Ryan Briscoe in Jordan for 2005!?

[Russfeld]

And surely the lap record gets broken almost every year, and I doubt it would have been set by MS 15 years or so ago

[Kicking-back]

Schumacher was there in 1990.

Pedro Lamy set a lap record in 1992.

Rickard Rydell in 1993.

Tom Coronel in 1997.

And that's just a few of them!

[BootsOntheSide]

Nice try Grumpy. A driver with F3000 experience ought to dominate in F3 - the cars are a massive step down, and he was the most experienced driver. Still, he's joined an illustrious roll of honour by winning it - I'm sure he can be as successful as Rydell and Coronel.

[gomick]

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
Nice try Grumpy. A driver with F3000 experience ought to dominate in F3.

true in theory , but he only did 5 or 6 ordinary races .... backed it up with euro f3 title though

[Kicking-back]

Originally posted by BootsOntheSide
Still, he's joined an illustrious roll of honour by winning it

Just for clarity, my list was lap record holders rather than winners per se.

[mac]

Ryan is clearly talented. We're talking about a guy who won the first car racing championship he ever entered - Italian Formula Renault. And in that same year he had some very strong runs in German F3.

He had a tough time at Nordic, but there were a number of reasons for that. He only did a handful of races there, then stepped back to F3.

And the only word you could use to describe his EuroF3 championship was dominant. Not to mention his blistering speed at Macau on his first visit.

And Toyota obviously think he's got something - they signed him up to a long term contract when he was racing karts.

[BootsOntheSide]

I realise that KB - the list of winners at Macau is impressive as well, Schumacher and Senna are there for a start.

[Kicking-back]

Indeed.

Also David Coulthard among current F1 winners.

[Dixie Flatline]

In an interview Ryan gave to an Aussie motorsports rag (I think, funnily enough, it was called "Motorsport"), he gave the reason/excuse that his time in F3 was difficult because the team wasn't adequately funded or organised, and when Toyota realised that, they pulled him out of it.

[grumpy1]

Hey easy guys I used that Macau race as an example of his talent.Look at the previous winners of this event then calculate how many have moved to F1 and won races there.
A fair few and how many have been WDC?
And mac he was just as quick in the Toms Supra the couple of times he drove that as well.

The Grumpy1

[Dixie Flatline]

I was just down at the newsagents at lunchtime when I happened across a different motorsports rag, called, I think, "Aussie Autosports" or something to that effect. They had an interview with "The Briscoe Kid", as they called him.

Apparently, Toyota has given Briscoe their blessing to go seek a seat at a rival team, ie. Minardi or Jordan, but Toyota will not contribute any money and Briscoe needs to raise $3-4 million to secure a drive. There was no mention in the article of any engine deal being struck between Toyota and Jordan or Minardi, or Briscoe being part of that deal.

[Kicking-back]

Originally posted by Dixie Flatline
he gave the reason/excuse that his time in F3 was difficult because the team wasn't adequately funded or organised,

I assume you mean F3000.

Funny that, because the team were the reigning champions.

[sonic]

Very quick and naturally talent driver Ryan.

But I haven't seen him demonstrate the mental toughness and ability to overcome adversity required for F1 yet. and this was a problem for him in the early years.

[Attila]

KB that is true it was Coca-Cola Nordic racing, but they already decieded at the start of the season to quit after the year. The core of the team left mid season, so it was not ease for Ryan and yes Zsolt Baumgertner. :-). By the way, if I remember correctly Zsolt beat Ryan whilst driving in the same team :-).

[BootsOntheSide]

Ryan left mid-season as well (Toyota took him out as they felt his confidence and reputation were being damaged), so the fact that the team continued to decline as the year went on is irrelevant. Every driver has the odd disappointing season, where things don't work out and they fail to reach their potential - I geuss that was Ryan's.

[Kicking-back]

Even in a disappointing year for a team, you still can measure yourself against your team-mate, and Mr Briscoe didn't stack up well there, lack of experience notwithstanding.

[sonic]

This relates to my point - keeping it together when the **** hits the fan is important, you need to be able to stay focused on the job in hand.

I recall a race in his early career - the Junior Worlds in Belgium he won all his heats and the pre-final, but when a marshal told him off during an aborted start for the final and Ryan burst into tears and lost.

Okay he was young, but in my experience those traits are pretty ingrained in a driver.

[Attila]

Well Zsolt was not the most experienced F3000 driver that year either. He had half of season in Prost Junior the year before and that was it. So if we accept that Zsolt is Mr. "Slowgartner" as many of you think that does not reflect too good on Ryan. Anyway, I am just being nasty again. :-)