Euro F3 Adria test

[Miko]

any results from todays euro F3 test in adria yet?

[Daisy]

Not yet I think, the official F3 Euroseries site isn't that quick.

[Russfeld]

http://www.italiaracing.net is usually pretty quick

[Frank_White]

Lewis Hamilton is fastest on the first day of the adria test!

[climb]

http://www.f3euroseries.com/qualifyi...=40&session=T1

from euroseries official web site.

Each times Lewis confirms good performaces, I'm sorta thrilled; i cannot deny, I'm still waiting for MS' successor, and my hopes are strong upon him.
Let's wait and see.

[gomick]

didnt realize that lewis was doing euro f3 instead of british f3 - is euro f3 the way of the future

[climb]

currently there is no doubt: just see what happened to Van Der Merwe and Briscoe, after their respective wins in 2003:
Euro champion: F1 tester
British champion: middle of nowhere

Honestly whereas I congratulateEuroseries, I wish the british F3 could catch up with them rapidly.

[Gaz]

The British F3 champ - nowhere!? He's racing in F3000 with Super Nova in 2004! Hardly nowhere in my opinion!

Briscoe has always been backed by Toyota, even before he won the Euroseries last year!

Lewis has done a good job though, just wish him and Jamie were in the British series this year. Hes a very, very talented driver who will go far. If he can win the Euroseries this year, at his first attempt....well....who knows what will happen!

[climb]

Gaz,

let me say that IMHO running F3000 when a colleague of yours is a F1 tester doesn't, cannot, sound as a great achievement.
You're right, Briscoe was backed by Toyota, but it's not a case that Toyota made him drive in the Euroseries, which they apparently judged a more convincing test.

[Gaz]

Oh yeah they both did well no doubts climb and Briscoe has the better opportunity at this moment in time as you say but do you think Briscoe would have got an F1 test drive with anybody had he not already been a toyota development driver before he entered the euroseries last year? In my opinion no, he would have been in 3000 with VDM!

But I am biased towards Brit F3!

[climb]

who knows?
Anyways what I was pointing out is that if Toyota send their drivers in the Euroseries, this championship is bound to offer better chances afterwards.

[climb]

.. and, bad luck on Brit F3, mercedes do the same.
That's why we see Hamilton far from England this year.

[Miko]

well with briscoe, klien and Glock all having full time F1 jobs and nobody out of the british, obviosly the european series is the way to go and will remain that way for many years!!

[Russfeld]

Yeah but you have to consider the situations

Briscoe had an F1 deal to lose, Klien had Red Bull money, and Glock has someone backing his Jordan testing

[climb]

True Russ,
but what you say just strenghten the pro-euroseries wing.
Apparently money is there.

[Russfeld]

Those drivers would have had backing wherever they raced.

[flor]

not really, red bull forced klien to drive in the euroseries, while he was driving renault he and his manager were planing to race in british f3 2003

[Russfeld]

He had Red Bull money then. The point is all 3 guys suddenly didnt get their chances based on the Euroseries. If there was no Euroseries Klien would have just been doing German F3

[b.luther]

Does the DTM have a better crowd turn out than Brit GT?

[b.luther]

Would that have anything to do with it?

[flor]

i don't know the british GT crowds but this were the dtm crowds in 2003:

Hockenheim 1: 57.000
Adria : 11.000
Nürburgring 1: 38.000
ESW: 62.000
Norisrig: 128.000
Donington: 24.000
Nürburgring 2: 85.000
A1-Ring: 60.000
Zandvoort: 62.000
Hockenheim 2: 105.000

[roger dee]

Hamilton may have been posted as being quickest on the first day at Adria, but he was one of a minority to get a lap on new slicks, majority didnt get out before the rain, so therefore he was lucky because he posted a lap on new tyres just before the rain started. When he then went out on wets for the remainder of the day he was nowhere.

[b.luther]

If my math skills are correct that would mean there were 632,000 people who were all in one way or another exposed to all or at least a handful of the F3 sponsors, I think that is a pretty big #. Now how many visit the Brit F3/GT meetings? I don't know but I assume it is a much smaller #.

[Daisy]

Today's times:

1 - Nico Rosberg (Dallara-Opel) - Rosberg - 1'10"512
2 - Jamie Green (Dallara-Mercedes) - ASM - 1'10"697
3 - Daniel La Rosa (Dallara-Opel) - HBR - 1'10"819
4 - Franck Perera (Dallara-Opel) - Prema - 1'10"846
5 - Alexandre Premat (Dallara-Mercedes) - ASM - 1'10"863
6 - Nicolas Lapierre (Dallara-Opel) - Signature - 1'10"966
7 - Christian Montanari (Lola Dome-Mugen) - Coloni - 1'10"994
8 - Lewis Hamilton (Dallara-Mercedes) - Manor - 1'11"011
9 - Roberto Streit (Dallara-Opel) - Prema - 1'11"018
10 - Giedo Van der Garde (Dallara-Opel) - Signature - 1'11"070
11 - Maximilian Gotz (Dallara-Toyota) - TME - 1'11"077
12 - Toni Vilander (Lola Dome-Mugen) - Coloni - 1'11"161
13 - Robert Kubica (Dallara-Mercedes) - Mucke - 1'11"191
14 - Charles Zwolsman (Dallara-Mercedes) - Manor - 1'11"192
15 - Adrian Sutil (Dallara-Mercedes) - Kolles - 1'11"207
16 - Katsuyuki Hiranaka (Dallara-Opel) - Prema - 1'11"233
17 - Bruno Spengler (Dallara-Mercedes) - Mucke - 1'11"291
18 - Loic Duvall (Dallara-Opel) - Signature - 1'11"364
19 - Robert Kath (Dallara-Opel) - KMS - 1'11"416
20 - Hannes Neuhauser (Dallara-Opel) - HBR - 1'11"481
21 - Philipp Baron (Dallara-Mugen) - Ghinzani - 1'11"491
22 - Tom Kimber-Smith (Dallara-Mercedes) - Kolles - 1'11"506
23 - Dennis Furchheim (Dallara-Opel) - SRT - 1'11"576
24 - Gregory Franchi (Dallara-Opel) - Signature - 1'11"646
25 - Andreas Zuber (Dallara-Opel) - Rosberg - 1'11"682
26 - Alexandros Margaritis (Dallara-Opel) - KMS - 1'11"729
27 - Borja Garcia (Dallara-Mugen) - Ghinzani - 1'11"940
28 - Jan Seyffarth (Dallara-Renault) - Seyffarth - 1'11"953
29 - Marco Bonanomi (Dallara-Mugen) - Ghinzani - 1'12"282
30 - Eric Salignon (Dallara-Opel) - ASM - no time
31 - Fernando Rees (Dallara-Opel) - SRT - no time

[Paul Rayner]

Originally posted by flor
i don't know the british GT crowds but this were the dtm crowds in 2003:
Hockenheim 1: 57.000
Adria : 11.000
Nürburgring 1: 38.000
ESW: 62.000
Norisrig: 128.000
Donington: 24.000
Nürburgring 2: 85.000
A1-Ring: 60.000
Zandvoort: 62.000
Hockenheim 2: 105.000

British F3 crowds are probably around the 10,000 mark so if a manufacturer wants to make an impact, racing on the DTM package may appear to be a good way to go.

But don't you think you're all jumping the gun here a bit? There's been one season of European F3 and Mercedes wanted Hamilton to go there where they had experience instead of to Britain where they didn't and suddenly people seem to be saying British F3 has had it!

At the moment it does look good for Euro F3, but manufacturers change their minds and if Mercedes decided to pull out, would the Euro Series still be such a great championship?