Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

At the British GP, Roy Nissany became the most experienced driver ever in the second tier of single-seater racing. He is yet to get a taste of racing at the top level, but did other F2 long-timers make the step up?

Formula Scout went through the history of second-tier series across the globe, considering the evolutions of series like European Formula 2 which turned into International Formula 3000 and was later replaced by GP2 (which rebranded to F2 six years ago), the USAC Mini-Indy Series which is now known as Indy Nxt, non-championship bouts across the globe contested by the stars and teams of Formula 1’s main feeder series, and many more championships.

With results from the 1960s and 1970s proving hard to verify via online research, old magazines needed to be consulted for certain races to find out who were the entrants who made the start and were either outside the points-scoring positions or retired. Equally, mentions of non-starters were key for making sure there were accurate lists from that period.

Then there was the tricky situation of Japan. Super Formula now sits alongside F1, IndyCar and Formula E at the top level of single-seater racing. But it used second-tier machinery until an overhaul for 1996 turned it into Formula Nippon. While it is an easy distinction to make that every race prior to then counted towards a driver’s second-tier CV, the conundrum of the 1996 campaign was that only one chassis was built to FNippon’s regulations, and the rest were F3000 cars running Japanese engines and with modified bodywork. In today’s terms, an F2 car with different aesthetics (note Brad Pitt’s upcoming F1 movie) does not turn it into a top-tier single-seater car. But if it’s entered into a top-tier series, surely the driver at the wheel has contested a top-tier race…

We’ll revisit that argument again later down this list, which looks at the 10 most experienced drivers in the second tier:

=9. Fairuz Fauzy MALAYSIA 133 races
GP2 (62 races): 5pts   GP2 Asia (14 races): 1 win, 3 podiums, 25pts   FR3.5 (57 races): 1 win, 2 poles, 10 podiums, 181pts   Top tier A1GP (22 races): 1 win, 2 podiums, 57pts

Photo: GP2 Media Service

After the Malaysian Grand Prix’s induction on the F1 calendar in 1999, it was only a few months before a Malaysian driver reached the pinnacle of single-seaters. Alex Yoong made it into SF, F1 and CART in the early 2000s, and Malaysian investment remained in F1 through the next decade, helping more drivers from his country embark on international racing careers.

Fauzy was the next big hope for the nation in open-wheel cars, although his results in Britain’s Formula Ford, Formula Renault and Formula 3 championships did little to suggest he would one day race in F1.

But when he arrived in GP2 in 2005 with a turquoise car sponsored by Malaysian petroleum company Petronas, who supplied fuel to the Sauber F1 team, it was clear he had the backing to make it to the top.

His rookie GP2 season with DAMS was lacklustre, with four top-10 results but no points under the sporting regulations of the time, but the week before the season finale he was already making his top-level debut as he represented Malaysia in the new nation-based A1GP series. He would be called up again by A1 Team Malaysia three years later, and won the 2008-09 season opener in treachorous conditions at Zandvoort. In the next race he was second, and finished third at Algarve.

Such results initially proved harder to come by back in the second-tier series. A points-free GP2 season in 2006 was followed by a Formula Renault 3.5 campaign in 2007 where he got a pole and three podiums but could only score seven times.

At the start of 2008 he joined the new GP2 Asia series, and won in treacherous conditions at Sentul. This time it wasn’t rain, but rather the track literally falling apart and cars driving through dust clouds (which led to overheating engines). A return to FR3.5 beckoned after that, and remarkably Fauzy came second in the 2009 standings with a win and four other podiums.

That and his A1GP form made for perfect timing as the Malaysian-owned Team Lotus joined the F1 grid in 2010 and he was signed as its reserve driver. But they released him from his contract at the end of the year and Fauzy returned to GP2 and FR3.5 for 2011. One podium from 32 races that year was not enough to keep him on the single-seater map.

=9. Luca Ghiotto ITALY 133 races
FR3.5 (17 races): 26pts   GP2 (22 races): 1 win, 4 podiums, 111pts   F2 (94 races): 6 wins, 2 poles, 24 podiums, 609pts

Photo: Carl Bingham / LAT Images

Ghiotto put his name on the map by winning on the iconic Pau street circuit in FR2.0 in 2013, and from there he stepped up to FR3.5 where his name swiftly disappeared from the map as he came 17th in the standings with three points finishes.

So Ghiotto stepped down to the third tier of single-seaters in GP3 and made an immediate impact with pole on debut. His full season in the series resulted in five wins and second in the standings, so when he returned to the second tier in GP2 for 2016 there were raised expectations once again.

His first season with Trident went arguably as well as it could with a team often mired in the midfield, as Ghiotto was a regular scorer in the feature races but usually only a podium contender in the reversed-grid sprint races. His first win in one of those came in the penultimate round at Sepang.

Ghiotto became super consistent in his second season with Russian Time, only twice in 22 races finishing outside of the top eight and scoring in more races than anyone else. But with a single sprint race win and six other podiums he could do no better than a distant fourth in the standings.

Russian Time did win the teams’ title, but Ghiotto then moved on to Campos Racing (who had been ninth in the teams’ standings) for the 2018 F2 season and he could only muster three podiums from the year. His next team switch was more canny, joining the debuting Virtuosi Racing and kicking off their partnership with a pole and a win at Bahrain.

Three more wins and four second places followed and Ghiotto fought for the title. He now had nothing more to prove in F2, but also no money to go to F1. So Hitech GP, another debuting team in F2, called upon his services for 2020.

Ghiotto reckoned the team had “twice as much work” to do as others and later expressed regrets about staying in GP2/F2 for a fifth year, despite winning in his fifth race with the team. But it was his lowest-scoring season yet and left him in no better career position than he was at the end of 2019. A cameo with DAMS at Monza last year brought Ghiotto up to 133 starts.

8. Johnny Cecotto Jr VENEZUELA 137 races
GP2 (117 races): 4 wins, 3 poles, 10 podiums, 306pts   GP2 Asia (6 races): 3pts   FV8 3.5 (6 races): 1 win, 1 podium, 42pts   F2 (8 races): 1 podium, 16pts

The son of the 1975 350cc motorcycling world champion, F1 driver and DTM star of the same name, Cecotto – like Fauzy – was somewhat of a state-funded talent as shown by the rear wing in the above picture.

Although he was driving second-tier machinery in just his second year of car racing, it was previous-generation F3000 machinery in the Euroseries 3000 series that had been inherited the cars made redundant by GP2’s creation.

In total he made four starts there before his career in contemporary second-tier single-seaters began with the final two GP2 rounds of 2009. He also did the GP2 Asia season opener in November with Trident, and stayed with the team for a full GP2 season. Cecotto was inconsistent and only scored once, a fourth place in the Monaco sprint race. A sign of things to come.

In 2011 he went points-free in GP2 and GP2 Asia, then a move to reigning champion team Addax for 2012 resulted in being mired in the midfield once again until he rocked up to Monaco and claimed pole position. He converted it into victory in the feature race, but then spun and caused a multi-car pile-up on lap one of the sprint race. Cecotto had a reputation for being a driver as likely to cause chaos as he was to get a strong result, and the Monaco weekend was the epitome of that.

Next time out in Valencia he had a nightmare weekend, but then he turned up to Silverstone and qualified and finished second. Following that was Hockenheim, where he could only qualify 18th but then used local knowledge to choose slick tyres on a wet track in the feature race. He assumed the lead when everyone else chose to pit, then made his own compulsory pitstop and won by nine seconds.

The rest of Cecotto’s GP2 career followed a similar pattern, and it was hard to tell over that time if he improved as a driver. He claimed Monaco pole again in 2013, and duly crashed out on lap one of the feature race. Even worse, stewards punished him for the incident by barring him from entering the sprint race.

That podium-free season was followed by his most competitive one in 2014. At Barcelona he could only qualify 16th, but was seventh after a chaotic opening lap of the feature race. He led by lap eight, and it only took two laps following his pitstop to return to the front and take a convincing win. At the Red Bull Ring he took pole and won the sprint race, and three further podiums put him fifth in the standings.

Cecotto drove for four teams over the next two years in part-time campaigns, and won in Formula V8 3.5 in 2016 as the RP Motorsport team sought to use his experience. Once he had proved they had a winning package, he was out of the door.

His time in the second tier ended with three rounds in F2 in 2017 before he was replaced by the next man on this list.

7. Sergio Canamasas SPAIN 138 races
FR3.5 (33 races): 1 pole, 1 podium, 69pts   GP2 (91 races): 2 podiums, 76pts   F2 (14 races): 21pts

Photo: Alastair Staley / GP2 Media Service

Like many Spanish drivers in the 2000s, Canamasas went straight into his national F3 championship for his first year in single-seaters. After three seasons and three podiums, he then stepped up to FR3.5 in 2010 with Interwetten Racing.

The team lacked performance, and so did Canamasas, with a best finish of 14th in his rookie season. A switch to the BVM-Target alliance for 2011 produced significantly better results, with a pole and a podium coming at the Hungaroring. Consistent scoring meant Canamasas finished eighth in the standings, behind a roster of future racing superstars.

But it wasn’t until Canamasas’s fifth year in GP2 that his total points tally in the series surpassed what he scored in a single year in FR3.5. It was a 27-race wait for Canamasas to score his first GP2 point – he managed to get excluded from a qualifying session before that for deliberately forcing a driver off-track – but nine races later he was on the podium.

In an impressive weekend in Monaco in 2014, Canamasas used an undercut strategy to rise from 12th to fifth in the feature race and in the sprint race he jumped from fourth to second at the start and then held his position to the end of the race. Through the rest of the season, Canamasas scored twice and got disqualified once for dangerous driving and causing collisions.

In the Monza sprint race he had a lap one collision with Adrian Quaife-Hobbs by cutting the Ascari chicane, and that led to two other cars colliding at almost 200mph. He later collided with Rene Binder and Raffaele Marciello, in consecutive corners no less, before getting shown the black flag.

Canamasas went through three different teams in 2015, but he got another Monaco podium from ninth on the grid in the feature race – thanks to a rival being penalised – and followed that up with a fourth place. At the next round an apparent dispute between himself and MP Motorsport meant he didn’t take to track and then he lost his seat with the team.

He found berths at Team Lazarus and Hilmer Motorsport for the rest of the season, and managed to score points once. In 2016 he stayed with one team, but lost his Carlin seat for one round. Canamasas rounded off his time in the series with an incomplete 2017 campaign where he switched teams after four rounds. Impressive longevity.

6. Artem Markelov RUSSIA 141 races
GP2 (66 races): 1 win, 3 podiums, 151pts   F2 (75 races): 8 wins, 14 podium, 417pts   Top tier Super Formula (5 races)

Photo: FIA Formula 2

In stark contrast to Canamasas’s route around the paddock, Markelov’s first 100 starts in GP2/F2 were all with the same team.

The Russian Time outfit that Markelov became synonymous was established with the engineering support of German team Motopark, which Markelov had driven for through his first three years of car racing in ADAC Formel Masters and German F3, but by the time he reached GP2 in 2014 the operation was actually being run by iSport International, and later by Virtuosi.

It took a while however for Markelov to get up to speed in GP2, scoring once in his rookie year, but he slowly and steadily improved as he gained more experience and built a reputation of being a clever strategist with good tyre management skills.

The first podium arrived in his sophomore season, then the first win – a feature race success in Monaco – coming in year three. His fourth campaign was his most complete, kicking 2017 off with victory at Bahrain that required a perfectly executed one-stop strategy. He won four more times that year and was championship runner-up to Charles Leclerc.

Markelov was very much like the Sergio Perez of GP2/F2, and although he won three times in 2018 in the new F2 car and became a Renault F1 test driver, his peak had already happened and he needed to find another series to show off his talents.

That opportunity came in Super Formula in 2019, but he struggled to leave an impact and instead became one of the go-to substitutes in F1’s primary feeder series. He got called up for three rounds that year, then made a full-time F2 return in 2020 as the debuting HWA Racelab team sought to utilise his experience. He only scored twice that year, and hasn’t appeared since.

=4. Kunimitsu Takahashi JAPAN 142 races
Japanese F2000 (13 races): 3 wins, 1 pole, 8 podiums, 139 points   Japanese F2 (58 races): 1 win, 5 podiums, 236 points   Japanese F3000 (71 races): 4 podiums, 59pts   Top tier: F1 (1 race)

Photo: Minoru Kobayashi

Takahashi made his first appearance in single-seaters’ second-tier with a single race in Japanese Formula 2000 in 1975.

He made four starts in 1976, earning his first podium and points, then in ’77 was championship runner-up as he won three times and only missed out on the podium once in eight races. Takahashi actually scored more points than anyone else, but the regulations included dropped scores and his supreme podium-finishing consistency actually cost him the title.

The series switched to using F2 cars in 1978, and Takahashi took what would be his last win in the season finale. The next year he could only make the podium twice, then he endured three podium-free seasons.

In 1983 he returned to form with two podiums, but then went on another three-year run of failing to get a top-three finish.

Takahashi remained on the grid when the next big shift came as the series adopted F3000 cars, but over the next eight cars only got four more podiums. In 1991, now a remarkable 51 years old, he failed to qualify twice and he went three seasons without scoring a single point.

But in 1994 he bowed out in style with two eighth places and then a podium. That season he raced against a driver who was just one year old when he made his series debut.

=4. Julian Leal COLOMBIA 142 races
FR3.5 (34 races): 1 podium, 22pts   GP2 (102 races): 4 podiums, 177pts   GP2 Asia (4 races)   GP2 Final (2 races)

Photo: Julianlealweb

Leal had plentiful experience of old F3000 cars by the time he debuted in FR3.5 in 2009, and aside from a podium at the Hungaroring his average finishing position that year was 17.9. And that was with Prema, a team now known for dominating junior single-seaters.

His second season resulted in the same number of points, 11, but collected in three different races. Once again his season was mostly populated by low finishing positions or retirements.

For 2011 he made the sideways step to GP2, and remained in the series for close to five seasons. He made his debut in the Dallara GP2/11 in the two-round GP2 Asia series, with a best finish of 17th, then in the main series got two top-10 finishes in his first year but scored no points as both were in sprint races.

It took 36 races in the car before Leal broke his points-scoring duck, and despite scoring nine points in 2012 he still finished outside of the top 20 in the standings.

The next year he moved to Racing Engineering, and Leal did get two sprint race podiums. But the team was far more competitive than that, shown by team-mate Fabio Leimer scoring three times as many points and winning the title.

Eager to still prove himself, Leal signed with Carlin for 2014 and he made the podium in each of the first two races. He sat second in the standings after four races, but then only scored four times in the remaining 18 races and dropped to 10th in the standings. Team-mate Felipe Nasr scored more than three times as many points as him.

Leal remained with Carlin for 2015, but after reaching 100 races in the main GP2 series he announced his ‘retirement’ from it and missed the last three rounds of the season.

=2. Davide Valsecchi ITALY 161 races
FR3.5 (32 races): 1 win, 4 podiums, 80pts   GP2 Asia (33 races): 4 wins, 1 pole, 11 podiums, 116pts   GP2 (96 races): 7 wins, 3 poles, 17 podiums, 331pts

Photo: GP2 Media Service

A champion, at last! And more than that, a double champion! Valsecchi was never consistently a frontrunner in GP2, but he managed to win two titles.

Two years in FR3.5, with the return of a win and three other podiums, preceded Valsecchi’s five years in GP2 where he started every single race run using the series’ cars in that time period.

He started off in Durango, contesting the Asian and the main series in 2008 and ending the year with victory on home soil in the Monza sprint race. A win and three other podiums in GP2 Asia over the winter made the combination a dark horse for 2009, but ultimately Durango was not competitive enough and Valsecchi only scored three times, but did get a podium.

As soon as the season ended he moved to iSport, and he dominated the Asian series. Victory, two second places and then another two wins in the first five races all but secured him the title with three races to go, and he scored almost twice as many points as the championship runner-up. But once again that form didn’t quite translate into the main series.

He got a pole and a win on the series’ two Asian tracks, but was not a victory threat on any of the European circuits. His first feature race win in the main series came after 59 starts, and was a standout moment from a 2011 season spent with a debuting AirAsia team that was mostly learning rather than performing.

Finally it all came good for Valsecchi when he moved to DAMS in 2012. They had mastered the Dallara GP2/11 in its first year of use, and so started the season as the team to beat. Valsecchi delivered, taking three wins and a second place in the first five races on his favoured tracks in Asia, then once everyone caught up to DAMS’ pace in Europe he had a points lead to control.

He went from having a 37-point margin to falling behind Luiz Razia mid-season, and only regained the lead at the penultimate round. Valsecchi still became champion by a handy 25 points.

=2. Kazuyoshi Hoshino JAPAN 161 races*
Japanese F2000 (15 races): 7 wins, 13 poles, 13 podiums, 211pts   Japanese F2 (59 races): 12 wins, 17 poles, 38 podiums, 653pts  Tsukuba Champions Race winner: 1 pole   European F2 (4 races): 3pts   Japanese F3000 (82 races): 19 wins, 9 poles, 36 podiums, 356pts   Top tier: F1 (2 races)   SF (10 races): 1 win, 1 pole, 4 podiums, 31pts

Photo: Lola Heritage

Now known for running Team Impul in Super Formula, Hoshino is one of the all-time greats of Japanese motorsport but most of his years as a driving powerhouse came when his country’s top single-seater series used second-tier cars.

He first raced in Japanese F2000 in 1974, making the podium on his debut, and won the title in ’75 with four poles, two wins, a second and a third from four starts. Hoshino kept on going like that for years to come.

There were two wins from two starts in 1976, seven poles from seven attempts in ’77 as he became a two-time champion, and in the first F2 season in ’78 he added another title. Hoshino was runner-up in each of the next five seasons, and also won the Tsukuba circuit’s Champions Race for F2 cars from pole in 1979.

The first winless season was 1983 (which was also the first with his own team), and there wasn’t another until 1992. Hoshino was champion of the inaugural Japanese F3000 season in 1987, as he won four races in a year for the first time.

In 1990 he won six of the season’s 10 races to oblierate the opposition, and the year after was racing and beating Eddie Irvine and Michael Schumacher aged 44.

Although 1992 was a bump down to earth with two points finishes and one race he didn’t qualify for, Hoshino bounced back in 1993 with his sixth title in Japan and did so on victory countback against Irvine with two wins to his one.

Hoshino retired in 1996 with another impressive campaign that included a win and a pole. That was the first year of FNippon, and there were a contingent of Reynard 96Ds built to the series’ rules as it became a top-level series. But drivers were also allowed to race using their F3000 cars, and Hoshino did just that.

After a lot of deliberation, the Formula Scout team concluded that Hoshino’s ’96 season counted towards his time in the top tier of single-seater racing, and therefore alongside his starts in F1 (a series which was once open to F2 cars).

1. Roy Nissany ISRAEL 162 races
FR3.5/FV8 3.5 (53 races): 4 wins, 1 pole, 14 podiums, 417pts   F2 (109 races): 1 podium, 42pts

Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

The above decision means that earlier this month at Silverstone, Roy Nissany broke the record to become the most experienced driver ever in the second tier of single-seaters.

The Israeli only has one podium from his 109 starts in F2 to date, and only two top-five finishes in total. But he’s not totally unproven at this level, as from 2015 to ’17 he raced in FR3.5 (and latterly FV8 3.5) and in his second season there picked up three wins and three poles with the Charouz Racing System team. He also won a race with RP Motorsport in 2017.

Seven years on from FV8 3.5 and Nisany is driving for Charouz again in F2, with two ninth places in sprint races being the highlight of their reunion in what is so far a points-free season.

That’s a stat that Nissany has avoided until now, having scored at least one point in every year he has spent in F2 prior to 2023. In total he has 14 points finishes to his name, with eight of those coming in 2022 while driving for DAMS.

Nissany made his F1 test debut with Sauber while still in F3, where he had a best finish of sixth from 63 starts, and he then drove for Williams in 2019 post-season testing. After that he was signed as a test driver, and over the next three years got handed six free practice outings before leaving the team.

If Nissany sees out the 2023 F2 season, and stays on the grid for 2024, there’s a chance he could reach 200 races at this level.

The post The most experienced drivers in the second tier of single-seater racing appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Getty Images

Artem Markelov, the 2017 Formula 2 runner-up, scored his first point of the present season at Spa-Francorchamps in a weekend where he claims stewards erroneously penalised him.

The 25-year-old has nine wins in the series to his name but only had a best finish of 11th with 2020 debutant team HWA Racelab prior to Spa.

He qualified 19th in Belgium, and rose up the order in the feature race using an overcut strategy. That progress halted once up to 13th, as he was handed a drive-through penalty for going off-track at Eau Rouge while racing against another car.

From 16th on the sprint race grid he made it into the top 10 before a virtual safety car period that handed him the opportunity to make another overtake. A time penalty then promoted him to eighth, the final points-paying spot.

“We are all delighted to have scored a point. We have really struggled in the recent races, but we have finally been rewarded for our efforts,” said Markelov.

“We already had a good pace on Saturday. Unfortunately, I then got a drive-through penalty that knocked me back. I had to avoid a slower car in Eau Rouge and briefly left the track, which was classified as gaining an illicit advantage. The stewards later confirmed that the decision was incorrect but that didn’t change anything.

“It just makes all the sweeter to have scored a point on Sunday. We had a good racing pace and I was able to produce some overtaking manoeuvres. I hope this will continue in Monza.”

The Russian took to Instagram to share further thoughts on the feature race penalty, which he claimed was given to him “for nothing”.

HWA’s team principal Thomas Strick also commented on the breakthrough result.

“The point for Artem is a reward for the entire team. Everyone has worked really hard over the past weeks. This time, we benefited from the experience gained from previous races and we were able to compete with a functioning set-up.

“Artem put that into action really well on both days. He would probably have finished even higher, had it not been for the drive-through penalty.”

Markelov’s team-mate Giuliano Alesi has had slightly more success this year, which is his second in F2, having scored points with a sixth place finish in the season opening-race at the Red Bull Ring.

The post Markelov: “All the sweeter” to score point after F2 stewarding error appeared first on Formula Scout.

To conclude a week of GP2 celebrations, Formula Scout has consulted a man who knows the series better than most: its former press officer and F1 digital presenter Will Buxton. He kindly shared his thoughts

I was going through a list the other day of GP2 drivers that didn’t make it to Formula 1 and the list runs long.

Just off the top of my head, I’d love to have seen what Hiroki Yoshimoto, Adam Carroll, Alexandre Premat, Toni Vilander, Neel Jani, Nicolas Lapierre, Luca Filippi, Davide Valsecchi, Sam Bird, Tom Dillmann, James Calado, Mitch Evans, Robin Frijns, Artem Markelov, Alex Lynn, Dean Stoneman and Richie Stanaway could have done in the top tier. They were all knockout talents on their day who more than held their own against other GP2 drivers who made it all the way to F1.

From my early years I always felt Yoshimoto was a great talent who never got the chance he deserved, either with the team his skills merited in GP2 or the chances such a seat would have afforded him beyond that. Carroll, it goes without saying, is one of the best lost talents of the last two decades. So blindingly fast. I’d love to have seen what the French duo of Lapierre and Premat could have done in F1, too. They are both still super competitive and bloody quick. Jani, too, spent too long on the test roster. Always felt Toro Rosso should have given him a race seat. He was more than worthy. And it’s often forgotten that Vilander did a couple of races for Scuderia Coloni in the early days of GP2. Now there was (and is) a rapid racer who deserved way more from single-seaters.

The Italian duo of Filippi and Valsecchi could and should have had race shots in F1, no question. There was a cabal of Brits who I think would have more than cut the mustard, too. Bird, Calado and Lynn all had the quality to have raced, Evans was a sadly missed talent who I think could have made a splash, and given his natural ability behind the wheel I’d loved to have seen Stanaway have a shot.

Photo: Zak Mauger/GP2 Series Media Service

Dillmann and Frijns were dropped from their junior programmes tragically early as both more than had the talent to ascend to the very top with the right guidance and backing. And then there’s Markelov and Stoneman. Wouldn’t have played the political games, but would have been Nigel Mansell fast and no nonsense. Old school racers.

In the end I witnessed, as a press officer and then commentator, well over 200 races in GP2. Picking just one is so hard because of the almost limitless variables encountered across the seasons. The cars, the tracks, the field. But honestly, Lewis Hamilton in the Istanbul sprint race in 2006 was one of the most incredible drives I’ve seen in any series ever. The risk he took with the set-up of the car, the setback he encountered at the start and the comeback drive he delivered, was second to none.

Imola 2005 was, in hindsight and putting it mildly, a nightmare. It was four of the least pleasurable, longest and hardest days I think any of us involved in the championship as organisers or competitors had ever experienced either before or since. But it made the championship what it became, and I think in the end proved to beneficial for us all. Testing hadn’t been smooth. There were issues with the Dallara GP2/05 and we all knew it. Nobody had ever tried to make a spec series with a car this advanced before. You must remember that, at the time, it was such a massive leap ahead of where Formula 3000 had been and closer than a feeder category had ever been to F1 both in terms of tech and performance. We knew there were issues with the engines, the electrics and crucially the brakes. But Imola was where it had to begin. We couldn’t delay. Given the backing from Renault, Bridgestone and, crucially, Bernie Ecclestone, it had to start as planned.

Practice got off to a dreadful start when about half the field pulled over with an issue with the wiring loom. The first race was a disaster before it had even begun as Lapierre, who’d qualified on pole, blew up leaving the pitlane for the grid. Those whose engines or electrics didn’t fail soon realised their Carbone Lorraine brakes were never going to make full race distance.

The teams had been pulling all-nighters and were knackered. The media didn’t have F1 media centre access as we weren’t FIA, we didn’t have a proper media centre sorted in the paddock nor timing screens and so they weren’t best impressed. It was just one thing after another.

Overnight, Brembo paid GP2 bosses a visit. They’d heard we were having brake problems and just so happened to have a truck waiting outside the track with the exact size and spec replacement parts. They were fitted for Sunday’s sprint race. They were such better brakes that Ernesto Viso put his BCN Competition car in the wall on the recon lap to the grid because he’d hit the left pedal as hard as he’d needed to with the old brakes, locked everything up and spun off.

The race was brilliant, and was won by Adam Carroll with an insane overtaking move at the last chicane. I’m still not sure how he pulled it off as he came out almost sideways, overtaking Premat in the process who’d straightlined the kerb. That move was so electrifying and the race so good that by Sunday night we all breathed a sigh of relief. The problems were soon forgotten and fixed, but that first weekend had created something of a Blitz spirit and a bond between everyone in the paddock. Teams, organisers, media… everyone had chipped in and helped each other. It was such a huge undertaking that everyone worked together to ensure the success of the championship. It created a community and a spirit which I feel characterised GP2 for the rest of its existence.

More from GP2 week
The top 10 GP2 drivers that F1 missed out on
The strange story of the support series that supported itself
Reliving the first ever GP2 weekend: Imola 2005
Ranking the GP2/F2 champions of the 2010s
Giacomo Ricci: The GP2 underdog leading F2?s dark horse

Photo: Zak Mauger/FIA Formula 2

The post Revisiting the early years of GP2 appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: Formula Motorsport / LAT Images

Delving into the data from the sole pre-season test for Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 Championship highlights some interesting trends, and the impact of cutting back the track time for drivers

Across three days and six sessions each, the two highest profile junior single-seater series assembled in Bahrain this week for the only high-speed mileage they will be allowed before their seasons begin at the same circuit later this month. Were it not for numerous red flag interruptions, this would have equated to 15 hours on track each, during the heat of the days and nights.

To some Formula 1 teams, such conditions in the desert are more desirable than the staple of a cold but massively well-known Barcelona, and given the Formula 2 teams were trialling the 18-inch wheel specs that F1 will adopt in 2021, it shouldn’t be entirely ruled out that the test location – and reduction to three days of running – was being used as a dummy for F1 too.

The figures that everyone would have looked at, and what certainly what put smiles on the faces at Hitech GP, were the fastest lap times in the F2 sessions. Were the new, larger wheels going to make the cars slower, and who was going to be top?

As it turned out, the increased size of the wheel rims, and the new tyre compounds that Pirelli had created to fit them, more than slowed the Dallara F2 2018 car. This seemed to be primarily down to a driver feedback issue, with the smaller volume of rubber interacting with the track translating to less information going to the driver via the steering wheel or through their seat.

Campos Racing’s Guilherme Samaia actually described the new tyres as “very responsive”, but the paddock consensus was that steering was heavier and as a result so was degradation with the thinner sidewall. Prema’s Robert Shwartzman summarised the changes as giving “less time” to drivers. It was no surprise that ART Grand Prix and Trident called on the immensely experienced Sergey Sirotkin and Tom Dillmann respectively to test to improve the teams’ understanding of the tyres, although Sirotkin’s call-up was to replace Renault F1 junior Christian Lundgaard quarantined at a Tenerife training camp.

“The behaviour of the new tyres is interesting: when you push the limits, there are times that the car suddenly breaks down, and you had to get used to it,” said Shwartzman.

“The 13-inch tyres felt different, such situations were more expected. Our main purpose was to collect data, but in general we understand that we should be in the top five or three. We completed almost the entire planned program, although red flags often appeared on the track and sometimes traffic interfered.”

Former Formula E star Dillmann spoke in detail to Formula Scout about the tyres, and how the change in weight distribution altered the handling characteristics for the worse. F2’s sprint races in Bahrain have recently been prone to pitstops for tyre changes, usually only seen in the longer feature races, and Dillmann absolutely expects that trend to continue.

As a typical Bahrain sprint race would be 22 or 23 laps, and a feature race would be at least 30, it would be expected to get at least 10 laps out of one set of tyres, and preferably even longer on the punishing circuit depending what compound was in use. Formula Scout took every stint of 10 laps or more from testing and went through the data to see which teams appear to have the advantage so far. The appearance of slow traffic and yellow flags is not separated from this data, and there were several stints recorded by drivers that looked far worse than they actually were due to one anomalous lap. There is also no data on which compound of tyre was used, with both the hard and soft compounds available during the F2 test.

Every ‘afternoon’ session for F2 actually took place going into the night due to the circuit’s advanced spotlight setup, and the slightly cooler temperatures meant there was a greater focus on qualifying runs as downforce levels increased.

Those who spent that time doing race runs reaped the rewards in terms of pace too, with seven of the 10 fastest stints taking place during the darkness and the fastest five unsurprisingly being in the final session of the week when the track was the most rubbered in.

Carlin’s Jehan Daruvala was the fastest of all, with a 17m36.377s time over 10 laps set when the track was at its quickest. He had not ventured into sub-18 minute territory on any prior runs, but his ferocious one-lap pace in other sessions suggested his speed was no fluke. Five of the next nine best runs were recorded by HWA Racelab, which took over Arden’s entry during the winter.

Given Arden’s race pace was considerably better than its qualifying pace, and HWA’s veteran driver Artem Markelov is renowned for his tyre-saving ability in races, it was perhaps a surprising strategy for the ‘new’ team to focus so heavily on race simulations. This is reflected in the fastest lap times from the test, as HWA was slowest of all. It was 0.187s off next slowest team Trident, and 1.252s off the test benchmark set by Hitech GP’s Luca Ghiotto – equating to being 1.236% off the absolute pace.

This emphasis on race runs was reflected in comments Markelov made at the end of the test too: “There is still a lot to do, as far as the driving is concerned. Hopefully we can use free practice and qualifying on the opening race weekend to make more improvements. [But] they were very nice tests.”

On the flip side, fellow debutant team Hitech recorded the least laps by some margin. Its tally of 255 was only two thirds of what Prema was able to achieve, and 54 less than anyone else – a gap equatable to two races at the circuit. But Hitech was efficient with its time, and its lack of mileage came primarily down to a gritty first day where its two freshly-built cars accumulated 44 laps.

Veteran driver Ghiotto found the first day enjoyable despite the little spent he spent in the car, and his smile grew as the test went on. He was full of praise for Hitech after the final day, when he not only set the fastest lap but also the fifth fastest 10-lap stint of anyone, a 17m52.514s comfortably clear of all but Daruvala and HWA’s Giuliano Alesi and Markelov.

It’s fair to say that both Hitech and HWA did great jobs given this was the only running they were allowed in the regulations to test the car and new tyres before the season, and by hiring series experts for their driver line-up they avoided having to follow Trident’s lead of bringing in a professional driver just for one day.

This potentially backfired for Trident, as when Dillmann returned the car to Marino Sato he still looked down on confidence and pace. He is the one who will be racing, and it could have been less of an issue had F2 not dropped its routine of two pre-season tests in Spain.

Sirotkin set the longest stint of 24 laps for ART, and the former Williams F1 driver took a punt on the competitive order.

“The impressions from the test was as pleasant as possible,”he said. “It was interesting for me to drive [the Dallara F2 2018]. We successfully worked all three days, tried different settings, both on shorter and longer stints. Many options showed themselves well, and by the sum of all the factors, I would suggest that the ART GP is one of the two fastest in the pack.”

The Russian may be right, but Lundgaard’s lack of mileage will severely hurt his immediate chances of success, and prior to the track being at its quickest it was Carlin and Charouz Racing System that looked ominously fast on the short and long runs.

FIA Formula 3

You can never take too much away from pre-season testing, goes the old F1 saying, but Bahrain did nothing to lead anyone away from the assumption that Prema will be the team to beat once again in FIA F3, and Hitech will be its closest rival.

Prema’s trio of drivers all had qualms with how the car reacted to the 2020-spec tyres, but the team routinely worked through all problems and ended up with what was the fastest package by the end of the test. In its line-up are two series rookies compared to Hitech’s one, and the experience of the drivers in the latter team was evident.

New Mark Webber protege and Renault F1 junior Oscar Piastri described the test as being “up-and-down”, while Frederik Vesti followed up his FIA F3 World Cup debut with Prema with some scintillating long runs (measured using the same 10-lap reading as the F2 results) after early struggles. Logan Sargeant, the team’s only sophomore driver, already knew what he was looking to improve on following a tricky 2019 that did end with a Macau Grand Prix podium with Carlin.

“The tyres are really difficult to switch on in qualifying conditions while trying to put together a proper lap with traffic,” Vesti said of an issue he will have to get used to during the season with a 30-car grid. “During the three days I made pretty big steps and I found a lot of new things that I need to improve for race weekends which is really [good].

“We ended the last session P6 and while it’s not where we want to be it’s still a good step forward on new tyres. The race runs have been good through the whole test. I’m happy with the three days, now I need to go back home and fine-tune everything.”

The race runs were more than good, although the F3 field was considerably closer and on average they ran far longer stints than F2. Vesti’s best 10-lap pick was a 18m31.387s run on the morning of the test’s third day, an improvement by 1.515s on the benchmark he had set the previous afternoon. The only driver capable of getting between those times was team-mate Sargeant, who set more sub-18m37s runs than anyone else.

Charouz piled on the miles and were rewarded with being Prema’s closest opposition on race pace, with Niko Kari setting a 18m33.744s on the afternoon of day two. The final day was used almost exclusively for long runs by most of the other teams, and despite being on a faster track they were unable to beat Prema.

Due to being called up by Mercedes-Benz to drive in the Formula E’s Marrakech rookie test, HWA’s Jake Hughes missed the first day entirely but he looked one of the most comfortable on track.

His race runs would most likely have bettered Prema’s had he been equipped with one more day of data, and he put in the second quickest lap of the test on his final fast lap. The Briton was quick to play down his performances, stating the tests “aren’t too representative” of what the season holds.

Both Hitech and HWA made sure they ran as many laps as possible while also concentrating on their new F2 efforts, and as a result it brought the drivers of both teams quickly up to speed. Red Bull junior Liam Lawson was rapid on a long run – with his best 10-lap excerpt taken from an unbeaten 23-lap stint – and a qualifying lap for Hitech, while HWA rookies Jack Doohan and Enzo Fittipaldi put in the most miles and as a result had the freedom of finding their limits in both key performance barometers of the test.

Doohan was third fastest overall, and Fittipaldi rivalled old Formula Regional European Championship team-mate Vesti as the best ‘rookie’ (both raced in Macau) and feeling “more than ready” to show his race pace for real.

Campos and Carlin spent far more time in the pits, but both teams still showed competitive pace and more importantly improvements on their status as the worst teams of 2019.

Alex Peroni set 143 laps for Campos, with only the part-absent Hughes recording fewer, but the Australian – returning from his back-breaking crash at Monza round last year – showed confidence on long runs and also bagged the fastest laptime. His two team-mates were less smiley, as they were off the pace.

F3 veterans Enaam Ahmed and Cameron Das had to work to “a different philosophy” of car at Carlin, but it was reigning BRDC British F3 champion team-mate Clement Novalak who looked the more composed of the three on track and led much of the final test session before being shuffled down the order by a flurry of late improvements from others.

Bahrain pre-season test round-up

The post Crunching the numbers from F2 and FIA F3 pre-season testing appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Joe Portlock / LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship

Artem Markelov has committed to a full-time return to Formula 2 next year with debuting team HWA Racelab.

The Russian has raced in F2 and its predecessor GP2 since 2014, contesting five seasons and finishing runner-up in 2017 before switching to Super Formula with Team LeMans this year.

His time in the Japanese championship was shortlived, and after replacing Jordan King at MP Motorsport for the Monaco F2 round, he returned once again to the championship with Arden for the last two rounds of the season.

“I am really looking forward to racing for HWA RACELAB in Formula 2 next season,” said the 25-year-old.

“I think we will gel quickly. HWA has a vast wealth of motorsport experience, from which I am sure I will benefit.”

In his 114 GP2/F2 starts, Markelov has taken nine wins, including the Monaco feature race twice. However, he has only taken one pole position during this time.

DTM title-winner HWA only switched to single-seater racing at the start of this year, joining the FIA Formula 3 Championship independently and then F2 in a technical partnership with Arden, whose entry it has bought out for 2020.

HWA AG CEO Ulrich Fritz said:?“Artem is the ideal driver for us in our first season as an independent team in F2.

“He has lots of experience at this level. His tally of eight race wins speaks for itself.

“His expertise as a driver will help make our introduction to the series easier.

“I am pleased that we were able to acquire his services.”

Markelov’s Arden team-mate Tatiana Calderon is believed to be in consideration for the second HWA seat, while former Red Bull junior Dan Ticktum has also been linked to an F2 drive.

The post Artem Markelov to race in F2 for sixth full season with HWA appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Joe Portlock / LAT Images / FIA F2 Championship

Artem Markelov will race for Arden in the final two rounds of the Formula 2 season as the team returns to a two-car line-up following Anthoine Hubert’s fatal accident at Spa.

Having fielded just one car for Tatiana Calderon at Monza, Arden has brought in series veteran Markelov as her team-mate for Sochi and Yas Marina.

Markelov raced in GP2 and F2 for five seasons with Russian Time before moving this year to Super Formula, where he has not scored a point in five races.

His second F2 outing of the season on home ground this weekend – he already raced for MP Motorsport in Monaco – means he will not take part in the clashing Super Formula round at Okayama.

“Following on from recent tragic events and our return to Sochi as a two-car team, we are proud and humbled to have Artem join us for the remaining races of the season,” said Arden’s team manager Kenny Kirwan.

“Artem is a proven race winner in this category and we very much relish the opportunity to work together and to continue where we left off with Anthoine, who we miss very dearly.”

Markelov will race with the number 22 for Arden, with Hubert’s number 19 having been retired for the remainder of the season.

“First of all, I want to give my best to the family of Anthoine,” Markelov said.

“This guy was not only a good driver, he was a great man who was happy all the time and always gave us a smile. He showed everyone his talent.

“Thanks to the team for trusting me in this situation and I’m going do my best for them. We are going to drive together in memory of Anthoine.

“I’m really happy I’ll be driving for BWT Arden for the rest of the championship.

“It’s a really nice opportunity to drive at my home grand prix again. I hope for a strong result and I’ll work hard to achieve it.”

The F2 field is set to return to full strength at Sochi after the Sauber Junior Team by Charouz and Trident squads also lined up with only one car at Monza following the Spa crash.

Matevos Isaakyan has joined the Sauber Junior outfit in place of Juan Manuel Correa, who is in intensive care after sustaining injuries in the crash with Hubert.

Ralph Boschung will return to his seat at Trident after sitting out Monza because team-mate Giuliano Alesi’s car was impounded as part of the investigation by Belgian authorities.

The post Arden signs Markelov to take Hubert’s place in F2 line-up appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Zak Mauger / FIA Formula 2

Artem Markelov will return to Formula 2 for next weekend’s Monaco round as a stand-in for Jordan King at MP Motorsport.

King is signed to contest the full F2 season with MP aside from Monaco, which he was always set to miss due to while he makes his Indianapolis 500 debut on the same weekend.

Markelov will be contesting his 57th race weekend across GP2 and Formula 2, but his first for a team other than the Russian Time outfit that was backed by his father.

After five years in the series, Markelov departed together with Russian Time at the end of 2018 and is now competing in Japanese Super Formula.

The 24-year-old won the Monaco feature race in both 2016 and 2018, and finished second in 2017.

?I am very happy to join MP Motorsport at Monaco,? said Markelov.

?Monaco is a special place, and I can?t think of a better occasion for a one-off return to Formula 2. I?m looking forward to meeting lots of old friends and, of course, wish Jordan all the best in his effort to win the Indy 500!?

Team boss Sander Dorsman said: ?We can?t think of a quicker man to step into Jordan?s car at Monaco than Artem.

“We are sorry to lose Jordan for the weekend, but Artem is a worthy replacement.

“I look forward to working with him during an important weekend for us and hope that he will help us to a pair of great results at Monaco.?

The post Artem Markelov returns to F2 for Monaco as substitute for Jordan King appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Joe Portlock / FIA Formula 2

Formula 2 race-winner Artem Markelov and Japanese Formula 3 dominator Sho Tsuboi will move up to Super Formula this year with Team LeMans and Inging respectively.

Having spent five seasons in GP2, and latterly F2, with Russian Time, Markelov had ruled out a sixth season in Formula 1’s primary feeder series in 2019.

The 24-year-old Russian’s best season came in ’17, where he finished second in the standings to Charles Leclerc and earned a test driver role at Renault Formula 1 for last year. Prior to joining F2 he was runner-up in German F3 and a winner in ADAC Formel Masters.

Markelov has no experience of Super Formula machinery, having missed the 2018 rookie test (being replaced by Formula Renault Eurocup star Charles Milesi) and on-track running of the new Dallara SF19 having not begun yet.

Tsuboi, a year younger than Markelov, broke records on the way to the Japanese F3 title last year, winning 17 of the 19 races.

It was his third season in the championship, having won nine races across the previous two seasons, where he finished second and third in the standings. Before moving to F3 he was also the national Formula 4 champion.

The Toyota-backed driver also starred in sportscars last year, finishing seventh in the secondary class of Japan’s Super GT championship and taking second place on his debut alongside former F1 driver Heikki Kovalainen in the primary GT500 class.? He will now race full-time in the GT500 class alongside his Super Formula commitments.

Numerous other junior single-seater stars will be racing in Super Formula for the first time this year, spearheaded by Honda juniors Tadasuke Makino and Nirei Fukuzumi, who have been shuffled across from F2.

There are also Red Bull juniors Lucas Auer and Dan Ticktum, F3 regulars Alex Palou and Tristan Charpentier, and 2016-17 MRF Challenge champion Harrison Newey, who is returning to single-seaters after a title-winning year in sportscars.

The post Artem Markelov and Sho Tsuboi secure Super Formula seats appeared first on Formula Scout.

20. Leonardo Pulcini

Photo: Zak Mauger / GP3 Series Media Service

Photo: Zak Mauger / GP3 Series Media Service

Re-entry (40th in ’16)
Performed giantkilling acts in second GP3 season

After finishing on the podium on his GP3 debut at Barcelona last year, much was expected of 2016 Euroformula Open Pulcini. However his season quickly crumbled, and he scored points on just one further occasion in 2017.

He returned to Campos from Arden for his second season in the series this year, and his speed at Catalunya was once again shown when he became the first non-ART driver to take pole in two years.

Although he was only able to convert pole into fourth place on this occasion, his next pole at Sochi resulted in a dominant maiden victory, and he was able to make it back-to-back feature race victories when he triumphed in a thrilling duel with Nikita Mazepin in the season-finale at Abu Dhabi.

Unfortunately, Pulcini?s success in the Sunday races was lacking. He made progress from his reverse-grid starting position in just three of the nine races and had the 10th best Sunday race points tally on the grid.

A lot of this was down to bad luck: take the broken radiator after his car sucked in a visor tear-off at Spa, or a broken gearbox at the next round at Monza. On the other hand, he was involved in a few clumsy collisions – such as the borderline-dangerous moving across the track which resulted in the three-car collision in the final race of the season.

Despite these errors, it can not be understated what a brilliant season Pulcini had with a team which had previously never won a feature race in the series. He?s likely to either continue his long-term collaboration with the Spanish outfit in Formula 2 next year or switch to Trident, which he also ran with in the post-season test.

19. David Beckmann

Photo: Zak Mauger / GP3 Series Media Service

Photo: GP3 Series Media Service

Re-entry (41st in ’16)
Got career back on track after mid-season GP3 team switch

For the second successive year, Beckmann made a mid-season team switch, and this time it paid dividends for the 18-year-old German. He went from a solid midfield runner hoping to capitalise on reverse-grids with Jenzer, to the man to beat in the second half of the season with Trident.

That?s not to say he wasn?t impressive with Jenzer. He generally had the measure of his more experienced team-mates, and cruelly lost out on potential podiums in Barcelona and Austria due to incidents in the sprint races.

However, he was instantly successful when he switched to Trident from Hungary onwards, taking back-to-back pole positions and feature race wins at Spa and Monza – completely blowing aside his team-mates once again.

At the next round in Sochi, he won the reverse-grid race to make it three wins from three weekends, despite starting the first race of the weekend down in 15th place after a mechanical failure in qualifying.?His year ended with a second place in in Abu Dhabi, meaning he scored more wins and more points than any other driver in the second half of the season.

The Beckmann that showed enough promise to make this list in both 2015 and ’16 is back, but now he must make the most of an ART Grand Prix seat against stronger opposition in FIA Formula 3.

18. Callum Ilott

Photo: Zak Mauger / GP3 Series Media Service

Photo: Zak Mauger / GP3 Series Media Service

Down 9
Ferrari junior came third in GP3 and starred again in Macau?

Ilott made the move from European F3 to GP3 as a newly-signed Ferrari junior, and was tipped by many as having the talent to follow in the footsteps of ART predecessors Ocon, Leclerc and Russell and win the championship.

His title bid didn’t start in an ideal way, but come the Red Bull Ring round, everything seemed to be coming together. Fresh from his race two win in France a few days earlier, Ilott took pole, race one victory and moved into the championship lead. For the third time in as many years since his departure from the Red Bull junior team, he received a winner’s trophy from Helmut Marko at the Austrian track.

There was the feeling that he could kick on from there, but at Silverstone he had no answer to Anthoine Hubert’s speed. Surprisingly for the driver that took more poles than anyone in F3 in 2017, qualifying proved to be Ilott’s downfall and he never added to his tally.

Regular podiums kept him firmly in title contention until Monza, where he raced to a pair of third-places only to lose the second of them due to a tyre-pressure infringement, but his chances were then ended early by a mysterious lack of race pace in Sochi.

Returning to Macau allowed Ilott to end the year on a positive note, demonstrating his talent once more and looking like a strong contender for victory for most of the week. That he slipped back to seventh place during the interrupted grand prix itself was sadly typical of his season. A move up to F2 seems to be on the cards for 2019, most likely with Charouz.

17. Felipe Drugovich

Photo: Fotospeedy

Photo: Fotospeedy

Up 5
Destroyed all before him in Euroformula Open and MRF Challenge

After missing out on a top seat in European F3, Drugovich chose the alternative route to success and made the absolute most of it.

He started his year in the MRF Challenge, winning eight races in late 2017 before wrapping up the title with two wins out of four at Chennai in February. The results spoke a lot, but meant little to Drugovich as he was using it to stay race sharp physically and mentally.

The title did give him confidence, and as demonstrated during his record-breaking Euroformula Open season, being on top enabled him to access further reserves of performance to keep his winning run going further.

Drugovich was beaten on merit in the second race of the season, but only gave up the top step on the podium on one other occasion throughout the season, a loss that came down to the fact he?d been beaten to pole and would therefore find it difficult to pass unless the leader made a mistake. In total he won 14 of the 16 races, took 10 poles and 10 fastest laps, and had an average finishing position of 1.125.

He was driving for the best team, but there is an obvious question mark against his achievements this year: the standard of his opposition. Still, given what his former Formula 4 rivals Juri Vips and Marcus Armstrong have achieved this year, there’s little to say he can’t be a match for stronger competition should he rightfully join them in FIA F3 in 2019.

• Felipe Drugovich: How to win a Formula 3 title (November 4)

16. Artem Markelov

Photo: FIA Formula 2

Photo: FIA Formula 2

Down 5
Fifth-year F2 racer lacked outright speed in new car but still thrilled

Formula 2 is going to miss one of the most exciting, flamboyant and daring drivers ever to rock up to Formula 1?s prime feeder series. His lower ranking this year is a reflection of his lack of progress despite yet another season at this level under his belt, with the arrival of a new car and fresh competition having exposed him somewhat.

The unthinkable degree of tyre management while pulling off beautifully-executed overtakes was very much there in 2018, but once again it was qualifying which left Markelov to have to do simply too much work in the races.

Wins came in Bahrain, Monaco and Austria, but he ultimately ended up over 100 points shy of the championship ? a massive amount. Markelov has shown great racing driver potential with his gradual progress through GP2 and F2, but there are a few obvious weaknesses that mean he’s probably not F1 material.

The time is right to move on. Super Formula is a likely option for the future, which in turn could well lead onto another crack at making it to F1 in the future. If not, Markelov should have a very healthy future in motorsport regardless.

15. Robert Shwartzman

Down 3
TRS champion takes third in European F3 with late charge

Shwartzman’s arrival into the Ferrari Driver Academy near the end of 2017 soon led to his first car racing title when he snatched the Toyota Racing Series title from under the nose of colleague Marcus Armstrong. It was an extremely consistent campaign – he won just once but also finished outside of the top four on only one occasion – that demonstrated some new-found maturity from a driver who had looked ragged during his failed Formula Renault Eurocup title bid.

That trend would carry over into his rookie F3 season. After first-corner contact with Enaam Ahmed at the Norisring from his maiden pole position, Shwartzman finished every race thereafter, and scored points in each of the last 18 races. The consistency put him top of the rookie classification from mid-season, even though team-mate Armstrong was at that stage miles ahead of him in the overall standings.

For much of the season, Shwartzman’s speed was a little disappointing for a driver making the often-successful move over from the Eurocup with a Prema car underneath him. That all changed at the Nurburgring – a circuit he’s always gone well at – when he followed Mick Schumacher home for a trio of second places. He was similarly strong at the Red Bull Ring, and beat Schumacher off the line in the finale to get his first win.

Shwartzman’s late-season form, rounded out with another victory in the final race at Hockenheim, meant?he ended up third overall. It would be a stretch to say that was entirely representative of his season, and paddock suspicions were that he, like Schumacher, had benefitted from a stronger engine near the end of the year.

Nonetheless, it was definitely a positive year for the SMP Racing-backed Russian, and he’ll look to continue in a similar fashion in FIA F3 in 2019 when he is set to stay with Prema.

14. Nikita Mazepin

Photo: Joe Portlock / GP3 Series Media Service

Photo: Zak Mauger / GP3 Series Media Service

New entry
Much improved Russian nearly won GP3 title as rookie

Arguably the breakout star of 2019, Mazepin went from inconsistent midfield European F3 driver to win more races than any other driver in GP3 this year.

While the best team and plentiful resources helped his cause, Mazepin was still able to usurp drivers who came into GP3 with greater reputations.

The way Mazepin was able to click with the machinery from the opening round was very impressive – dominating the opening feature race at Barcelona. He was the only title rival who was able to consistently beat eventual champion Hubert.

He took arguably the most dominant victory of the year in the feature race at Hungary, beating Pulcini by 10.5 seconds. Mazepin added two further wins in the reversed-grid races at Spa and Abu Dhabi.

While his racecraft was still too erratic at times, and mistakes such as the track limits infringements which cost him a home race pole were still evident, Mazepin was one of the most improved drivers of the year, and it will be interesting to see if he can continue this form with ART in F2 next year, alongside third-year title favourite Nyck de Vries.

13. Nyck de Vries

Photo: Joe Portlock / FIA Formula 2

Photo: Zak Mauger / FIA Formula 2

Up 8
F2 title bid with Prema?never materialised, but brilliant wins did

The championship was surely the objective for de Vries in his second Formula 2 season, especially driving for Prema, who won two drivers? championships on the bounce. Finishing fourth behind two rookies must be a disappointment. But still, he factored often through the year and notched up three wins.

He was involved in a bit of a spat with eventual champion George Russell at Baku, and more race-damaging contact occurred in Monaco. Once he started racing in the World Endurance Championship mid-season, his form took an upward swing. He won a frantic feature race in Hungary and followed that up by winning at ?home? in Belgium. But a late run at the title did not materialise.

Qualifying one of de Vries?s stronger weapons in his armoury, with two pole positions and several other impressive performances, but race performance was still disappointing at times, as strong as it was at others

The long-time McLaren protege has seen Lando Norris land a Formula 1 seat at the team and now Sergio Sette Camara also join the fold. The perfect response will be to beat the latter to next year’s F2 title, this time with another reigning champion team in ART.

12. Max Fewtrell

Up 18
Renault junior upped his game to claim Eurocup crown

Winning the Formula Renault Eurocup crown has given Fewtrell an impressive haul of three titles from as many years in single-seaters. And while consistency was crucial to his British F4 and Eurocup rookie successes (he scored just one outright podium last year), in 2018 he demonstrated his outright pace with six poles and six wins – more than anybody else.

An off-season switch from Tech 1 to R-ace GP gave Fewtrell a faster package, and three strong team-mates to work with: each won multiple races this year.

But in the championship race, Fewtrell was playing catch-up ever since being pushed off by his chief rivals Christian Lundgaard and Yifei Ye in the two races at Monza. A home win next time out at Silverstone was tempered by a retirement.

Off-key weekends in Monaco and at Spa hindered his fightback, but Fewtrell otherwise finished on the podium in every race on the run to the season finale.?That he won both races at Hockenheim and vaulted into a healthy championship lead was fortuitous given Lundgaard’s mechanical woes, but Fewtrell had put himself into position to capitalise. At Barcelona he could afford to play it safe and pick up a pair of fourth places to clinch the title.

Faced by the challenge of rookie Renault stable-mates, the pressure was on Fewtrell this year but he responded in perfect fashion. An even bigger challenge may now await in FIA F3, where he’s set to race for ART Grand Prix.

11. Patricio O’Ward

Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

Photo: Indianapolis Motor Speedway

New entry
Won Indy Lights title on single-seater return before?stunning IndyCar debut

To take essentially a year out of single-seaters, then come back and win the Indy Lights title in awesome style is a feat you can’t imagine many drivers of being capable of doing.

The catch is of course that O?Ward was against a grid of seven usually, which undermines his own personal brilliance when it came to driving this year.

Although he started as a learner on Indy Lights tyre compounds at the beginning of the season, his learning curve was massive, and this helped propel him to his late season wins. More impressive was the fact those skills only took two stints to transfer successfully into IndyCar, where he stunned everybody on his debut and now has a full-time 2019 seat.

One of the top requirements in IndyCar is racecraft. O?Ward showed it in abundance, pressuring rival and Andretti team-mate Colton Herta when he had to, and picking the perfect moment to make a move as he did in the Portland finale.

In defence he was not only brilliant at fending off potential overtakes, but in the second half of the season was judging when to push so that Herta and co. took more out of their tyres in response.

The O?Ward/Herta dynamic worked brilliantly, with the pair pushing themselves and the team forward. On his IndyCar debut, O?Ward?s feedback and judgement belied his inexperience, and it’s all the more impressive that he is still only 19.

The question is: would a bigger grid have stunted O?Ward?s brilliance? Going off the scale that O?Ward pushed the Andretti package, there’s a convincing case to say he would’ve just upped his game if he had to.

It’s scary to think what the Mexican could be capable of in top IndyCar machinery.

• Patricio O?Ward: The next Indy 500 & Le Mans winner? (August 20)
• Road to Indy season review: How three star champions crowned Mazda?s farewell (September 30)

The Formula Scout Top 50 has been compiled by Bethonie Waring, Craig Woollard, Elliot Wood, Peter Allen, Josh Suttill and Tim Lumb.

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Photo: Zak Mauger / FIA Formula 2

Artem Markelov took a lights-to-flag win in the Formula 2 sprint race at the Red Bull Ring, as George Russell claimed the points lead in style by charging to second place.

Russell overtook four drivers in as many laps after the start, all in Turn 1, beginning with his title rival Lando Norris immediately after the rolling start for sixth place.

He then went past Antonio Fuoco, Alex Albon and Sergio Sette Camara at the same place in consecutive laps.

It was on lap seven of 28 that Russell took second place away from front-row starter Tadasuke Makino, at which point Markelov was 2.5 seconds up the road.

The series veteran wouldn?t be threatened by Russell however, gradually opening his advantage up to 6.2 seconds at one stage, and finishing up 5.6s clear as he repeated his victory from the same race one year ago.

Russell is 10 points ahead of Norris heading to Silverstone next weekend after his fellow Brition slipped out of the points positions.

He spent much of the race in sixth up behind Alex Albon, and although he briefly passed Albon from a long way back at Turn 3 with 10 laps to go, he would later lose the place again and was shuffled back to 11th by the finish.

Makino couldn?t maintain his strong early pace to take a maiden podium, and ended up back in sixth place behind Sergio Sette Camara, Antonio Fuoco and Albon.

Santino Ferrucci took seventh ahead of Nicholas Latifi, Nirei Fukuzumi and Arjun Maini after all came past Norris in the closing stages.

Roberto Merhi started from the pit lane rather than the fifth-place he should have had on the grid, and finished 16th.

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