41 replies to this topic

[William Hunt]

This thread was made to compare how many drivers / how easily drivers used to reach F1 from the European F3 & F2/F3000/GP2/F2 categories.

Off course I know that there were also drivers who were promoted straight from French, British, Italian or sometimes even German F3 but I'm focussing on the European championships here (the F3000 championship was actually called 'Intercontinental' and F2 & F3 nowadays just carry the FIA name).

 

So this post is in a way a look at how easily drivers reached F1 (or how hard it became today). I'm focussing on drivers who finished in the top 10 of the championship only.

 

This topic might also give a glimpse on who was competitive in these series and never got a chance in F1: who did we miss out on? This question in particular is interesting and can be discussed in this topic.

 

I'll start by nominating Anders Oloffson, Alain Ferté, John Nielsen & Richard Dallest (excellent street circuit driver) as drivers who imho should have gotten a chance in F1.

 

First of all let's start with the European F3 championship which ran from 1975 until 1984.

 

In 2003 a follow up started, the Formula 3 Euro Series (which actually was a fusion of the French & German F3 championship although a new German championship immediately replaced the old one, the Spanish F3 later morphed in to Euroformula Open).

 

The Formula 3 Euro Series had strong ties with DTM since a lot of their races ran in DTM's support, a lot of DTM teams ended up recruiting drivers from that championship as a result, even champions.

 

In 2013 the Formula 3 Euro Series became the FIA European F3 championship, which later had a fusion with the GP3 championship to become known as FIA F3.

 

 

Drivers in BOLD reached F1

 

FIA European F3 Championship ('75-'84):

 

1975:

1.   Larry Perkins  (Aus)

2.   Conny Andersson  (Swe)

3.   Renzo Zorzi  (Ita)

4.   Freddy Kotulinsky  (Swe)

      Terry Perkins  (Aus) 

      Patrick Nève  (Bel)

      Ulf Svensson  (Swe)

8.   Alessandro Pesenti-Rossi  (Ita)

9.   Gunnar  Nordström  (Swe)

10. Dieter Kern  (D)

      Conny Ljungfeld  (Swe)

      Gaudenzio  Mantova  (Swe)

      Gianfranco  Brancatelli  (Ita)

      Fernando Sperafico  (Ita)

      Anders Olofsson  (Swe)

 

1976

1.   Riccardo Patrese  (Ita)

2.   Conny Andersson  (Swe)

3.   Gianfranco  Brancatelli  (Ita)

4.   Bertram  Schäfer  (D)

5.   Marc Surer  (Sui)

6.   Piercarlo Ghinzani  (Ita)

7.   Ulf  Svensson  (Swe)

8.   Jac  Nellemann  (Den)

9.   Class Sigurdsson  (Swe)

10. Thorkild  Thyrring  (Den)

 

1977

1.   Piercarlo  Ghinzani  (Ita)

2.   Anders  Olofsson  (Swe)

3.   Nelson  Piquet  (Bra)

4.   Beppe  Gabbiani  (Ita)

5.   Oscar  Pedersoli  (Ita)

6.   Pierro  Necchi  (Ita)

7.   Elio  de Angelis  (Ita)

8.   David  Kennedy  (Irel)

9.   Derek  Daly  (Irel)

      John  Nielsen  (Den)

 

1978

1.   Jan  Lammers  (Ned)

2.   Anders  Olofsson  (Swe)

3.   Patrick  Gaillard  (Fra)

4.   Teo  Fabi  (Ita)

5.   Michael  Bleekemolen  (Ned)

6.   Derek  Warwick  (GB)

      David  Kennedy  (Irel)

8.   Daniele  Albertin  (Ita)

9.   Alain  Prost  (Fra)

      Guido  Pardini  (Ita)

 

1979

1.   Alain  Prost  (Fra)

2.   Michael  Bleekemolen  (Ned)

3.   Slim  Borgudd  (Swe)

4.   Mauro  Baldi  (Ita)

5.   Richard  Dallest  (Fra)

6.   Michele  Alboreto  (Ita)

7.   Michael  Korten  (D)

8.   Mike  Thackwell  (N-ZL)

      Brett  Riley  (N-ZL)

10. Daniele  Albertin  (Ita)

      Serge  Saulnier  (Fra)

 

1980

1.   Michele  Alboreto  (Ita)

2.   Thierry  Boutsen  (Bel)

3.   Corrado  Fabi  (Ita)

4.   Mauro  Baldi  (Ita)

5.   Philippe  Alliot  (Fra)

6.   Philippe  Streiff  (Fra)

7.   Kurt  Thiim  (Den)

8.   Alain  Ferté  (Fra)

9.   Mike  White  (Z-A)

      Enzo  Coloni  (Ita)

 

1981

1.   Mauro  Baldi  (Ita)

2.   Alain  Ferté  (Fra)

3.   Philippe  Alliot  (Fra)

4.   Philippe  Streiff  (Fra)

5.   Oscar  Larrauri  (Arg)

6.   Emanuele  Pirro  (Ita)

7.   Jean-Louis  Schlesser  (Fra)

8.   Kurt  Thiim  (Den)

9.   Mike  White  (Z-A)

10. Roberto  Moreno  (Bra)

 

1982

1.   Oscar  Larrauri  (Arg)

2.   Emanuele  Pirro  (Ita)

3.   Alain  Ferté  (Fra)

4.   James  Weaver  (GB)

5.   Didier  Theys  (Bel)

6.   Philippe  Alliot  (Fra)

7.   Paolo  Giangrossi  (Ita)

8.   John  Nielsen  (Den)

9.   Claudio  Langes  (Ita)

10. Roberto  Ravaglia  (Ita)

 

1983

1.   Pierluigi  Martini  (Ita)

2.   John  Nielsen  (Den)

3.   Emanuele  Pirro  (Ita)

4.   Tommy  Byrne  (Irel)

5.   Roberto  Ravaglia  (Ita)

6.   Didier  Theys  (Bel)

7.   Martin  Brundle  (GB)  (just 2 races, at Silverstone & Donington, which he both won!)

      Gerhard  Berger  (Aut)

9.   Claudio  Langes  (Ita)

10. Pascal  Fabre  (Fra)

 

1984

1.   Ivan  Capelli  (Ita)

2.   Johnny  Dumfries  (GB)

3.   Gerhard  Berger  (Aut)

4.   Claudio  Langes  (Ita)

5.   John  Nielsen  (Den)

6.   Tommy  Byrne  (Irel)

7.   Bernard  Santal  (Sui)

8.   Ruggero  Melgrati  (Ita)

      Kris  Nissen  (Den)

10. Luis  Pérez-Sala  (Esp)

 

Formula 3 Euro Series  ('03-'12);

 

2003

1.   Ryan  Briscoe  (Aus)

2.   Christian  Klien  (Aut)

3.   Oliver  Pla  (Fra)

4.   Markus  Winkelhock  (D)

5.   Timo  Glock  (D)

6.   Fabio  Carbone  (Bra)

7.   Alexandre  Premat  (Fra)

8.   Nico  Rosberg  (Fin / D)   (raced under Finish flag that year! I don't think he even speaks Finnish)

9.   Robert  Doornbos  (Ned)

10. Bruno  Spengler  (Can)

 

2004

1.   Jamie  Green  (GB)

2.   Alexandre Premat  (Fra)

3.   Nicolas  Lappière  (Fra)

4.   Nico  Rosberg  (D)

5.   Lewis  Hamilton  (GB)

6.   Eric  Salignon  (Fra)

7.   Robert  Kubica  (Pol)

8.   Franck  Perera  (Fra)

9.   Guido  van der Garde  (Ned)

10. Roberto  Streit  (Bra)

 

2005

1.   Lewis  Hamilton  (GB)

2.   Adrian  Sutil  (D)

3.   Lucas  di Grassi  (Bra)

4.   Franck  Perera  (Fra)

5.   Sebastian  Vettel  (D)

6.   Loïc  Duval  (Fra)

7.   James  Rossitter  (GB)

8.   Guillaume  Moreau  (Fra)

9.   Guido  van der Garde  (Ned)

10. Paul  di Resta  (GB)

 

2006

1.   Paul  di Resta  (GB)

2.   Sebastian  Vettel  (D)

3.   Kohei  Hirate  (Jap)

4.   Esteban  Guerrieri  (Arg)

5.   Richard  Antinucci  (USA)

6.   Guido  van der Garde  (Ned)

7.   Kazuki  Nakajima  (Jap)

8.   Kamui  Kobayashi  (Jap)

9.   Jonathan  Summerton  (USA)

10. Guillaume  Moreau  (Fra)

 

2007

1.   Romain  Grosjean  (Sui / Fra)

2.   Sébastien  Buemi   (Sui)

3.   Nico  Hülkenberg  (D)

4.   Kamui  Kobayashi  (Jap)

5.   James  Jakes  (GB)

6.   Yelmer  Buurman  (Ned)

7.   Franck  Mailleux  (Fra)

8.   Edoardo  Mortara  (Ita / Sui)

9.   Tom  Dillmann  (Fra)

10. Jean-Karl  Vernay  (Fra)

 

2008

1.   Nico  Hülkenberg  (D)

2.   Edoardo  Mortara  (Ita / Sui)

3.   Jules  Bianchi  (Bel / Fra)

4.   Renger  van der Sande  (Ned)

5.   Mika  Mäki  (Fin)

6.   Christian  Vietoris  (D)

7.   Koudai  Tsukakoshi  (Jap)

8.   Jean-Karl  Vernay  (Fra)

9.   Yann  Clairay  (Fra)

10. Franck  Mailleux  (Fra)

 

2009

1.   Jules  Bianchi  (Bel / Fra)

2.   Christian  Vietoris  (D)

3.   Valtteri  Bottas  (Fin)

4.   Alexander  Sims  (GB)

5.   Jean-Karl  Vernay  (Fra)

6.   Mika  Mäki  (Fin)

7.   Roberto  Merhi  (Esp)

8.   Sam  Bird  (GB)

9.   Esteban  Guttiérrez  (Mex)

10. Stefano  Coletti  (Mon)

 

2010

1.   Edoardo  Mortara  (Ita / Sui)

2.   Marco  Wittmann  (D)

3.   Valtteri  Bottas  (Fin)

4.   Alexander  Sims  (GB)

5.   Roberto  Merhi  (Esp)

6.   Laurens  Vanthoor  (Bel)

7.   Antonio  Felix da Costa  (Por)

8.   Daniel  Juncadella  (Esp)

9.   Carlos  Muñoz  (Col)

10. Jim  Pla  (Fra)

 

2011

1.   Roberto  Merhi  (Esp)

2.   Marco  Wittmann  (D)

3.   Daniel  Juncadella  (Esp)

4.   Nigel  Melker  (Ned)

5.   Felix  Rosenqvist  (Swe)

6.   Laurens  Vanthoor  (Bel)

7.   Daniel  Abt  (D)

8.   Calors  Muñoz  (Col)

9.   Jimmy  Eriksson  (Swe)

10. Kimiya  Sato  (Jap)

 

2012

1.   Daniel  Juncadella  (Esp)

2.   Pascal  Wehrlein  (D)

3.   Raffaele  Marciello  (Ita)

4.   Felix  Rosenqvist  (Swe)

5.   William  Buller  (GB)

6.   Sven  Müller  (D)

7.   Tom  Blomqvist  (Swe / GB)

8.   Michael  Lewis  (USA)

9.   Carlos  Sainz Jr.  (Esp)

10. Emil  Bernstorf  (Den / GB)

 

During  the 2012 season the name changed from F3 Euro Series to FIA Formula 3 European Championship. The championship now carried the prestigious 'FIA' tag again, as it had until 1984. It was the 4th tier series after F1, GP2 (started in 2005 replacing F3000) & GP3 (which started in 2010).

 

2013

1.   Raffaele  Marciello  (Ita)

2.   Felix  Rosenqvist  (Swe)

3.   Alex  Lynn  (GB)

4.   Lucas  Auer  (Aut)

5.   Harry  Tincknell  (GB)

6.   Jordan  King  (GB)

7.   Tom  Blomqvist  (Swe / GB)

8.   Luis Felipe ('Pipo') Derani  (Bra)

9.   Sven  Müller  (D)

10. Alexander  Sims  (GB)

 

2014

1.   Esteban  Ocon  (Fra)

2.   Tom  Blomqvist  (Swe / GB)

3.   Max  Verstappen  (Ned)

4.   Lucas  Auer  (Aut)

5.   Antonio  Fuoco  (Ita)

6.   Antonio  Giovinazzi  (Ita)

7.   Jordan  King  (GB)

8.   Felix  Rosenqvist  (Swe)

9.   Jake  Dennis  (GB)

10. Nicholas  Latifi  (Can)

 

2015

1.   Felix  Rosenqvist  (Swe)

2.   Antonio  Giovinazzi  (Ita)

3.   Jake  Dennis  (GB)

4.   Charles  Leclerc  (Mon)

5.   Lance  Stroll  (Can)

6.   George  Russell  (GB)

7.   Alex  Albon  (GB / Thai)

8.   Maximilian  Günther  (D)

9.   Mikkel  Jensen  (Den)

10. Markus  Pommer  (D)

 

2016

1.   Lance  Stroll  (Can)

2.   Maximilian  Günther  (D)

3.   George  Russell  (GB)

4.   Nick  Cassidy  (N-ZL)

5.   Joel  Eriksson  (Swe)

6.   Callum  Ilott  (GB)

7.   Ralf  Aron  (Est)

8.   Anthoine  Hubert  (Fra)

9.   Ben  Barnicoat  (GB)

10. Niko  Kari  (Fin)

 

2017

1.   Lando  Norris  (GB)

2.   Joel  Eriksson  (Swe)

3.   Maximilian  Günther  (D)

4.   Callum  Ilott  (GB)

5.   Jake  Hughes  (GB)

6.   Jehan  Daruvala  (India)

7.   Ferdinand  Habsburg  (Aut)

8.   Guanyu  Zhou  (China)

9.   Ralf  Aron  (Est)

10. Nikita  Mazepin  (Rus)

12. Mick  Schumacher  (D)

 

2018

1.   Mick  Schumacher  (D)

2.   Dan  Ticktum  (GB)

3.   Robert  Schwartzman  (Isr / Rus)

4.   Jüri  Vips  (Est)

5.   Marcus  Armstrong  (N-ZL)

6.   Ralf  Aron  (Est)

7.   Alex  Palou  (Esp)

8.   Guanyou  Zhou  (China)

9.   Enaam  Ahmed  (Pakistan / GB)

10. Jehan  Daruvala  (India)

 

From 2019 there was a fusion with GP3 and the championship was now, like F2, supporting the F1 races and renamed FIA F3. The cars were an evolution of the GP3 cars rather than a continuation of the F3 cars (those are still used in Euroformula Open today).

The championship grew to 30 cars and became stronger.

 

2019

1.   Robert  Schwartzman  (Isr / Rus)

2.   Marcus  Armstrong  (N-ZL)

3.   Jehan  Daruvala  (India)

4.   Jüri  Vips  (Est)

5.   Pedro  Piquet  (Bra)

6.   Christian  Lundgaard  (Den)

7.   Jake  Hughes  (GB)

8.   Leonardo  Pulcini  (Ita)

9.   Yuki  Tsunoda  (Jap)

10. Max  Fewtrell  (GB)

 

2020

1.   Oscar  Piastri  (Aus)

2.   Théo  Pourchaire  (Fra)

3.   Logan  Sargeant  (USA)

4.   Frederik  Vesti  (Den)

5.   Liam  Lawson  (N-ZL)

6.   David  Beckmann  (D)

7.   Jake  Hughes  (GB)

8.   Lirim  Zendeli   (Alb / Mac / D)

9.   Richard  Verschoor  (Ned)

10. Alex  Peroni  (Aus)

 

2021

1.   Dennis  Hauger  (Nor)

2.   Jack  Doohan  (Aus)

3.   Clément  Novalak  (Fra)

4.   Frederik  Vesti  (Den)

5.   Victor  Martins  (Fra)

6.   Alexander  Smolyar  (Rus)

7.   Logan  Sargeant  (USA)

8.   Olli Caldwell  (GB)

9.   Caio  Collet  (Bra)

10. Arthur  Leclerc  (Mon)

 

2022  (before the final round on Sunday in Monza, will update after the weekend)

1.   Victor  Martins  (Fra)

2.   Isack  Hadjar  (Alg / Fra)

3.   Oliver  Bearman  (GB)

4.   Zane  Maloney  (Barbados)

5.   Roman  Stanek  (Cze)

6.   Arthur  Leclerc  (Mon)

7.   Jak  Crawford  (USA)

8.   Caio  Collet  (Bra)

9.   Franco  Colapinto  (Arg)

10.   Alexander  Smolyar  (Rus)

 

*** One can see a clear pattern: in the '70s & '80s many drivers in the FIA European F3 championship who finished in the top 10 reached F1 (for at least 1 race weekend), post 2000s the number of drivers decreased and it decreased even more the past 10 years.
It's caused by a decreasing number of F1 seats.

Edited by William Hunt, 10 September 2022 - 09:51.

[KWSN - DSM]

In the 80ies British F3 and German F3 were also very strong National Championships. British the stronger though.

 

1980 to 1990 British F3 Champions

Johansson

Palmer

Byrne

Senna

Dumfries

Gugelmin

Wallace

Herbert

Lehto

Brabham

Hakkinen

[William Hunt]

Although F2 existed already in pre war days under the 'voiturette' name, the names F1 & F2 were used for the first time in 1948. In 1952 & 1953 F1 ran under F2 rules, thus actually with F2 cars. It was revived in 1957 but there was no European championship for it but in 1960 there was one that was used as a precursor of the 1961 F1 season when F1 would actually again switch to F2 rules. F2 & F3 were then replaced by F. Junior from 1961 until 1963 until F2 came back in 1964 (first with a French F2 championship.
But it wasn't until 1967 that the first European F2 championship started.

During the German GP at the Nürburgring in the '50s & '60s F2 cars would always run together with F1 cars because of the lenght of the circuit. This was also the case during the Moroccan GP of 1958

 

Drivers in BOLD reached F1. Since it's closer to F1 I will mention the top 12.

 

1960 

(5 events: Syracuse, Brussels, Pau, Aintree & Nürburgring). It was simply called Formula 2, the races were called 'Grand Prix' just like in F1. Since it was actually a preview of the 1961 F1 rules the field was full of regular F1 drivers)

1.   Jack  Brabham  (Aus)

2.   Maurice  Trintignant  (Fra)

3.   Wolfgang  von  Trips  (D)

      Stirling  Moss  (GB)

      Joakim  Bonnier  (Swe)

6.   Olivier  Gendebien  (Bel)

7.   Graham  Hill  (GB)

8.   Paul  Frère  (Bel)

9.   Innes  Ireland  (GB)

      Harry  Schell  (Fra / USA)

      Ron  Flockhart  (GB)

      John  Surtees  (GB)

 

European F2 Championship:

 

1967 

1.   Jacky  Ickx  (Bel)

2.   Frank  Gardner  (Aus)

3.   Jean-Pierre  Beltoise  (Fra)

4.   Piers  Courage  (GB)

5.   Alan  Rees  (GB)

6.   Chris  Irwin  (GB)

7.   Johnny  Servoz-Gavin  (Fra)

8.   Jo  Schlesser  (Fra)

9.   Brian  Hart  (GB)

10. Brian  Redman  (GB)

11. Robin  Widdows  (GB)

12. Hubert  Hahne  (D)

 

1968

1.   Jean-Pierre  Beltoise  (Fra)

2.   Henri  Pescarolo  (Fra)

3.   Tino  Brambilla  (Ita)

4.   Derek  Bell  (GB)

5.   Jackie  Oliver  (GB)

6.   Piers  Courage  (GB)

7.   Kurt  Ahrens Jr.  (D)

      Clay  Regazzoni  (Sui)

9.   Brian  Redman  (GB)

10. Andrea  de Adamich  (Ita)

11. Jo  Schlesser  (Fra)

12. Peter  Gethin  (GB)

 

1969

1.   Johnny  Servoz-Gavin  (Fra)

2.   Hubert  Hahne  (D)

3.   François  Cevert  (Fra)

4.   Henri  Pescarolo  (Fra)

5.   Peter  Westburry  (GB)

      Derek  Bell  (GB)

7.   Tino  Brambilla  (Ita)

      Nanni  Galli  (Ita)

9.   Kurt  Ahrens  Jr.  (D)

10. Clay  Regazzoni  (Sui)

11. Alan  Rollinson  (GB)

     John  Miles  (GB)

 

1970

1.   Clay  Regazzoni  (Sui)

2.   Derek  Bell  (GB)

3.   Emerson  Fittipaldi  (Bra)

4.   Dieter  Quester  (Aut)

      Ronnie  Peterson  (Swe)

6.   François  Cevert  (Fra)

      Robin  Widdows  (GB)

      Tetsu  Ikuzawa  (Jap)

9.   Peter  Westbury  (GB)

10. Henri  Pescarolo  (Fra)

11.  Alistair Walker  (GB)

12. Tim  Schenken  (Aus)

 

1971

1.   Ronnie  Peterson  (Swe)

2.   Carlos  Reutemann  (Arg)

3.   Dieter  Quester  (Aut)

4.   Tim  Schenken  (Aus)

5.   François  Cevert  (Fra)

6.   Wilson  Fittipaldi  (Bra)

7.   Mike  Beuttler  (GB)

8.   Jean-Pierre  Jarier  (Fra)

9.   Jean-Pierre  Jaussaud  (Fra)

10. Niki  Lauda  (Aut)

11. François  Migault  (Fra)

      Gerri  Birrell  (GB)

 

1972

1.   Mike  Hailwood  (GB)

2.   Jean-Pierre  Jaussaud  (Fra)

3.   Patrick  Depailler  (Fra)

4.   Carlos  Reutemann  (Arg)

5.   Niki  Lauda  (Aut)

6.   Dave  Morgan  (GB)

7.   Bob  Wollek  (Fra)

8.   Jody  Scheckter  (Z-A)

9.   Mike  Beuttler  (GB)

      Peter  Gethin  (GB)

11. Carlos  Ruesch  (Arg)

12. Wilson  Fittipaldi  (Bra)

 

1973

1.   Jean-Pierre  Jarier  (Fra)

2.   Jochen  Mass  (D)

3.   Patrick  Depailler  (Fra)

4.   Vittorio  Brambilla  (Ita)

5.   Jacques  Coulon  (Fra)

6.   Bob  Wollek  (Fra)

7.   Mike  Beuttler  (GB)

8.   Derek  Bell  (GB)

      Colin  Vandervell  (GB)

10. Roger  Williamsson  (GB)

11. Dave  Morgan  (GB)

12. Dave  McConell  (Can)

      Wilson  Fittipaldi  (Bra)

      Jean-Pierre  Jaussaud  (Fra)

      Thorsten  Palm  (Swe)

      Gunnar  Nilsson  (Swe)

 

1974

1.   Patrick  Depailler  (Fra)

2.   Hans-Joachim  Stuck  (D)

3.   Jacques  Laffite  (Fra)

4.   Jean-Pierre  Jabouille  (Fra)

5.   David  Purley  (GB)

6.   Michel  Leclère  (Fra)

7.   Patrick  Tambay  (Fra)

8.   Gabriele  Serblin  (Ita)

9.   Tom  Pryce  (GB, Wal)

10. Andy  Sutcliffe  (GB)

11. John  Watson  (GB)

      Jean-Pierre  Paoli  (Fra)

 

1975

1.   Jacques  Laffite  (Fra)

2.   Patrick  Tambay  (Fra)

      Michel  Leclère  (Fra)  

4.   Gérard  Larrousse  (Fra)

5.   Jean-Pierre  Jabouille  (Fra)

      Maurizio  Flammini  (Ita)

7.   Claude  Bourguignon  (Bel)

      Giorgio  Francia  (Ita)

9.   Alessandro  Pesenti-Rossi  (Ita)

10. Gabriele  Serblin  (Ita)

11. Duilio  Truffo  (Ita)

      Brian  Henton  (GB)

 

1976

1.   Jean-Pierre  Jabouille  (Fra)

2.   René  Arnoux  (Fra)

3.   Patrick  Tambay  (Fra)

4.   Michel  Leclère  (Fra)

5.   Alex  Ribeiro  (Bra)

6.   Maurizio  Flammini  (Ita)

7.   Giancarlo  Martini  (Ita)

      Hans  Binder  (Aut)

9.   Eddie  Cheever  (USA)

10. Roberto  Marazzi  (Ita)

      Keke  Rosberg  (Fin)

12. Wilhelm  Deutsch  (D)

      Klaus  Ludwig  (D)

 

1977

1.   René  Arnoux  (Fra)

2.   Eddie  Cheever  (USA)

3.   Didier  Pironi  (Fra)

4.   Riccardo  Patrese  (Ita)

      Bruno  Giacomelli  (Ita)

6.   Keke  Rosberg  (Fin)

7.   Alberto  Colombo  (Ita)

      Ingo  Hoffmann  (Bra)

9.   Alessandro  Pesenti-Rossi  (Ita)

10. Brian  Henton  (GB)

11. Lamberto  Leoni  (Ita)

12. Ray  Mallock  (GB)

 

1978

1.   Bruno  Giacomelli  (Ita)

2.   Marc  Surer  (Sui)

3.   Derek  Daly  (Irel)

4.   Eddie  Cheever  (USA)

5.   Keke  Rosberg  (Fin)

6.   Piero  Necchi  (Ita)

      Ingo  Hoffmann  (Bra)

8.   Alex  Ribeiro  (Bra)

      Alberto  Colombo  (Ita)

      Manfred  Winkelhock  (D)

11. Eje  Elgh  (Swe)

12. Ricardo  Zunino  (Arg)

 

1979

1.   Marc  Surer  (Sui)

2.   Brian  Henton  (GB)

3.   Derek  Daly  (Irel)

4.   Eddie  Cheever  (USA)

5.   Rad Dougall  (Z-A)

6.   Stephen  South  (GB)

7.   Beppe  Gabbiani  (Ita)

8.   Siegfried  Stohr  (Ita)

9.   Eje  Elgh  (Swe)

10. Teo  Fabi  (Ita)

11. Bobby  Rahal  (USA)

12. Keke  Rosberg  (Fin)

 

1980

1.   Brian  Henton  (GB)

2.   Derek  Warwick  (GB)

3.   Teo  Fabi  (Ita)

4.   Siegfried  Stohr  (Ita)

5.   Andrea  de Cesaris  (Ita)

6.   Richard  Dallest  (Fra)

7.   Huub  Rothengatter  (Ned)

8.   Mike  Thackwell  (N-ZL)

9.   Miguel Angel  Guerra  (Arg)

10. Alberto  Colombo  (Ita)

11. Chico  Serra  (Bra)

12. Nigel  Mansell  (GB)

 

1981

1.   Geoff  Lees  (GB)

2.   Thierry  Boutsen  (Bel)

3.   Eje  Elgh  (Swe)

4.   Stefan  Johansson  (Swe)

5.   Corrado  Fabi  (Ita)

6.   Mike  Thackwell  (N-ZL)

7.   Roberto  Guerrero  (Col)

8.   Michele  Alboreto  (Ita)

9.   Manfred  Winkelhock  (D)

10. Riccardo  Paletti  (Ita)

11. Piero  Necchi  (Ita)

12. Huub  Rothengatter  (Ned)

 

1982

1.   Corrado  Fabi  (Ita)

2.   Johnny  Cecotto  (Ven)   (actually had the same amount of points as C. Fabi)

3.   Thierry  Boutsen  (Bel)

4.   Stefan  Bellof  (D)

5.   Beppe  Gabbiani  (Ita)

6.   Philippe  Streiff  (Fra)

7.   Kenny  Acheson  (GB, N.-Irel)

8.   Stefan  Johansson  (Swe)

9.   Jonathan  Palmer  (GB)

10. Mike  Thackwell  (N-ZL)

      Alessandro  Nannini  (Ita)

12. Frank  Jelinski  (D)

13. Satoru  Nakajima  (Jap)

      Christian  Danner  (D)

15. Pascal  Fabre  (Fra)

 

1983

1.   Jonathan  Palmer  (GB)

2.   Mike  Thackwell  (N-ZL)

3.   Beppe  Gabbiani  (Ita)

4.   Philippe  Streiff  (Fra)

5.   Christian  Danner  (D)

6.   Jo  Gartner  (Aut)

7.   Alessandro  Nannini  (Ita)

8.   Thierry  Tassin  (Bel)

9.   Stefan  Bellof  (D)

10. Kenny  Achesson  (GB)

11. Pierluigi  Martini  (Ita)

12. Roberto  Del Castello  (Ita)

13. Guido  Dacco  (Ita)

14. Philippe  Alliot  (Fra)

15. Alain  Ferté  (Fra)

 

1984

1.   Mike  Thackwell  (N-ZL)

2.   Roberto  Moreno  (Bra)

3.   Michel  Ferté  (Fra)

4.   Philippe  Streiff  (Fra)

5.   Christian  Danner  (D)

6.   Thierry  Tassin  (Bel)

      Emanuele  Pirro  (Ita)

8.   Pascal  Fabre  (Fra)

9.   Pierre  Petit  (Fra)

10. Alessandro  Nannini  (Ita)

11. Didier  Theys  (Bel)

     Tomas  Kaiser  (Swe)

13. Alain  Ferté  (Fra)

      Guido  Dacco  (Ita)

15. Roberto  Del Castello  (Ita)

      Fiedrich  Glatz  (Aut)

[William Hunt]

The  F3000 era:

 

1985

1.   Christian  Danner  (D)

2.   Mike  Thackwell  (N-ZL)

3.   Emanuele  Pirro  (Ita)

4.   John  Nielsen  (Den)

5.   Michel  Ferté  (Fra)

6.   Gabriele  Tarquini  (Ita)

7.   Ivan  Capelli  (Ita)

8.   Philippe  Streiff  (Fra)

9.   Alain  Ferté  (Fra)

10. Mario  Hytten  (Sui)

11. Lamberto  Leoni  (Ita)

12. Olivier  Grouillard  (Fra)

13. Guido  Dacco  (Ita)

14. Thomas  Kaiser  (Swe)

15. Roberto  Moreno  (Bra)

 

From 1986 until +- 1991 it was the golden era of F3000 with fields growing up to 40 cars, and just 26 qualifying. Those were certainly the most competitive days in the history of F2 / F3000 / GP2 and many of the drivers competing in this era in F3000 would become excellent F1 drivers. in 1986 no less than 71 drivers tried their chance in F3000. You had to be really good to be in the top 10 of F3000 in those days with such fierce competition. Winning a race in it was enough to earn an F1 seat.

 

Initially the idea behind the F3000 formula was to run old F1 chassis with the Cosworth V8 atmospheric 3 liter F1 engines since most F1 teams had now switched to turbo engines by 1984-1985 and there was a surplus of Cosworth engines available.
Some teams started the 1985 season with former F1 cars, the Tyrrell , Williams & Arrows F1 chassis appeared on the grid but they weren't competitive at all compared to the tailor made March & Ralt chassis and also to the Lola chassis.

So from 1986 onwards all teams ran tailor made chassis for F3000 although a Minardi chassis (that was a former F2 chassis changed to F3000 rules I think) still appeared in '86. RAM Motorsport also entered in F3000 with their own chassis in '86 after deciding to stop F1.

 

1986

1.   Ivan  Capelli  (Ita)

2.   Pierluigi  Martini  (Ita)

3.   Emanuele  Pirro  (Ita)

4.   Luis  Pérez-Sala  (Esp)

5.   Michel  Ferté  (Fra)

6.   John  Nielsen  (Den)

7.   Pascal  Fabre  (Fra)

8.   Mike  Thackwell  (N-ZL)

9.   Philippe  Alliot  (Fra)

10. Gabriele  Tarquini  (Ita)

11. Satoru  Nakajima  (Jap)

12. Pierre-Henri  Raphanel  (Alg / Fra)

13. Alain  Ferté  (Fra)

14. Tomas  Kaiser  (Swe)

15. Mauriçio  Gugelmin  (Bra)

 

1987

1.   Stefano  Modena  (Ita)

2.   Luis  Pérez-Sala  (Esp)

3.   Roberto  Moreno  (Bra)

4.   Mauriçio  Gugelmin  (Bra)

5.   Yannick  Dalmas  (Fra)

6.   Michel  Trollé  (Fra)

7.   Julian  Bailey  (GB)

8.   Gabriele  Tarquini  (Ita)

9.   Lamberto  Leoni  (Ita)

10. Russell Spence  (GB)

11. John  Jones  (Can)

12. Pierluigi  Martini  (Ita)

13. Pierre-Henri  Raphanel  (Alg / Fra)

14. Mark  Blundell  (GB)

15. Michel  Ferté  (Fra)

 

1988

1.   Roberto  Moreno  (Bra)

2.   Olivier  Grouillard  (Fra)

3.   Martin  Donnely  (GB, N-Irel)

4.   Pierluigi  Martini  (Ita)

5.   Bertrand  Gachot  (Lux / Bel)

6.   Mark  Blundell  (GB)

7.   Gregor  Foitek  (Sui)

8.   Johnny  Herbert  (GB)

9.   Eric  Bernard  (Fra)

10. Jean  Alesi  (Fra)

11. Marco  Apicella  (Ita)

12. Michel  Trollé  (Fra)   (Trollé actually had a deal to drive F1 for Tyrrell in '89 but he broke his legs at Brands Hatch, just like Herbert, and never got to F1)

13. Jean-Denis  Délétraz  (Sui)

14. Pierre-Henri  Raphanel  (Alg / Fra)

15. Claudio  Langes  (Ita)

 

1989

1.   Jean  Alesi  (Fra)

2.   Erik  Comas  (Fra)   (had the same number of points as Alesi but Alesi had 1 more race win)

3.   Eric  Bernard  (Fra)

4.   Marco  Apicella  (Ita)

5.   Eric  van de Poele  (Bel)

6.   Andrea  Chiesa  (Sui)

7.   Thomas  Danielsson  (Swe)

8.   Martin  Donnely  (GB, N-Irel)

9.   Eddie  Irvine  (GB, N-Irel)

10. Fabrizio  Giovanardi  (Ita)

11. Mark  Blundell  (GB)

12. Claudio  Langes  (Ita)

13. Philippe  Favre  (Sui)

14. J.J.  Lehto  (Fin)

15. Andrew  Gilbert-Scott  (GB)

 

1990

1.   Erik  Comas  (Fra)

2.   Eric  van de Poele  (Bel)

3.   Eddie  Irvine  (GB, N-Irel)

4.   Allan  McNish  (GB, Sco)

5.   Gianni  Morbidelli  (Ita)

6.   Marco  Apicella  (Ita)

7.   Andrea  Chiesa  (Sui)

8.   Andrea  Montermini  (Ita)

9.   Jean-Marc  Gounon  (Fra)

10. Fabrizio  Giovanardi  (Ita)

11. Gary  Brabham  (Aus)

12. John  Jones  (Can)

13. Damon  Hill  (GB)

14. Antonio  Tamburini  (Ita)

15. Didier  Artzet  (Fra)

 

1991

1.   Christian  Fittipaldi  (Bra)

2.   Alessandro  Zanardi  (Ita)

3.   Emanuele  Naspetti  (Ita)

4.   Antonio  Tamburini  (Ita)

5.   Marco  Apicella  (Ita)

6.   Jean-Marc  Gounon  (Fra)

7.   Damon  Hill  (GB)

8.   Vincenzo  Sospiri  (Ita)

9.   Eric  Helary  (Fra)    (would have driven at Larrousse in '95 had they not withdrawn)

10. Andrea  Montermini  (Ita)

11. Giuseppe  Bugatti  (Ita)

12. Karl  Wendlinger  (Aut)

13. Fabrizio  Giovanardi  (Ita)

14. Heinz-Harald  Frentzen  (D)

15. Laurent  Aiello  (Fra)

 

1992

1.   Luca  Badoer  (Ita)

2.   Andrea  Montermini  (Ita)

3.   Rubens  Barrichello  (Bra)

4.   Michael  Bartels  (D)

5.   Jordi  Gené  (Esp)

6.   Jean-Marc  Gounon  (Fra)

7.   Emanuele  Naspetti  (Ita)

8.   Emmanuel  Collard  (Fra)

9.   David  Coulthard  (GB, Sco)

10. Olivier  Panis  (Fra)

11. Allan  McNish  (GB, Sco)

12. Alessandro  Zampedri  (Ita)

13. Paul  Stewart  (GB, Sco)

14. Vittorio  Zoboli  (Ita)

15. Laurent  Aiello  (Fra)

 

1993

1.   Olivier  Panis  (Fra)

2.   Pedro  Lamy  (Por)

3.   David  Coulthard  (GB, Sco)

4.   Franck  Lagorce  (Fra)

5.   Gil  de Ferran  (Bra)

6.   Olivier  Beretta  (Mon)

7.   Vincenzo  Sospiri  (Ita)

8.   Jean-Christophe  Bouillon  (Fra)

9.   Paul  Stewart  (GB, Sco)

10. Max  Papis  (Ita)

11. Jerôme  Policand  (Fra)

12. Emmanuel  Collard  (Fra)

13. Alessandro  Zampedri  (Ita)

14. Michael  Bartels  (D)

15. Jan  Lammers  (Ned)

 

1994

1.   Jean-Christophe  Bouillon  (Fra)

2.   Franck  Lagorce  (Fra)

3.   Gil  de Ferran  (Bra)

4.   Vincenzo  Sospiri  (Ita)

5.   Max  Papis  (Ita)

6.   Didier  Cottaz  (Fra)

7.   Guillaume  Gomez  (Fra)

8.   Fabrizio  Del Simone  (Ita)

9.   David  Coulthard  (GB, Sco)

10. Hideki  Noda  (Jap)

11. Kenny Bräck  (Swe)

12. Tarso  Marques  (Bra)

13. Jordi  Gené  (Esp)

14. Pedro  Diniz  (Bra)

15. Marc  Goossens  (Bel)

 

1995

1.   Vincenzo  Sospiri  (Ita)

2.   Ricardo  Rosset  (Bra)

3.   Marc  Goossens  (Bel)

4.   Kenny  Bräck  (Swe)

5.   Tarso  Marques  (Bra)

6.   Emmanuel  Clérico  (Fra)

7.   Allan  McNish  (GB, Sco)

8.   Guillaume  Gomez  (Fra)

9.   Christian  Pescatori   (Ita)

10. Christophe  Bouchut  (Fra)  (would have driven at Larrousse in '95 had they not withdrawn)

11. Jean-Christophe  Belloc  (Fra)

12. Jerôme  Policand  (Fra)

13. Marco  Campos  (Bra)

14. Fabrizio  De Simone  (Ita)

15. Marcos  Gueiros  (Bra)

 

1996

1.   Jörg  Müller  (D)

2.   Kenny  Bräck  (Swe)

3.   Marc  Goossens  (Bel)

4.   Ricardo  Zonta  (Bra)

5.   Marcos  Gueiros  (Bra)

6.   Christophe  Tinseau  (Fra)

7.   Tom  Kristensen  (Den)

8.   Laurent  Redon  (Fra)

9.   Cristiano  da Matta  (Bra)

10. Oliver  Tichy  (Aut)

11. Christian  Pescatori  (Ita)

12. Thomas  Biagi  (Ita)

13. Pedro  Couceiro  (Por)

14. Elton  Julian  (USA)

15. Patrick  Lemarié  (Fra)

 

1997

1.   Ricardo  Zonta  (Bra)

2.   Juan-Pablo  Montoya  (Col)

3.   Jason  Watt  (Den)

4.   Jamie  Davies  (GB)

5.   Max  Wilson  (Bra)

6.   Tom  Kristensen  (Den)

7.   Oliver  Tichy  (Aut)

8.   Soheil  Ayari  (Iran / Fra)

9.   Laurent  Redon  (Fra)

10. Rui  Aguas  (Por)

11. Pedro  Couceiro  (Por)

12. Dino Morelli  (GB, N-Irel)

13. Cyrelle  Sauvage  (Fra)

14. Gareth  Rees  (GB, Wal)

15. Boris  Derichebourg  (Fra)

 

1998

1.   Juan-Pablo  Montoya  (Col)

2.   Nick  Heidfeld  (D)

3.   Gonzalo  Rodriguez  (Uru)

4.   Jason  Watt  (Den)

5.   Soheil  Ayari   (Iran / Fra)

6.   Stéphane  Sarrazin  (Fra)

7.   Kurt  Mollekens  (Bel)

8.   Gareth  Rees  (GB, Wal)

9.   Max  Wilson  (Bra)

10. Jamie  Davies  (GB)

11. André  Couto  (Por)

12. Boris  Derichebourg  (Fra)

13. Nicolas  Minassian  (Fra)

14. Dominik  Schwager  (D)

15. Thomas  Biagi  (Ita)

 

1999

1.   Nick  Heidfeld  (D)

2.   Jason  Watt  (Den)

3.   Gonzalo  Rodriguez  (Uru)

4.   Stéphane  Sarrazin  (Fra)

5.   Bruno  Junqueira  (Bra)

6.   Nicolas  Minassian  (Fra)

7.   Soheil  Ayari  (Iran / Fra)

8.   Max  Wilson  (Bra)

9.   David  Saelens  (Bel)

10. Kevin  McGarrity  (GB, N-Irel)

11. Tomas  Enge  (Cze)

12. Franck  Montagny  (Fra)

13. André  Couto  (Por)

14. Fabrice  Walfish  (Fra)

15. Norberto  Fontana  (Arg)

 

2000

1.   Bruno  Junqueira  (Bra)  (lost shootout for Williams seat for 2000 to Jenson Button)

2.   Nicolas  Minassian  (Fra)

3.   Mark  Webber  (Aus)

4.   Fernando  Alonso  (Esp)

5.   Justin  Wilson  (GB)

6.   Tomas  Enge  (Cze)

7.   David  Saelens  (Bel)

8.   Darren  Manning  (GB)

9.   Sébastien  Bourdais  (Fra)

10. Fabrizio  Gollin  (Ita)

11. Jamie  Davies  (GB)

12. Marc  Goossens  (Bel)

13. Thomas  Scheckter  (Z-A)

14. Jaime  Melo Jr.  (Bra)

15. Franck  Montagny  (Fra)

 

2001

1.   Justin  Wilson  (GB)

2.   Mark  Webber  (Aus)

3.   Tomas  Enge  (Cze)  (same number of points as Webber)

4.   Sébastien  Bourdais  (Fra)

5.   Ricardo  Sperafico  (Bra)

6.   Antônio  Pizzonia  (Bra)

7.   Bas  Leinders  (Bel)

8.   Ricardo  Mauricio  (Bra)

9.   Giorgio  Pantano  (Ita)

10. David  Saelens  (Bel)

11. Darren  Manning  (GB)

12. Jaime  Melo Jr.  (Bra)

13. Patrick  Friesacher  (Aut)

14. Stéphane  Sarrazin  (Fra)

15. Mario  Haberfeld  (Bra)

 

2002

1.   Sébastien  Bourdais  (Fra)

2.   Giorgio  Pantano  (Ita)

3.   Tomas  Enge  (Cze)

4.   Björn  Wirdheim  (Swe)

5.   Ricardo  Sperafico  (Bra)

6.   Rodrigo  Sperafico  (Bra)

7.   Mario  Haberfeld  (Bra)

8.   Antônio  Pizzonia  (Bra)

9.   Enrico  Toccacelo  (Ita)

10. Patrick  Friesacher  (Aut)

11. Ricardo  Mauricio  (Bra)

12. Nikolas  Kiesa  (Den)

13. Tiago  Monteiro  (Por)

14. Rob  Nguyen  (Viet / Aus)

15. Zsolt  Baumgartner  (Hun)

 

2003

1.   Björn  Wirdheim   (Swe)

2.   Ricardo  Sperafico  (Bra)

3.   Giorgio  Pantano  (Ita)

4.   Vitantonio  Liuzzi  (Ita)

5.   Patrick  Friesacher  (Aut)

6.   Enrico  Toccacelo  (Ita)

7.   Nikolas  Kiesa  (Den)

8.   Jaroslav  Janis  (Cze)

9.   Townsend  Bell  (USA)

10. Rafaele  Giammaria  (Ita)

11. Tony  Schmidt  (D)

12. Yannick  Schroeder  (Fra)

13. Jeffrey  Van Hooydonck  (Bel)

14. Zsolt  Baumgartner  (Hun)

15. Rob  Nguyen  (Viet / Aus)

 

2004

1.   Vitantonio  Liuzzi  (Ita)

2.   Enrico  Toccacelo  (Ita)

3.   Robert  Doornbos  (Ned)

4.   Tomas  Enge  (Cze)

5.   Patrick  Friesacher  (Aut)

6.   José-Maria  Lopez  (Arg)   (had signed for USF1 but they never entered)

7.   Esteban  Guerrieri  (Arg)

8.   Raffaele  Giammaria  (Ita)

9.   Yannick  Schroeder  (Fra)

10. Tony  Schmidt  (D)

11. Jeffrey  Van Hooydonck  (Bel)

12. Ernesto  Viso  (Ven)

13. Mathias  Lauda  (Aut)

14. Alan van der Merwe  (Z-A)

15. Nico  Verdonck  (Bel)

[William Hunt]

The  GP2 era:

 

2005

1.   Nico  Rosberg  (D)

2.   Heikki  Kovalainen  (Fin)

3.   Scott  Speed  (USA)

4.   Alexandre  Prémat  (Fra)

5.   Adam  Carroll  (GB)

6.   Giorgio  Pantano  (Ita)

7.   Neel  Jani  (Sui)

8.   Nelson  Piquet  Jr.  (Bra)

9.   José-Maria  Lopez  (Arg)

10. Gianmaria  Bruni  (Ita)

11. Ernesto  Viso  (Ven)

12. Nicolas  Lapierre  (Fra)

13. Olivier  Pla  (Fra)

14. Borja  Garcia  (Esp)

15. Clivio  Piccone  (Mon)

 

2006

1.  Lewis  Hamilton  (GB)

2.  Nelson  Piquet  Jr.  (Bra)

3.  Alexandre  Prémat  (Fra)

4.  Timo  Glock  (D)

5.  Giorgio  Pantano  (Ita)

6.  Ernesto  Viso  (Ven)

7.  Gianmaria  Bruni  (Ita)

8.  Adam  Carroll  (GB)

9.  Nicolas  Lapierre  (Fra)

10. José-Maria  Lopez  (Arg)

11. Michael  Ammermüller  (D)

12. Clivio  Piccione  (Mon)

13. Alexandre  Negrão  (Bra)

14. Andreas  Zuber  (Aut)

15. Hiroki  Yoshimoto  (Jap)

 

2007

1.   Timo  Glock  (D)

2.   Lucas  di Grassi  (Bra)

3.   Giorgio  Pantano  (Ita)

4.   Luca  Filippi  (Ita)

5.   Kazuki  Nakajima  (Jap)

6.   Javier  Villa  (Esp)

7.   Adam  Carroll  (GB, N-Irel)

8.   Bruno  Senna  (Bra)

9.   Andreas  Zuber  (Aut)

10. Borja  Garcia  (Esp)

11. Pastor  Maldonado  (Ven)

12. Nicolas  Lapierre  (Fra)

13. Vitaly  Petrov  (Rus)

14. Mike  Conway  (GB)

15. Karun  Chandhok  (India)

 

2008

1.   Giorgio  Pantano  (Ita)

2.   Bruno  Senna  (Bra)

3.   Lucas  di Grassi  (Bra)

4.   Romain  Grosjean  (Sui / Fra)

5.   Pastor  Maldonado  (Ven)

6.   Sébastien  Buemi  (Sui)

7.   Vitaly  Petrov  (Rus)

8.   Alvaro  Parente  (Por)

9.   Andreas  Zuber  (Aut)

10. Karun  Chandhok  (India)

11. Jerôme  d'Ambrosio  (Bel)

12. Mike  Conway  (GB)

13. Roldan  Rodriguez  (Esp)

14. Andy  Soucek  (Aut / Esp)

15. Davide  Valsecchi  (Ita)

 

2009

1.   Nico  Hülkenberg  (D)

2.   Vitaly  Petrov  (Rus)

3.   Lucas  di Grassi  (Bra)

4.   Romain  Grosjean  (Sui / Fra)

5.   Luca  Filippi  (Ita)

6.   Pastor  Maldonado  (Ven)

7.   Guido  van der Garde  (Ned)

8.   Alvaro  Parente  (Por)

9.   Jerôme  d'Ambrosio  (Bel)

10. Javier  Villa  (Esp)

11. Roldan  Rodriguez  (Esp)

12. Sergio  Perez  (Mex)

13. Andreas  Zuber  (Aut)

14. Edoardo  Mortara  (Ita / Sui)

15. Alberto  Valerio  (Bra)

 

2010

1.   Pastor  Maldonado  (Ven)

2.   Sergio  Perez  (Mex)

3.   Jules  Bianchi  (Bel / Fra)

4.   Dani  Clos  (Esp)

5.   Sam  Bird  (GB)

6.   Oliver  Turvey  (GB)

7.   Guido  van der Garde  (Ned)

8.   Davide  Valsecchi  (Ita)

9.   Christian  Vietoris  (D)

10. Charles  Pic  (Fra)

11. Luis  Razia  (Bra)

12. Jérôme  d'Ambrosio  (Bel)

13. Giacomo  Ricci  (Ita)

14. Romain  Grosjean  (Sui / Fra)

15. Alvaro  Parente  (Por)

 

2011

1.   Romain  Grosjean  (Sui / Fra)

2.   Luca  Filippi  (Ita)

3.   Jules  Bianchi  (Bel / Fra)

4.   Charles  Pic  (Fra)

5.   Guido  van der Garde  (Ned)

6.   Sam  Bird  (GB)

7.   Christian  Vietoris  (D)

8.   Davide  Valsecchi  (Ita)

9.   Dani  Clos  (Esp)

10. Marcus  Ericsson  (Swe)

11. Stefano  Coletti  (Mon)

12. Luiz  Razzia  (Bra)

13. Esteban  Guttiérrez  (Mex)

14. Fabio  Leimer  (Sui)

15. Josef  Kral  (Cze)

 

2012

1.   Davide  Valsecchi  (Ita)

2.   Luiz  Razia  (Bra)   (was supposed to drive for Marrussia in '13 but his funding didn't come through)

3.   Esteban  Guttiérrez  (Mex)

4.   Max  Chilton  (GB)

5.   James  Calado  (GB)

6.   Guido  van der Garde  (Ned)

7.   Fabio  Leimer  (Sui)

8.   Marcus  Ericsson  (Swe)

9.   Johnny  Cecotto Jr.  (Ven)

10. Felipe  Nasr  (Bra)

11. Jolyon  Palmer  (GB)

12. Nathanaël  Berthon  (Fra)

13. Stefano  Coletti  (Mon)

14. Rio  Haryanto  (Indo)

15. Tom Dillmann  (Fra)

 

2013
1.   Fabio  Leimer  (Sui)

2.   Sam  Bird  (GB)

3.   James  Calado  (GB)

4.   Felipe  Nasr  (Bra)

5.   Stefano  Coletti  (Mon)

6.   Marcus  Ericsson  (Swe)

7.   Jolyon  Palmer  (GB)

8.   Stéphane  Richelmi  (Mon)

9.   Alexander  Rossi  (USA)

10. Tom  Dillmann  (Fra)

11. Jon  Lancaster  (GB)

12. Julian  Leal  (Col)

13. Adrian  Quaife-Hobbs  (GB)

14. Mitch  Evans  (Aus)

15. Robin  Frijns  (Ned)

 

2014

1.   Jolyon  Palmer  (GB)

2.   Stoffel  Vandoorne  (Bel)

3.   Felipe  Nasr  (Bra)

4.   Mitch  Evans  (Aus)

5.   Johnny  Cecotto  Jr.  (Ven)

6.   Stefano  Coletti  (Mon)

7.   Arthur  Pic  (Fra)

8.   Raffaele  Marciello  (Ita)

9.   Stéphane  Richelmi  (Mon)

10. Julian Leal  (Col)

11.  Marco  Sörensen  (Den)

12.  André  Negrao  (Bra)

13.  Adrian  Quaife-Hobbs  (GB)

14.  Sergio  Canamasas  (Esp)

15.  Rio  Haryanto  (Indo)

 

2015

1.   Stoffel  Vandoorne  (Bel)

2.   Alexander  Rossi  (USA)

3.   Sergey  Sirotkin  (Rus)

4.   Rio  Haryanto  (Indo)

5.   Mitch  Evans  (Aus)

6.   Alex  Lynn  (GB)

7.   Raffaele  Marciello  (Ita)

8.   Pierre  Gasly  (Fra)

9.   Nobuharu  Matsushita  (Jap)

10. Richie  Stanaway  (N-ZL)

11. Arthur  Pic  (Fra)

12. Jordan  King  (GB)

13. Artem  Markelov  (Rus)

14. Julian  Leal  (Col)

15. Sergio  Canamasas  (Esp)

 

2016

1.   Pierre  Gasly  (Fra)
2.   Antonio  Giovinazzi  (Ita)

3.   Sergey  Sirotkin  (Rus)

4.   Raffaele  Marciello  (Ita)

5.   Norman  Nato  (Fra)

6.   Alex  Lynn  (GB)

7.   Jordan  King  (GB)

8.   Luca  Ghiotto  (Ita)

9.   Oliver  Rowland  (GB)

10. Artem  Markelov  (Rus)

11. Nobuharu  Matsushita  (Jap)

12. Mitch  Evans  (Aus)

13. Gustav  Malja  (Swe)

14. Arthur  Pic  (Fra)

15. Sean  Gelael  (Indo)

[William Hunt]

Rebranding to FIA F2:

 

2017

1.   Charles  Leclerc  (Mon)

2.   Artem  Markelov  (Rus)

3.   Oliver  Rowland  (GB)

4.   Luca  Ghiotto  (Ita)

5.   Nicholas  Latifi  (Can)

6.   Nobuharu  Matsushita  (Jap)

7.   Nyck  de Vries  (Ned)

8.   Antonio  Fuocco  (Ita)

9.   Norman  Nato  (Fra)

10. Alex  Albon  (GB / Thai)

11. Jordan  King  (GB)

12. Sérgio  Sette Camara  (Bra)

13. Gustav  Malja  (Swe)

14. Sergio  Canamasas  (Esp)

15. Sean  Gelael  (Indo)

 

2018
1.   George  Russell  (GB)

2.   Lando  Norris  (GB)

3.   Alex  Albon  (GB / Thai)

4.   Nyck  de Vries  (Ned)

5.   Artem  Markelov  (Rus)

6.   Sérgio  Sette Camara  (Bra)

7.   Antonio  Fuocco  (Ita)

8.   Luca  Ghiotto  (Ita)

9.   Nicholas  Latifi  (Can)

10. Louis  Délétraz  (Sui)

11. Jack  Aitken  (S-Kor / GB)

12. Roberto  Merhi  (Esp)

13. Tadasuke  Makino  (Jap)

14. Maximilian  Günther  (D)

15. Sean  Gelael  (Indo)

 

2019

1.   Nyck  de Vries  (Ned)

2.   Nicholas Latifi  (Can)

3.   Luca  Ghiotto  (Ita)

4.   Sérgio  Sette Camara  (Bra)

5.   Jack  Aitken  (S-Kor / GB)

6.   Nobuharu  Matshushita  (Jap)

7.   Guanyu  Zhou  (China)

8.   Louis  Délétraz  (Sui)

9.   Jordan  King  (GB)

10. Anthoine  Hubert  (Fra)

11. Callum  Ilott  (GB)

12. Mick  Schumacher  (D)

13. Juan-Manuel  Correa  (Ecuador / USA)

14. Dorian  Boccolaci  (Fra)

15. Giuliano  Alesi  (Fra)

 

2020

1.   Mick  Schumacher  (D)

2.   Callum  Ilott  (GB)

3.   Yuki  Tsunoda  (Jap)

4.   Robert  Schwartzman  (Israël / Rus)

5.   Nikita  Mazepin  (Rus)

6.   Guanyu  Zhou  (China)

7.   Christian  Lundgaard  (Den)

8.   Louis  Délétraz  (Sui)

9.   Felipe  Drugovich  (Bra)

10. Luca  Ghiotto  (Ita)

11. Dan  Ticktum  (GB)

12. Jehan  Daruvala  (India)

13. Marcus  Armstrong  (N-ZL)

14. Jack  Aitken  (S-Kort / GB)

15. Nobuharu  Matsushita  (Jap)

 

2021

1.   Oscar  Piastri  (Aus)

2.   Robert  Schwartzman  (Rus)

3.   Guanyu  Zhou  (China)

4.   Dan  Ticktum  (GB)

5.   Théo  Pourchaire  (Fra)

6.   Jüri  Vips  (Est)

7.   Jehan  Daruvala  (India)

8.   Felipe  Drugovich  (Bra)

9.   Liam  Lawson  (N-ZL)

10. Ralph  Boschung  (Sui)

11. Richard  Verschoor  (Ned)

12. Christian  Lundgaard  (Den)

13. Marcus  Armstrong  (N-ZL)

14. Bent  Viscaal  (Ned)

15. David  Beckmann  (D)

 

2022  (before Monza)

1.   Felipe Drugovich  (Bra)

2.   Théo  Pourchaire  (Fra)

3.   Logan  Sargeant  (USA)

4.   Jack  Doohan  (Aus)

5.   Liam  Lawson  (N-ZL)

6.   Ayumu  Iwasa  (Jap)

7.   Enzo  Fittipaldi  (Bra)

8.   Jüri  Vips  (Est)

9.   Jehan  Daruvala  (India)

10. Marcus  Armstrong  (N-ZL)

11. Frederik  Vesti  (Den)

12. Dennis  Hauger  (Nor)

13. Richard  Verschoor  (Ned)

14. Ralph  Boschung  (Sui)

15. Clément  Novalak  (Fra)

Edited by William Hunt, 10 September 2022 - 16:11.

[Rumblestrip]

Good idea for a thread.

 

I don't have a huge amount of knowledge of the drivers (except those who actually did make it to F1) but I'd be interested to know how many of those drivers in the last few years have been associated with an academy. My impression is that to get to F1 in the modern age an academy association is pretty much essential.

[BRG]

Prior to academies and superlicences, the main route to success was being a Marlboro driver.

 

It has always been about bringing some money to the table.  The steady influx of Brazilians in the 1970s and 80s was fuelled by keen local sponsors who knew that the motorsport-mad Brazilian public would look with approval on their support of a local lad.

[balage06]

I've always wanted to collect this data, but never had the time and/or will to do it, cheers!

[Ruusperi]

Good topic.

I'm interested to know why certain drivers, despite their success, never made it to F1. I think Jörg  Müller, Jason Watt, Björn Wirdheim, Davide Valsecchi, Fabio Leimer, Sam Bird (just mentioning a few) deserved F1 seat. Well, at least de Vries now gets a glimpse of it.

[Jops14]

Good topic.
I'm interested to know why certain drivers, despite their success, never made it to F1. I think Jörg Müller, Jason Watt, Björn Wirdheim, Davide Valsecchi, Fabio Leimer, Sam Bird (just mentioning a few) deserved F1 seat. Well, at least de Vries now gets a glimpse of it.

Well Watt didnt because he got paralysed in a bike accident in 99. Same with Gonz Rodriguez who died in CART

Sam Bird I thought was good enough, but mercedes reserve and too “old” was like 26/27 when he won GP2. Wirdheim tested for jaguar and they bailed after 04… Valsecchi i thought was bizarre, but wasnt that partially due to the collapse of Caterham

Going to be less and less if we stick to 20 cars…

[noikeee]

Well Watt didnt because he got paralysed in a bike accident in 99. Same with Gonz Rodriguez who died in CART

Sam Bird I thought was good enough, but mercedes reserve and too “old” was like 26/27 when he won GP2. Wirdheim tested for jaguar and they bailed after 04… Valsecchi i thought was bizarre, but wasnt that partially due to the collapse of Caterham

Going to be less and less if we stick to 20 cars…

Bird didn't win GP2, he was second to Leimer

Valsecchi didn't get a chance because other than his GP2 winning year, most of his career had been pretty unimpressive. I quite like him as a commentator but as a driver he was possibly the least convincing GP2/F2/F3000 title winner of the last 2 decades. He had been hanging around the feeder series for a very long time with very little results. I'm always in favour of the title winner getting a chance but you can see why he didn't get it.

[pacificquay]

In your slightly odd country codes, you specify if a British driver is Scottish, Welsh, or Northern Irish, but if they’re English you just leave it as GB.

 

Don’t do this, it leads to lazy assumptions that GB= English.

[LittleChris]

I know it's just British F3 rather than Euro but I found it ridiculous that 1993 Champion Kelvin Burt couldn't get an F3000 drive ( Jackie Stewart wanted him in his team but he didn't have the money as I understand it )  let alone an F1 seat ( despite allegedly being quicker than both Irvine & Barrichello when testing the Jordan ).

[PayasYouRace]

Prior to academies and superlicences, the main route to success was being a Marlboro driver.

I was recently looking through a 1989 Grand Prix programme. Of the 39 drivers, only a handful didn’t have a Marlboro or a Camel patch on their overalls.

[Myrvold]

Time to add bold to Nyck de Vries I guess.

 

Björn Wirdheim can blame himself for not getting a race seat as well. But when you look at the F2/F3000/GP2 champions never getting to race in F1, it often fits in with years where the grid had a bit lower quality.

[Myrvold]

I was recently looking through a 1989 Grand Prix programme. Of the 39 drivers, only a handful didn’t have a Marlboro or a Camel patch on their overalls.

 

The remaining had a Gitanes/Gauloises/Elf patch? 

[PayasYouRace]

The remaining had a Gitanes/Gauloises/Elf patch?

I don’t have it to hand, but the two Ligiers were definitely among the exceptions, and I think the others were the Williams and the Arrows.

[Myrvold]

I don’t have it to hand, but the two Ligiers were definitely among the exceptions, and I think the others were the Williams and the Arrows.

 

Williams had Elf at that time. So I guess Arrows-drivers being the odd ones out.

[PayasYouRace]

Williams had Elf at that time. So I guess Arrows-drivers being the odd ones out.

But I don’t think Boutsen and Patrese had any link to Elf themselves. I think the Elf driver programme was long over by then. They just happened to be Williams’ oil and fuel supplier with the Renault partnership.

[PlatenGlass]

From 1986 until +- 1991 it was the golden era of F3000 with fields growing up to 40 cars, and just 26 qualifying. Those were certainly the most competitive days in the history of F2 / F3000 / GP2 and many of the drivers competing in this era in F3000 would become excellent F1 drivers. in 1986 no less than 71 drivers tried their chance in F3000. You had to be really good to be in the top 10 of F3000 in those days with such fierce competition. Winning a race in it was enough to earn an F1 seat.

Despite what you say, I'd say the F1 success of these drivers was fairly modest especially among successful F3000 drivers - the one champion (Hill) never finished higher than 7th in the F3000 championship.

[Myrvold]

But I don’t think Boutsen and Patrese had any link to Elf themselves. I think the Elf driver programme was long over by then. They just happened to be Williams’ oil and fuel supplier with the Renault partnership.

 

 

Ye, but that would also apply for a couple of the others with Marlboro/Camel patches?

EDIT: The Elf driver programme wasn't over by then. In fact what's now known as the FFSA Academy was created by Elf in 1993 in an effort to merge their own and many other driving schools and talent programmes. 

Edited by Myrvold, 10 September 2022 - 14:59.

[PayasYouRace]

Ye, but that would also apply for a couple of the others with Marlboro/Camel patches?
EDIT: The Elf driver programme wasn't over by then. In fact what's now known as the FFSA Academy was created by Elf in 1993 in an effort to merge their own and many other driving schools and talent programmes.

Yeah, the Marlboro patches worn by Prost, Senna, Mansell and Berger, and the Camel patches worn by Piquet and Nakajima were team sponsorship. But the rest were all either Marlboro World Championship Team or Camel Racing Service drivers.

Still, my point was how Marlboro and Camel basically sponsored the entire grid in one way or another, bar a few individual teams.

[ensign14]

Leimer didn't get a chance because he used the Sospiri Method - hang around for a century until anyone any good has got out of the way.  Jorg Muller I reckon should have got a chance but in respect his championship year was weak sauce.

 

Remember the Euro F3 was not great shakes for quite a while, you were better off in the Italian and, circa 1975-95, the British F3.  Also remember there were other common routes in as well, such as sportscars and Indycar.  Even touring car racing was the day job for some F1 drivers (Ertl, Rhodes, to an extent Stuck).

[Myrvold]

Yeah, the Marlboro patches worn by Prost, Senna, Mansell and Berger, and the Camel patches worn by Piquet and Nakajima were team sponsorship. But the rest were all either Marlboro World Championship Team or Camel Racing Service drivers.

Still, my point was how Marlboro and Camel basically sponsored the entire grid in one way or another, bar a few individual teams.

 

I just wanted to chime in with the last driver academy/mega sponsor (Gitanes & Elf) almost completed the field.

[William Hunt]

Despite what you say, I'd say the F1 success of these drivers was fairly modest especially among successful F3000 drivers - the one champion (Hill) never finished higher than 7th in the F3000 championship.

 

If you have a lot of seasons in F1, that is already a big success imho. Alesi was a race winner and Ferrari driver in F1, Herbert a multiple race winner, so was Eddie Irvine (2nd in the world championship even) and F3000 champion. Capelli almost won an F1 race, Moreno & Modena scored a second place to name some.

Edited by William Hunt, 10 September 2022 - 16:42.

[PlatenGlass]

If you have a lot of seasons in F1, that is already a big success imho. Alesi was a race winner and Ferrari driver in F1, Herbert a multiple race winner, so was Eddie Irvine (2nd in the world championship even) and F3000 champion. Capelli almost won an F1 race, Moreno & Modena scored a second place to name some.

 

Looking at a driver individually, yes, but it's surprising that over that time how few very successful drivers there were. I've mentioned previously on this forum that only three new drivers from 1985 to 1990 won a race - Herbert won three, Alesi one and Nannini one (after Senna was disqualified).

[William Hunt]

One could say that reaching F1, meaning driving a season in it (or just 1 race) is already carreer succeeded because when drivers start in karting and in single seaters their dream and goal is always: to drive in F1. So when you reach that you could say it already is a dream achieved. And these days that dream is very very very hard compared to the days when F1 had 30 cars.
I personally see it that way: if you reach it in the first place and manage to do a season in it, it is already mission acomplished imho: you are in the F1 history books then, you can name yourself an F1 driver which is the pinnacle in motorsport.

Edited by William Hunt, 10 September 2022 - 17:33.

[messy]

FIA F3000 was such an interesting era because it always felt to me that the best drivers just bypassed it completely. As a kid in the late 90s I enjoyed the races a lot but viewed the drivers there as already having failed to have earned that first chance, that they were already sort of on the junkheap just for being there. I suppose Montoya and Heidfeld sort of broke that, but not entirely. Back then the British/German/Italian F3 Championship and even Italian F3000 were strong proving grounds and winning those seemed enough to propel the best drivers straight to F1 without having to go down the FIA F3000 route, which just seemed a bit…I dunno, crap.

I think in hindsight it wasn’t that simple and I probably had a slightly unfair view of it, but it’s always seemed to me that the tier immediately beneath F1 was a bit of a ‘second chance saloon’ for drivers not quite impressive enough to get the jump straight from F3.

That changed, obviously. The arrival of GP2 seemed to really crank that series up overnight in terms of professionalism, quality of the grid and maybe even relevance to F1. It might sound strange, but I think adopting the sprint race/feature race format was genius, because it forced the drivers to have to do so much more than before - think about strategies, tyre life, working their way up through reversed grids. And there really couldn’t have been two more convincing champions for the first two years, which helped.

It seemed to take a step back after a few years when it became obvious that experience counted for so much, so the likes of Pantano, Glock, Valsecchi, Leimer etc rose above the actual talents just because they’d been there for so long - but I think it’s evolved into something so much better now than those FIA F3000 days. Max Verstappen aside, the best young talents now see it as a crucial final step to F1, rather than a second chance to get a Jaguar reserve drive after not quite doing enough in F3.

[PlatenGlass]

I think in hindsight it wasn’t that simple and I probably had a slightly unfair view of it, but it’s always seemed to me that the tier immediately beneath F1 was a bit of a ‘second chance saloon’ for drivers not quite impressive enough to get the jump straight from F3.

 

Is there a list of drivers who did jump straight from F3 to F1? When it's been questioned why few F3000 drivers were super-successful this has often been cited as a reason, but as mentioned above, in the late 80s no drivers who made it into F1 from anywhere were super successful.

[William Hunt]

F3000's level went down strongly somewhere during the '90s and never recovered from it's golden era of '86 up until '91. In particular '86-'89 were strong years with incredible large fields, multiple chassis manufacturers and quality drivers like Herbert, Donnelly, Blundell, Gugelmin, Pirro, Capelli, Moreno, Modena, Alesi, Martini, Irvine, Comas, Bernard, Trolllé, Dalmas, Apicella, McNish,Thackwell, Nielsen, the Ferté brothers, van de Poele, Grouillard, etcetera...
Herbert was such an  exciting megatalent, if only Brands Hatch never happened.... (Michel Trollé broke his legs there too) but a year later Jordan had another golden talent with Jean Alesi. Bernard & Comas were also very exciting drivers at DAMS that year.

10 years after that golden era the difference was stark. It had some strong years still now and then when drivers like Montoya, Rodriguez, Heidfeld, Pantano, Bourdais.... were in it but it never was as good again as in it's early days in the '80s.

I liked that it wasn't a spec series. 
The last strong F3000 year was possibly 1993, from around 1995 it seemed to go downwards. So yeah like Messy said the quality of the field went down halfway the '90s and drivers started bypassing F3000 again as they had been doing when F2 went down (Senna & Brundle jumped straight from F3 to F1 in '84, so did Berger that year. Hesnault also skipped it and came straight from French F3 where he was runner up after Michel Ferté in '83).

Edited by William Hunt, 10 September 2022 - 22:57.

[William Hunt]

Good idea for a thread.

 

I don't have a huge amount of knowledge of the drivers (except those who actually did make it to F1) but I'd be interested to know how many of those drivers in the last few years have been associated with an academy. My impression is that to get to F1 in the modern age an academy association is pretty much essential.

 

Well I'll add it behind their name tomorrow.  The thing is: current F1 teams get young drivers in their academy in the first place to make sure that other F1 teams don't get their hands on the most promissing talents. And then they hope that one or two will be specialt talents that they can promote. 

This is also the reason that F1 teams start to select drivers as early as karting (even Alpine started doing that this year by selecting two): they don't want a competitor to have first dibbs on talented youngsters.

 

Toyota was one of the very first, if not the first, to start an academy by starting to sign them in karting already. They did so with Frenchman Franck Perrera who in the end lacked a bit of talent to go all the way to F1 but Perrera did reach GP2.

 

As others have mentioned academies aren't new and cigarette companies like Camel, Gauloises / Gitanes and in particular Marlboro or companies like Elf had their academy in the '70s & '80s up until the '90s. And they didn't select them just because of their nationality (well the Gitanes / Elf actually usually did but then France had so much talent they deserved that support anyway) but because of their driver qualities.

You also had companies like Shell, Motul or the Winfield racing school supporting driver programs. The Daily mail supported F. Ford drivers...

 

The ban on tobaco sponsoring not only hurt F1 deeply, it also was a massive blow for young drivers and that system was much better as today because Malrboro could buy a seat in any team for their driver and they did. Elf as well although they had a strong relationship with in particular Tyrrell and they usually ended up there (Depailler, Pironi e.g.).

 

Today most of the academies are run by F1 teams but not all, there are still some independent programs like the FFSA, French federation, in France or like the Winfield school that started to support F4 drivers again with a shootout (Caio Collet won that for example, they financed his seat and he won the title and ended up at Alpine). There also is the Richard Mille program (also via a yearly F4 shootout), the German federation who now is helping drivers financially (Tim Tramnitz for example), a shootout in Spain for F4 financed by the Valencia region. 
But not all those programs run until F2 or even F1 like they used to in the '70s to '90s.

 

But F1 teams also had programs in the '80s, '90s and early 2000s: test programs. They all had at least one test driver, sometimes a full tiime one but very often a F3000 driver who combined this with testing. This in a way was an F1 team's old school academy.

 

Beiing in an F1 Driver Academy has big advantages but also one huge disadvantage: you can easily get blocked out from promotion to the mother team in F1 if there is no vacancy there and even if there is one then the mother team may still choose an experienced driver even if you perform well: no gurantee and what's worse: if another F1 team has a vacancy they may not want you because you are in a program of a competitor.

So I think it can actually be a big advantage to not  be in an F1 Academy and if you have the financial backing to do F3 (750.000 to 1.2 million dollar per year) or F2  (1.8 to 2.2 million dollar) it's imho better not to join one because if you beat academy drivers they may still look at you!

 

Look at Drugovich this year: not affiliated with any F1 academy but that means he can talk to everyone whilst Doohan can only talk to Alpine now. If Doohan wants to go to say Williams then Williams would need to agree a loan with Alpine or buy him out. But Drugovich is free and doesn't have to be loaned from a competitor.

 

 

Even Red Bull is interested to sign him as third driver for AlphaTauri despite Red Bull having a half army of junior drivers.
So why are Red Bull looking at him? Well if someone is trashing your own juniors then you look at who is trashing him. To me it makes little sense to promote a junior of your own academy if an independent driver is beating your junior. Then you pick who ever is beating him! Because you prefer to get the best one after all.

 

This logic is also the reason why Nicholas Todt, manager of several hot young talents in single seaters & karting, hasn't put his brightest young talent Gabriele Mini in an academy despite Mini winning the prestigious Italian F4 titlle convincingly as a rookie.

Because Todt wants to keep all options open as long as possible and if Mini was already in an academy that would seriously decrease Todt's negotiation power in the future!

Edited by William Hunt, 11 September 2022 - 00:25.

[KWSN - DSM]

Is there a list of drivers who did jump straight from F3 to F1? When it's been questioned why few F3000 drivers were super-successful this has often been cited as a reason, but as mentioned above, in the late 80s no drivers who made it into F1 from anywhere were super successful.

 

I think Formula Renault 3.5 for a few seasons were 'F3'

 

2013 Champion Kevin Magnussen went straight to F1.

2014 Champion Carlos Sainz went straight to F1.

[William Hunt]

I think Formula Renault 3.5 for a few seasons were 'F3'

 

2013 Champion Kevin Magnussen went straight to F1.

2014 Champion Carlos Sainz went straight to F1.

 

But those cars had 3.5 liter engines! They were at least as quick as GP2 cars so not comparable with F3 at all.

[KWSN - DSM]

But those cars had 3.5 liter engines! They were at least as quick as GP2 cars so not comparable with F3 at all.

 

As in bypassing F2, as in going straight from a junior series to F1.

[messy]

FR3.5 got so much better than GP2 in the early to mid 2010s. The cars looked nicer, the races were more interesting, the drivers were more exciting. Its such a shame it didn't last a bit longer but I suppose two championships that were essentially covering exactly the same ground at the same level, two into one would never go and GP2 had the more might behind it.

[Hati]

 

*** One can see a clear pattern: in the '70s & '80s many drivers in the FIA European F3 championship who finished in the top 10 reached F1 (for at least 1 race weekend), post 2000s the number of drivers decreased and it decreased even more the past 10 years.
It's caused by a decreasing number of F1 seats.

Probably mentioned but I didn't notice but big part of decreasing numbers is longer careers. If you calculate average career lenght of each decade I think there is quite much increasing from fifties to last decade.

[BRG]

The old F2 backed itself into a corner by allowing race engines in and effectively destroying what had been a pretty competitive series.  then Bernie invented F3000 to replace it and use up all the surplus DVs as F1 went turbo.  It was also meant to use up all the old F1 cars, but that proved not to work.  Neither F2 nor F3000 were really feeder series, as they had their own calendars mostly away from F1.  The F1 aspirants focussed on F3 as the route to F1.  F2/3000 was a sideshow.  

[William Hunt]

That's not true during the '80s and early '90s by far most drivers entering F1 came from F3000

[messy]

I think Formula Renault 3.5 for a few seasons were 'F3'

2013 Champion Kevin Magnussen went straight to F1.
2014 Champion Carlos Sainz went straight to F1.

The odd thing about FR3.5 is that although plenty of drivers treated it as the stop before moving to GP2 or F3000, others went to FR3.5 after GP2 or F3000 too. Justin Wilson won the 2001 F3000 crown, then spent 2002 in FR3.5, and Jules Bianchi moved to the series after a few season in GP2 too. Nobody seemed sure where the two championships stood against each other, really.

Edited by messy, 11 September 2022 - 15:48.

[KWSN - DSM]

The odd thing about FR3.5 is that although plenty of drivers treated it as the stop before moving to GP2 or F3000, others went to FR3.5 after GP2 or F3000 too. Justin Wilson won the 2001 F3000 crown, then spent 2002 in FR3.5, and Jules Bianchi moved to the series after a few season in GP2 too. Nobody seemed sure where the two championships stood against each other, really.

 

I think for a couple of seasons it was seen as the premier junior series. 

[William Hunt]

Probably mentioned but I didn't notice but big part of decreasing numbers is longer careers. If you calculate average career lenght of each decade I think there is quite much increasing from fifties to last decade.

 

They enter F1 longer so can stay longer then. But another factor is: in the '70s there were frequently drivers injured or worse... they had to be replaced.