GP2 News - GP2 Readies F1 Stars Of The Future
21/11/2007
This week’s news that Timo Glock has signed a multi-year contract with the Toyota F1 team makes him the third GP2 Series champion in a row to graduate immediately to an F1 race seat.
He follows in the steps of Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, his predecessors as GP2 title holders, and looks set to emulate them as one of the most exciting and promising talents in the top echelon of single-seater motorsport.
Glock’s deal at Toyota had been rumoured for some time, but while the Toyota lawyers were working behind the scenes on the small print last week, the F1 teams got back to testing duties in Barcelona, Spain.
The line-up looked like a multi-year GP2 test, with Rosberg lining up alongside Kovalainen, Nakajima, Rodriguez, Chandhok, Filippi, Zuber and Conway – the latter four of whom were making their full debuts at the wheel of Formula One machinery.
Sixteen drivers have now graduated from the GP2 Series to contracted F1 seats, and over at Honda three of this year’s stand out drivers were put through their paces in Spain. Andi Zuber was the first, followed by Luca Filippi and Mike Conway.
All three proved relatively evenly matched for pace, and impressed the team so much that they have been called back for more testing duties.
Ron Meadows, HRF1 Sporting Director, was full of praise not only for the drivers but also for the GP2 Series in its role as the Formula One feeder category. "We have been very impressed with Andi, Luca and Mike this week,” he said.
“Their enthusiasm and willingness to learn should be commended, as should their performance on track. It is never easy for a young driver when sharing a test session with established Formula One names but they have coped extremely well with what must be a daunting experience.
“The engineers report that their feedback is excellent which shows what a good series GP2 is as a proving ground for Formula One.”
With Nelson Piquet Jr expected to step up to a full time race seat in 2008, there is the prospect of seeing six GP2 Series graduates racing in Formula One next season.
With traction control coming to an end, and a driver’s ability to regulate tyre usage with no electronic aids due to be the key to success in F1 from next year, the drivers who have forged their careers on Bridgestone rubber in the GP2 Series could well be at a large advantage.
And with the F1 teams due to test Bridgestone slick tyres for the first time in almost a decade at the forthcoming Jerez test, the knowledge and expertise of the GP2 drivers will be more important than ever.