 2007, 09:20 PM, said:

I just love Robin Miller because he asked my friend (yes, friend) Bobby Santos, III. if IndyCar was his goal, which is the question I've been meaning to ask Bobby when I talk to him again (which hasn't been much since he's been all around the country with midgets and ARCA), so I thank Robin Miller for that.  Santos will be an IndyCar champion if he goes in that direction.  Guarantee it.

Lets hope your friend stays out of Indy just on principle. I'd want to see him enter NASCAR before Indy.

[Eric]

Autumnpuma, on Aug 12 2007, 12:25 AM, said:

Lets hope your friend stays out of Indy just on principle. I'd want to see him enter NASCAR before Indy.

No, I don't need any reasons to watch NASCAR, and with Bobby being in it, I'd kinda have to.  He's doing well in stock cars for having no experience, but I want to see another young American star in American open wheel because it is my one true love.

But do explain why you'd say that.

[Autumnpuma]

Eric, on Aug 11 2007, 09:28 PM, said:

No, I don't need any reasons to watch NASCAR, and with Bobby being in it, I'd kinda have to.  He's doing well in stock cars for having no experience, but I want to see another young American star in American open wheel because it is my one true love.

But do explain why you'd say that.

I dislike Indy for a number of reasons, chief of which is that it killed CART. ChampCar is the phoenix rising from CART's ashes and is a more true 'American open-wheel' series than Indy is. I'd like talent to go to NASCAR, which isn't really competition to ChampCar than to go into Indy which is.

[Eric]

Autumnpuma, on Aug 12 2007, 12:31 AM, said:

I dislike Indy for a number of reasons, chief of which is that it killed CART. ChampCar is the phoenix rising from CART's ashes and is a more true 'American open-wheel' series than Indy is. I'd like talent to go to NASCAR, which isn't really competition to ChampCar than to go into Indy which is.

Fair enough, but I like Tony George more than Brian France.

There's really no need to worry, Bobby will go to NASCAR if he finds a little more consistancy in ARCA, it's where the money is at.

And even though Champ Car is better racing with better cars on road courses, IndyCar got the better teams and has more variety amongst the schedule, even if it is over a 2:1 ratio ovals to road course.

Santos was about 2 seconds a lap faster than everyone in karts when he raced...maybe he can go to CCWS? (No way in hell, but I can pretend)

[Autumnpuma]

Eric, on Aug 11 2007, 09:36 PM, said:

Fair enough, but I like Tony George more than Brian France.

There's really no need to worry, Bobby will go to NASCAR if he finds a little more consistancy in ARCA, it's where the money is at.

And even though Champ Car is better racing with better cars on road courses, IndyCar got the better teams and has more variety amongst the schedule, even if it is over a 2:1 ratio ovals to road course.

Santos was about 2 seconds a lap faster than everyone in karts when he raced...maybe he can go to CCWS? (No way in hell, but I can pretend)

That's pretty quick in karts. Tell him he's got my seal of approval wherever he goes, if he's got the 'eye of the tiger'. He's not been on my radar, but I will change that.

[Eric]

Autumnpuma, on Aug 12 2007, 12:38 AM, said:

That's pretty quick in karts. Tell him he's got my seal of approval wherever he goes, if he's got the 'eye of the tiger'. He's not been on my radar, but I will change that.

Yeah, he's a real hard racer, a real good one.  He came from last to first in a 25-lap midget race on a 1/3-mile with a lot of outside passing, which was really unheard of at the track, and won the most races of any USAC Midget driver in 2006, even on a part-time schedule, and has 2 ARCA poles.  And he whooped my a## in karts.

His sister, Erica, just won her first midget race a few weeks back, too.  She was about on par with me in karts, maybe a little quicker.

[SuperKimi]

It basically goes like this if you're lucky
Karting-Fford- FBMW-FRenault-F3-WSR??-GP2-F1

[pumpdoc]

Enough of thid gIRL racing crap and King Tony...........Off with 'es head!!!!!!

The only and I mean only reason anyone races gIRL is the 500.     

[Eric]

pumpdoc, on Aug 12 2007, 09:18 AM, said:

Enough of thid gIRL racing crap and King Tony...........Off with 'es head!!!!!!

The only and I mean only reason anyone races gIRL is the 500.     

As much as I hate TG, we kind of need a merge right now, and sadly TG will have part ownership/control of that series.  Merger will never work if fans are gunna hold grudges from many years ago.  But I guess the ideal situation would be for IndyCar to fold and CCWS to absorb all the teams and drivers and sponsors, but not absorb George and Barnfart, who put every single driver on probation...wtf?

And actually, I think teams race IndyCar over Champ Car because the CCWS championship pays $250,000 or $125,000 or something really lame like that, and the IndyCar one pays $1,000,000 plus the 500 pays even more than that.

[Erinnn]

pumpdoc, on Aug 12 2007, 09:18 AM, said:

Enough of thid gIRL racing crap and King Tony...........Off with 'es head!!!!!!

The only and I mean only reason anyone races gIRL is the 500.     

Why do people call it the gIRL?  Is it because of Danica?