MF1 Forum

Quote from: ChrillI couldn't find a topic dedicated to the series below F1, but we need one because I'm going on a rant.

Felix Rosenqvist (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Felix_Rosenqvist) should be in Formula 1!!

He has kicked everyone's ass in Formula 3 this year, he beat the second placed guy (Antonio Giovinazzi, a highly rated Italian driver) by over 100 points:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2015_European_Formula_3_season#Drivers.27_championship

He won the 2014 Macau GP, he finished second in Macau 2013. He has won the Pau Grand Prix, Master of Formula 3, and most lower series he raced in. He lacks the cash to go higher than F3 though. Looking possible he is moving to the Japanese Super Formula in 2016. GRRRR. He should be in F1.

EDIT: Oh, he pre-qualified 1st for the 2015 Macau GP too with a new lap record just minutes ago.

... and it could've easily been well over 100 points if his competitors hadn't taken him out of so many races.  If only he had a fabulously wealthy father like Master Lance Stroll, who has somehow bagged a testing role with Williams.

On the plus side, I can watch the Macau GP on the freeview channel Motors TV... so that's something.

Quote from: ChrillI believe he was part of the Mercedes club (and still is) but they're backing Pascal Wehrlein. Felix might end up in DTM but that's not really likely either. I might be watching the Macau GP too, it's not usually all that entertaining to watch though. Too narrow. Like Monaco with less glamour and more grit.

Quote from: Chrill(https://minardif1.com/forum/proxy.php?request=http%3A%2F%2Fs18.postimg.org%2Fs8s8xehzt%2F12809616_1202598959768165_4379759153988753887_n.jpg&hash=7dd88963773a234d044245fc551cfa2915b5b6d0)

What a way to end the GP2 tests. Number 1, Swedish GP2 rookie Gustav Malja. Number 2, Swedish GP2 rookie Jimmy Eriksson. Very good.

Quote from: ChrillFerrari angling for Mick Schumacher, who otherwise appears to be more well connected with Mercedes:

http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/ferrari-would-welcome-schumacher-to-fda-with-red-carpet-865196/?s=1

Which leaves only the small matter of impressing either party with his F3 efforts.

Wave goodbye to GP2 and say hello to our old friend Formula Two: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/03/09/gp2-officially-becomes-formula-two-for-2017/

Series now comes with additional points for the old FIA Super Licences.

Makes sense, though. It was owned by the same guys who sold F1 to Liberty, and it was too sold to Liberty. Now we have Formula 4 right up to Formula 1.

This topic is to discuss GP2 (Sorry, Formula 2!), Formula 3, and all the other race series below F1.

And I'm starting with Formula 3, because Sweden is Swedish. After the first race weekend, sophomore Joel Eriksson is leading the championship. He won rookie of the year awards last season after finishing 5th overall, and is obviously aiming to win the whole thing this year.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2017_FIA_Formula_3_European_Championship#Drivers.27_championship

Joel Eriksson, younger brother of former GP2 driver Jimmy Eriksson, is definitely the bigger talent of the two. He is not related to Marcus Ericsson (NOTICE THE VERY DIFFERENT SPELLING OF THAT LAST NAME!). I think he is the biggest young talent from Sweden after Felix Rosenqvist, perhaps even better than him. Here's hoping we can replace one Swede with another!

Merged your '2017 Junior Formula Racing' thread with this older version.

So I should expect to see Sauber giving Erik's son a run in Eric's son's car at some point in the next year or two.


Horrible crash in F4 last Sunday, seventeen-year-old lad needed a double lower-leg amputation after smashing into the back of a car that had stopped on track: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/04/20/crowdfund-injured-f4-driver-billy-monger-raises-double-target/

I'm not expecting Joel Eriksson to reach F1. He doesn't have major backing, and I haven't heard much about him being picked up by any Young Driver projects either.

Perhaps he'll impress the right people whilst racing F3 and then F2 - assuming he moves up the series ladder.


Talking of GP3... It gains DRS for 2017 but, and it's rather a positive 'but', the system will have a limit on number of uses per race: http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/04/21/gp3-get-push-pass-style-drs-testing-car-graphics/

Days before Marcus Ericsson's Caterham announcement, I claimed he could never make it to F1. I don't mind being wrong sometimes ;D

F2 (GP2) gets an all-new chassis and engine for 2018 (but sadly keeps DRS): http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2017/08/31/new-formula-two-chassis-halo-revealed-2018/

https://www.grandprix247.com/2017/10/15/mclaren-protege-norris-is-youngest-ever-f3-champion/

Lando Norris, in his rookie season, wins the F3 championship as the youngest F3 champion ever. Behind him in second place, sophomore F3 driver Joel Eriksson of Sweden. Yay!

Rosenqvist and Eriksson have both been competitive in F3 recently. Swedish motorsport haven't looked this healthy in 25 years. Also, Mattias Ekström ALMOST won the DTM championship this weekend too, before being beaten to it by DTM rookie René Rast. Rast is not a motorsport youngster by any means, but this was his first full season in DTM.

F3 boys did well.  Hope they both get a shot at the F1 beast.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Armstrong

After driving for Prema in Italian F4 and German F4 (champion and runnerup respectively) this season, Marcus Armstrong is moving up to F3 for the same team. He is backed by Ferrari and apparently a super duper mega talented kid. He was supposedly very impressive in a F3 test earlier this year.

So F1 might get itself a world class New Zealander in a few years' time.

I reckon he may well replace Kimi sometime around 2021/2022.

Any thoughts on Jordan King? His junior formula results seem mediocre, but it doesn?t look like he has been with top teams. He just signed up for all of the road and street course races in IndyCar.

https://www.grandprix247.com/2018/02/10/montoya-junior-chosen-for-ferrari-driver-academy/

Sebastian Montoya, 12-year old son of our beloved Juan Pablo, joins Alesi and Fittipaldi (see what I did there?) in the Ferrari Driver Academy. It seems your name really is a shortcut to fame.

Only at a Danger Mouse convention.  Whereas those sons of ex-F1 drivers have the racing doors flung open.


Matt - Not sure about Jordan King.  Haven't seen him drive and like you said his results thus far are not exactly out of this world spectacular.  What do you make of Spencer Pigot, King's team-mate for 2018?  A quick glance at his 2017 results doesn't suggest he's a top-level talent, would that be fair?

He won every championship of the IndyCar feeder system, and had to because he didn?t bring much funding and needed the scholarships. He had several good runs last year that didn?t end in good finishes, but ECR was generally not that great on road courses last year. It?s too early to say, but he could be a top-level talent. ECR fired their other driver and gave the full-season ride to him (in contrast to the shared car that King now has), for what that?s worth.

Probably quite a bit.  Cheers for the background info. on Pigot and also ECR, as you can tell I lost track of who's who and what's what in the world of IndyCar.  Right, I'm off to try and familiarise myself with all the liveries....

Is Estonia looking to join the list of countries with a driver in F1?

https://www.motorsport.com/eurof3/news/german-f4-champion-vips-lands-motopark-f3-seat-1006628/

Juri Vips, reigning F4 champion, is joining Motopark in F3 this season. Promising kid, that.

Wouldn't hurt to get himself into one of those driver academy set-ups that various F1 teams have.

https://www.motorsport.com/bf3/news/monger-scores-british-f3-podium-on-racing-return-1020694/

Billy Monger finishes third in his debut Formula 3 race as Swedish rookie Linus Lindqvist wins from P2 on the grid.

Yay.

Great from the Whizz Kid.  Being a British lad it was on the main news programmes over here - hopefully the exposure will secure him funding to compete throughout 2018.

Well, if this weekend was anything to go by he deserves a go. This was his debut weekend in F3 and he scored a podium. Not bad at all.

Are you 12? Are you driving a Formula 3 car? Did you set a lap record with a Formula 4 car last year? Then your name is propobably Juju.

https://supergtworld.wordpress.com/2018/02/23/12-year-old-juju-noda-steals-the-show-at-okayama-tests/

This 12-year old girl tested a Dallara Formula 3 car earlier this year, by far the youngest driver driver to do so. She is the daughter of Hideki Noda, who entered three races for Larrousse in the 1994 F1 World Championship. Could she be the first girl to start a race in F1 since Lella Lombardi way back in the 70s?

To answer your first three questions: No, no, and no.  She seems like quite a talent - and I like your new take on 'probably'.

Wow, Larrousse... that's a blast from the past.  I remember driving for them in one of Geoff Crammond's F1 games, I believe as team-mate to the amazing Bertrand Gachot.

https://www.motorsport.com/eurof3/news/ticktum-questions-schumachers-recent-f3-dominance/3182583/

Dan Ticktum, dominating F3 until Mick Schumacher suddenly went from mediocre to world class, is hinting that the Prema cars are perhaps not entirely legal.

I mean, the sore loser isn't saying so outright, but implying that their performance is unusual.

In a way, I agree. I mean, Mick Schumacher hasn't set the world alight in F3 since he joined, but 5 wins in 6 races (and the sixth race a P2 finish) is suspicious. In the first four race weekends of this year, Mick Schumacher finished a best of P3. In the last five race weekends, Mick has won 8 of the 13 races he has finished, and finished on the podium in another two. His worst finishing position in these last five race weekends is P5. Upturn in form, unlocking some potential and therefore gaining confidence can take you a long way. Can it take you this long? I'd like to think so.

But what if you have also been fairly mediocre your entire career? What if Ericsson starts getting podiums every race to end the season?

I doubt the cars are illegal, but I can see why it raises suspicions. Also, very tired of the fact that every comment is just TICKTUM HIT SOMEONE UNDER CAUTION AND SHOULD HAVE BEEN EXECUTED ON THE SPOT. He was like 15 and it was three years ago. It was a dumb mistake that was ultimately harmless and that he already received a stiff penalty for.

Ticktum's crash back as a kid was absurd, but he has served the penalty for that and has not done anything similar since returning to racing. That is merely water under the bridge now.

If Ericsson finishes as "best of the rest" for the remainder of 2018 I would perhaps suspect something being wrong there too. During your second season of F3, you should be more likely to locate "the key" to performing at 100% of your capacity. By your fifth season in F1, that key should either have unlocked the door already or the key does not exist at all.

Schumacher has won the F3 series in his second year of racing there. I mean, he did have an amazing upturn of form but that's all good for him:
https://www.motorsport.com/eurof3/news/schumacher-mick-interview-champion-michael/3194648/

What next? F2 most likely, but he's supposedly an outside bet for a Toro Rosso seat for 2019. He does have the points required now.

EDIT: Oh and a little bit less spectacular, Swedish rising star Linus Lundqvist (you thought the name Marcus Ericsson was bad?) just won the British F3 championship as a rookie.
https://sports.yahoo.com/linus-lundqvist-seals-brdc-british-144328653.html?guccounter=1

I'm hoping to see him in F2 next year, but there's no real budget. Unless of course Ericsson's backers, mysterious as they may be, switch focus. More likely he'll join the new FIA-sanctioned F3 series.

German outfit HWA, best known for running Merc's DTM entry, is looking at entering an F2 and F3 team for 2019: https://www.autosport.com/f2/news/139443/hwa-admits-it-is-evaluating-f2-entry

Sounds like a good place for Mercedes to park some junior talent.

HWA also happens to be the ones fielding Vandoorne in Formula E, is it not?

If HWA do field an F2 team, who do you reckon would race there? Russell is in F1 already. They're not going to move Ocon down to F2, are they? They merely risk having him lose out to drivers he should on paper beat. Shoemakerinho?

EDIT: I mean, HWA is leaving DTM for Formula E. In Formula E, they are fielding Vandoorne and Gary Paffett. These guys are left to join HWA in Formula 3 or Formula 2:
Paul di Resta (too old)
Daniel Juncadella (I mean, maybe, but he's 27)
Lucas Auer (I mean, yeah. He could do F2)
Edoardo Mortara (too old)

And the Mercedes junior squad has virtually noone in it now that Ocon and Russell have made it into F1. Basically, Mercedes and HWA will need to find some new talent.

I figured it would be about scouring the (even more) junior series for talent to gradually bring on to F2 level; in the meantime, I guess they'll have a nosey around GP3 and F3 for a couple of placeholders.

On Shoemakerinho... I'm sure I read that he plans to stay with Prema for 2019.

Horrible crash in the Macau F3 race today, Sophia Floersch somehow flying over the guardrail and smacking right into a photographer's stand next to the track. Reports say 5 injuries, among them Floersch herself and another driver, as well as two photographers and one marshal. No reports on any deaths.

Here's a video, if you feel like it. It's not a nice crash:
https://streamable.com/iau1e

Floersch made contact and damaged her car before the Lisboa bend, and she came backwards with no braking power before launching off the kerb.

Fuck me... is what I just said out loud when her car came hurtling through the shot.  I know you gave warning of what happened but the speed of her car still took me by surprise.  I see Sophia has tweeted that she's fine... just has to pop into hospital tomorrow for surgery on a spinal fracture.  Hopefully the other individuals involved aren't seriously injured.

The cars reach speeds of 230 km/h (140ish mph) before that bend. She tagged another car before the braking zone, which means she will have become airborne at roughly that speed.

Watching slow-motion footage of the crash reveals that the top of the car hit that gantry before falling over right side up. Her surviving is nothing short of an absolute miracle. As you said, a tweet was posted from her official Twitter account and seems to be written by Sophia herself.

Here's a news report describing injuries sustained to the others involved. All relatively minor when you consider the insane speed:
https://www.motorsport.com/f3/news/floersch-spinal-fracture-macau-injury-report/3216291/

It looks to me like there is damage all around the headrest in this picture: https://www.reddit.com/r/formula1/comments/9y4jrq/ot_aftermath_image_of_sofias_car/?st=jonjp1il&sh=0ff0279f

The only crash that I can remember seeing that was worse was Wheldon (plus the rest of the field) at Las Vegas. It is purely by luck that no one was killed in this crash.

I believe that the fire extinguisher in the cockpit activated itself, so part of those damages could just be foam. But yes, the roll bar above her head is clearly heavily damaged. Kudos to the car's construction, Dallara saved a life.

https://www.motorsport.com/f3/news/floersch-surgery-macau-gp-crash/4300277/

A seven-hour operation on her back was conducted on Monday, with doctors saying in a press conference afterwards that her vital signs are stable and limbs are active. She will remain in hospital for up to two weeks.

"Limbs are active", whatever that means. I interpret that as though she can wiggle fingers and toes, implying she is not paralyzed.

It was also confirmed that TOM?S driver Sho Tsuboi had been discharged from hospital on Sunday night, while injured photographer Hiroyuki Minami has also been released.

Chinese photographer Chan Weng Wang, who has a lacerated liver, is expected to remain in hospital for another 10 days.

Race marshal Chan Cha suffered cuts and a broken jaw but should be released in three to four days.

Could've been so much worse... thank God there's no grandstand on that corner.  Anyway, was it all sparked by an errant yellow light: https://www.racefans.net/2018/11/22/fia-investigating-role-of-yellow-light-signal-in-floersch-macau-crash/


First pics of the 2019 F3 car: https://www.racefans.net/2018/11/22/fia-reveals-new-optimised-for-overtaking-2019-f3-car/

Optimized for overtaking... but still it has DRS.  We certainly don't want drivers in junior categories to rely on old-fashioned passing manoeuvres as they hone their skills.

Well, it is a mini-F1 after all, with what the swept back wings and all. The thing I'll miss the most is the side air intake, but I guess it just didn't align with current F1 and F2 cars.

http://f1i.com/news/326195-mick-schumacher-rumored-to-be-on-his-way-to-ferrari.html

Mick Schumacher wants to go to Ferrari like his daddy.

Well, Formula W kicked off this weekend. Results?

FP1: Chadwick fastest by a lot
FP2: Chadwick fastest by a lot
Quali: Chadwick fastest (in the wet) by a whopping 2 seconds
Race: Chadwick loses the start, fighs back, wins the race

So this series should maybe be called "Jamie Chadwick & others". She has won races in British F3, she's the current champion of the MRF Challenge (Formula 4 tier racing), she has won races in British GT. I'd love to see what she could do in a proper top tier racing squad in something like F2.

Pato O'Ward has joined the Red Bull junior program: https://racer.com/2019/05/09/oward-joins-red-bull-junior-team/

Interested to see what Red Bull's goal is here. Is it F1? Is it a renewed presence in IndyCar? Will they force him over to F2?

As for the W Series, Chadwick may well be the best driver. I would hardly be surprised if she is. But as I responded to your Facebook comment, she also has way more experience in F3 cars than most or all of the field. It's worth watching if anyone closes the gap to her.

You are right about Chadwick.

In regards to Pato, it could just be a Red Bull presence in the States. He's obviously already a household name in Mexico, and it's a region where Red Bull does not have any big names today. Remains to be seen whether he's in F2 in 2020 or if there will be some heavy Red Bull sponsorship in IndyCar soon.

"This is a great opportunity for me, naturally every racing driver has their eye on F1 and would give anything to be World Champion so to join the Red Bull Junior Team that has provided that F1 possibility to so many drivers is fantastic for me."
https://juniorteam.redbull.com/article/patricio-oward-joins-red-bull-junior-team-indycar-campaign

Chadwick did not win the second W Series race, but rather that win went to Beitske Visser.

True, but Chadwick was 2nd. And also, she is now a Williams development driver.

I cannot find any information as to how many super license points a win in the W series will grant the driver, but hopefully a win here can propel Chadwick to F2 for 2020. A decent season there, and we may see her partake in at least some FP1s next season.

Found this statement lurking in an article on Reuters:  "W Series chief executive Catherine Bond-Muir said the governing FIA would consider at the end of the season whether to award licence points and how many."

Quote from: Matt on May 09, 2019, 09:40:35 AM
Pato O'Ward has joined the Red Bull junior program: https://racer.com/2019/05/09/oward-joins-red-bull-junior-team/

Interested to see what Red Bull's goal is here. Is it F1? Is it a renewed presence in IndyCar? Will they force him over to F2?

O'Ward is doing a one-off F2 race in Austria this weekend, but it seems he might then take Dan Ticktum's Super Formula seat for the remainder of 2019: http://classic.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/144407?_ga=2.213578836.1757734155.1561024889-351333530.1543528994

That seems like what is going to happen. He has budget issues for IndyCar anyway, so might he be finished here? I haven't looked to see what the schedule clashes are between Indy and Super Formula.

Next two Super Formula races clash with Indy (14th July & 18th August) so a tad tricky to run in both series.

Red Bull won't fund an IndyCar seat for Pato, he'll replace Ticktum in Super Formula for 2019 and maybe go for a seat in F2 for 2020 (although Red Bull prefer Super Formula to F2). In 2021, O'Ward will be in F1 assuming he performs in whatever series Red Bull place him.

Antoine Hubert, Renault junior driver, has died following a high speed crash in the F2 race today. Correa, the driver who collided with him, remains in hospital in a stable condition with no word on his injuries yet.

https://www.fia.com/news/statement-incident-during-fia-formula-2-feature-race-spa-francorchamps

Horrible news, and the videos from the crash are genuinely frightening to watch. Awful.

I hope Correa can make a swift recovery, but at this point words don't yelp much. Deaths at this level of motorsport is rare, and become rarer as time goes by.

Correa has fractures to both legs and a "minor" spinal injury. The use of "minor" indicates to me that it's just a fracture somewhere in his spine, which while serious, isn't that uncommon for drivers.

Latest update on Correa:

After 4 hours surgery, JM has started his recovery. He will be in intensive care until tomorrow. His family, considering the sadness of the tragic event, is thankful to all the fans who are sending messages. When his conditions will be more stable, JM will be transferred to USA https://t.co/1eqj5hDfSy

There were complications in Correa's recovery and they've had to put him into an induced coma and on life support: https://www.racefans.net/2019/09/07/correa-suffered-new-complications-in-recovery-says-family/

F3 driver Alex Peroni fortunately unhurt after a brief flying incident caused by striking the sausage kerb plonked at the exit of Parabolica - and it seems like such a sensible place to site a large lump of concrete: https://www.racefans.net/2019/09/07/f3-driver-unhurt-after-being-launched-onto-barrier-in-horror-crash-at-parabolica/

Not actually unhurt, he has a fracture in his back and will miss the final round.

Yeah, I saw that he didn't actually emerge unscathed.  Still, the end result could've certainly been worse given the dramatic nature of his crash.

JM Correa remains in an induced coma, which is very worrisome. He was put into a medically induced coma a week ago, and no updates have been released since.

And with that, we do get a bleak update regarding Correa.

https://www.racefans.net/2019/09/13/correas-parents-issue-update-on-sons-condition/

He is still in an induced coma, his vital signs are improving but very slowly.

"We have been reminded by the doctors that as long as Juan Manuel continues in an upward trend of improvement, even if very little, it is all that we can ask for at the moment. Infections are under control and respiratory indicators remain stable and all vital signs continue to remain consistent and stable."

Correa's condition is improving at a slow rate, his parents said. "We believe in our son's strength and determination, we see the minor improvement as an indication of him starting to turn the tide in his favour, we just need him to do it a little quicker.

A positive update on Correa who has been brought out of his induced coma and taken off life support.  His condition has been upgraded from critical to serious and doctors are now set to work on the leg injuries he suffered: https://www.racefans.net/2019/09/20/correa-out-of-induced-coma-and-conscious-says-family/

That is very encouraging. As his induced coma dragged on, I began fearing the worst. Although he may not race again, I am glad his health is slowly improving.

It's certainly heartening to hear that the risk to his life is receding; let's hope the doctors can work their magic on his legs and get him back on his feet, even if that doesn't mean back to racing - although look at what Billy Monger's achieved since his horrific crash.

Indy Pro 2000, the Indy equivalent of F3 (I suppose, if Indy Lights is F2), also ended their season at Laguna Seca yesterday. Rasmus Lindh, a Swedish teenager, won from pole position but it was not enough to keep Kyle Kirkwood (very American name) from clenching the title with just 2 points to spare.

I expect both to graduate to Indy Lights for 2020, so we may get a third Swede in IndyCar in the coming years!

https://www.motorsport.com/fia-f2/news/correas-chooses-surgery-over-amputation/4549085/

Correa has recovered quickly as of late, is fully conscious, and his lungs have healed well. He has opted for reconstructive surgery on his right leg, the other option being amputation. He is in a condition strong enough to undergo the 10+ hour operation tomorrow (Sunday) which is all very positive considering the reports just a while back.

https://www.racefans.net/2019/10/03/correa-makes-first-public-comments-since-spa-crash/

In his first own statement since the horrible crash at Spa, Correa announces that the surgery has gone very well and that the goal is to regain full control and usability of his right leg. He is scheduled for a second, less severe, operation in the next two weeks and expect to return home to USA in 6 weeks.

Just a fantastic upswing in his condition compared to a few weeks back.

W Series announces almost the entire 2020 grid, 18 of 20 drivers anyway. Among them Jamie Chadwick who returns to defend her title!

Alice Powell also returns. Other names of note include Abbie Eaton, aka the test driver from The Grand Tour (those disgraced former Top Gear lads), and an exciting new entry in the shape of Irina Sidorkova. She's only 16, but finished on the podium several times in her debut F4 season.

https://www.motorsport.com/w-series/news/2020-grid-drivers-announced-chadwick/4560879/

I'm sure I read a while back that they're looking to add some non-European rounds for 2020.  Hang on a minute, don't go anywhere... found it: https://www.grandprix247.com/2019/10/08/w-series-could-feature-on-f1-bill-in-usa-and-mexico/

They could also be joining DTM for 2020, which would give me a chance to see the W Series at Anderstorp!

They could certainly do with bulking up the calendar to make it into a proper season of racing.

Correa has shared a video of himself standing for the first time since Spa (it's his most recent post): https://www.instagram.com/juanmanuelcorrea_/?utm_source=ig_embed

So that's good to see.

https://www.motorsport.com/w-series/news/champion-restriction-superlicence-points-chadwick/4589387/

No FIA superlicence for Chadwick's 2019 W Series win, but they will award it according to F3 levels in 2020. Meaning the 2020 champ cannot return to W Series in 2021.

Personally, I think that's how it should be. They said it was a developmental series and not a segregated career. Drivers don't stay in developmental series if they win the title.

Agree with you there. Jamie will race in W Series in 2020 (the series just confirmed their visit to Anderstorp alongside DTM, woo!), but a second championship win there should see her in F3 or F2 for 2021.

Quote from: Chrill on April 11, 2018, 05:58:42 AM
Are you 12? Are you driving a Formula 3 car? Did you set a lap record with a Formula 4 car last year? Then your name is propobably Juju.

https://supergtworld.wordpress.com/2018/02/23/12-year-old-juju-noda-steals-the-show-at-okayama-tests/

This 12-year old girl tested a Dallara Formula 3 car earlier this year, by far the youngest driver driver to do so. She is the daughter of Hideki Noda, who entered three races for Larrousse in the 1994 F1 World Championship. Could she be the first girl to start a race in F1 since Lella Lombardi way back in the 70s?

Juju Noda, now 14, has made her European debut racing in Danish F4. How she did? Won from pole, set the fastest lap, and led every race.
https://formulascout.com/juju-noda-wins-on-danish-f4-debut-at-jyllandsringen/63330

Only a matter of time before she's picked up by Ferrari's or Red Bull's academy, no?

Impressive stuff.  I imagine all the F1 academies will be keeping a close eye on her.

She ended up 3rd in the second race, but was disqualified due to some tyre related shenanigans. That bumped her down the grid for the final race of the weekend. She fought back to the podium and finished 3rd there too.

You want to know how bored I've been at work today? I'm compiling a list of pretty much every driver capable of reaching Formula 1 in the next 5 or so years (only including drivers in karting if they are attached to a junior development program run by an F1 team). The list also includes the most successful 2020 drivers in IndyCar, Formula E, WEC, and so on. The list is not complete, but it contains 161 names so far (ages ranging from the 43-year old Takuma Sato to the 11-year old Piotr Czaja of the Sauber junior program). The list includes 7 women and 154 men. We have drivers from a total of 37 different countries including less succesful motorsport nations like Romania, Jamaica, Paraguay, and Liechtenstein.

I will use this list to predict the lineups in future seasons of F1!

This was the easy part. Tsunoda is 203 because he finished 3rd in Formula 2. (see attached)

0-99: Formula 1 numbers
100-200: Not in use
201-300: Formula 2 numbers
301-330: FIA Formula 3
331-350: W Series
351-380: Formula Renault Eurocup
381-400: Formula Regional European
401-420: Formula 4 Denmark
421-440: Formula 4 Germany (ADAC)
441-460: Toyota Racing Series
461-480: Formula 4 Italy
501-520: Formula E
521-540: IndyCar
541-560: FIA WEC
560-580: Super Formula
601-up: Karting, National GT series

I spent some time on 2022 also. I am assuming Kimi will finally retire by the end of 2021, so will not be available for 2021. I am also assuming Ferrari will opt to let Giovinazzi go, forcing Alfa Romeo to pick a brand new driver pairing. They don't want to go into 2022 blind, so they go for a very talented yet available boy by the name of Pierre Gasly. I also predict that Mercedes will drop Bottas, and that the Finn will not bring enough funding to find a seat at a team further down the grid. With the midfield remaining with their pairings for 2022 (Alpine, McLaren, Aston Martin, Ferrari all keeping their drivers), there is no room and Bottas is forced into a sabbatical. Albon is finally dropped at Red Bull for Tsunoda (who'll drive a great debut season in 2021), and once again lacks the funding to join a team further down the grid.

Mercedes-AMG Petronas F1 Team:
44. Lewis Hamilton
63. George Russell

Red Bull Racing:
33. Max Verstappen
203. Yuki Tsunoda

McLaren F1 Team:
3. Daniel Ricciardo
4. Lando Norris

Aston Martin F1 Team:
5. Sebastian Vettel
18. Lance Stroll

Alpine F1 Team:
14. Fernando Alonso
31. Esteban Ocon

Scuderia Ferrari Mission Winnow:
16. Charles Leclerc
55. Carlos Sainz

Scuderia AlphaTauri Honda:
216. Jüri Vips
305. Liam Lawson

Alfa Romeo Racing ORLEN:
10. Pierre Gasly
202. Callum Ilott

Haas F1 Team:
9. Nikita Mazepin
47. Mick Schumacher

Williams Racing:
6. Nicolas Latifi
11. Sergio Pérez

So, that means three rookies for 2022. One Ferrari-sponsored at Alfa Romeo, and Red Bull wipes their rookie team entirely. I could see Albon slotting back in together with Vips, though. Or Lawson, if his 2021 F2 season is excellent.

I'll keep doing year by year, when bored, and hopefully I'll have an absolutely absurd 2028 grid soon enough.

Many reputable rumors say Perez will be at Red Bull next year, which already puts a hole in your projections. Personally, I don't see RBR/AT running three drivers with a combined one year of experience, unless they've learned nothing.

Quote from: Matt on December 14, 2020, 08:46:25 PMPersonally, I don't see RBR/AT running three drivers with a combined one year of experience, unless they've learned nothing.

You assume they learn from their mistakes. What does Kvyat's stint at Red Bull, Gasly's stint at Red Bull, and Albon's stint at Red Bull tell you?

I of course would prefer Perez, but I think Albon's performance at Abu Dhabi may just be enough to keep him onboard.

Which is nuts, this one should've been a Red Bull 1-2 but for much of the race Albon was a good 0.5s/lap slower than Max.  If RB harbours any ambition of taking the '21 Constructors' Championship, they need someone to back up Verstappen; they can't have a guy scoring at half the rate of Max and ending up equal sixth in the standings.

Chrill, it was clearly a very slow work day!

It was that, indeed. I haven't had a slow work day in a few months so I feel like I deserved it. ;D

Stupid Perez got a contract, so I guess I will revisit this soon, and then work my way forward!

... or for added difficulty start in 2030 and work your way backwards!  Hmm, no, maybe not.

That seems counter-intuitive.

Now help me out here. F1 drivers either get forced out, or choose to retire between 35-40. Some go into the early 40s, such as Alonso and Kimi. We don't expect Lewis or Sebastian to be racing sometime around 2026-2027 do we. However, someone like Ricciardo or Perez may do his last season then.

By 2030, realistically only these could still be in F1:
Yuki Tsunoda (30 years)
Lando Norris (31)
George Russell (32)
Lance Stroll (32)
Charles Leclerc (33)
Max Verstappen (33)
Esteban Ocon (34)
Pierre Gasly (34)
Alexander Albon (34)

And maybe:
Nicholas Latifi (35)
Carlos Sainz (36)
Antonio Giovinazzi (37)

Vettel would be 43 by then, Ricciardo would be 41, Perez 40. Kimi would be 51. ;D

Oh God, I hope Stroll, Latifi, and Giovinazzi aren't in F1 ten years down the line!

Like you, I can picture Perez or Ricciardo hanging around for a number of years if the right seats are available, well into the late 2020s doesn't seem ridiculous.

I'm back with my predictions for the future, now that we have a clearer picture of who is in F1 for 2021 and also who will be driving what junior series in 2021.

So, for example, the five most likely drivers to graduate from F2 to F1 are:

1. Theo Pourchaire (18 years, France, attached to Alfa Romeo)
2. Christian Lundgaard (20 years, Denmark, attached to Alpine)
3. Oscar Piastri (20 years, Australia, attached to Alpine)
4. Marcus Armstrong (21 years, New Zealand, attached to Ferrari)
5. Jüri Vips (21 years, Estonia, attached to Red Bull)

The least likely F2 drivers to find an F1 seat in the future?
1. Roberto Merhi (30 years, Spain, no attachment) (yes, the Merhi who raced in F1 years ago)
2. Alessio Deledda (27 years, Italy, no attachment)
3. Bent Viscaal (22 years, Netherlands, no attachment)

The most likely outside of F2?
1. Alexander Albon, DTM (25 years, Thailand, obviously Red Bull)
2. Jak Crawford, Formula 3 (16 years, USA, attached to Red Bull)
3. Frederik Vesti, Formula 3 (19 years, Denmark, attached to Mercedes)

These Danish guys are all coming through right now. Magnussen started something, it seems!

I'll keep developing this document, then share a 2022 and a 2023 grid in the coming days.

Releasing some more dirty secrets from my lovely junior formula document. This does not include all the IndyCar drivers from 2020 and 2021, but many. Would you argue that this is, roughly, how likely any of these are to race in F1 in the future? The scale goes 1-5:

5: Almost certainly heading for F1
4: Probably
3: Possibly
2: Probably not
1: Almost certainly not

5:
None in IndyCar

4:
None in IndyCar

3:
Colton Herta
Patricio O'Ward
Pietro Fittipaldi

2:
Rinus VeeKay
Santino Ferrucci
Álex Palou
Oliver Askew
Jack Harvey
Alexander Rossi
Felix Rosenqvist
Josef Newgarden
Marcus Ericsson
Romain Grosjean

1:
Graham Rahal
James Hinchcliffe
Simon Pagenaud
Will Power
Scott Dixon
Ryan Hunter-Reay
Takuma Sato

That seems like a question more firmly in Matt's wheelhouse than mine.  I do love all these bits you do with potential F1 drivers though; I really need to start paying more attention to the junior formulas again....

I do love spreadsheets, and I do love motorsport. I just combine the two, even if noone else reads it. ;D

I'll collect my grid prediction thoughts into the one topic, instead of posting this in every other topic.

I don't think any of them should be higher than a 2. Ericsson and Grosjean should be 1 unless we're including one-offs or something. Ferrucci should be a 1 because there's no way European teams are touching him, he's not good enough anyway, and he's moving to NASCAR now.

I would put everyone as a 1 other than Herta and O'Ward, who would be 2. IndyCar isn't seen as a feeder to F1 now, and they would have to break through the existing F1 ladder that is already over-filled. And I think it's unlikely that anyone dominates IndyCar enough to do that because that's just not how IndyCar works.

W Series two-time champion Jamie Chadwick is now up to 25 Super License points, which is the minimum required to compete in Friday practice. As reported earlier this year, for 2022 all teams will be forced to run a 3rd driver on Friday at two separate occasions:
https://racer.com/2021/09/28/all-f1-teams-to-run-rookie-drivers-twice-in-2022/

This year, Williams have used Roy Nissany 3 times. Surely Chadwick is a more marketable driver, and arguably faster too?

Alfa Romeo ran Ilott twice and Kubica three times, Zhou ran for Alpine at the Austrian Grand Prix.

I assume we'll see some more rookies in 2022. Who will Mercedes field for example, Frederik Vesti? Paul Aron?

I rarely get to post about Swedes in junior racing so I'm happy for this!

Dino Beganovic, member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, finished 13th in last year's Formula Regional European Championship with a total of 53 points. After just two race weekends, he's now leading this year's championship on 86 points after two wins and two P2s in the opening four races. That's an improvement!

A picture of a swede:
(https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b8/CDC_rutabaga.jpg)

We have a Swedish champion in a junior racing category for the first time since Felix Rosenqvist won the F3 championship seven years ago (against names like Charles Leclerc, Antonio Giovinazzi, Lance Stroll, George Russell, Alex Albon, Callum Illott, Tatiana Calderón, and Santino Ferrucci. WOW that was a packed series in 2015). Dino Beganovic, member of the Ferrari Driver Academy, has won the Formula Regional European Championship by Alpine (FRECA), an F3 level series derived from Formula Renault.

The logical next step is moving into FIA Formula 3, likely with Prema which is a brilliant team to be in F3 with. Success there, and he could be in F2 for 2024 and, well, that's a difficult championship. If I get my way, we'll have him in F1 by 2026.

https://www.automobilsport.com/race-categories--24/race-categories--24,244257,Paul-Aron-wins-Race-1-and-Dino-Beganovic-is-crowned-champion-of-the-Formula-Regional-European-Championship-by-Alpine,news.htm

https://www.motorsport.com/fia-f3/news/freca-champion-beganovic-joins-prema-in-f3-for-2023/10390579/

And with that, he is now confirmed at PREMA for an F3 campaign in 2023. The reigning Teams Champion, that sounds like a great place to be.