Photo: Formula Motorsport Ltd

Some champions win lots of races, others consistently finish in lower positions and that is what enables them to outscore rivals over the length of a campaign. Are there impressive examples of the latter?

Many think this year’s Formula 2 champion Theo Pourchaire deserves a place on the 2024 Formula 1 grid, while others believe the way in which he won the title in his third season means he didn’t show enough to merit a step up.

In the end, Pourchaire has earned his place at the top level of single-seaters, in Super Formula with Team Impul, but the fact that he became F2 champion after winning just one race in 2023 cannot be ignored.

Winning a title in open-wheel racing’s second tier, which currently consists of F2 and Indy Nxt, is historically the most effective way to earn a seat in the top tier. A scholarship system for Indy Nxt’s champions has ensured most have been in IndyCar the year after, while the F2 title contenders tend to be F1 juniors so their readiness for a seat is already known by the team that supports them. Therefore if they get overlooked, like in Pourchaire’s case with Sauber, it can make others in the paddock think they’re not ready for F1 either.

Alpine even overlooked its junior Oscar Piastri after he won six races and the title as an F2 rookie in 2021, but McLaren poached him to prove Alpine wrong. Piastri couldn’t have done much more in F2 to show he was F1-ready, whereas it could be argued that had Pourchaire won more races he would have not only been champion by some margin but also be F1-bound.

In fact, Pourchaire had the second lowest winning rate for a champion in the entire history of second-tier single-seaters.

Formula Scout has omitted the Soviet F2 series of the 1970s and Formula Libre-spec championships (such as fellow Eastern Bloc competition Formula Easter), and Australian F2 was sometimes comparable to its European counterpart but ran for many years using the category name even when its cars were more comparable to ones from single-seaters’ third tier.

A FEaster car being driven at Goodwood

It did have multiple champions though who only won one race, primarily because of short seasons. Richard Davison turned up halfway through the four-round 1980 season, won at Calder Park, finished second at Sandown Park and that was enough to win the title. Graeme Crawford was also the champion of a four-race campaign, and contested all four rounds, in 1976.

A much more recent example of a second-tier series only featuring four races is GP2 Asia in 2011, which marked the debut of the Dallara GP2/11 car. There was supposed to be three rounds of two races each, but two of them in Bahrain got cancelled due to anti-government protests and there was only time for one replacement event: at Imola in Italy.

Romain Grosjean took pole and finished second in the feature race of round one at Yas Marina Circuit, then won from pole in the Imola feature race. He failed to score in the other two races but was still champion by five points. He went on to win the main GP2 series that year too in far more dominant fashion with five race victories, earning himself a Lotus F1 seat.

A series that has stuck to using second-tier single-seaters through its 50-year history, but doesn’t attract rising stars anymore, is Atlantics. Drivers used to choose between competing in that or Indy Nxt as their final step before IndyCar (or Champ Car prior to the two merging in 2008), and Bill Brack won the first two seasons in 1974 and ’75. He claimed his second title by winning just one of the six races, while entry lists had depleted so much by last year that Keith Grant became champion by contesting six of the season’s 10 races and winning one. No Formula Atlantic cars even entered the final round.

In 1982 there were eight different winners in the first eight races, and most of them went into the ninth and final race at Mosport in title contention. Whitney Ganz claimed his second win of the season there, but the 38-year-old Dave McMillan – who had mised a race – was crowned champion.

Although SF is now a top-tier series, before 1996 the pinnacle of Japan’s single-seater scene was for second-tier machinery. From 1978 to 1986 it ran for F2 cars, then switched to Formula 3000 for the next nine seasons.

Ogawa during his title defence

Satoru Nakajima won five Japanese F2 titles before finally getting the chance to race in F1 in 1987, and his final domestic crown in ’86 was actually his least convincing. He claimed pole for five of the eight races, but only converted one into victory. Similarly, Hitoshi Ogawa took pole for the last three races of the 1989 Japanese F3000 season, had a bad conversion rate with only one win but still claimed the championship crown.

Those are the many honourable mentions, and here are the 10 champions in second-tier single-seater racing with the worst winning rate (based on only winning one race) in their title-winning seasons:

10. Tom Gloy 1979 Atlantics 1 win out of 10 (10%)

This campaign was impressive enough for Gloy to be signed by Team Penske for his rookie CART season in 1980, even though it featured only one win.

Having a brand new Ralt RT1 chassis helped, while some rivals had the same model but their chassis had already been raced for a year or more, and that helped make the difference when reliability came into play.

Two of his rivals – Kevin Cogan and Howdy Holmes – managed to win three races each yet they ended up trailing Gloy in the standings by 45 and 72 points respectively. It was a big margin given Gloy scored 208 points, but the campaign’s five race-winners were the only drivers to score more than 60.

The season began with a Long Beach Grand Prix support race, and Gloy was 0.94 seconds off poleman Cogan’s qualifying pace. But he overcame him in the 51-lap race to win by five seconds. That would be the high point of Gloy’s year in results.

Thereon he relied on consistency to maintain a points lead, finishing second, third and second in the next three races (only missing out on victory by 0.26s in Quebec City) then following it up with his only finish outside of the top four: a seventh place.

At Road America he finally got close to taking a pole and was second in the 25-lap race, albeit 17s behind the winner, then he finished fourth from 15th on the grid at Mosport and was second, second and fourth in the remaining races.

9. Mauro Martini 1992 Japanese F3000 1 win out of 11 (9.09%)

Photo: Martini [9] chasing Irvine and Apicella

So many attempted overtakes that season ended in offs or collisions, and some drivers clocked up as many retirements as they did finishes. That helped Martini take the title, and it’s rather telling that his closest rival was a driver who had four retirements and one points-free finish from the first five races then took two wins and two second places in the next six.

Martini took until round seven of 11 at Fuji Speedway to qualify on the front row, having failed to even start the previous race, and he maximised his position at the front to win while poleman Ross Cheever finished 17th.

A few weeks later Martini could only qualify ninth and finish 10th at the same track, but two podiums in the next two rounds gave him a four-point championship lead with one race to go. He retired from the finale, but only one driver who heading into the race was in the top seven in the standings scored, which sums up the season perfectly.

=7. Simon Pagenaud 2006 Atlantics 1 win out of 12 (8.33%)

Photo: Team Australia

Pagenaud reached single-seaters’ second tier in 2005, coming 16th in Formula Renault 3.5 and failing to make the podium. That meant expectations were not high when the 2004 FR2.0 Eurocup champion moved his career across to the USA for 2006 and joined Team Australia in Atlantics.

Fourth place on his debut suggested he had made the right move, and he finished second in the next two races. At Portland he was already a lap down by lap two and retired from 23rd place a few laps from the end, but he bounced back at the Cleveland double-header with another second place and then his first pole position.

Two weeks later he finished fourth on the streets of Toronto, but with his two title rivals retiring he moved into the points lead. He stayed at the top of the standings for the rest of the campaign, and immediately extended his lead after Toronto in the second Canadian round in Edmonton as he qualified second – 0.013s off pole – and then claimed his first and only win.

In San Jose he finished ninth after getting a one-place penalty for blocking yet extended his points lead, and although he finished third and second in the next two races his main title rival Graham Rahal won both and cut the gap to 12 points.

The season finale took place at Road America, and was a disaster for both title contenders. Rahal was out after five laps, and Pagenaud retired a lap later after contact. It was that moment he was crowned champion, and earned a $2 million scholarship to spend on stepping up to Champ Car. His career in American single-seater racing looks like it has now come to an end.

=7. Robbie Buhl 1992 Indy Nxt 1 win out of 12 (8.33%)

Photo: Richard Spiegelman

The really interesting thing about Buhl’s season was not his low winning rate, but the sports science investigation he and his Leading Edge Motorsport team was part of that tracked how his body reacted to the highs and lows of the title fight.

There wasn’t really any lows though, because Buhl was insanely consistent. He was on the podium in every race until the season finale, taking four second places and six second places to accompany his only win at Nazareth Speedway.

It was Buhl’s third season in Indy Nxt, all with the same team, and he finished second five times in his rookie campaign then claimed one win and three other podiums as a series sophomore but dropped from fourth to sixth in the standings. Only two of the drivers ahead of him in the 1991 season remained in Indy Nxt for 1992 though, so he became one to watch.

He first topped the points after round four, having finished third twice then second twice, and returned to the top in Toronto (round seven) with his next second place finish. With two rounds to go, and before he had won a race, he already had a points lead big enough to be able to skip a race and still be ahead. Therefore, his victory in the penultimate round at Nazareth also delivered him the title.

Had there still been something to fight for at the Laguna Seca finale, he probably would have qualified higher than seventh and finished higher than fourth.

Buhl was not quite as consistent in qualifying as he was in races, and in a field that varied in size from 11 to 20 cars he never qualified lower than seventh and had an average starting position of 3.25 thanks to three poles.

=5. Kevin Ceccon 2011 Auto GP 1 win out of 14 (7.14%)

Photo: Auto GP

A teenaged Ceccon burst onto the scene by winning the Auto GP title by three points as a rookie, a success which led directly to GP2 appearances and an F1 test call-up with Toro Rosso in the same year.

But he lacked the budget to build momentum, instead stepping down to GP3 for 2012. He returned to GP2 in 2013 for six rounds, then was back in GP3 for two more years. After trying out sportscars, he found a home in touring car racing in 2018.

Anyway, back to Auto GP. It began in 1999 as Italian F3000, became a European contest in 2001, returned to being Italian F3000 in 2005, then was Euroseries F3000 again before adopting the Auto GP name and old A1GP cars in 2010. A few tweaks to the chassis, while maintaining the huge 550bhp engines, turned them into junior single-seater cars.

Ceccon had spent his first two years in cars racing in Euroformula (then known as European F3 Open), winning one race and coming fourth in the 2010 standings. When he stepped up to Auto GP his opposition included established GP2 stars.

It’s no surprise that the young and skinny Italian didn’t set the pace against experienced and older opposition, but he displayed great maturity and consistency and the series-organising Coloni family handed him several outings with their GP2 team. He became Auto GP champion thanks to 100% attendance, as his four closest title rivals missed races before the eight-way title showdown at Mugello. It was still a four-driver fight in the final race, but none of them made the podium and Ceccon became champion in seventh.

He took five podiums, with his sole win coming in his third start at the Hungaroring, and made the front row once with an average qualifying position of 4.14 and average deficit to pole of 0.425s.

=5. Wade Cunningham 2005 Indy Nxt 1 win out of 14 (7.14%)

Photo: IndyCar

Cunningham did make it to single-seaters’ top level, but over five-and-a-half years after winning the 2005 Indy Nxt title.

He got the job done as a rookie, but contested the next five seasons since the rules at the time did not forbid champions from remaining in the series.

The New Zealander was another example of consistency rules, since he only once finished outside of the top five in his title-winning campaign. Winning the season-ending California 100 oval race was what clinched him the title, and before that he had already come home second seven times – including a run of four runner-up results in a row – and picked up two third places.

He set the fastest lap on his race debut, and the fact his maiden pole (and front-row start) didn’t come until the penultimate round showed that his strength lied in the races. Cunningham qualified seventh and ninth for his first two races, but converted that into fourth and third places, From an average starting position of 4.64 he had an average race position of 3.14.

In his title defence he improved to three wins and four poles, but missing the St. Petersburg races due to having his appendix removed at the start of the race weekend left him 11 points off being a double champion. There was one win and two poles as he came third in the standings again in 2007, in 2009 he became the only multiple-time winner of the Indianapolis 500-supporting Freedom 100 and then he won it again in 2010. He made five IndyCar starts in 2011 and ’12.

=3. David Empringham 1993 Atlantics 1 win out of 15 (6.67%)

Photo: Marshall Pruett

This was an all-out battle of the Canadians. In one corner was Canaska Racing’s Empringham, and in the other was Forsythe-Green Racing duo Claude Bourbonnais and Jacques Villeneuve.

All three had series experience. Empringham had picked up two wins and three second places from a part-time campaign in 1992, Bourbonnais had a best finish of fourth and a pole from six races, and Villeneuve had made the podium in a cameo.

The trio were overshadowed in round one, but then became the drivers to beat through the rest of 1993. Villeneuve took pole but Bourbounnais won in Long Beach, then converted first on the grid into first at the finish at Road America. Bourbounnais won again at the Milwaukee Mile, then Villeneuve won in Montreal before Bourbounnais struck back at Mosport.

All the while Empringham was racking up podiums, with one second place accompanied by four thirds and the points lead. He also got pole in Halifax, but Trevor Seibert beat him to being the third Canadian of 1993 to win as Bourbounnais non-started.

Bourbounnais won the next two, taking the points lead at New Hampshire Motor Speedway where Empringham didn’t start. He won Grand Prix de Trois-Rivieres (which he did again in 1994 and ’95) to move back ahead, but his form then dipped with two podiums in the last five races. Bourbounnais led again with two races to go, but lost the title when his engine failed 13 laps into the season finale. Empringham finished fourth to take the crown by four points, with Villeneuve a further six behind.

=3. Nicolas Prost 2008 Euroseries 30000 1 win out of 15 (6.67%)

Photo: Euroseries 3000

Prost had to wait almost six years between winning the Auto GP title and debuting in single-seaters’ top tier, and what an impact he made in the inaugural Formula E event as he claimed pole and infamously lost the win at the very last corner.

He started his car racing career with a year in FR2.0, then two in Spanish F3 where he came third in 2007 with two wins. Euroseries 3000 beckoned after that for the son of four-time F1 world champion Alain, and he only had three full-time rivals to contend with. None of whom were expected to set the grid alight with their talents.

Yet Prost only won the title by two points, and five drivers had more race victories than him. He wasn’t even a model of consistency, with his haul of six podiums being matched by his two closest title rivals – one of whom missed two rounds. The season finale at Umbria had four title contenders, and points leader Prost qualified fourth, retired on the opening lap of race one then finished a points-free seventh – 45s behind the winner – in race two to make himself champion.

Prost did the start the season with pole, by just 0.014s, and turned that into a third place finish in his debut. It was a result he would not beat until his maiden win in round six at Jerez – where he also took pole – and catapulted him into a 10-point championship lead. In the remaining five races, which eight drivers saw out, he was outscored by five drivers and one scored almost three times as many points as him in that time despite a second-place finish at Barcelona.

2. Theo Pourchaire 2023 F2 1 win out of 26 (3.85%)

Photo: Sauber Group

The modern trend of expanded calendars in F1 and F2 is why Pourchaire’s title success looks so underwhelming. He had 26 chances to win, and only converted once. His main title rival Frederik Vesti won six times, and rookie Ollie Bearman four times.

Pourchaire got his victory out of the way early, winning the first feature race of the season at Bahrain from pole, then had three points-free races before finishing second in the Melbourne feature race. He followed that up with another non-score, dropping one place to third in the standings, but third in the next race put him back in the points lead.

The championship lead was lost in Monaco despite claiming a fourth feature race podium out of five, and he didn’t top the table again until 20 races into the campaign. Two weekends in which he made the podium in both races led up to that point.

After the summer break, there were three more rounds and a lead of 12 points to protect. The Zandvoort sprint race was so short it didn’t award points, then none of the top four in the standings scored in the feature race – three of them retired early on.

Pourchaire grew his gap with a fourth and a third at Monza, and pole position showed his title-winning pace. At Yas Marina Circuit he put tiredness and a water leak down to his worst qualifying result of the year – 14th place – but rising to seventh and fifth in the two races was enough to be crowned and become the 23rd driver in GP2/F2 history to score 200 points in a season but the first in the 57-year history of F1’s primary feeder series to become champion with just one race win.

1. Oriol Servia 1999 Indy Nxt 0 wins out of 12 (0.00%)

Photo: Oriol Servia

It was crazy enough that Servia won the 1999 Indy Nxt title without ever standing on the top step of the podium, but the fact his title rival and Dorricott Racing team-mate Casey Mears didn’t either makes this a huge statistical anomaly.

There were two drivers who took two wins each, but ended up third and seventh in the standings, while Servia’s title charge was built on five second places and Mears split his four podium results into two seconds and two thirds. Two drivers outside of the top 10 in the standings won races, and for both their victory contributed to around a third of their total points.

Servia came seventh in the 1998 season as a rookie, getting two podiums, and of the drivers ahead of him in the standings all but the champion returned for 1999. Mears meanwhile had two seasons of experience and in ’98 was 17th in the points.

The year began with Mario Dominguez laying down his title credentials with victory at Homestead-Miami, with Mears and Servia a very distant fifth and sixth. Domingues came nowhere near close to replicating that result thereon, but still led the points after round two in Long Beach which Philipp Peter won. The Dorricott drivers finally looked competitive at Nazareth, with Servia taking pole and finishing second, just ahead of Mears. But an 18-year-old Scott Dixon now led the points.

Mears made the podium at Milwaukee to move to the head of the championship, then Servia went on a run of second places at Portland, Cleveland and Toronto to build a big points lead over his team-mate. Servia’s next second place in Detroit put him 20 points clear (equivalent to a win) of Mears and Peter, while 1998 title runner-up Didier Andre was 12th in the standings.

Servia finished fourth, seventh and 14th in the last three races, with Mears doing slightly better with a third, a fifth and a 13th, and that comfortably secured them the top two places in the championship. Peter petered out after his third win, while Jonny Kane, Dixon and Andre suddenly became the form drivers. Kane won the finale (by just 0.049s over the Stig) from pole and rose from ninth to fourth in the standings, Dixon took a win and a second to climb from eighth to fifth, and Andre almost doubled his points tally with first and third in the final two races to lift himself from 12th to eighth in the points table.

The post The second-tier champions Pourchaire emulated with a one-win season appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: Gavin Baker Photography

A circuit known for its illustrious position in the world of sportscar racing welcomed back high-profile single-seater racing last weekend. Here’s the 35-year history the USF Pro championships added to.

Although Sebring, an airfield track in Florida, hosted Formula 1’s United States Grand Prix in 1959 it is best known for its long history of hosting sportscar racing.

Its 12-hour race was part of the World Sportscar Championship for two decades, then from 1973 was part of the IMSA GT championship which evolved into the American Le Mans Series and then into the current IMSA championship. Although the WSC-succeeding World Endurance Championship shared the grid with ALMS in 2012, it has since created its own 1000-mile race at the track which has now been held three times.

The SCCA World Challenge for GT cars raced at Sebring from 2001 to ’09, then as GT World Challenge America has been racing there since 2021. Trans-Am has visited in 18 seasons, starting in 1966, the FIA GT Championship held a three-hour race at Sebring in 1997 and the 24H Series concluded its 2021 season with the inaugural Sebring 24 Hours.

Although the prototype sportscars are the headline-grabbing vehicles when they appear in multi-class races at the track, its the GT and even touring cars that are best suited to Sebring due to its the surface changes, bumps and the abrasiveness of the track surface being far closer to real-world roads (that GT cars are designed for) than purpose-built racing circuits.

For that reason, Sebring can test reliability and eat into teams’ repairs budget even if cars don’t crash, and it is certainly less forgiving to single-seaters that tend to be low-riding and stiffly sprung. While IndyCar in particular enjoys testing at the track to simulate the similar challenges of street circuits, it has so far avoided racing there since the track’s opening in 1950.

A decade after F1’s visit, the Sports Car Club of America’s Formula 5000 series held a race at Sebring and British Touring Car Championship race-winner David Hobbs took victory. The race ran again in 1970, and rising IndyCar star Mark Donohue won.

Indy Nxt testing at Sebring, 2014 [Photo: IMS]

It wasn’t until 2009 that Atlantics visited again, with the season opener supporting the Sebring 12 Hours, then a winter exhibition race was held in 2016 featuring six drivers. However only two of those were actually in Formula Atlantic cars, with Ryan Norman winning the 16-lap encounter by a lap over the Formula Ford-driving David D’Addario who as a result claimed a non-championship F2000 Championship Series win. There was also a supporting non-championship F1600 race.

USF Pro 2000 is the series below Indy Nxt on IndyCar’s support bill, and has a far more expansive history of racing at Sebring. It is now the top level of the ‘USF Pro Championships’ managed by Andersen Promotions, now Indy Nxt is being run by IndyCar, and last weekend it and its feeder series all headed to Sebring.

It was the 12th time the national championship has visited Sebring since first going there in 1999, with USFP2000’s regional Eastern series have also raced there in 2004 and ’05.

The timeline stretches even further back for USF2000, the rung directly below USFP2000 on IndyCar’s support bill and which started life as the United States’ FFord 2000 championship. Having been created in 1990 as a primarily West Coast-based series, in 1992 an Eastern series was launched to run alongside it and the inaugural season ended at Sebring.

USF2000 did not return there again until 1999, with the series now a national championship, and future IndyCar champion Dan Wheldon capped off a title-winning campaign by winning both races.

Sebring was a calendar mainstay from to 2001 to ’04, then again from 2011 to ’13 when it also held the opening round of the USF2000 Winterfest in each of those years.

Photo: Florida Winter Series

In USF2000’s absence came the Ferrari Driver Academy in 2014, as the Formula 1 team’s young driver development programme brought 12 Formula Abarth cars to Florida and organised a four-round series in the state.

There wasn’t a single American driver that raced in the imaginatively named Florida Winter Series, but the grid featured FIA European Formula 3 champion Raffaele Marciello, Formula Renault Alps champion Antonio Fuoco and karting graduate Lance Stroll, who were all Ferrari juniors, and a certain single-seater debutant called Max Verstappen.

In his first ever car race, Verstappen charged from third into the lead in wet conditions and only conceded the lead late on under pressure to finish fourth with fastest lap. That put him ahead of Marciello and Euroformula champion Ed Jones. Verstappen retired from race two after crashing into Autosport journalist and FFord part-timer Ben Anderson, but claimed pole for race three which he finished in eighth.

There was then a scarcity of single-seater racing action at the track, barring Atlantics’ underwhelming exhibition race, until the new Formula Regional Americas championship and the supporting United States Formula 4 raced there in 2019. Unlike most junior series that visit the track, they were not supporting a major sportscar event and the series had instead organised their own event. They did the same in 2020, with a September date meaning it was unimpacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

After a wait of two-and-a-half years to see national-level junior series at Sebring again, the entry-level YACademy Winter Series being the highest profile series to visit during that period, fans were spoiled last weekend as for the first time ever there were three single-seater series in action on the same bill, with USF Juniors being the third part of that triumvirate.

The track proved to be a set-up challenge for all three series, which use very similar cars, with choosing downforce levels a tricky aerodynamic task due to the long straights (including the airfield runway) on the lap but also a need for cornering grip on a surface where mechanical downforce is limited.

Rubber laid down from the previous week’s IMSA and WEC action did make laptimes faster than they otherwise would have been, but low grip was still a big influence on the races and particularly when drivers brought dust onto the track after running wide at turn one.

Incidents at that corner contributed to caution periods and red flags, but the racing between that was exciting and showed that single-seaters can put on as much of a show as sportscars at one of the most important circuits in American motorsport.

Sebring’s junior single-seater winners

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Photo: Detroit GP / LAT Images

Indy Lights returns to Detroit this weekend for the first time since 2012. Here’s a quick rundown of junior single-seaters’ history in ‘Motor City’

IndyCar and its predecessors have been visiting Detroit for a century, with the first non-championship race taking place in 1905. The city appeared in America’s top single-seater series from 1929 to 1933, then again from 1949 to 1953. It returned in 1957, but didn’t appear again until 1989 at which point it became a mainstay until its aging facilities beckoned an end in 2001.

It made its big return again in 2007, but the global financial crisis hit the city’s automotive industry hard and sank the race until 2012 when it rejoined the IndyCar calendar and has remained (pandemic cancellation in 2020 aside) ever since.

Between 1982 and 1988 the city also hosted Formula 1, and it was with the world championship that junior single-seater drivers got their chance to shine on the streets of Detroit as the Atlantics series (comparable to Indy Lights) raced in 1983.

Future IndyCar race-winner Roberto Moreno took pole on the riverside street circuit, based at General Motors’ headquarters, qualifying a massive 2.641 seconds faster than fellow front row man Victor Gonzalez.

That dominant form didn’t quite continue, as Moreno crashed out three quarters into the 40-lap race, three laps after Gonzalez exited proceedings with a broken front wing, and it was Alan McCall Racing’s Josele Garza who ended up winning by 1.416s. Also racing that day was future McLaren F1 driver Michael Andretti.

When the Detroit track was used again by CART in 1989, Indy Lights joined the fun and it stayed as the racing switched to current venue Belle Isle in 1992. For 12 years it sat on the support bill, with New Zealand-rooted team Tasman Motorsports making the bumpy and high-speed track its playground with five wins and running the race’s only two-time twinners: Double R Racing founder Steve Robertson and 2004 IndyCar champion Tony Kannan.

Detroit junior single-seater winners

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Lockdown measures to slow the spread of infection has disrupted everyday life across the globe and delayed almost all motorsport seasons that have been scheduled to take place since March.

The FIA’s Central European Zone Formula 3 championship has no rounds scheduled for this season, and there are only two weekends being organised by FIA CEZ this year, at Slovakiaring and Brno, where it could race. It’s planning to replace its cancelled Hungaroring round, where the F3 series could join in.

Both the Austrian F3 Cup and F2000 Italian Trophy cancelled their shared trip to the Red Bull Ring in May, with the latter series also dropping the previous month’s visit to the Hungaroring that would have combined grids with FIA CEZ F3.

Britain’s MotorSportVision Racing-organised F3 Cup has postponed half of its season due to Motorsport UK’s ban on events until the end of June, and provisionally has a three-round calendar which includes Snetterton (July 11/12 & October 3/4) and Donington Park (September 12/13).

One series that was already adjusting its schedule prior to the arrival of COVID-19 was Australian F3, which ended up failing to get racing underway before its season was suspended in its entirety.

Testing is set to resume soon though, and the series was bound for a boost in popularity this year after category manager Ian Richards became the country’s approved engine builder for HWA units,? and the fact that Australian Formula 4 folded at the end of last year.

Two of the country’s state Formula Ford series have been suspended too, and much of the national series has been postponed or cancelled. Talks are already underway to run races in July, and an Australian FFord Esports series has been launched.

Over in America, the Formula Race Promotions paddock that contains Atlantics, F2000 Championship Series and F1600 Championship Series is planning to start its season at Pittsburgh in mid-June, and has rescheduled a visit to Barber Motorsports Park to July 31 – August 2 to become a support to Formula Regional Americas.

The Formula Renault Asicaup, which had plans to become a regional F3 series this year, has now dropped all of its rounds outside of China to effectively become a national rather than continental series.

Ningbo will hold the season opener on August 15/16, with further rounds at Zhuhai (September 19/20 & December 12/13), Tianjin (October 3/4) and Shanghai (November 7/8).

It too has been holding an Esports series as a substitute to real-world racing.

The post How club single-seaters have been affected by COVID-19 appeared first on Formula Scout.

The 20-year-old started his single-seater career two years ago and won the F1600 Championship Series title. He jumped straight up to Atlantics for 2019 and took a resounding title win, and had been looking at various options over the winter for his next step.

F3R America’s scholarship prize of a season in Indy Lights for the champion lured Cangialosi into committing to a full campaign in the regional Formula 3 series.

“We were kind of late in making a decision for the season, but when Honda announced the Indy Lights scholarship that was the tipping point, we had to make the move into FR Americas,? said Cangialosi.

?The value of the series to run at this level is unmatched and after speaking with [team owner] Christian Pedersen on the phone, I knew then Global was the team that I wanted to join.”

GRG won the driver and team titles in F3R Americas last year, and took victory in 13 of the season’s 16 races.

Speaking about Cangialosi’s announcement, Pedersen said: “We are always looking to work with great talent that also wants to put in the effort for continuous improvement and Dario falls squarely into that category.

“I have no doubt that Dario?s talent and great work ethic will bring him far and we can?t wait to help him on that journey.”

Cangialosi joins last week’s surprise signing Linus Lundqvist at the team. The Swede moves to Americas after winning the BRDC British F3 title and competing in Euroformula.

The post Atlantics champion Dario Cangialosi secures F3R Americas drive appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photos: GP2 Media Service / LAT Images

Giacomo Ricci has been a presence in GP2 since 2008, and he racked up two wins in 46 starts across four years of racing. He’s been behind the pitwall in the seasons since, and added wins in GP3 and FIA F3 too

Just over a decade ago, there was an air of confidence in Italy about its Formula 1 prospects. Ferrari had signed Fernando Alonso, Toro Rosso was on the up as a constructor team, Vitantonio Liuzzi was at an improving Force India and Jarno Trulli had joined returning legendary name of Lotus and was sure to score.

A few of those hopes were debunked in the season opening Bahrain Grand Prix, but there was encouragement in the support paddock as an Italian trio completed their domination of the GP2 Asia season.

Davide Valsecchi won a comfortable title ahead of compatriots Luca Filippi and Giacomo Ricci. It proved a false dawn as none of them made it to F1, but instead became three of the biggest names in GP2 and its successor F2 over the next decade.

Valsecchi won the main series title in 2012 and went on to become the series’ television commentator, Filippi was 2011 runner-up and then became its development driver through Pirelli (tasked most recently with the new 18-inch wheels), while Ricci won one race before also working with the Pirelli and being hired as Trident’s team manager.

Ricci started karting in Italy in the 1990s, and his name first cropped up when he was beaten by Lewis Hamilton to the historic Torneo Industrie title in 1999. Ricci, now 35, remembers being ‘inconsistent’ in karts.

In 2001 he turned 16 and immediately moved to single-seaters, having an underwhelming year in Formula BMW ADAC until a late-season change to a frontrunning team propelled him to podiums and then wins.

There was no follow-up season, as Ricci’s 2002 budget only covered the first three rounds before he switched his efforts to disappointing part-time Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup and Germany campaigns without testing. The next year was even further under the radar, as he stepped down to FR1.6 Spain. Surprisingly, this ultimately saved his career.

“Because I was winning in FR1.6 Spain, I also did some races in the French series,” Ricci recalls to Formula Scout.

“The person behind it was Andre Herck. He was the boss of the [Becker] team his son Michael was racing for. I was hired by him in order to set up the car and in order to help Michael perform. It was a great opportunity because I got a free drive.”

This money-saving opportunity enabled Ricci to then race part-time in FR3.5 (while it was still backed by Nissan) in 2004 without testing and start a long association with Auto GP.

“My only chance was to arrive on track and drive and show my best, and that was what I was trying to do. I joined Vergani Racing and I felt immediately comfortable within the team and the [FR3.5] car, and I was able to do quite a good job.”

Ricci entered four rounds and took a best finish of seventh, with identical form in his four Auto GP races with Power Tech. At season’s end, Ricci almost quit racing before a sponsor arrived that funded him in Auto GP for the next two seasons. With International Formula 3000 being replaced by GP2 for 2005, the 470bhp Lola B02/50 was inherited by the Italy-based series and Ricci joined Astromega.

Four podiums in eight races put him third in the points, and enabled him to then move to Giancarlo Fisichella-branded top team Scuderia Coloni for the pan-European 2006 season.

“2006 was a fantastic season. I have many nice memories. Of course first of all being with a top team, that helped me massively because they had a very good understanding about the car. Plus I had a very strong team-mate in Marco Bonanonomi, we?re still very good friends today. It was a great fight between me and him.

“He was faster in qualifying, but then during the races – especially with the reversed grid – I was able most of the time to recover positions. And I?ve always been really strong in the races, especially in the wet. This meant I won the title in the last round at Misano, where I remember it was super tricky because we started with the slick tyres and it was a damp track.

“I?d been very aggressive with the set-up and the tyre pressure, which allowed me to make a massive advantage at the start of the race. But then the track dried up and in the last seven laps I was panicking because I was losing six tenths per lap. The car was going everywhere, but I was able to manage it and win that race.”

In the years after, Ricci’s services were called upon again and again in Auto GP due to his experience. Two wins in six races he was paid to do by ELK Motorsport in 2007 puts him fifth in the points, and he also cameoed in 2010, ’12 and ’13.

“The car was extremely heavy to drive [sans power steering]. It?s not like today where we have paddle shift, we had a sequential lever to use on the bottom of the monocoque. It was very tricky to drive.

“After I won the 2006 title the budget to step up to GP2 was crazy high, and even F1 opportunities were limited. So I gambled on moving to the USA in Atlantics. With the help of Max Papis, I did a shootout with Team Forsythe, one of the best teams.

“There was eight drivers for four seats. I did a good job so got the fourth seat for 2007. But at the last moment the team became Red Bull, and they kept only the two Red Bull juniors. The team had sent me a draft contract, and I was very excited to drive for Forsythe but unfortunately there was no place. [Afterwards] we chose to go to Conquest Racing.

“I was very disappointed I lost the opportunity to compete in one of the best teams. I took an opportunity that for me was not the greatest [instead]. I was able to finish the championship in sixth and third in the rookie standings so it was still a positive season, but I didn?t score any podiums. On a couple of occasions I was on the podium but then for a mechanical failure I was not able to reach this kind of result. The best I got was two fourth places.

“America was a great experience for me. Generally speaking, the level of driver there was very high. They were used to the street circuits and the airport circuits, whereas a driver coming over from Europe is not – so it was not easy.

“I remember the emotion, the experience, the drivers parade before every race which was fantastic. The contact you have with the fans, sponsors, with everyone was great. There was still Champ Car and the Indy Racing League at the time. At the end of the year Champ Car went bankrupt, and my goal was to move there. I had already signed [a deal], but unfortunately due to this problem the only chance was to start from zero again in Indy Lights and then try to move to IndyCar. The budget was not there any more for me, so that was my last chance in single-seaters basically with budget.

“In 2008 I returned to Europe and raced almost everywhere. I did some sportscar races, and then I was also driving in single-seaters in [Italian Formula 3, International Formula Master and] Auto GP with ELK. It was not the greatest way to spend a year, but for me it was important to keep racing in order to keep myself at a good level. And I was able to – even in the sportscars – show my potential and ability.”

Ricci’s first encounter with GP2 came at the start of the year with David Price Racing, a title-winning outfit in British F3 but a struggler in GP2, the team principal of which was the same Andre Herck who had helped him half a decade prior.

“Thanks to this relationship that started in 2002, Mr Herck again gave me this chance to do some races, two in 2008, then the [2008-09] Asia series, and then some 2009 races in the main series. At the time the team wasn?t great. We were struggling to go forward with the car, and it was difficult to understand the situation because there was already a bit of a fight inside the team. Even for me it was tough, and most of the time were at the back of the field.”

In both years, Ricci’s services were halted once Michael Herck was up to speed and DPR had found a paying driver. For the GP2 Asia season opener at Shanghai he actually drove for Trident, and he seemingly remained long in the team’s memory.

“At the end of 2009, DPR moved from England to Italy. It kept its name but the organisation was completely different. The car then became a rocket. It started being extremely competitive, and this enabled me to finish third in GP2 Asia. Unbelievable considering I did not compete in the first races because of mechanical issues. In total I did nine laps over the weekend. But in all the other races I was always able to finish top five in race one, and on the podium in race two. I have great memories because all of the top drivers were there: Sergio Perez, Sam Bird, Jules Bianchi, Valsecchi and so on. For me, with such a small team, it was unbelievable to reach that kind of result.?

“Then I was hired by the team at the last moment for 2010, and every race I didn?t know if I was competing in the next one, as nothing was related to my performance. The goal for me was to provide the best result, and at the same time respect team orders and the agreement I had with the team boss.

“I was also the test driver of the team, that?s why results were up and down, because I was testing different things in order to discover some positive things about the set-up. As you can imagine, most of the time when you try something it doesn?t work.”

The results really were up and down, as Ricci’s 14-race stint was bookended by a second place and win.

“I started 2010 very well, again I didn?t have the chance to do any private testing. But at the same time I’m grateful forever to Mr Herck because he was the only one who gave me a chance to prove myself. I have nothing to regret and I’m very happy about what I achieved in those two seasons, because when I had the opportunity I used it in the best way possible.”

Ricci was 12th on the grid for the Barcelona season opener, and a crash at the start enabled him to leap up the order.

“I saw everybody get a little bit confused, so I took the opportunity. I was in third after the first corner, and I thought: this is my one opportunity, it?s now or never. I did all the race behind Charles Pic, and I was able to get close to him in the last sector, but never really had the chance to overtake him so I finished second.”

At the Hungaroring he finished eighth in race one, his next points finish, and from reversed grid pole in race two he took DPR’s first main series win since 2005. That result made his car attractive to paying drivers, and his drive ended there.

By this point Ricci had been working as a development driver, driver coach or instructor for eight years, and any cost of racing beyond the running of the car itself at DPR had been covered by these jobs. These financial skills were put to further use when he joined MLR71 in Auto GP at the end of 2012 as a test driver and coach to team owner/team-mate Michele la Rosa.

Ricci wanted to revive his single-seater career, but by the time of the 2013 season opener he was already organising and hiring mechanics and he only raced for two rounds before becoming manager and searching for a driver to replace himself.

After a season of that, continuing work as a coach and with Pirelli in its two-seater F1 car, and a Nurburgring 24 Hours win as a factory Peugeot driver, Ricci received a surprise call from Trident founder Maurizio Salvadori in early 2014.

“It was a very very last-minute call. I remembered that when I signed the contract, the day after they sent me to Abu Dhabi [pre-season testing] to manage the GP2 team, with not so much experience.”

Ricci was now managing former on-track rival Johnny Cecotto Jr, and his experience was also useful for the struggling team.

“The GP3 team was absolutely not performing, and the GP2 team had better potential in comparison. So if you look at 2014 with Cecotto in GP2, and also with Sergio Canamasas, we were able to get some very good results immediately. Johnny had been fighting most of the season to finish top three in the points and ended up fifth.

“One of the best results as a team manager was the first race that I won, with Cecotto at Barcelona. We gambled a little bit with the strategy and we did a mega job with a great pitstop. It was a great drive for him, he started 16th and finished P1.

“I was lucky in that position, having the opportunity to work with Cecotto who was a super experienced driver. It was making my job easier because he knew exactly how to drive the car. After that we made some changes in the team, especially in GP3, and the year after with Luca Ghiotto we almost won the title. From that moment, we are the Trident of today. We are considered one of the best teams in the FIA F3 Championship.”

The biggest change in Ricci’s mind was his driver recruitment strategy, which he describes as a compromise between what a driver brings in performance versus what they bring in budget that then allows the team to improve the package it provides.

“Sometimes it?s difficult to find the best compromise, because sometimes for a team you have to lead on the budget,” concedes Ricci, whose F2 hires have yet to win races.

The first example of his preferred strategy was Ghiotto, who Ricci “pushed like crazy” to sign for the GP3 in 2015 and then GP2 in 2016. The Italian took pole on his GP3 debut at Spa-Francorchamps in 2014, but a team strategy error undid his race.

An engineer with previous working experience with Ghiotto was hired to convince him to join for 2015, and the team went from last in the standings with one points finish to six wins and second in both classifications. From then on, Trident was the only team other than ART Grand Prix able to fill all four of its GP3 cars.

“One of the best satisfactions in GP3 was when David Beckmann swapped from Jenzer Motorsport to Trident in 2018 [and won three races]. From that moment on we?ve been able to prove that our car package was as strong as ART too.”

Ricci also worked with the Ferrari Driver Academy to sign Raffaele Marciello to its GP2 team for ’15, and Trident’s relationship with the F1 manufacturer continued all the way through to last year.

Tyre degradation issues hampered Marciello’s year with the team, and he was dropped by Ferrari at the end of it. Ghiotto took the team’s next, and most recent, GP2/F2 win in 2016.

After its rebrand, F2 introduced a new car in 2018, which Ricci considers a “huge technological jump” from its predecessor. Its increased weight made the issue of tyre degradation even greater, and there’s even more to learn in 2020 with the larger 18-inch wheels being brought in. It’s a challenge for Ricci, but is increasing his love of the series as it gets “more interesting” and the standard of competition gets “higher and higher” as F2 adds complexities and drivers come ever more prepared with “personal trainers, mental coaches, driver coaches, their own karting sessions and sim sessions with the team”. Ricci says it bares no relation to the GP2 of just a decade ago.

He also says this is necessary, given one of his hardest tasks is educating drivers – especially stand-ins – about the Pirelli tyres’ unique characteristics that allow for one push lap and can drop off a cliff many laps before a scheduled pitstop when a driver pushes too hard early on. “The driver needs to adapt their driving style in each moment of the race,” he summarises.

The other big headache Ricci has had as team manager was in 2018, when a fall-out between his F2 drivers Santino Ferrucci and Arjun Maini resulted in Ferrucci deliberately colliding into his team-mate and having a public spact, then receiving a two-round ban, being dropped by Trident and getting taken to court by the team for ?502,000.

“It was a very difficult situation to manage inside the team. Two different drivers with two completely different characters were the result and the whinging about what happened at Silverstone was brought on by himself. When Santino Ferrucci left and Alessio Lorandi replaced him, the ambience changed completely in the team and it was more relaxed. There was more collaboration between both team-mates – as it should be.”

The post Giacomo Ricci: The GP2 underdog leading F2’s dark horse appeared first on Formula Scout.

Points systems are designed in motorsport to most accurately reflect and reward the performance of the competitors involved. Unlike other sports where the scoring mechanisms are enshrined so tightly into the rules that they will never be changed, the variety of categories and series within motorsport means each has its own system and they are tweaked or overhauled completely from time to time. With junior single-seaters, the series often follow the example that Formula 1 sets with its evolving points system, while usually adding additional point(s) for pole position.

Here are 10 significant occasions where using a points system from earlier or later in a series’ timeline would have led to a different driver being crowned champion – and what the implications could have been.

Esteban Guerrieri Indy Lights 2012
2012 system ?1 Vautier 461? ?2 Guerrieri 453? ?3 Yacaman 394
2020 system??1 Guerrieri 326? ?2 Vautier 320? ?3 Yacaman 273

While some drivers moved on to success in Formula Renault 3.5 immediately after Formula Renault 2.0, it took five years for Eurocup champion Esteban Guerrieri to do so, then another two before he had a second, but not even full-time, chance.

His 2010 season was curtailed by poor luck and non-appearances, but six wins in the 12 races he was classified in put him third in the points. He switched his focus to America for 2011, as he lacked the budget for a Virgin Racing F1 seat on offer, and continued his junior single-seater career there in Indy Lights with Schmidt Peterson Motorsports.

After scoring three wins and finishing second in the points as a rookie he was signed to IndyCar team KV Racing Technology. Once again, the budget wasn’t there and he returned to SPM in Indy Lights.

After the first three races just three points covered Andretti Autosport’s Sebastian Saavedra and SPM’s Tristan Vautier and Esteban Guerrieri, who took his second win in the next race on Indianapolis Motor Speedway’s oval. Under the current Indy Lights points system, oval races score higher than their road and street-based counterparts (45 versus 30 points for a win), and Guerrieri’s best results through the remainder of the season were on the banked circuits.

Vautier won at the Milwaukee oval and the street races at Trois-Rivi?res and Baltimore, enough to win the title using 2012’s points system (50-40-35-32-30-28-26-24-22-20…) despite finishing outside of the top 10 in Toronto. Guerrieri never finished lower than seventh, which combined with his stronger oval form would have made him champion under the current system.

Guerrieri’s single-seater dream ended there and he returned to Argentina. That wouldn’t have been the case as champion, as he would have been guaranteed a part-time IndyCar seat without needing a budget. Who knows what he could have achieved.

Daniel Ricciardo Formula Renault 3.5 2010
2010 system ?1 Aleshin 138? ?2 Ricciardo 136? ?3 Guerrieri 123
2017 system??1 Ricciardo 217? ?2 Aleshin 215? ?3 Guerrieri 199

Failing to end a six year spell without a title above Formula 3 level for the Red Bull Junior Team ultimately put pay to an immediate F1 promotion for Daniel Ricciardo, who did a brilliant job to come two points short of the FR3.5 title as a rookie.

The Australian had won the FR2.0 West European Cup and British F3 titles in successive years, and after a two-race FR3.5 cameo in 2009 with Tech 1 Racing he joined the team full-time in 2010. He kicked proceedings off with two poles and the points lead, and took his first win in style on the streets of Monaco. His pace continued to pick up and he won at the Hungaroring, Hockenheim and Barcelona using the low-downforce aero trim specified in the second races of each weekend.

Guerrieri seemed to be the master of high-downforce running, and he won five times with the alternative aero. His absences meant Ricciardo’s rival was fourth-year racer Mikhail Aleshin, who won three times early on before relying on consistency. Their title fight went to a final race showdown, after Carlin had saved its driver Aleshin from a locked Barcelona circuit toilet.

Ricciardo dominated the first race by 26.221 seconds, putting him level on points with Aleshin for the title decider. He qualified second for it, three places ahead of his Russian rival, and held him off for 10 laps before a kick of oversteer on lap 20 of 22 meant he fell behind. That was all that was needed to sway the title balance, and being beaten by a driver who Red Bull had dropped at the end of 2009 wasn’t good enough for Ricciardo to be immediately promoted by Dr Helmut Marko to F1.

It was the final year FR3.5 used a 15-12-10-8-6… points system before switching to F1’s points format, and had it not delayed then Ricciardo would have been champion. Aleshin would’ve headed to Barcelona as leader by two points, and the balance would’ve switched to a five-point Ricciardo advantage after the dominant win. Not only was finishing one spot behind his rival fine in race two, but he could have also dropped another position and been champion on win countback.

Jules Bianchi Formula Renault 3.5 2012
2012 system ?1 Frijns 189? ?2 Bianchi 185? ?3 Bird 179
2006 system??1 Bianchi 131? ?2 Frijns 126? ?3 Bird 118

Photo: World Series by Renault

It took another two years for the first rookie FR3.5 champion since Robert Kubica in 2005, and it could have gone to any of three drivers. Reigning Eurocup champion Robin Frijns won it for Fortec Motorsports, just beating Tech 1’s Jules Bianchi and ISR’s Sam Bird.

Frijns and Bianchi both claimed three wins, while Bird won in Monaco and at home track Silverstone. For the third year in a row the title fight came down to the final race, and all three were in contention. Bird was 16 points behind going into the decider, which using FR3.5’s most common pre-2011 points format of 15-12-10-8-6… with one point each for pole and fastest lap would have actually been a larger gap of 17pts, just enough to keep him in the fight.

Bianchi headed to Barcelona five points ahead in reality, but under the older points system that gap would have doubled. As such, finishing seventh to Frijns’ third in race one (after a spin) would still have kept him ahead by five, and when he retired after they crashed while fighting over fourth in race two he would have been crowned champion, and potentially been promoted to a Force India F1 race seat for 2013. Had Frijns not been penalised for their clash and finished seventh, Bianchi would still have been champion by one point.

Back in 1999 another would-be FR3.5 champion didn’t have their way, as Portuguese talent Manuel Giao was beaten on dropped scores by Fernando Alonso. The 28-year-old won two races to Alonso’s six, and went from being two points ahead to seven behind after dropping two of his scores. Using the 2017 points system, Giao would have been champion by six points.

Martin Brundle British Formula 3 1983
1983 system ?1 Senna 132? ?2 Brundle 123? ?3 Jones 77
2014 system ?1 Brundle 360? ?2 Senna 336? ?3 Jones 250

The closest Martin Brundle ever got to being a title contender in his lengthy single-seater career was the 1983 British F3 season, where the Eddie Jordan Racing driver faced off against West Surrey Racing’s Ayrton Senna.

The history books show Senna, once dropped scores were included, triumphing by nine points after the duo won 19 of the 20 races (or 18 when you count the Allen Berg-awarded Silverstone race where winner Brundle was ineligible for points due to using non-spec tyres). Senna took 12 of the triumphs for himself, which contributed 120 of his 132 points.

Brundle bagged six points-scoring wins, but was a far more consistent scorer and took 10 second place finishes to Senna’s two. Along with two third places, it mean his only non-score other than his Silverstone win was when he and Senna collided at Oulton Park.

Given the seven-point difference between first and second place in the 2014 point system, surely Senna’s tally of wins would have made him a more assertive champion? Not so. The relative value of a third place in 2014 was more than 1983 (60% of a win versus 40%), and Brundle made two appearances on the bottom step of the podium at Silverstone and Thruxton.

While he only moved into the points lead with three races to go under the new system, he would also be champion with a race to spare as Senna racked up six retirements. Unsurprisingly, both Brundle and Senna got offered F1 drives at the end of 1983.

Applying the points system in use at the championship’s demise would have also changed F3 title outcomes in Italy, including making Piercarlo Ghinzani and Enzo Coloni two-time champions. Ghinzani would have added the 1976 title, while Scuderia Coloni’s founder would have won in 1980. Claiming the 1977 title would be Oscar Pedersoli rather than Elio de Angelis.

Herm Johnson Indy Lights 1977
1977 system ?1 Bagley 500? ?2 Johnson 500? ?3 Holmes 340
2020 system ?1 Johnson 115? ?2 Bagley 108? ?3 Holmes 84

Johnson at the 1982 Indianapolis 500

Based around the winged-Formula Super Vee, the start of Indy Lights history kicked off with a four-round USAC-sanctioned series in 1977 that attracted 40 drivers.

Race one was at the ‘kidney bean-shaped’ Trenton Speedway oval, followed by Milwaukee, Canadian Tire Motorsport Park and Phoenix. With three ovals, the current points system would obviously favour drivers who fared better on left-handers.

However in 1977 there was no balancing, and due to the low number of races there ended up being two drivers on the same amount of points. Both Tom Bagley and Herm Johnson scored 500, and were declared co-champions.

Bagley took two wins to Johnson’s one, and to most series that would make him champion. Given it didn’t, and the revived Indy Lights’ points system has evolved significantly since, it’s worth reassessing the 1977 season.

Johnson retired at Trenton, while Bagley beat Howdy Holmes to victory from pole. Noel Bennett beat poleman Johnson at Milwaukee, with Bagley in fifth. Pole was wasted again by Johnson in Canada, and Bagley came through to beat William Henderson and Johnson. The only way Johnson could become co-champion at Phoenix was if he won, Bagley retired, and Bennett and Holmes finished seventh or lower. Bennett failing to race removed one rival, and Holmes only lasted 13 laps.

Bagley made it just past half-distance before also retiring, and Johnson held off Bill Alsup to win the race and share the title. Things would have gone a little differently using the 2020 system, especially as all starters score points, and Bagley’s 14-point lead going into the season finale would have been completely eradicated by the initially distant Johnson.

The 2010 Indy Lights title also changed hands under 2020 rules, with James Hinchcliffe beating Jean-Karl Vernay.

Richard Verschoor Toyota Racing Series 2018
2018 system? 1 Shwartzman 916? ?2 Verschoor 911? ?3 Armstrong 901
2020 system ?1 Verschoor 363? ?2 Shwartzman 363? ?3 Armstrong 353

Photo: Bruce Jenkins

After agonising title defeat in 2017, a similar fate was not in Richard Verschoor’s plan for his Toyota Racing Series return. But it was the same fate for the Dutchman, who’d just been dropped as a Red Bull junior, and he can absolutely pin the loss to a gearbox problem that put him out of race three at Ruapuna. Even the lowest of finishes would’ve made him champion.

Fast forward a year, and TRS changed its points system from 75-67-60-54-49-45-42-39-36-33-30-28-26 for all races to 35-31-27-24-22-20-18-16-14-12-10… for the two races with grids set from qualifying, and 20-18-16-14-12-10… for the reversed grid encounter. This would have made all the difference for unlucky Verschoor.

All six of Verschoor’s wins were in the ‘main’ races, with M2 Competition team-mates Robert Shwartzman and Marcus Armstrong only taking one win each in the higher-scoring contests. Armstrong’s other win came in a reversed grid race.

Finishing no lower than fifth originally propelled Shwartzman to the title by five points, but had the following year’s system been at play then he’d have sat level with his team-mate instead. It would then of course come down to who had the most wins, and Verschoor was an easy winner on that count. Armstrong didn’t gain or lose compared to his rivals, remaining 10 points behind.

Had Verschoor beaten both Ferrari juniors, maybe his fledgling F1 hopes would have been given a reprieve elsewhere.

Despite numerous close titles in TRS, on no other time would a different year’s points system have changed the outcome.

The previous time a title ‘Down Under’ could have changed hands was Australian Formula 2 in 1984, with Keith McClelland beating Peter Glover using the 2020 FIA F2 system, rather than finishing 1.5 points behind.

Jonathan Summerton Atlantics 2009
2009 system ?1 Edwards 182? ?2 Summerton 182? ?3 de Silvestro 176
2020 system ?1 Summerton 509? ?2 Edwards 505? ?3 de Silvestro 492

The men behind the doomed US F1 Team watched the 2009 Atlantics season with intent, as an all-American title fight ensued between 18-year-old John Edwards and 21-year-old Jonathan Summerton, with 20-year-old Swiss Simona de Silvestro not far behind. The team wanted an American driver for its debut F1 season, and Summerton was definitely in with a shot.

At first it was US RaceTronics’ de Silvestro who put the others in the shade, and she took the points lead in round three of 12. She then extended it to a whopping 26 points with three races to go, taking four wins and four poles on the way, before her title challenge collapsed by failing to meet the chequered flag twice in the remaining races.

A win was worth 20 points, and Summerton took two to Edwards’ one in the three races left. De Silvestro still led the points even after her car stopped on lap one of the Laguna Seca season finale, but as the race went on it was clear she was to lose.

Edwards beat Summerton to win that race, and jump from third in the points to win the title on second place countback against Summerton. It was a cruel defeat for the latter, and de Silvestro, and US F1 ended up opting for a different driver.

Had Atlantics’ current 50-42-37-34-31-29-27-25-23-21-19-17-15-13-11… system been at play, with three points for pole and two for fastest lap, then Summerton would have had his title and F1 deal. Unfortunately no such reprieve exists for de Silvestro, who would still be third in the points but did go on to race in IndyCar and Formula E.

There are three other examples of a new champion under the 2020 points system, with Jacques Villeneuve rising from third to become 1993 champion, future IndyCar star Richie Hearn winning in ’94, and Michael Valiante claiming the 2002 crown.

Victor Martins Formula Renault Eurocup 2019
2019 system? 1 Piastri 320? ?2 Martins 312.5? ?3 Smolyar 255
2009 system??1 Martins 206.5? ?2 Piastri 205? ?3 Smolyar 165

Photo: Renault Sport Series

It may be third time lucky for Victor Martins in the Formula Renault Eurocup this year with ART Grand Prix, but in a different world he would be racing in the FIA F3 Championship as a Renault junior instead.

The Frenchman lost his support from the manufacturer at the end of 2019 after he failed to win the Eurocup title in his sophomore season. He’d won two races and claimed fifth in the points as a Renault-backed rookie in 2018, and had already been given a reprieve to continue to race in its colours last year.

The Eurocup’s switch to regional F3 regulations meant Martins’ year of experience wasn’t that relevant, and he switched from champion team R-ace GP to MP Motorsport. Rival Oscar Piastri took his place at R-ace, and the pair embarked on a tit-for-tat title battle (which also dictated who would be a 2020 Renault junior) that was decided in the final race at Abu Dhabi.

Both had their share of bad luck, including races they didn’t even get to start, and also had weekends where their team had a clear competitive advantage over the rest. At Abu Dhabi it came down to individual brilliance from both, but a fluffed start from pole for Martins in race one made his day difficult and he had to live with an extended Piastri lead as the Australian won.

Martins didn’t waste his pole spot in the decider, and even used some slowing tactics at the start to make it tougher for Piastri. A comfortable sixth win of the season wasn’t enough to become champion, with seven-time winner Piastri being crowned in fourth place. Under the old system that FR3.5 used, but with the only additional point being for pole, Martins would be smiling instead. He had nine poles to Piastri’s five, equating to a 1.5 point lead come the end of the season.

Heinz-Harald Frentzen German Formula 3 1989
1989 system ?1 Wendlinger 164? ?2 Frentzen 163? ?3 Schumacher 163
2014 system??1 Frentzen 166? ?2 Schumacher 163? ?3 Wendlinger 162

The German Motorsport Federation had its money on two talents in the 1989 German F3 field, and reportedly put a F1 test on the line for the pair. Due to dropped scores, both were beaten by Helmut Marko’s driver – a frequently told tale over the next three decades – and it was the highly-rated Michael Schumacher who had to stay in F3 for another year.

After a spell of strong form by Michael Bartels (Bongers Motorsport) and Schumacher (WTS Racing), victories were mostly fought out between RSM Marko driver Karl Wendlinger and Schuebel Rennsport’s Heinz-Harald Frentzen. Out of DMSB juniors Frentzen and Schumacher it was the latter to take a win first, doing so in a straight battle at the Red Bull Ring.

Frentzen then won two on the trot, coming just a second short at Hockenheim of making it four in a row as Wendlinger took a follow-up success to his AVUS win. With two races to go, Schumacher and Bartels were distant title contenders and Frentzen led Wendlinger by one point. One race later and Frentzen was now the outsider after Schumacher claimed victory.

The three-way showdown took place on Hockenheim’s Short circuit, and this time Frentzen was two seconds short of the win needed to be champion. A distant third for Schumacher wasn’t good enough for him either, but 14th for Wendlinger was given he’d missed a race and only needed to drop one points-scoring finish.

German F3’s last points system was very different, and would have left Frentzen three points ahead of Schumacher and four ahead of Wendlinger in the standings. Being champion may even have prevented Frentzen losing his girlfriend Corinna to his rival…

The same system would make Manfred Mohr a two-time champion and Bertram Schafer a three-time champ, given Wolfgang Klein the 1980 title and made Franz Konrad the ’81 rather than ’83 champion, with Hans-Peter Pandur inheriting that success.

Thierry Boutsen FIA European Formula 3 1980
1980 system ?1 Alboreto 60? ?2 Boutsen 54? ?3 Fabi 50
2018 system ?1 Boutsen 349? ?2 Alboreto 340? ?3 Fabi 303

In both eras of the FIA European F3 championship, there were a lot of drivers and a lot of races. And not all counted for points. The points system only rewarded the top six from 1975 – ’84, so consistency – even over 16-rounds – could go unrewarded.

Importing the top 10-focused system from the 2012 – ’18 era of the championship makes the biggest change to 1980’s season: Euroracing’s Michele Alboreto would have a six-point margin overhauled by Oreca/Martini’s Thierry Boutsen.

Boutsen started the season by pipping team-mate Philippe Alliot to victory on the Nurburgring Nordschleife, then won six of his next eight races. After that he had only five podiums in his next 15 races, most of which came in the non-scoring heats.

Alboreto won five times, four of which counted for points. In total, only three of Boutsen’s did and that’s what cost him. In a reimagined series Boutsen would be champion by nine points from Alboreto and 46 points from Euroracing’s four-time race winner Corrado Fabi. Boutsen’s team-mate Mauro Baldi was not far behind on five wins, with Alliot completing the top five.

The era’s two greatest drivers never to make it to F1 would also be rewarded more appropriately. In 1978, Anders Olofsson lost the title on second place countback to Jan Lammers. Now, he would a clear champion by some 31 points. Five years later, Pierluigi Martini beat John Nielsen with a rapid second half to the season that put him in the points lead for the first time after the final race. Under different rules, Nielsen would have remained top by 14 points.

The last time an F3 driver would be ruing not having a modern points system would be 2009, when Drivex School’s Celso Miguez lost the Euroformula title by two points to Campos Racing’s Bruno Mendez. Today’s system would crown him by nine.

The post When points systems played a part in history appeared first on Formula Scout.

Photo: National Archive of Singapore

Since 2008, the Singapore Grand Prix has become one of the most popular motorsport events on the planet, with its spectacular floodlit scenery and high-commitment circuit layout around the Marina Bay.

The race had a long history before becoming a Formula 1 event, starting back in 1961.

Like many debuting F1 races now, Singapore of the late 1950s was home to a growing economy with an increasingly global appetite. It was benefiting from the rise of commercial jet flight, but the average stay of tourists was just three days.

While tourism really wasn’t near the top of the Malaysian government’s agenda (this being pre-independence Singapore), the potential of the tropical island paradise was obvious – not least for government coffers.

By 1961 the Ministry of Culture had caught on and ran ‘Visit Singapore – The Orient Year’, a sports-focused campaign to bring more people to the nation. Over the weekend of September 16-17, the first ‘Singapore – Orient Year Grand Prix’ was held.

100,000 people were expected to visit the Thomson Road circuit, located 20km north of the current F1 venue. The 4.865km layout was a terrifying mix of high-speed sweeps and tighter turns of varying camber, and the asphalt was of varying quality due to the cost of repairing or repaving anything more than very short stretches of road.

Track design by Readro

Thomson Road was picked with fans in mind, with suitable nearby roads for bus services and elevation to please spectators.

F1’s Malaysian GP was known for its extreme humidity, and Singapore organisers faced the same problem. They ensured all circuit staff had access to free drink, that additional telephone lines were made for ambulances and electricity connections to bypass the problem of burnt out electrics.

The biggest hitch of them all for the 1961 race was that its first scheduled date was during a public holiday, which complicated not only how many people would be available and willing to work that weekend, but if several government ministries and labour unions would allow it, especially when it came to the requirement of a police presence.

A different date was picked, the weekend of racing went ahead without too much issue and proved popular enough to earn the Malaysian GP moniker until Singapore declared independence.

It was at this point, in 1966, that the grand prix focused on being the fastest junior single-seater race in the Far East. The event got bigger, the prizes got larger, and subjectively the drivers got better as entry opened up internationally to drivers outside of the Singapore Motor Club membership.

Singaporean Lee Han Seng won this ‘first edition’ of the race, sponsored by big international brands, but local knowledge only lasted one more year before international stars started winning.

Kiwi talent Graeme Lawrence triumphed three times in a row between 1969 to ’71, and won eight other junior single-seater races with grand prix titles in Asia during his career.

Max Stewart won the 1972 race, with fellow Australian Vern Schuppan winning the final fateful edition of the race a year later – the last Singapore Grand Prix before 2008.

Schuppan’s career started in Formula Ford 1600 in Britain, but after one full season jumped to racing Formula B/Atlantic – a Formula 2 level category with Formula 3 level running costs – and won the 1971 British title. Using the same cars in the junior single-seaters grands prix of Asia (including Selangor and Macau), he quickly launched himself into F1, IndyCar and then the Le Mans 24 Hours with success.

“Bearing in mind I’d never raced in Australia, I hadn’t raced when I moved to England in 1969. So the first time I’d come up against [fellow] Australian drivers was in Singapore,” Schuppan tells Formula Scout.

“It was exciting for me, the drivers who came up [to race in Singapore] were guys that were generally older than myself. Guys I’d followed while I lived in Australia. They were fairly famous names, [like] Kevin Bartlett. There was a bunch of well-known drivers, some that are still around.

“Also Jack Brabham was out there, so considering I’d only been racing less than a couple of years at that stage, it was quite an exciting time to meet those guys and race against them.

“I guess Thomson Road was dangerous [by the standards of the time], with very large drainage areas either side of the track. The car would go in there and disappear sort of thing, if you happened to go off the road. Plus being fairly hilly, there are a lot of drop offs from the road.

Vern Schuppan during his time in IndyCar

“In fact, I crashed there. I took my virtually new March out there and had a rear suspension break during the first practice or qualifying, and I was lucky not to have a much more serious accident than I did. We managed to repair the car and I finished up racing it. Starting from the back because of not qualifying properly, I finished second in that 1972 race.”

The track rewarded bravery and was a driver favourite, but with powerful FB cars charging around it by the early 1970s and little in safety improvements, it was without exaggeration a death trap.

Although the FB cars were laden with downforce thanks to sticky tyres and large aerodynamic appendages, drivers still had to lift to avoid take off on ‘The Hump’, a right handed kink that acted as the first corner and the highest point on the track.

Cars were often modified too to enhance performance. With so much of the track at full throttle, they were filled heavy with fuel, so holes were deliberately put in the bodywork in the pursuit of weight loss. This of course made the internals, and driver, more susceptible to roadside debris.

Effective brakes were hugely important (but not common beyond the FB cars), with three major hairpins, two of which came at the end of high-speed sections. One difficulty was that the Circus Hairpin also came after a lengthy descent, meaning gravity often took control. VIPs, predominantly government officials, had their stand positioned here.

The tropical climate and unforgiving track made it mechanically gruelling, primarily due to the rocks that littered the track.

As the race was run to a ‘Formula Libre’ format, there was also F3 and FF1600 cars to contend with. Down the Thomson Mile, the straight split by The Hump, lapping slower cars was still difficult and the number of incidents that occurred there meant the stretch was colloquially known as ‘Murder Mile’.

In 1972, Singaporean Lionel Chan rolled into a marshal’s car and died, although there are conflicting reports on the exact circumstances of his death, while two-time Macau GP winner Jan Bussell escaped a crash where fuel set one of his rear tyres and then his entire car in fire.

Through The Snakes that followed, a tree and ravine-lined equivalent to Suzuka’s ‘S’ Curves, attempting overtakes was a near death wish. It was the hairpin immediately after, Devil’s Bend, that cast the largest shadow though.

While the grand prix proved as popular to drivers and fans in East Asia, the circuit was too dangerous to host the organisers’ growing ambitions, but a permanent circuit to replace it never got further than the planning stage.

Institution support evaporated after 1973, when Joe Huber died in a supporting touring car race – avoiding a fruit plantation but hitting a pole instead. The fatality count, an increasing amount of road traffic accidents occurring in the country, and a host of other socioeconomic factors meant the presence of the race could be justified no more.

It wasn’t just the race that was stopped after 1973, but motorsport itself. But this didn’t stop various parties trying to revive it.

Australia, New Zealand and Macau were some of the other Pacific nations running international grand prix events for junior single-seaters, and in 1985 the Australian race was granted F1 world championship status on a new street circuit in Adelaide.

The men behind Adelaide wanted to bring motorsport back to Singapore and Thomson Road, and aimed for a spot on the 1990 F1 calendar. That date was pushed back by a year by the time the Singapore government had approved plans for a grand prix return, and at a new location 15km east of the current Marina Bay track.

At a conservative cost of $30 million, the expo-style venue was supposed to include ‘space for exhibitions and a leisure complex’ in addition to the grand prix circuit. With more emphasis on private sector involvement, the plan failed and the land is now home to a lagoon-filled golf course and the promised expo centre.

In May 2007, Bernie Ecclestone signed a deal that brought Singapore onto the F1 calendar as the first ever night-time grand prix. On the support package was Formula BMW Pacific, in which Romanian Doru Sechelariu took a double win. Felipe Nasr did the same a year later, and in 2010 the wins were split between Singapore-licensed Brit Richard Bradley and Oscar Tunjo.

For 2012 and ’13, the cramped support paddock was occupied by GP2, and junior single-seaters have not been seen there since. Formula 4 South East Asia planned to visit in 2017 but never did, and with the growth of Asian F3 surely it’s only a matter of time until young drivers are making their names on Pulau Ujong once again.

The post When the Singapore GP was run for junior single-seaters appeared first on Formula Scout.