Who will be in F1 in the next 1-3 years? & Pantano thread [merged]

[Ranger]

Self explanatory. :)

I'll start:

Marko Asmer (Brit F3 champ, BMW tester)
Bruno Senna (GP2)
Romain Grosjean (GP2, GP2 Asia)
Brendon Hartley (Red Bull backing)

...and probably some 16 year olds at this rate!

[Storm]

Bruno Senna...and hopefully his team-mate Karun Chandok too :p :

[Garry Walker]

Self explanatory. :)

I'll start:

Marko Asmer (Brit F3 champ, BMW tester)
Bruno Senna (GP2)
Romain Grosjean (GP2, GP2 Asia)
Brendon Hartley (Red Bull backing)

...and probably some 16 year olds at this rate!

Possibly Grosjean and Senna

[ChrisS]

Nico Hulkenberg (F3 Euroseries, Williams test driver)
Lucas Di Grassi (GP2, Renault RDD and test driver)

[Anderton]

Brunno Senna :D And Grosjean.

Mika Maki maybe?

[Nikki Katz]

Senna definately, probably Grosjean or di Grassi but not both. Pantano, Chandhok, Buemi and Hulkenberg outside shots.
And probably someone I haven't heard of.

[Sleeper]

Jaime Algesuare (sp?)

[FIA]

Senna (Toro Rosso)
Grosjean or Di Grassi (Renault)
Hartley (Toro Rosso)
Guetirrez (BMW)
Hulkenberg (Williams)
Chandhok (Force India)

[gloomyDAY]

Nico Hulkenberg! He's going to be the NH at BMW.

[MrJan]

I'm trying fairly hard ;) :p :

[patnicholls]

The Senna, Grosjean, di Grassi shouts are good, I think (Lucas di Grassi has gone up in my estimation this year actually, despite coming second in GP2 last year). Pantano's a tough one - GP2's the thing to win and he's leading at present, but he is, well, 29 years of age and will be thirty at the start of next year.

Aside from those, it'll be tricky to get in with such an influx of GP2 guys over the past couple of years.

The other one I'll bring up as a very decent prospect is Giedo van der Garde who's currently dominating the Renault World Series (which brought us Robert Kubica & Seb Vettel, plus Alonso & Kovalainen were champions of one their way up through F3000/GP2 respectively). If Giedo wins that and then gets a top seat in GP2, he could be a good bet.

[ioan]

Who knows?!

[jens]

Usually we witness about 3-4 rookies per season (next year could be an exception with only 1? or 2 rookies), so during the next 3 years we may see why not around 10 drivers getting a shot.

Who may be among them?
Senna - seems almost sure at STR in '09
Buemi - STR in '10?
Grosjean - Renault in '09 or '10.
Hülkenberg - Williams, possibly in '10.
Chandhok? - Maybe Force India, but he should raise his game for that.
Asmer? - 2009 GP2 campaign will be crucial

Then some more impressive current British F3 (Alguersuari? Perez?) or/and Euro F3 (Mortara? Mäki? Vietoris?) may find a place in F1 within 3 years too.

Doubt that Pantano will get another chance. Time is working against di Grassi too (teams are interested in guys, who are doing well in their 1st or 2nd GP2 seasons).

[MAX_THRUST]

Senna, and the name will be good for F1 again.
Di Grassi, he's worked consistently hard.
Hulkenberg, not next year but in three i think so.
Chandhok (Force India) How can this not happen????
Buemi, ?
Pantano- hes 29 and is no longer a F1 rookie having raced previously. I was thinking about this at the weekend. If he doesn't get the Toro Roso ride for next year what will he do? Is it worth staying in GP2 or wil he go sports cars or back to the US.

[Hayley]

I think Senna will join F1 but perhaps in 2010 if there is a possibility of him driving for a better team and if he doesn't win the GP2 championship this year.

I think Di Grassi is a better bet for Renault next year if Alonso goes cos Grosjean has really shown his inexperience in GP2 Main Series this year. He looks like he needs another year.

Chandhok must be a good bet for Force India and he has been great the last few races as well.

Buemi will go to Red Bull at some point, hes a very good driver. Hartley in the future as well.

I also think if Mike Conway could get a drive with a team like iSport next year he could move up to Honda.

Geido Van Der Garde the Mclaren development driver might be worth a bet to. He is dominating the World Series this year and I reckon he'll be looking for a GP2 drive for next season.

[seppefan]

If Senna wins the title he is looking good for F1 in 09. Even if he does not I would expect him to be in F1. Buemi, Chandhock, di Grassi & Grosjean also look on the cusp.

But,

Do you think Giorgio Pantano will get a F1 drive if he wins the title ?

[Oli_M]

Ironically, no.

I don't know if the fact that "Senna to F1" reports arn't going away means something, but everyone does seem to be looking to Senna, Buemi, di Grassi and Grosjean in particular as the drivers with potential to get an F1 seat next year.

With Glock now all-but-confirmed at Toyota for another year, I'm struggling to see the available seats (which I think will have more effect on it than their actual GP2 result):
Maybe a Renault seat if FA does go to Honda.
1 Toro Rosso Seat (maybe 2?)
Maybe a Force India seat (although Luizzi would probably be favourite to take it)

Would be nice to see him F1 but wonder if his previous F1 experience may "taint" his appeal to teams??

[inimitablestoo]

It might - that and the fact that he's been doing GP2 since it was still Formula 3000. Giorgio's doing a fine job this year but I haven't really seen anything that would make him stand out if I was an F1 team owner considering my 2009 line-up. And I agree that Toro Rosso and Force India are about the only avenues open to him (I don't reckon Renault would take him), which might not be what he's after.

[Nikki Katz]

I don't think he's really got a shot unless Alonso leaves Renault, in which case Renault are pretty much screwed and would have to field yet another rookie. Pantano's the only one that has F1 experience, though he didn't really set the world alight in 2004 (though it was just luck that Glock scored and Pantano didn't, and a lot of luck that gave Fisichella that win). But they're probably more likely to field one of their test drivers, di Grassi and Grosjean.

Toro Rosso have stated that they'd like an experienced driver and a rookie. The rookie will be Senna unless he drives for Williams, in which case it will be Buemi (who I don't think is quite ready for F1). As for the experienced driver they did say that Alonso moving could leave an experienced driver without a seat, so I can only imagine this would be Barrichello. I'm not certain that he wouldn't just retire should that happen though. Otherwise, Bourdais could be retained for consistency, but only if he gets the hang of the current car. Failing that I guess that a Toro Rosso seat is a possibility for Pantano, but it's probably a long shot.

Strangely I'd not even thought about Force India, but I don't see them dropping one of their current drivers for Pantano unless Sutil really starts to pull away from Fisichella.

[mattlamb]

Saw Hulkneberg retire the car just because he was way down th field in F3 recently. He seemed very demotivated because things were not going well. Not impressed by that at all.

[MikeD]

I think only Senna will graduate to F1 next year. Even though I think Grosjean is by far the best and most impressive driver in GP2 this season, I think Renault would want him to win the GP2 title in the main series first.

Senna has matured beyond expectations and when you think about his relatively short formula career, then that's really impressive. It will also be a magnificent marketing tool to link Red Bull (via Toro Rosso) to the Senna name.

[markabilly]

I was praying to see the name of scot not speed somewhere but alas.....

my money says that Danica will be there for sure cause of sponsor money. Of course Hamilton's clear status of "loudest mouth for tooting one's self" in Formula One will be in jeopardy.

The cat fights would not be pretty, with Danica marching down to to confront Lewis for lapping her for one too many times and slapping kimi in the face with a towel for mumbling something when she knocked him down because he failed to get out of her way fast enough when she saw a TV camera with a live microphone....those tv seconds are precious and even bernie says they should not be wasted on mumblers

[speeddurango]

Danica won't be in F1 for sponsor's money, while it's true 2 of the teams are still not in a good budget condition, it's not like they have to desperately use pay drivers no matter how fast or slow they could go, so no, only drivers with reasonable speed and a good money backing can get into F1 and be called a pay driver these days.

[El Sween]

Bruno Senna
Karun Chandhok
Romain Grosjean
Sebastian Buemi
Nico Hulkenberg
Marcus Ericsson
Brendon Hartley
Andi Zuber

[markabilly]

Danica won't be in F1 for sponsor's money, while it's true 2 of the teams are still not in a good budget condition, it's not like they have to desperately use pay drivers no matter how fast or slow they could go, so no, only drivers with reasonable speed and a good money backing can get into F1 and be called a pay driver these days.
Never said she would be a driver or paid for her ability as a driver, only that she will be>>>>>>there :D

[krubach]

Well I agree with some of the names that have come up like Senna, Grosjean (too childish and dishonest driver), etc...

But i find it strange that no one has mentioned Alvaro Parente. He's a rookie driver, he's 8th in the championship right next to Chandok, ahead of Conway, way ahead of Hanley, Fillipi and Conway.

He has already won a race (the very first one of the championship) and made a few podiums.

[inimitablestoo]

Parente indeed is very good, but for some reason never seems fashionable with the people who matter. How many of his rivals have won two titles in the past three years? He probably needs a couple more strong results this year; he started with that win and hasn't really backed it up with anything major since then. If he stays in GP2 next year, he'd have to be one of the favourites, and then the F1 teams might have to take notice.

Incidentally, in the current Autosport Gerhard Berger is talking about Bruno Senna's possible/probable graduation to F1 next year with Toro Rosso, in which he mentions Pantano and the very point made earlier in the thread - "he's been around for about 100 years" - so we can probably scratch STR from the list of possible drives for the Italian. Unless he changes his name to Sebastian...

[jens]

Parente is quick, but IMO his main problem, which may turn out to be the decisive hindering factor, is that he doesn't seem to have good contacts. And as we know, acquaintances, contacts and being in a right place at a right time are very-very important to climb up the motorsport ladder. Parente has had financial difficulties in the past years and I'm afraid time is working against him. I'd be interested to see him in F1, but I guess the only possibility for him to achieve this would be to blow the field away.

[MikeD]

But i find it strange that no one has mentioned Alvaro Parente. He's a rookie driver, he's 8th in the championship right next to Chandok, ahead of Conway, way ahead of Hanley, Fillipi and Conway.

He has already won a race (the very first one of the championship) and made a few podiums.

I am a big Parente fan, but I think he needs to win the GP2 title next year before he is ready for F1. I expect that ART or iSport will pick him up for next season (depending on his sponsorship).

I was very impressed with his win in Monaco win (WS) last year and his win in Barcelona this year - this just proves that he has real talent. Problem for him is that Super Nova seem to go backwards every season after a couple of good runs in the beginning.

I expect Grosjean and Parente to fight it out for the GP2 title next year, and I have a feeling that Pantano will go to WTCC (perhaps to replace Tarquini).

PS: Conway, Hanley and Filippi are useless. If they are luckly they will get a test-seat in F1 but never a race-seat. I actually think that Conway is a fine examply why GP2 is such a good series to prepare a driver for F1. While Conway was good in F3 he seems lost in the more powerful and technical Dallara GP2 car (which is much closer to an F1 car than a F3 car) and this is why F1 cannot use such a driver.

[krubach]

A little story about parente.

By winning the WSR last year he had the chance to drive the Renault F1 car this winter.
Well they were so impressed about his pace and feedback, that the senior engineers recommended a second test.
Unfortunately that still didn't happen, but it shows his capabilities.

Parente struggled already to get a place in GP2 this year, some say that Renault helped him get a seat, but his management team (ran by a top football agent) has good contacts with major sponsors. If you notice the team is sponsored by Soccerade, that was brought by Parente.

[Ranger]

After GP2 has finished I wish to amend my initial list of who should be in F1.

- Paul di Resta (beat Vettel in the same car in Euro F3 in 2006. Still only 22 and should be given a test, at least)
- Romain Grosjean. No GP2 title but he does have Renault support and should be pretty handy.
- Nico Hulkenburg. After a string of disappointments with Williams (except in the wet), Kaz should be replaced by this guy.
- Lucas di Grassi, although he'll be joining a growing Renault queue.

Who shouldn't be in F1:
- Bruno Senna. He has made enviable progress despite a 10 year racing curfew, but I think the door has just about shut with his age and erratic GP2 performances. He probably should have won this year to stay in contention.
- Giorgio Pantano. He's a trooper, but he won't get into F1 despite his GP2 success this year.

However, by my calculations, as Buemi is entering next year, he should be the only rookie. :\ Every other seat is taken, give or take a possible swap.

[aryan]

Does anyone know what Karthekian and Monteiro are doing these days?

[inimitablestoo]

Karthikeyan's been nominated for India's A1GP team for next season - as and when Ferrari can build enough cars to stay together for more than five minutes, that is. Monteiro's just coming to the end of his second season with Seat in the World Touring Car Championship, in which he took his first win this season. I think he's stated that F1's behind him now, but with an Indian GP from 2010 there's an outside chance Narain might be back - although more likely Karun Chandhok will be promoted before long instead.

[aryan]

Thanks for the info. Always good to follow up on what ex-f1 pilots are up to.

[philipbain]

I think Senna will make his way into F1 next season in one capacity or another, he has proven himself to have the required speed and he is just so very very marketable!!

I think Giorgio Pantano could go down as the first GP2 champion not to graduate straight into an F1 drive and in a way I sympathise with Giorgio but I also completely understand, F1 is a fickle world and some feel that he already has his crack at it and didn't do enough to stay in the top flight.

[Placid]

I would give a chance to US drivers such as 2008 Formula BMW America series champion Alexander Rossi, and the 2008 Formula BMW Pacific Runner-up Sean McDonagh.

Other mention is Jonathan Summerton.

[woody2goody]

Neel Jani
Sebastien Buemi
Lucas di Grassi
Giorgio Pantano
Takuma Sato
Anthony Davidson

[F1boat]

Nico Hulkenberg
Romain Grosjean
Bruno Senna

[inimitablestoo]

Another nomination for Brendon Hartley on the basis of two things from the Channel 4 coverage of the British F3 season finale: 1, his pass of another car around the outside of the Craner Curves :eek: and 2, his view that with grass and gravel instead of tarmac run-off areas, it's a "proper circuit". With any luck we'll have a few more drivers who think like that and we can start putting proper hazards back off the sides of Grand Prix tracks again...

[ArrowsFA1]

On the subject of Giorgio Pantano, he's had a few things to say (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72303) about the lack of interest F1 has shown him:


"I challenge anyone to have a CV as good as mine. I won two karting world titles, three European, three Italian, German F3, GP2 and was always at the front in F3000. But now I don't have a seat in F1, is this a joke?"

"The only person behaving fairly has been Ecclestone. I called him a few days ago and after ten minutes he called me back. The only real drives still available are at Honda and Toro Rosso. Bernie told me that if anything moves, I'll be the first to know."

"But I feel total indifference towards me. I read of Senna and Buemi but, really, what have they done? At this point, a guy in my situation must think that being a racing driver is not advantageous, doing another job would be better."

"Money is becoming the priority in order to race, talent doesn't exist any more. I think I could still do six or seven years in F1 at high levels. I would just like someone to let me test an F1 car. Once the test is done, they'd tell me whether I could be a possible world champion or not. That would give me peace of mind. I just want a credible test, a real chance that puts me in the conditions of being properly assessed."
I do have a lot of sympathy for Giorgio and what he says. I guess his time in F1 with Jordan, and the length of time he's spent in GP2, is counting against him :dozey:

[I am evil Homer]

I'd have to agree with him...he was unlucky that Jordan was a total dog and I think that tainted his name.

He's done more than Piquet Jr, Senna, Di Grassi and Buemi to be in F1. Maybe he should get a famous ex-F1 driver to adopt him and he might stand a chance?!?

But then F1 is littered with "maybes" who never made it and I suspect he will join that queue.

[jens]

While I can fully understand, why teams are more interested in younger drivers, who at least in theory have more room for further improvement, then I agree that Pantano should get at least one F1 test as a reward to settle the situation.

[F1boat]

I'd like to see Pantano driving in Indy Car or ALMS?

[fugariracing]

Seems like Pantano has been around for eons - I think his first test in F1 was for Benetton around 2000-2001 or so. Sadly, the world of F1 can spit you out as quickly as you get in. His GP2 title was more staying above the fray of a field of average but not standout contenders. Di Grassi had the most points from when he joined the series.

He's had his chance and his age is against him. Odd to say but that is the reality of modern F1.

Now if only that logic could apply to Bernie...

[Oli_M]

On the subject of Giorgio Pantano, he's had a few things to say (http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/72303) about the lack of interest F1 has shown him:


I do have a lot of sympathy for Giorgio and what he says. I guess his time in F1 with Jordan, and the length of time he's spent in GP2, is counting against him :dozey:

What's he doing calling Bernie? As much as Bernie thinks he runs the world, I seriously doubt he could even attempt to get a driver into a team.

He'd probably do better if he called his manager :P

[Placid]

Love to add as well Conor Daly and Josef Newgarden who won in the British Formula Ford Winter invitationals last fall.

[K-Pu]

So, it seems there´s a general feeling of Pantano being right.

I think so. But, as we all know, F1 is a business, and it´s 100% sure they´ll get more money putting Bruno Senna in a car instead of Pantano. Or at least there would be a HUGE section of "public" (not fans) who would see that just because of the "Senna" in his name. Wouldn´t it be better to name your son something like AlainAyrtonMichael PiquetVilleneuveClark?

[Placid]

Take your pick for that US F1 team. And here are various selections for US drivers:

Another choice would be Ryan Hunter-Reay. Along Richard Antinucci with veteran F3 experience.

Do not count out the 2008 BMW World Final champ Alexander Rossi. But is yet to land a ride.

I will be surprised if BMW will be the engine of their chioce. Unless they can go American with a GMC like Cadillac or Pontiac. I would also reconsider Ford to make a return. And Bobby Rahal run operations since he now runs the Formula BMW America Series.

And here are some future considerations for more test drivers.

Carl Skerlong, and Jonathan Edwards - Atlantics
Conor Daly, Joel Miller from Star Mazda
JR Hildebrand from Indy Lights.
Pacific F2000 series champs Robert Podlesni (2006) and Jeff Wesphal (2008).

Drivers overseas:
Sean McDonagh from the FBMW Pacific series (2008 runner-up). Yet to be confirmed.
Liam Kenney competing this year in the Formula ADAC by VW.
And recently signed by Carlin Motorsport in the F3 Euro Series for 2009 - Jake Rosenzweig.

No word if Josef Newgarden has landed a British Formula Ford ride.

[Placid]

From Novermber 27, 2008.

This is an article of an interview by Gerard Hetman of F1 Fanatic. A not-miss.

Link:
http://www.f1fanatic.co.uk/2008/11/27/jonathan-summerton-f1s-next-us-star/

Feel free to share your opinions.