GP2 Series R06 Nürburgring - Racing weekend thread & general philosophising - Page 3

Mekola · 24 Jul 2007, 05:13 (Ref:1971713)

Demise of Champ Cars was announced some years ago... and still lives.

**chunterer** · 24 Jul 2007, 08:32 (Ref:1971804)

Quote:

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

For me it is as good this year as it was in 2005, perhaps not 2006.

Hmm I dunno saleen. 2005: Rosberg, Kovalainen? At least as good a battle as Lewis v Nelsinho was the following year and i'd rate the both drivers above Nelsinho by a reasonable chunk.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Conway has been extremely unlucky this year or he would probably be right in the hunt for the Championship.

Yes I think he has the speed, but a combination of stupid errors and unreliability etc has seriously derailed his progress. Now the questions team managers will be asking themselves as we headed towards the end of this season 'If we sign Mike can he deliver the title in 2008?'

Quote:

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Glock is doing a good job too, he probably wont make it back into F1 but he deserves his place in GP2. Di Grassi in particular has shown he can be both very quick and consistant. Filippi I dont particularly like as a driver but well he is showing himself to be quick most of the time.

Glock overall is the best driver in it at the moment and whilst he's linked to BMW, other F1 people will be generally aware of his ability. It's not should he be in F1 it's are there enough teams available anymore?!! I have to ask what exactly it is you rate about Di Grassi who despite running high in the points is having arguably his least impressive season of his career performance wise in the last 4-5 years in a team that's won the title ther last 2 years? That isn't the form of someone heading to F1. Filippi showns genuine promise yes, but I'm not convinced he is someone who would cut the mustard in F1 either i'm afraid.

Quote:

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Maldonando and Nakajima will be ready for F1 soon too I think but perhaps 2008 might be a little early. Senna and Villa they are showing that they can be quick on ocassion but still a little erratic.

I've shortened your quote a little but both Pastor and Kazuki do look like F1 drivers in the making. Pastor perhaps has the best overtaking skills visible in the series at present, Kazuki looks like he is one fast driver in the making.

I think next years title race could be betweem Maldonado, Nakajima and Senna if the 3 of them stay on and get similarly competitive rides?

flexible-flyer · 24 Jul 2007, 09:54 (Ref:1971900)

i was amazed vettel or diresta were not dumped into ART for this year actually. maybe ART wanted some gp2 experience with premat leaving aswell as hamilton? i think either of those guys would have been good for the series. anyway i reckon i will give my 2 cents for every team and driver in the series by doing a childish little list-

ART - still in my eyes the best team to be with.
Michael Ammermüller - hard to say. red bull gives him wings though...
Mikhail Aleshin- dont know him
Sébastien Buemi - think he is prety good. i was hoping he would trouble digrassi a bit more though.
Lucas di Grassi - i always rated i the past. not so much this year but i think he could still make it.

Minardi Piquet Sports - very good team to drive for if your name is piquet. avergae otherwise.
Alexandre Negrão- seems chained to that team. which shouldnt be a bad thing. crap.
Roldán Rodr�*guez- decent enough. but only compared to negrao.

iSport- always been one of the best teams to drive for.
Timo Glock- should never have been let go by f1.
Andreas Zuber- like premat in 05/06. a good driver but made look even better by the car he drives.

Arden- still a great team, they just always picked the right drivers at the wrong time.
Bruno Senna- erratic, but quick. next year he will be a contender.
Adrian Zaugg- quick but erratic. he will still be in gp2 come 2009.

FMS- good team. but there are a few just like them.
Antônio Pizzonia- frank williams doesnt employ bad drivers. pizzonia remains a good driver.
Adam Carroll- always does the best his car will offer, cant ask for more than that, apart from stop getting hit from behind and beg red bull for backing.
Jason Tahincioglu- vanina ickx would trounce him.

Trident Racing- i reckon trident are capable of winning the gp2 title if they had a seriously good driver lineup.
Pastor Maldonado- pretty good driver. still cant forgive him for his past, but his future looks bright enough.
Kohei Hirate- not bad. give him another season. but there are better japanese drivers.

Racing Engineering- good on their day, but it only comes once a blue moon.
Javier Villa- slow last year. 18 i suppose but still....matured alot more now but still not the complete article.
Sérgio Jimenez- dont know him
Ernesto Viso- always rated him before. would take america by storm.
Filipe Albuquerque - dont know him, but he did outqualify vila at silverstone didnt he? make of that what you will.

Super Nova- good team. not reliable but still very good.
Luca Filippi- he is ok. cant see him making f1 though.
Mike Conway- having bad luck, but nothing like the bad luck carroll had when he was at super nova. next year he should be a contender.

BCN- just look at glock at this team last year. and just look at glock now!
Sakon Yamamoto- i preferred yoshimoto.
Ho-Pin Tung- bunny.

DPR- for such a well established outfit to be so low in gp2 is weird.
Christian Bakkerud- average
Andy Soucek- he is ok. i would like to see him in a better team.

DAMS- very good team. up there with the best.
Kazuki Nakajima- fast becoming my new second fave driver. and i do mean fast.
Nicolas Lapierre- slowly becoming a journeyman...actually i mean fast...

Campos- they look pretty good this season. alvarez, valles, even portiero looked decent for them before. a good team for a spanish speaking rookie.
Giorgio Pantano- a very good, seasoned pro. an excellent yardstick. if you can beat pantano in the same team, then you are a very, very good driver.
Vitaly Petrov- he aint bad. nothing special though.

Durango- contender for worst team in gp2 along with bcn and dpr.
Borja Garc�*a- ok i suppose. nothing special.
Karun Chandhok- not the world's fastest indian.

Charlies · 24 Jul 2007, 10:19 (Ref:1971932)

Agree with most of the above.

The series lacks the confrontations of the past couple of years, but there is still plenty of talent around.

Of those racing I'd say there are several names for the future; Glock, Carroll, Buemi, Alburquerque, Senna and Nakajima (the last four needing more time to progress).

As we're talking about GP2 in a broad context, while I like the reverse grid as it normally provides some overtaking, it's annoying when a driver, like Carroll, has to start at the back through no fault of his own.

Jackman · 24 Jul 2007, 16:34 (Ref:1972263)

My take on flexi's list.

ART - in my eyes the second best team to be with.
Michael Ammermüller - gone. not for nothing.
Mikhail Aleshin- impressive one of drive.
Sébastien Buemi - awesome in Monaco, wretched in Germany. waiting to see how he turns out.
Lucas di Grassi - i always rated in the past. solid by uninspiring this year. i wonder if maybe he's too smart to be an absolute top driver.

Minardi Piquet Sports - very good team, but need a decent driver. unlikely to ever have someone push them as much as Nelsinho.
Alexandre Negrão- chained to the team. nice guy, fast, but seems too nervous when it counts.
Roldán Rodr�*guez- decent enough, but only compared to negrao.

iSport- the best team in 2007, by far.
Timo Glock- should never have been let go by f1.
Andreas Zuber- a good driver, but needs to sort out his bad luck so people don't think it's the car he drives.

Arden- still think they're a great team, living off past glories and stuck in their ways set up wise.
Bruno Senna- quick but wayward. next year he should be a contender.
Adrian Zaugg- not so quick, more erratic. he will probably be in gp2 next year, but who knows with Red Bull these days?

FMS- decent team, but chaotic. need to get the old man out, just to calm everything down.
Antônio Pizzonia- pizzonia remains a good driver, but the FMS experience has poisoned the well for him: last I heard he was so disillusioned he may have given up racing.
Adam Carroll- always pushes hard, but seems to have bad luck. and no money, of course.
Jason Tahinci- brought the team's budget for 2 years.

Trident Racing- still too Italian, probably.
Pastor Maldonado- rapidly improving driver. still struggle to forgive his past, but he holds the key to Chavez's wallet.
Kohei Hirate- not bad. give him another season, when he'll get trounced by Kobayashi too.

Racing Engineering- good on their day, but it only comes once a blue moon.
Javier Villa- slow last year. nice kid, but I still don't see what Alfonso sees. 2 wins this year though, which is way better than I expected.
Sérgio Jimenez- looked awesome, and then ran out of money. I wish he'd stayed.
Ernesto Viso- would take america by storm.
Filipe Albuquerque - no idea at all really, as it was a weird weekend for him. Would like to see more, though.

Super Nova- decent team. not reliable, but decent on their day.
Luca Filippi- picked him as dark horse for the championship, and he's impressed me more since the races started. and he's one of the coolest people I've ever met.
Mike Conway- having bad luck, but the author of his own misfortune far too often. will be back next year, though.

BCN- if you can't say anything nice, say nothing at all.
Sakon Yamamoto- i preferred yoshimoto. by a factor of 1000.
Ho-Pin Tung- decent driver, but no testing and stuck at BCN.

DPR- ...
Christian Bakkerud- average
Andy Soucek- less average.

DAMS- sorted out their problems from last year in big style.
Kazuki Nakajima- awesome. if he had known how to qualify at the start of the year he'd be challenging for the title now.
Nicolas Lapierre- must be thinking about his driver's school already. it's got to better than the present.

Campos- brilliant job to turn around from the worst team on the grid to one of the best in just 1.5 years.
Giorgio Pantano- an excellent yardstick, and probably the first GP2 professional driver. if you can beat pantano in the same team, then you are a very, very good driver.
Vitaly Petrov- he aint bad.

Durango- should probably buy Pantano for next year.
Borja Garc�*a- ok i suppose, but should be much better.
Karun Chandhok- leading the challenge for the team already. the world's fastest indian.[/QUOTE]

cg7aa · 24 Jul 2007, 19:53 (Ref:1972434)

Quote:

Originally Posted by flexible-flyer

Sébastien Buemi - think he is prety good...

Fast learner too but then I suppose most fast young drivers learn pretty quickly. I remember when he had a go in RBT's F1 engineering simulator when we were still tinkering with it at base, he was on it and was pretty close to matching the fastest lap set by Darren Turner around the Jerez track. Not bad, gave lots of feedback. IIRC, he was around during the week leading up to the A1GP round at Brands.

cg7aa · 24 Jul 2007, 20:01 (Ref:1972444)

Quote:

Originally Posted by flexible-flyer

Kohei Hirate- not bad. give him another season. but there are better japanese drivers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by flexible-flyer

BCN- just look at glock at this team last year. and just look at glock now!
Sakon Yamamoto- i preferred yoshimoto...

I've always wondered what happened to Yoshimoto, he impressed quite a bit back in 2005. He seemed (to me anyway) to be more than a journeyman. Where did he disappear to? Back home to Japan?

On another note, weren't BCN fairly competitive some years ago with Toccacelo although they kept throwing away potential race wins with poor pit stops.

Knowlesy · 24 Jul 2007, 20:08 (Ref:1972455)

Quote:

Originally Posted by SALEEN S7R

Di Grassi in particular has shown he can be both very quick and consistant.

di Grassi is a weird one really. I can't say he has done anything noticeable this season and yet look where he is in the points relative to the leader!

But let's face it, this is flattered by Glocks rather inconsistent year.

Mekola · 24 Jul 2007, 22:36 (Ref:1972570)

Quote:

Originally Posted by cg7aa

On another note, weren't BCN fairly competitive some years ago with Toccacelo although they kept throwing away potential race wins with poor pit stops.

Bot on 2004 hadn't they an engineer from Arden team working for them???

Jackman · 25 Jul 2007, 06:51 (Ref:1972748)

Quote:

Originally Posted by cg7aa

I've always wondered what happened to Yoshimoto, he impressed quite a bit back in 2005. He seemed (to me anyway) to be more than a journeyman. Where did he disappear to? Back home to Japan?

On another note, weren't BCN fairly competitive some years ago with Toccacelo although they kept throwing away potential race wins with poor pit stops.

Yoshi is racing in Formula Nippon (for a fairly rubbish team, sadly) and is an occasional pitlane reporter in F1/GP2 for Fuji TV. He had 'management issues', but will probably be back, most likely via GP2 Asia.

BCN were competitive with Toccacelo, in F3000.

Alex K · 25 Jul 2007, 13:40 (Ref:1973090)

Some say Sakon Yamamoto is on the verge of signing for Spyker F1 Team. If... Lopez will probably not sign anything in the middle of the season. BCN needs results: my guesses Ammermueller? Valles? Winkelhock?

Jackman · 25 Jul 2007, 15:42 (Ref:1973169)

There are 2 drivers in the frame, and they both speak Spanish as a first language.

Adri_tifosi · 25 Jul 2007, 16:05 (Ref:1973195)

Can Yoshimoto return with BCN ?

Alex K · 25 Jul 2007, 16:51 (Ref:1973220)

They still need results, so I hope they will sign skilled driver.

runshaw · 25 Jul 2007, 17:55 (Ref:1973252)

Quote:

Originally Posted by Alex K

Some say Sakon Yamamoto is on the verge of signing for Spyker F1 Team.

He is racing for the last 7 GP's with Spyker. Oh dear. One of the few drivers in GP2 this year who hasn't scored a single point. I know its budget related, but still, it's just wrong.

flexible-flyer · 25 Jul 2007, 18:06 (Ref:1973256)

Quote:

Originally Posted by runshaw

He is racing for the last 7 GP's with Spyker. Oh dear. One of the few drivers in GP2 this year who hasn't scored a single point. I know its budget related, but still, it's just wrong.

my thoughts exactly...

its a shame that motorsport is like this. a big shame.

**chunterer** · 28 Jul 2007, 09:44 (Ref:1975215)

Yes his 'promotion' does seem a bit daft when the team had how many options of arguably more talented drivers and with backing?

Might be interesting just to gauge people's opinions about who they're top 10 performers are in GP2 this season?

Bearing in mind that we already think that some people aren't showing what they ought to because they might be in slightly less competitive teams and some drivers aren't exploiting what they have got to it's full potential.

1 Glock - For me he's the best driver in it fairly comfortably and I would quite probably have rated him at 2 behind Lewis last season as well

2 Maldonado - won convincingly at Monaco to turn season around and has generally been a front runner ever since.

3 Carroll - played self back in in France and then served up a reminder of just how good he is at Silverstone. Jury's out on Nurby though but I bet he'll be in contention for wins again in Hungaroring.

4 Nakajima - Sensational pace must be coming from massive talent and balls but needs to become a more complete driver.

5 Senna - Almost as above really - racecraft suspect but that will come.

6 Pantano - Good pro Much better driver than his F1 debacle allowed him to show and I hope he gets a pro career in States or DTM or something when he'd done with GP2.

7 Fillipi - Startled a few people with his speed this year but he's a bit up and down with from. Probably still developing his skills though so there maybe quite a lot more to come.

8 Zuber - Again up and down. He's either super quick or scratching around in a lower top 10 to midfield battle. Seems to be less crazy then he was in WSR 3.5 but I wonder if he's doing the second i-sport car real justice?

9 Di Grassi - Mr consistent but nothing spectacular yet could feasibly step up another gear in pace and I guess confidence to mount a challenge for the rest of the season and nick the title if Glock slips up. Reminds me of Gugelmin - great in F3, not as stellar but always professional thereafter.

10 Conway - No one can doubt he's quick this year but where are the results? He needs to get his head down and finish races strongly for the rest of the year and then hope he can raise the funds to go for the title against old nemesis Senna and probably Pastor and Kajuki next year?

medler · 28 Jul 2007, 10:25 (Ref:1975229)

Quote: