GP3 2011

[Daisy]

As far as I know, Frijns is not confirmed yet, but he's hoping to get the seat. Melker will do F3 and GP3 for sure, and Frijns wants to do GP3 with Formula Renault

[bella]

Originally Posted by ptclaus98

Still haven't heard much from Conor Daly or Josef Newgarten. They were both looking at GP3. What is the difference in costs between British F3 and GP3?

have forgotten the exact amount gp3 is, but it's around half the cost of bf3?

edit: still can't find a reference to it in recent forum history, but perhaps it's half if you ask for a deal the day before the first qualifying session! in practice it's probably more like 2/3rds of the price...

[Valker]

According to Rio Haryanto, a season in GP3 is around € 1 million (and GP2 3 mil.!). So if BF3 was double (as bella suggests), it would cost about € 2 million (£ 1.7 mil.) per season.

[bella]

i stand corrected then, thanks for the update

[cappra250]

1. ART Grand Prix: Bottas, Calado, Pedro Nunes
2. Status Grand Prix: Sims, Da Costa,
3. Jenzer Motorsport: Muller, Zimin, Chaves
4. Manor Racing: Williamson, Haryanto, Hylkema
5. Carlin: None
6. Tech 1 Racing: Vainio, Sechelariu
7. Atech CRS GP: Yelloly, Stockinger,
8. Addax Team: None
9. MW Arden: Trummer, Frijns, Mitch Evans
10. RSC Mücke Motorsport: Melker, Steindl,

This is more or less how is it by now. In italics the likely drivers.

Very strong field...and more are coming!!!

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by cappra250

1. ART Grand Prix: Bottas, Calado, Pedro Nunes
2. Status Grand Prix: Sims, Da Costa,
3. Jenzer Motorsport: Muller, Zimin, Chaves
4. Manor Racing: Williamson, Haryanto, Hylkema
5. Carlin: None
6. Tech 1 Racing: Vainio, Sechelariu
7. Atech CRS GP: Yelloly, Stockinger,
8. Addax Team: None
9. MW Arden: Trummer, Frijns, Mitch Evans
10. RSC Mücke Motorsport: Melker, Steindl,

This is more or less how is it by now. In italics the likely drivers.

Very strong field...and more are coming!!!

Bottas, Calado, Sims, Muller are quality but whilst I admitedly am no great expert on every single driver out there i'm not sure that the entry so far equals 'strong field' yet?

I would venture that the British F3 and paltry ES entrants so far are higher in calibre.

[ptclaus98]

Chaves is top notch.

[Daisy]

Originally Posted by chunterer

Bottas, Calado, Sims, Muller are quality but whilst I admitedly am no great expert on every single driver out there i'm not sure that the entry so far equals 'strong field' yet?

I would venture that the British F3 and paltry ES entrants so far are higher in calibre.

I do not a agree here. The British F3 grid for this year is a little overrated in my opinion. Yes, there a good drivers on the grid for 2011 (Nasr, Magnussen, Harvey and hopefully Blomqvist), but that's it. The recent is decent (Ticknell maybe a little better than decent), but nothing more than that.

The four you mentioned + Da Costa should battle it out for the title. But I can see guys like Vaino, Frijns, Williamsion and Chaves do well, Melker and Trummer showed some occiacional speed in 2010 and hopefully we see Christensen and Mehri back as well. There are still plenty of seats left and some good drivers out there with no seat.

I would rate the average of the GP3 I named (excluding Sims, Calado, Da Costa, Bottas and Müller) a lot higher than the British F3 names that I haven't named.

I'm curious where Carlin and Addax will come up with. There is a test coming up in two weeks, isn't it?

[cappra250]

Yes, the first test will take place at Paul Ricard on the 3rd and 4th of March.

Then there are two more collective tests of 3 days each.

29-30-31 March - Silverstone
12-13-14 April - Montmelo

[formula_fan]

I would say that the field in GP3 is higher than British F3 but I'm not sure that says a huge amount. British F3 field is fairly weak this year I think, Nasr and Magnussen are the only people going to challenge for it I think. Bottas and Calado etc. are not bad but this field is not a patch on the calibre of last years field.

Realistically the market is too saturated with too many different F3 series and then with GP3 as well so it is impossible to get all of the best drivers in the same series.

[ivanalesi]

Besides the drivers at Signature, Melker @ Mucke and Juncadella @ Prema, do we know anyone else? In BF3, besides Magnussen, I don't know if anyone from Europe will join the series... so GP3 is really getting stronger, last year at the top F3ES was stronger with most of the top 10 all very, very strong drivers.

[Alex K]

Off topic @Valker are you positive about the figures you've put?!
1.7M for BF3 top drive?!

[bella]

judging by his wording, i think he was going off what i was saying about gp3 being half a bf3 drive which was off the top of my head and totally confused with f2.

[formula_fan]

I believe GP3 is similar to F3 in terms of cost, both are around £500k, could be slightly more or less depending on teams. In GP3 however they are finding it harder to fill all of the seats and the penalties for not filling them are higher so cheap deals were done just before the start of the season last year to get good drivers in and fill the seats, I suspect that it will be the same this year, but I'm not sure whether the series is sustainable like this.

[bella]

Originally Posted by formula_fan

In GP3 however they are finding it harder to fill all of the seats and the penalties for not filling them are higher so cheap deals were done just before the start of the season last year to get good drivers in and fill the seats, I suspect that it will be the same this year, but I'm not sure whether the series is sustainable like this.

that was kind of the point i was getting at on the other page - last year there ended up being quite a few drivers just doing it on a non-racing weekend when they were bored and they had a bit of cash hanging around. of course there were a number of serious racers (as the title battle proved) but equally there were quite a few who weren't doing a full season, not even with the view of competing full time this year.

[dave not neil]

Each team is limited to how many drivers may race each car over the season though, so the incentive is really to tie down full time deals, hence why so many cheap drives were given away...

[Daisy]

Conor Daly will race with Carlin this season. Good to have another American in GP3!

1. ART Grand Prix: Bottas, Calado, Pedro Nunes
2. Status Grand Prix: Sims, Da Costa,
3. Jenzer Motorsport: Muller, Zimin, Chaves
4. Manor Racing: Williamson, Haryanto, Hylkema
5. Carlin: Daly,
6. Tech 1 Racing: Vainio, Sechelariu
7. Atech CRS GP: Yelloly, Stockinger,
8. Addax Team: None
9. MW Arden: Trummer, Frijns, Evans
10. RSC Mücke Motorsport: Melker, Steindl,

Italics = not yet conifmred

[ptclaus98]

YEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSS


IBBellarainsonmyparade

[bella]

after due consideration i can't see any reason to rain on your parade this time. consider it put aside for later use

[strider]

Evans is confirmed at Arden. Just 16. Wow!

[kylekosir]

Ive seen Daly race in Ford's here in canada, when F1200 raced the sames weekends. Very talented driver non the less. I think hes a smarter driver in terms of moving up the levels, unlike most drivers who just rush things and move up and up and up.

Im sure its been said already, anyone know what wickens is racing? He Since im canadian, id love to see how he does

[ivanalesi]

He wasn't bad in WSbR when he tried it, he has proven himself at F3/GP3 level or may be no $$$ for EU and going to Indy Lights.

[Hawkwood]

Williamson also joins Arden:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/89627

[Rf1 Fan]

Tom Dillmann is going to make his seat fitting in England today....

[Rf1 Fan]

Zimin with Jenzer.