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Is the road to F1 through the junior formulae too complicated?


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#1 LHamilton0810

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Posted 17 March 2014 - 21:36

With such a vast number of categories in motorsport nowadays, the question of whether or not the road to Formula 1 is too complicated arises, causing young drivers with no idea where and how they can progress. Another point is why is there so many categories in the first place? It is because there are more and more young drivers now or simply because it gives teams in higher series more chance to see potential in these young drivers :confused:



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#2 noikeee

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Posted 17 March 2014 - 21:44

I've seen this argument many times, and never get it. For the fans it's complicated yes, and the confusion can't possibly help to attract sponsors neither. But the people who follow the series know which ones are strong and which aren't, the drivers and the people advising them know as well. It's only good for them that there's choice, and to be honest everything's concentrated on GP2, World Series by Renault, and at a lower level GP3, F3 Euro and European FRenault 2.0, all of these are international series with a highly concentrated level of talent from around the world so they do get to test themselves and the talent isn't as spread around across the championships as you'd think.


Edited by noikeee, 17 March 2014 - 21:46.


#3 Seanspeed

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Posted 17 March 2014 - 21:48

Junior categories are prone to a bit of natural selection that keeps things focused. Oversaturation at a certain level just isn't viable, so the stronger series survive and the weaker ones die off or are rendered unimportant.

Keeps things easy enough, I think.

#4 TimRTC

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Posted 17 March 2014 - 22:39

Market forces will always dictate - if a series doesn't attract drivers it will cease to exist. The alternative, officially planned and dictated series just don't seem to work as well. Look at the BRDC F4 series compared to the quagmire of the planned FIA F4 series, or the "official ladder" of F1, namely GP2 that many future top drivers seem to bypass to drive in FRenault 3.5 instead.



#5 scheivlak

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Posted 17 March 2014 - 23:21

With such a vast number of categories in motorsport nowadays, the question of whether or not the road to Formula 1 is too complicated arises, causing young drivers with no idea where and how they can progress. Another point is why is there so many categories in the first place? It is because there are more and more young drivers now or simply because it gives teams in higher series more chance to see potential in these young drivers :confused:

You have to delve in history for that, and the answer is rather complex.

 

Just to put it simple: In the years I started following this stuff, it was plain and simple. The CSI/FIA/whatever mandated that There Will be A Formula. Formula 1, Formula 2, Formula 3. And that was it. Those were the officially homologated formulas. Everything else was Group 1/2/3/4/6/7/Formula Libre.

 

Then we got Formula Ford, Formula Vee etc. It was a way for manufacturers to promote their product as "sporting" and at the same time offer young talents to get accustomed to monoposto racing. Later you got Formula Opel Lotus and currently we have Formula BMW, Formula Renault 2.0, WSR 3.5 et cetera.

 

From 1969 onwards we had F5000 and later, from the eighties onwards F3000. They were a bit like someting between F2 and F1. In F3000 there was one engine supplier, but you still had different chassis (like Lola vs Reynard).

 

To me, it's still strange that the FIA (=Max) allowed Bernie to undermine their authority by allowing a pure spec series Dallara car not conforming any of the FIA Formulas -GP2- to be an essential part of the the F1 weekend show (OK, the rot had already started before with allowing F3000 more ad a spec series). And it only got worse with allowing Bernie to run a purely spec GP3 show as well as a direct opponent of F3. Confusion all around, and Mr. Greed himself having another slice of the pie.

 

I still have nostalgic feelings when I see the late 1960/early 1970 F2 battles with Tecnos, Lotusses, Brabhams, Dino Ferraris and BMWs slipstreaming each other. Different cars with different engines in one formula, with the best talents fighting each other and sometimes the cream of F1 as well.

 

I'm relatively satisfied that Formula Renault survived as an alternative school to Bernie's formula and that it seems to produce the stronger talent. I would rather have something like that universal and at the same time more diverse Formula 2 of some decades ago instead of all those spec series, but there you go.....


Edited by scheivlak, 17 March 2014 - 23:22.


#6 pathogen

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Posted 17 March 2014 - 23:37

A. Prost: F Renault France to F Renault European to some F3 to F1

A. Senna: F Ford to F3 to F1

M Schumacher: Some Touring to WSC and F3 to F1

 

In late 60´s and early 70´s a lot of promotion formula vinculated to important brands appears to support the road to superior categories (Ford, Renault, Fiat or Opel). But seems to me that the real good drivers transit to F1 in a diferent way. Maybe I am wrong



#7 DampMongoose

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Posted 18 March 2014 - 09:32

There was an excellent series of articles in Motorsport magazine a while back that had a 'single seater tree' with each of the branches a different feeder series to F1.  Made you realise just how messy the whole situation is.  It's poor from a drivers point of view because the path is no longer clear, with perceptions of the series differing from one person to another.  It was straightforward and better in my opinion previously, as the prospective F1 drivers could compete against the F1 drivers when many of them participated in F2 and it was part of the learning curve required to prove yourself capable of handling the F1 cars.  Although modern F1 cars don't require the same level of respect as they used to, accompanied by the drop in driving standards and the lack of severe consequences this is less of a consideration these days.