2014 World Series by Renault silly season

[Formulahistory]

After the last round there will be a post-season-test. Are there just drivers known who will drive there?

Who could drive where next season?

DAMS: Totally unknown, perhaps Nato will stay.

Fortec: Jake Dennis? William Buller?

Draco: André Negrao (he is the son of team owner)?

Arden Caterham: Carlos Sainz jr.? Daniil Kvyat? perhaps Matt Parry from Caterham

Tech-1: Melker to stay? Pierre Gasley?

Lotus: Sorensen? Tunjo?

Strakka: Stevens again?

ISR: Who could pay for it

AV: Cassidy? Pic will go to GP2, I think the family is talking about taking over Addax.

Zeta: Zampieri?

Carlin: Jaafar? Jordan King?

Pons: ?

Comtec: La Rocca?

[bella]

it's formula renault 3.5, not world series by renault unless you're planning to include the clio eurocup and formula renault 2.0 eurocup

i think i read that negrao would be in gp2 next year, though that could have been a mistranslation.

marciello is having a go in winter testing, both in the rookie special session and in the general testing. that's from italiaracing.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Matt Parry will be competing in FR Eurocup next season. I can see Carlin running King with Jaafar. Jaafar could actually be one to watch next season.

[chunterer]

Sainz is a given as is Stoffel, Stevens, Muller and Nato I feel.

[bella]

i don't think muller will be back, stevens will be in gp2 and vandoorne... it depends what his new management think is best. if they've got any sense they'll put him at dams in 3.5. if they don't, they'll move him to gp2.

i don't know what sorensen's next move is. he's in a bit of an awkward place career wise.

[Formulahistory]

Originally Posted by bella

i think i read that negrao would be in gp2 next year, though that could have been a mistranslation.

marciello is having a go in winter testing, both in the rookie special session and in the general testing. that's from italiaracing.

Negrao in GP2? For which team?

Do you know for which team(s) Marciello will test? My bet is Tech-1 as Ferrari had their Bianchi last year.

[Formulahistory]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

Matt Parry will be competing in FR Eurocup next season.

Which team?

[p-matt]

Vandoorne absolutely needs to move on to gp2 because he hasn't proven himself outside the wsbr environment. An extra year in fr 3.5 did Costa and Korjus no favours yet the gp2 switch proved that Frijns is a future star

[bella]

i've seen you mention this "wsbr environment" thing before and i'm not totally sure i know what you mean and why you'd differentiate it from everything else?

[Down F0rce]

I don't think GP2 would serve any purpose to Vandoorne or Magnussen. They are part of McLaren's young driver programme, and McLaren are trying to get them race seats in F1 next year. GP2 was useful to Frijns because he ended up with a 3rd driver role that ended up being a dead end.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Down F0rce

I don't think GP2 would serve any purpose to Vandoorne or Magnussen. They are part of McLaren's young driver programme, and McLaren are trying to get them race seats in F1 next year. GP2 was useful to Frijns because he ended up with a 3rd driver role that ended up being a dead end.

I agree, but if GP2 was still a clear visible competition as it was when it started, and not the ridiculous lottery it is now, then I would definitely have advised a driver to go there, no question. That's why it would be great for Mulller and Stevens to stay on rather than risk ruining their careers in GP2 bella?

I would think the sensible, logical thing would be for Vandoorne to take Magnussen's seat at DAMS if McLaren don't promote the Belgian to F1 along with Kevin. I don't think he should leave the 3.5 series anyway unless he has the resources to make a decent fist of it. He's damn good but he's not ready.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by p-matt

Vandoorne absolutely needs to move on to gp2 because he hasn't proven himself outside the wsbr environment. An extra year in fr 3.5 did Costa and Korjus no favours yet the gp2 switch proved that Frijns is a future star

To be fair, we knew Frijns was pretty mega before he set foot in the GP2 car. As Magnussen, and Vettel etc have proved before, you don't automatically need to do GP2 to cement your place on the next F1 hotshot list. In fact unless someone paid me to drive with the best team in GP2 I would avoid it like the plague at the moment because the series just isn't strong enough depth wise and the cars/tyres don't do everyone favours.

[bella]

i know muller was lurking around a f1 team during the summer, but not one where he wouldn't need to bring his wallet. i think the dtm and sportscar stuff is where he's heading, and if the postive noises from audi recently turn into a drive then it'd be very well deserved. if you believe all the f1 grumblings about weight and size, then being a really tall fella might not be ideal.

likewise with sorensen really - he's built like a brick outhouse (for a single seater driver anyway), and isn't short either. i guess it depends what his management are going to do and whether they're going to foot the bill. i don't think there's much difference between gp2 and another year in 3.5 for him in terms of reputation, effort, etc.

i think vandoorne would do really well at dams too, as long as he had the budget and the same calibre of staff as magnussen has had this season. he's had a good year at fortec learning and getting the hang of the big noisy stuff, but next year is going to be a serious business one regardless, both for his personal development and for his racing career. putting him in gp2 to learn the tyres would be a bum steer, imo. putting him in straight into f1 would be absolute insanity, but a third driver role learning the ropes alongside a 3.5 season would work, i reckon.

but what do i know, eh?

[p-matt]

Originally Posted by bella

i've seen you mention this "wsbr environment" thing before and i'm not totally sure i know what you mean and why you'd differentiate it from everything else?

If Eurocup champions are right on the pace in 3.5 straight away, particularly ones that haven't done much since winning 2.0, I have to assume that there is some synergy between the 2.0 and 3.5 cars which gives drivers a big advantage in the step up to 3.5. Therefore in the case of Vandoorne, I don't know how anyone can say how good he actually is until he does something else.

I don't understand the GP2 snobbery on here. It is the only series that drivers not already supported by an F1 team have stepped up from lately. It isn't a lottery - drivers like Nasr, Bird and Leimer have shown that it is possible to be consistent across the season, and it's no coincidence those three men are up there. It replicates the high deg nature of the F1 tyres (probably too much mind) but it teaches drivers valuable tyre management skills. I don't personally like the reverse grid races or how much deg the tyre have had, but as a spectacle it's much better to watch than 3.5 and as I said, prepares drivers better.

[bella]

i'll admit to disliking the current evolution of gp2 with a burning passion, so i probably fall under the "snob" category in your mind. unfortunately, it embodies everything i currently resent about f1.

drivers do get to f1 from gp2 without f1 team links, yes, but not without a large wedge of cash. who was the last one to get into the sport full stop without crossing someone's palms with silver or using a preexisting relationship? unless you've got enough money to make up for your lack of results, you need to be established with a f1 team as you start in 3.5 or gp2.

until someone in a position of influence in a f1 team comes out and says that gp2 prepares a driver better for f1 i'm going to remain unconvinced on that particular side of the discussion, especially whilst the likes of red bull and mclaren avoid it. the only people saying that seem to be gp2 teams.

regarding a perceived similarity between the eurocup and 3.5 cars, i doubt that hugely. perhaps it helps that there's a familiarity with the circuits, the way things work in the paddock and the teams involved. the eurocup drivers have just won a championship, after all - vandoorne beat kvyat, who many here rate highly and is hardly slow. frijns beat both sainz and kvyat.

if you're going to start suggesting that vandoorne hasn't proven himself outside of the wsr event then you need to consider that magnussen hasn't really done that either, despite having an additional two seasons worth of (f3) racing experience at the same age.

[p-matt]

Red Bull take notions on what series they want to put their cars in; for some bizarre reason it's GP3 rather than Euro F3 at the moment, for example. My sense is that they go with FR 3.5 for budgetary reasons rather than anything else. The fact that their drivers have done well in it probably is a factor too. Buemi was never stellar in GP2 when he was supported by Red Bull coming through. And McLaren has had no influence on where Vandoorne is driving now - didn't he get extra funding to do 3.5 as a reward for winning 2.0. I'm not convinced that McLaren had that much of a guiding hand in where Magnussen was driving this year either.

From an overall World Series perspective, doesn't it make sense for there to be a high degree of commonality between the 2.0 and 3.5 cars? It sets itself up as a proper feeder series, much better than what the FIA or GP2/3 have done. And if we've seen drivers do well in Eurocup and can be immediately on it in 3.5, one step away from F1, isn't that a wonderful advertisement to get talented youngsters into Eurocup? It serves to benefit the overall WSBR package.

And IMO, the fact that Kevin really should have won the British F3 title if it weren't for mechanical gremlins makes him worthy in my mind. Those cars are very different beasts to the 3.5s.

[bella]

you get €500k bursary towards a 3.5 season the following season for winning the eurocup, yeah.

Originally Posted by p-matt

And IMO, the fact that Kevin really should have won the British F3 title if it weren't for mechanical gremlins makes him worthy in my mind. Those cars are very different beasts to the 3.5s.

funnily enough, mechanical issues are exactly what has taken the 3.5 title out of vandoorne's hands. otherwise he has demonstrated some very similar peaks of speed to magnussen during the season.

obviously not having driven them, i can't comment on whether they're similar but the many many drivers who have a go around the rookie test time in november tend to say they're nowhere near alike. if anything, the high grip and cornering speed in f3 cars is much more similar to 3.5 than the little 2 litres.

it makes no sense to keep similarities between the cars, no. learning to drive cars with very different handling characteristics is part of the whole learning to race experience. and that is what prepares you for f1 - being able to drive whatever is thrown in front of you, and whatever spontaneously develops as the priority in the sport during that given year.

isn't it a moot point anyway, given that vergne, ricciardo, magnussen, melker, muller, sorensen, afdc, bird, bianchi, rossi... pretty much all of the front runners in the past 2-3 years came from series other than the eurocup the year before they joined 3.5?

[ivanalesi]

Judging by the expectations from the F1 teams & drivers for next season, there might be a scenario when Pirelli will have to deliberately slow down the GP2 cars for Marussia/Caterham to be faster than them. So the sense of lottery for GP2 may get even stronger, unexpected changes in tire compounds etc.
Anyways, the price tag of GP2 ensures it has lower quality drivers and thus for me it's the easier championship to win. Frijns/Lancaster won with a new team, not with an excellent team with great engineer.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Having followed both Magnussen and Nasr progress-wise since 2010, Magnussen was the only man close to Nasr in terms of pace in British F3, where Nasr really got noticed. In fact, I'm sure that Magnussen could've taken the title fight to Nasr if it wasn't for some bad luck and some bad team decisions in some races.

As for Parry, I was sure he was sticking with Fortec. I think he plans to win that series and then step up into the big cars.

And, despite what people are saying, nobody has truly been able to make a good season with the current GP2 lottery, and, despite my "snobbery", if I were in Vandoorne's position, it would be FR3.5 any day. You're on the pace, have some good connections, know the paddock environment, circuits, etc.

[Formulahistory]

Originally Posted by bella

i know muller was lurking around a f1 team during the summer, but not one where he wouldn't need to bring his wallet.

which team was that?

[Hawkwood]

I normally don't bash drivers, and if I don't have anything positive to say about a driver I normally just don't talk about them.

However, I just have to say I hope Zoel Amberg and Yann Cunha don't come back for 3rd seasons.
Only 1 point between them in 2012 and 2013.
I'm sure they're both lovely people, but this level is obviously too high.

[Formulahistory]

No news about the drivers for the post-season test?

[steve nielsen]

Originally Posted by Formulahistory

No news about the drivers for the post-season test?

here is the live timing for the Renault 2.0

http://lt2.alkamelsystems.com/index....b-9a8e6b550782

maybe 3.5 is also somewhere on that site?

[bella]

no, there's only one live timing page, that's for the whole event.

italiaracing have done the hard work for us and collated a list here: http://italiaracing.net/notizia.asp?id=42023&cat=5

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by bella

no, there's only one live timing page, that's for the whole event.

italiaracing have done the hard work for us and collated a list here: http://italiaracing.net/notizia.asp?id=42023&cat=5

Er, I know it's very very early days in the off season, but Oh dear. Not many exciting new names on that list is there?

And Coletti?!!! God, the series could do with the likes of him taking up a drive.

Hopefully we'll see some more interest next time out.