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mikeyg123 wrote:

Liket wrote:I probably would too. Not too sure about the comptetiveness of Spanish and SMP F4, though.

The other thing is the Verschoor beat Verhagen in the FR2.0 championship last year but Verhagen is retained.

Verhagen became some sort of rally-cat. Look what he did in the post-winter tests at Barcelona and at Le Castellet. Verhagen was the fastest driver while testing for Tech 1. Logan Sargeant did very well with R-ace GP.

mds wrote:

Yellowbin74 wrote:

mds wrote:

Yellowbin74 wrote: I've also heard that Stroll's dad blocked him at one of the F2 teams - is that true?

Seems a bit weird if so!

It is indeed rumoured (though not confirmed IIRC) that Stroll's father blocked Norris at Prema. He is one of the major shareholders of Prema though (again, IIRC), so he gets his say I suppose.

Seems even stranger then if true - if you're a shareholder wouldn't you want the best driver you could get? (assuming Lando is a decent driver, I know nothing about him)

After Leclerc, Norris is easily the most promising driver in the junior series at the moment.
I just have one theory, but I'm not sure because it's so unusual for this to happen. But I can only think Stroll is trying to protect his son in F1 by trying to keep other talented young drivers out of the good seats so they have a harder time to reach F1.

And in saying that, I also hope I'm dead wrong and there's a perfectly fine explanation for it, because this would be a pathetic way of handling things.

This seems to have been the case, his Father basically bought him the F3 title, actually trying to buy success in F1 has to be a whole lot harder but I doubt that will stop them trying.

pokerman wrote:

mds wrote:

Yellowbin74 wrote:

mds wrote:

Yellowbin74 wrote: I've also heard that Stroll's dad blocked him at one of the F2 teams - is that true?

Seems a bit weird if so!

It is indeed rumoured (though not confirmed IIRC) that Stroll's father blocked Norris at Prema. He is one of the major shareholders of Prema though (again, IIRC), so he gets his say I suppose.

Seems even stranger then if true - if you're a shareholder wouldn't you want the best driver you could get? (assuming Lando is a decent driver, I know nothing about him)

After Leclerc, Norris is easily the most promising driver in the junior series at the moment.
I just have one theory, but I'm not sure because it's so unusual for this to happen. But I can only think Stroll is trying to protect his son in F1 by trying to keep other talented young drivers out of the good seats so they have a harder time to reach F1.

And in saying that, I also hope I'm dead wrong and there's a perfectly fine explanation for it, because this would be a pathetic way of handling things.

This seems to have been the case, his Father basically bought him the F3 title, actually trying to buy success in F1 has to be a whole lot harder but I doubt that will stop them trying.

I think we could end up with a Stroll F1 team in the future. Especially if we get to the stage where no serious team will take the cash.

Charouz Racing enters F2 as a Ferrari Junior Driver Academy team. Fuoco and Deletraz will be the drivers.
(Autosport)

Paolo_Lasardi wrote:Charouz Racing enters F2 as a Ferrari Junior Driver Academy team. Fuoco and Deletraz will be the drivers.
(Autosport)

So apparently Deletraz has just been signed to the FDA? I didn't think he was before?

Good news for him but questions about Ferrari breaking ties with Prema and going for Charouz...

Nikita Mazepin will drive in GP3 next year for ART.

2 North Americans will be on the grid in 2018.

Canadian Devlin De Francesco will drive for Carlin in FIA F3 European Championship.

While an American: Dev Gore was signed by Double R Racing. He will contest the British Formula 3 Championship.

Also moving up FIA Formula 3 will be Ferrari Driver Academy driver Robert Shwartzman for Prema.

Jehan Daruvala for Carlin. And British F3 Champion Enaam Ahmed for Hitech.

It was a long time coming. The FIA will be launching the FIA F3 Asian series championship this year. The series will consist on only 5 rounds in which will begin in July.

They have announced that China and Malaysia will be hosting the 1st round as a starter schedule. Hopefully they could add Singapore, Thailand, Japan, and perhaps Australia and New Zealand in the future. The FIA F3 Asian Championship will be sanctioned by the Shanghai-based Top Speed.

https://www.thecheckeredflag.co.uk/2018 ... 018-debut/

Is there an F2 thread for this year or do we use this one?

Lotus49 wrote:Is there an F2 thread for this year or do we use this one?

I think we use this one.

Great pace by Norris today! Would have been on pole by ~3 tenths without his mistake at the last corner.

It's such a shame his closest rival in F3 last year turned down an offer from an F2 team to instead race in DTM due to his long relationship with BMW.

Will be fun to watch Norris in F2 this year, still. Can he do a Leclerc?

Liket wrote:It's such a shame his closest rival in F3 last year turned down an offer from an F2 team to instead race in DTM due to his long relationship with BMW.

Will be fun to watch Norris in F2 this year, still. Can he do a Leclerc?

So Joel Erikkson thought it better to be a paid professional driver rather than try for F1?

pokerman wrote:

Liket wrote:It's such a shame his closest rival in F3 last year turned down an offer from an F2 team to instead race in DTM due to his long relationship with BMW.

Will be fun to watch Norris in F2 this year, still. Can he do a Leclerc?

So Joel Erikkson thought it better to be a paid professional driver rather than try for F1?

Was F2/GP3 an option for him financially?

mikeyg123 wrote:

pokerman wrote:

Liket wrote:It's such a shame his closest rival in F3 last year turned down an offer from an F2 team to instead race in DTM due to his long relationship with BMW.

Will be fun to watch Norris in F2 this year, still. Can he do a Leclerc?

So Joel Erikkson thought it better to be a paid professional driver rather than try for F1?

Was F2/GP3 an option for him financially?

According to the poster he turned down a F2 drive.

Yes, according to the blog of one of the TV commentators on F1 and F2 in Sweden, he was offered a seat in F2 but turned it down, something about being worried what would happen if he should fail to perform well vs the safety of staying with long term friends BMW.

Great debut for Norris in F2. Although, it has to be said, Markelov was THE star performer of the weekend. Pit lane start to P3, then P6 to P1, that's impressive.

Expected just a bit more from Russell and Aitken going into this weekend, de Vries also disappointing.

mds wrote:Great debut for Norris in F2. Although, it has to be said, Markelov was THE star performer of the weekend. Pit lane start to P3, then P6 to P1, that's impressive.

Expected just a bit more from Russell and Aitken going into this weekend, de Vries also disappointing.

Regarding Markelov it's his 5th season at this level and he has extensive knowledge of the Pirelli tyres.

pokerman wrote:

mds wrote:Great debut for Norris in F2. Although, it has to be said, Markelov was THE star performer of the weekend. Pit lane start to P3, then P6 to P1, that's impressive.

Expected just a bit more from Russell and Aitken going into this weekend, de Vries also disappointing.

Regarding Markelov it's his 5th season at this level and he has extensive knowledge of the Pirelli tyres.

Fully aware. It's not that I want him to be in F1 or anything, but it was a great performance throughout the weekend.

mds wrote:

pokerman wrote:

mds wrote:Great debut for Norris in F2. Although, it has to be said, Markelov was THE star performer of the weekend. Pit lane start to P3, then P6 to P1, that's impressive.

Expected just a bit more from Russell and Aitken going into this weekend, de Vries also disappointing.

Regarding Markelov it's his 5th season at this level and he has extensive knowledge of the Pirelli tyres.

Fully aware. It's not that I want him to be in F1 or anything, but it was a great performance throughout the weekend.

Well apart from qualifying 17th, he's good at managing the tyres and Bahrain has high tyre deg, in comparison to say Norris who has never had to manage tyres in previous series, Markolov's adapted his driving well to the tyres come raceday.

Markelov may well be a favourite for the title this year but it would just make him the next Palmer or Valsecchi. Great weekend for Norris, wonder if he could have made it up to second without the misfire at the start of race 2.

Banana Man wrote:Markelov may well be a favourite for the title this year but it would just make him the next Palmer or Valsecchi. Great weekend for Norris, wonder if he could have made it up to second without the misfire at the start of race 2.

I think he might have done, he had to use up quite a bit of his tyres to catch the ground back up including having to pass Ghiotto.

Yeah, Markelov does deserve credit for his drive on Saturday, even with the huge advantage he has as a result of his experience at this level. No question he's a potential Palmer/Maldonado though, and if he gets to F1 he'll be found out for that.

On another note, is anyone else concerned we're going to see a huge crash at the start of a race if they don't find a way to make it easier to get the cars off the line? In the sprint race you had 4th stalling and 5th barely getting away, and if that happens somewhere like Monaco - where there is less space to avoid them - it's unlikely to end well.

Jenson's Understeer wrote:Yeah, Markelov does deserve credit for his drive on Saturday, even with the huge advantage he has as a result of his experience at this level. No question he's a potential Palmer/Maldonado though, and if he gets to F1 he'll be found out for that.

On another note, is anyone else concerned we're going to see a huge crash at the start of a race if they don't find a way to make it easier to get the cars off the line? In the sprint race you had 4th stalling and 5th barely getting away, and if that happens somewhere like Monaco - where there is less space to avoid them - it's unlikely to end well.

Teething problems seem to happen a lot when a new engine is introduced to a junior series, they will sort it out.

I'll reiterate my earlier point that they need to sort out whatever the clutch issue is quickly before we get an almighty smash at the start of one of the F2 races. 25% of the field stalling at the start of the sprint race is just ridiculous, and if they haven't sorted it out for Barcelona then I think they need to seriously consider starting both races under the safety car at Monaco. You just can't have two/three cars stalling at the start there and expect to get away with it, not when the track is so narrow.