Gp2 2009

[jens]

I'm glad that Parente has finally won a race after a lot of misfortune!

Hülkenberg has dominated the GP2 season more than anyone else in the past since 2005. He seems to be the real deal.

[Nikki Katz]

Yeah, it's been a very good season for Hulkenberg, though admittedly his job was made a lot easier when Grosjean left. He's not only crashed a lot less than Maldonado, but he's been generally quicker too.

Looks like Durango are missing the final round too. I did wonder why they withdrew both cars last week when they only destroyed one chassis. Wonder if they'll be sold before long.

[Nikki Katz]

What a stupid race to end the season with! I'm glad that it sounds like Herck will be ok even if he did have to be taken to hospital (which Eurosport failed to point out), but from the camera shot it was clear he had several seconds to react before hitting Petrov, and just didn't. It wasn't anywhere near as unsighted as Buurman in GP2 Asia.

But those penalties - how is it Zuber's fault that the safety car slowed down to a crawl unsighted before pitting, and how is it the other 5 drivers' fault that when they spotted it they didn't just slam their foot on the break to correct Zuber's error, which probably would have resulted in a massive accident? And how many drivers were penalised for jumping kerbs last night???

It would be nice if they could sort out the anti-stall for next year, I can't remember the last race when someone hasn't stalled on first the dummy grid and then the actual grid a lap later.

[F1boat]

I am happy that Luca Filippi won! SuperNova are childhood heroes from the time they had Montoya in F3000

[jens]

Well, the season is over and it's time to make some conclusions. Congrats to Hülkenberg, can't wait to see him in F1.

So, with Grosjean and basically also Hülkenberg in F1, what will the future bring to others? According to assumptions much-improved Petrov could join F1 too (Campos?). What about di Grassi and Maldonado, who should have more or less won this year to keep their F1 hopes alive, but missed out clearly? This means that their F1 outlooks are clearly very slim now - IndyCar/LMS waiting? What about GP2 veterans like Filippi, Zuber and Villa? Among them probably only Filippi had some fire this year, but generally maybe it's time to seek for a new challenge for these guys rather than hang around in GP2 endlessly without reaching heights?

Who could become top contenders in the 2010 GP2 season? I reckon several current drivers, who showed some promise during the season, but were left a bit in the shadow in the final standings, could rise to the top in the right team next year - mainly I'm thinking about guys like Perez, Parente, van der Garde, but why not also d'Ambrosio and Mortara, here. Which rookie could become a top-star like Hulk in 2009? I personally think that potential Euro F3 champion Bianchi will almost certainly join GP2 in '10 and possibly in ART team, for which he is also driving in EF3 and it shouldn't be forgotten that ART's boss Nicholas Todt is also Frenchman's manager. From this point of view Bianchi is pretty much going through the same route as his predecessors Hamilton/Grosjean/Hülkenberg.

[Nikki Katz]

Other than Grosjean and Hulkenberg I think that the drivers may struggle for F1 seats. However, if by some miracle there are 28 cars on the grid next year then somebody's got to fill them. Petrov would be a good pay driver even if he can't get there on pure talent, though if he really had that much money behind him then he probably wouldn't have spent 4 years in GP2. He's still fairly likely if Campos make it though. I've heard names like Pantano and Carroll mentioned too.

di Grassi is good but not really stand-out like Grosjean and Hulkenberg are. Maldonado had a really dreadful second half to the season. I'd love to see him as the token Venezuelan driver in the IRL (instead of Duno!), but he's so accident prone I'd be a little worried that he'd do himself (or someone else) an injury - it's not exactly the safest series.

Up until recently I would've tipped Valsecci to be the next big thing, but he's really not impressed at Addax. Soucek seems to be making a lot of noise about getting an F1 drive after winning the F2 championship, but that's nowhere near as competitive, and he's so litigious I'd be surprised to see him back in GP2 even.

Might Piquet field Piquet again? Surely he'd be a contender if that did happen. Otherwise it'll probably be the names mentioned.

For the older drivers (Filippi, Zuber, Villa etc) I don't really know where they can go from there, I imagine it'll be out of single seaters if they leave GP2. There are so many feeder series at the moment and little that they're feeding to, especially if A1GP (which usually requires coming from an obscure country) and Superleague are struggling.

[jens]

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/79142

An interesting quote in that article, which made me wondering - iSport will sign new drivers for next year. Nunes' departure is logical, but why and where is van der Garde going?

Btw, Jerez tests next week will also see Estonian Sten Pentus getting a testing opportunity in Racing Engineering. Estonian company Fat Burner is also RE title sponsor, so maybe that has helped him to get such chance.

[haho]

Well, Vd Garde is testing for Addax on wednesday, I heard he might also test for ART, and he says he is negotiating with those teams + others as well as with iSport, and I would not be suprised if he stays, cause he was used to the team and the car last season and could push for the title with them, though he may well have a better chance with ART of Barwa Addax, but he is a major contender for me. Overshadowed as a rookie by the Hulk but second best of the season, which is not bad at all.

[patnicholls]

There's almost always a fairly major reshuffle of the drivers anyway, I don't think much will be clear til well into next year on the whole. Especially with the uncertainty over the new teams joining F1 (I'd love them to be ready, and hope they will be) which'll take care of a bunch of the top GP2 guys.

van der Garde had a weird season - he was good on some occasions and completely anonymous on others. Still, he should be an outright contender next year.