F1Weekly Podcast # 1035
Play Podcast: 03-12-24f1weekly1035.mp3
Nasir Hameed continues his travels across Europe and the United Kingdom meeting with F1Weekly Familia along the the way. He stops for a moment in Milton Keynes for some curry and, he brings us this week’s Motorsports Mondial with part 2 of our interview of Paul Velasco Owner and founder of grandprix247.com
Istanbul was Constantinople. Formula 2 was GP2.
A look at the official feeder series supposed to produce young Turks for Formula 1. The number of world champions it has produced is quite surprising.
Swiss Timing. Fabio Leimer won the 2013 GP2 Championship but never raced in Formula 1 despite a Grand Prix team based in Hinwil.
When the checkered flag was waved at the 2004 Formula 3000 race at Monza on September 11, 2004 (the race was won by Christian Horner’s Arden International with Vitantonio Liuzzi) it was the end of the series which had replaced the European F2 Championship in 1985.
Thus, began the dawn of the new GP2 era in 2005 conceived by Bruno Michel and Flavio Briatore, and backed by their Good Lord, Bernie Ecclestone.
A spec series – same engine, tires, and chassis – for the aspiring young drivers hoping to be the next Schumi or Jimmy.
The Maiden Triumph
For the inaugural 2005 GP2 season there were twelve rounds, each including a Feature and a Sprint race with Monaco round being the exception with only a Feature race.
The field included Red Bull junior from California, Scott Speed. There were no less than three sons of ex-F1 champions. Nelson Piquet Jr. Mathias Lauda and Nico Rosberg.
There were drivers from all corners of the world, from Argentina to Malaysia, including Turkey, Japan, and Venezuela.
Autodromo Enzo e Dino Ferrari, on April 23, 2005, was the stage for the first ever GP2 race.
French driver Nicolas Lapierre took pole position, Ernesto Viso from Venezuela set the fastest lap. Heikki Kovalainen, Formula Renault 3.5 Champion and managed by Briatore, was the winner.
Kovalainen kept his calm and carried on, winning three of the first five Feature races.
Nico Rosberg’s first win did not come till the Sprint race of Round 5 at Magny-Cours.
In the second half Keke’s kid came on strong. He won the next two feature races at Silverstone and Hockenheimring.
Kovalainen kept his championship hopes alive by winning the Sprint race at the Istanbul circuit, followed by victory in the Feature race at Monza.
Rosberg became the first driver to win both the Sprint and Feature races at the same event, the season finale in Bahrain, and with it secured the title of the first ever GP2 Champion, scoring 120 points with Kovalainen second on 105 points.
Ron’s Rocket
Hammer Time. Lewis Hamilton delivered a Turkish Delight in Istanbul GP2 race.
Championship glory landed Nico Rosberg at Williams in Formula 1, the same team his father won the 1982 World Championship with.
Replacing Nico at ART Grand Prix – run by a certain Frederic Vasseur – was new kid on the block for the 2006 GP2 season, Lewis Carl Hamilton.
Supported by McLaren and Mercedes, the Stevenage Speedster has been sprinting to success after success since his karting days.
There were eleven rounds in the 2006 GP2 season, and once again Monaco was Feature race only.
The season started under Spanish sunshine in Valencia. Piquet Jr., now in his second year of GP2 and pre-season favorite, won the opening race.
German Michael Ammermüller, in only his second GP2 start, won the sprint race.
Round three at the Nürburgring was “Hammer time.” Lewis winning both the Feature and Sprint races.
He won the prestigious round in Monaco from pole position, was then supreme at Silverstone again winning both races of the weekend. The shining moment of the Silverstone round was the pass in between Piquet Jr. and Clivio Piccione.
Though Lewis would not win again in GP2, his performance of the year was a Turkish delight. In the sprint race at Istanbul circuit, he spun and fell behind. A remarkable recovery saw him climb as high as second at the end of the race.
Despite Piquet Jr. winning half of the last six races, he was pipped to the title by Hamilton who scored 114 points compared to 102 for the Brazilian.
Glock on target
The 2007 GP2 season again saw a very international field with drivers from Russia, India, Turkey and China apart from the usual European and South American contingent.
There were eleven rounds, and in keeping with the tradition, the Monaco round did not feature a Sprint race.
Towards the end of the season both Flavio Briatore and Ron Dennis remarked that the field did not include quality drivers. This was proven by the fact that amongst the over thirty drivers who raced that season in GP2, only one driver would go on to win a Grand Prix – Pastor Maldonado.
German Timo Glock won the championship with five wins over Brazilian Lucas Di Grassi. His only victory of the season was scored in the Feature race in Turkey.
The Pantano Power
Dallara has been the sole supplier of chassis to both the current Formula 2 and its previous iteration GP2. For the 2008 season they introduced a new car.
There were ten rounds, and for the first time, Monaco hosted both Sprint and Feature races.
Apart from Maldonado, there were ten other drivers from this year’s crop who raced in Formula One without any success.
Karting prodigy Giorgio Pantano won the championship with four wins over Bruno Senna.
Winners and Veterans
As the final frontier before access is granted to the Garden of Formula 1, a trend has developed in both GP2 and F2 – win the championship in your first year and you will find yourself in a good team in the top tier of motor racing.
Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, Charles Leclerc, George Russell, and Oscar Piastri took the title in their first attempt.
It is no surprise drivers who took two or more years to win the championship at this level have not been able to match the success of the above-mentioned champions-at-first attempt.
Pierre Gasly won the championship in his second full season. Nyck de Vries took three years to do the same.
Both Maldonado and Felipe Drugovich won the championship in their fourth year.
It took Davide Valsecchi five seasons to win the GP2 championship.
They say every rule has an exception; in this case it is Nico Hulkenberg. The German driver, once managed by Willi Weber won the GP2 championship in 2009 in his first attempt. He was also a champion in F3 Euro series and Formula BMW.
“The Hulk” has persisted in the piranha pool for over a decade without a podium and must be said in days of F1 operating on BBC frequency (Billionaire Boys Club), without bringing a dime.
On the other hand, drivers like Valsecchi and Fabio Leimer, GP2 champions in 2012 & 2013 respectively, never got to race in a single Grand Prix.
Stoffel Vandoorne – the 2015 GP2 Champion – had a Hamilton-like junior career, won anything and everything by the time he got to Formula 1, only to encounter two major career-ending headaches.
He had Fernando Alonso as a teammate, and the likable Belgian had the misery of driving in Formula 1 with “GP2” engine.
Back to the future
GP2 morphed into Formula 2 starting with the 2017 racing season.
The first two seasons of the re-branded series saw back-to-back rookie champions, Charles Leclerc and George Russell, both race winners in Formula 1, and waiting to be world champions once the reign of Red Bull and their star driver is Max-ed out.
Oscar Piastri is the third graduate of the rookie champion class. He may not be able to peel off a championship in the papaya car but given a competitive car the Aussie mate will deliver.
Experienced Hand. 7-time world champion Michael Schumacher testing a GP2 car.
It is interesting to note that the first two champions of GP2, Nico Rosberg, and Lewis Hamilton, are the only two world champions the series has produced so far.
It is equally interesting to note two other drivers, both from the Red Bull Junior program, went on a Formula 1 world championship winning stampede without ever racing in GP2.
Sebastian Vettel won four Formula 1 championships in a row from 2010 – 2013. He had a brief spell in Formula Renault 3.5 before graduation to Grand Prix racing as per the Doctor’s order.
History is repeating itself. This season Max Verstappen is on his way to his fourth straight title at an alarming pace.
The same good Doctor catapulted the Flying Dutchman into Formula 1 after just one year in single-seater racing.
In the final analysis, regardless of the flavor, GP2 or F2, Formula 3 or Formula Renault 3.5, cream rises to the top.
- – Nasir Hameed.
F1Weekly Familia Member Nolan Siegle wins in St. Petersburg Fla.
Indy NXT
Nolan Siegel made a championship statement in the first race of the 2024 INDY NXT by Firestone season.
The 19-year-old HMD Motorsports driver, who started the INDY NXT by Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg from the pole, was never seriously challenged in leading all 45 laps.
Siegel masterfully executed the start of the race, then handled a pair of late restarts to score his third career series victory and third win in the past 11 races. His final margin over Jacob Abel was 1.3959 seconds, but he led by nearly seven seconds before the first caution occurred.
Best of all, Siegel looked the part of the driver signed for four NTT INDYCAR SERIES races this season by Dale Coyne Racing, including the 108th Indianapolis 500 presented by Gainbridge, and, of course, a title favorite in this series.
“It feels amazing,” the driver of the No. 39 HMD Motorsports entry said in victory lane. “We’ve worked hard for this. First (series) pole this weekend, led every lap. (I) should have won here last year – I made a mistake and redeemed myself today.
“The car was fantastic; the pace was there. It made it easy to drive. I’m so happy to start the season this way.”
Even Siegel acknowledged what this domination means for the rest of the INDY NXT by Firestone season. Now, the field is chasing him.
“I think it’s definitely making a statement,” he said. “We’re going to be the car to beat this season and I’d like to keep it up front as much as possible all the way throughout the year.”
IndyCar series
Newgarden Dominates To Win Season Opener at St. Petersburg
As season openers go, this couldn’t have gone much more smoothly for Josef Newgarden.
Two-time NTT INDYCAR SERIES champion Newgarden won the Firestone Grand Prix of St. Petersburg presented by RP Funding on Sunday, driving the No. 2 PPG Team Penske Chevrolet to a 7.9121-second victory over the No. 5 Arrow McLaren Chevrolet of runner-up Pato O’Ward.
On a sun-splashed afternoon and in front of a capacity crowd that included Grammy Award-winning Rock & Roll Hall of Famer Jon Bon Jovi and rock icon and reality television star Bret Michaels, Newgarden led 92 of 100 laps after capturing the NTT P1 Award on Saturday, earning his 30th career INDYCAR SERIES victory. That broke a tie with Team Penske legend Rick Mears for 13th on the all-time win list. Nashville native Newgarden also turned the quickest lap of the race.
“I had a lot of fun today,” Newgarden said. “I think it’s so deserving for the work they (Team Penske) put in. We’ve worked really hard to close the gap. We didn’t have the speed we needed on road and street courses last year, at least on a consistency basis, and today we brought that speed. We had the execution, as always.”
Team Penske won five races last year but just one outside of an oval, Scott McLaughlin’s victory on the natural road course at Barber Motorsports Park.
The victory Sunday was the pinnacle of an outstanding opening weekend for Team Penske on the 14-turn, 1.8-mile temporary street circuit. McLaughlin finished third in the No. 3 DEX Imaging Chevrolet, while two-time series champion Will Power placed fourth in the No. 12 Verizon Business Team Penske Chevrolet to give the legendary team three of the top four finishing spots.
Colton Herta rounded out the top five in the No. 26 Gainbridge Honda fielded by Andretti Global. Two-time and reigning series champion Alex Palou climbed from 13th at the start to finish sixth in the No. 10 DHL Chip Ganassi Racing Honda.
“I think it’s a very solid foundation to what is going to be a very tight, very competitive rest of the year,” O’Ward said. “I think the Penskes were just too strong for us today.”
Newgarden led from the drop of the green flag and started to ease away from the rest of the 27-car field. His gap evaporated on Lap 27 when Marcus Armstrong locked under braking in Turn 10, sending his No. 11 Ridgeline Lubricants Chip Ganassi Racing Honda into the Turn 10 wall and triggering the first of three caution periods in the race.
Christian Lundgaard took the lead during the caution period when he didn’t pit due to an early stop to replace a flat tire on his No. 45 Hy-Vee Honda fielded by Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. Lundgaard kept the top spot, with Newgarden second, from the restart on Lap 29 until Lundgaard pitted at the end of Lap 36 under the second caution.
Newgarden faced little challenge from closest pursuers O’Ward, Felix Rosenqvist in the No. 60 AutoNation/SiriusXM of Meyer Shank Racing and McLaughlin on the restart on Lap 38. He stayed out front, slowly building his lead, until making his final stop at the end of Lap 65 and handing the lead to Herta.
Herta was out front for only one lap before pitting, cycling Newgarden back to the lead for good on Lap 67.
The field got one more chance to jump Newgarden on a restart when Linus Lundqvist backed into the tire barrier in Turn 10 on Lap 69 after a nudge from Romain Grosjean in the No. 77 Juncos Hollinger Chevrolet. Grosjean received a drive-through penalty for avoidable contact.
But as he did in the two prior restarts, Newgarden rocketed away from O’Ward and Herta when the green flag flew on Lap 72. The deck shuffled a bit over the final 29 laps, as McLaughlin, Power and Palou were particularly fast in gaining positions in the running order.
Just like the rest of the race, Newgarden was in his own world of speed in the final run to the finish and cruised to victory.
“I feel very relaxed right now,” Newgarden said. “I was really excited initially, and then it kind of calmed down those last 10 laps. We can move on from here and at least enjoy this first victory.”