Some thoughts about the new British Formula 3

28. March 2016 at 14:33 · Filed under British Formula 3, Racing ·Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Well, friends of Formula 3, we’ve got back one of the most traditional and important national Formula 3 championships with the comeback of British F3. I guess, some of you were really happy about that news and celebrate it as a step in the right direction.

But…. wake up!! The new BRDC British Formula 3 Championship is everything, but not a Formula 3 championship!! The old BRDC Formula 4 Championship just got another name. But you cannot rename a F4 championship and suddenly it’s F3. You also cannot rename a Ford Fiesta and suddenly it’s a Porsche – no, it’s not a Porsche at all (believe me – I’ve tried it, but it was not working…)!! And if you want to call your golf racket from now on tennis racket, it’s still nearly impossible to play proper tennis with it…

It’s maybe right that the performance of the newly introduced BRDC F4 Tatuus-Cosworth is much better than the performance of the old car in the BRDC F4 and therefore also much closer to F3. But even if it would be better than a current FIA F3 car, it would still remain a BRDC Formula 4 car (and to be precise, not even a FIA F4 car, so theoretically it can’t even called F4 – it’s a kind of “Formula between 3 and 4” or “Formula Something” or “Formula Whatever”…)!!

For cutting costs I could maybe imagine to accept that national F3 series could become championships with only one type of engine and / or chassis. But nevertheless Formula 3 means to follow the official technical FIA rules of Formula 3 (current or older ones, for me that doesn’t matter). In this question I’m quite traditional and from my point of view even German ATS Formula 3 Cup with the Push-to-Pass-engine was not really F3. It was more like a Formula VW with a F3 chassis. But at least they had a F3 chassis…

So the conclusion is easy: The BRDC British F3 Championship is probably a perfect step between FIA F4 and FIA F3 with a nice, good looking and quite fast car, but – sorry – it’s not at all Formula 3!!

What do you think…? Feel free to share and / or to leave a comment!

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Best drivers and top of engineering – a difficult task for Formula 1…

17. April 2015 at 20:58 · Filed under Formula 1 ·Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

When you see some names in Formula 1, you could ask yourself about the sporting value of that championship. Only money is the important fact and not talent. The Lotus F1 Team for example has given the job of one development driver to Carmen Jordá, not the fastest racer on earth. When they want to have a girl, why don’t they take a fast one…??? Tatiana Calderón or Beitske Visser have proofed in several occasions that they are good racers and both have deserved the role as a development driver in a F1 team much more than Mrs. Jordá.

Generally I think that only the best drivers should be in Formula 1 and not the richest. It’s not possible to buy yourself into a field of a tennis Grand Slam like Wimbledon without winning matches in smaller tournaments and without being on a good position in world ranking. At the moment in racing you don’t need good results in junior classes as long as you have the right amount of money in your pocket.

Finally FIA has seen that problem and found a solution by giving points to the best drivers in junior categories and asking for a special number of points to get a Fomula 1 license. Hopefully a good sign that talent finally wins the fight against money…

But unfortunately this could cause the next problem, because many small teams need the financial help from the so called pay drivers. To avoid the dead of teams like Sauber or Force India FIA needs to support especially the small teams by giving more money to them and less to the big and rich ones. And they need to find a way to make Formula 1 cheaper – without forgetting that Formula 1 should remain the top of racecar engineering. A difficult but very important task to save the future of Formula 1…

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Some thoughts about the new Lotus F1 development drivers…

25. March 2015 at 19:13 · Filed under FIA Formula 3 European Championship, Formula 1 ·Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Lotus F1 Team has announced Adderly Fong and Carmen Jordá as their development drivers for this season. Ok, I can understand that Formula 1 is a money game and that Lotus needs money. So a blonde girl and a driver from China are maybe good choices. But there are aspects I don’t understand…

Lotus has a pool of young drivers and some of them are really fast and successful. Esteban Ocon for example has won the FIA Formula 3 European Championship in his first year in that category. By doing this he has also beaten Max Verstappen, the new super-boy in F1. So Esteban can’t be that bad… At the end of the last season he got the chance to driver a Formula 1 car and (what I’ve understood) he has done a really good job. It looks like he is more or less ready for Formula 1, at least for a job as test or development driver. But instead of putting one foot in the highest class of Formula racing, he now has to take part in GP3. Not GP2, not Formula Renault 3.5 – only GP3… :-( And others with a lot more money, but a lot less talent got the seats in Formula 1.

It’s sad for Esteban, but I also don’t understand Lotus’ strategy with their young drivers. Up to now they have invested a big amount of money in Estebans career. But why when they finally choose others for the jobs in Formula 1…!?!?!?!? 

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The new generation of rookies in FIA F3

8. May 2014 at 13:45 · Filed under FIA Formula 3 European Championship ·Tagged , , ,

The first two meetings of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship are done and one fact is obvious: The rookies are fantastic!!!!

With Esteban Ocon and Antonio Fuoco two rookies are leading in the championship and both have already won a race (or even more…). Antonio scored his first victory in Silverstone and showed in Hockenheim one weekend later a good spirit: After a bad first qualifying the member of the Ferrari Driver Academy finally came back with a podium position in race three.

Esteban Ocon – like his teammate Fuoco only 17 years old – is at the moment the one to beat in the FIA F3. The Lotus F1 Junior Driver  nearly finished all the races of the season in the Top3, only a mistake done by his team Prema stopped him doing so. But anyway: Esteban collected five out of six podium finishes and hasn’t made any big mistake so far!

Rookie No. three that shows an impressive performance is Max Verstappen. In contrast to Fuoco and Ocon who both came from Formula Renault 2.0, Max arrived directly  from Karting and is only 16 years old. Max is not as experienced in racing as Fuoco and Ocon (and you can see this missing experience…) and his team Van Amersfoort Racing hasn’t dominated the last seasons in European F3, but it looks like he doesn’t care about that little disadvantages. In Hockenheim he took his first victory in the strongest junior  championship in racing.

Antonio, Esteban and Max are not only fast, they are really cool and focused on their job. They take disappointments as part of the game and stay concentrated for the next challenge to fight back on a high level. And maybe this is the most impressive part of their performance.

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A try to find the favorites for the first meeting of the ATS Formula 3 Cup

19. April 2013 at 20:56 · Filed under ATS Formula 3 Cup, Racing ·Tagged , , , , , ,

This week the last pre season test of the German ATS Formula 3 Cup took place at Oschersleben. Not all the drivers that will take part in the season were there, but the main rivals for the title made their way to Oschersleben. It’s quite difficult to speak about the favorites, because there was no official time keeping at the two test days. But even without knowing all the lap times and with him missing the second day I think, Emil Bernstorff will be the man to beat. Emil is fast and experienced – he has one full season in the Formula 3 Euro Series under his belt and now made the step back to the F3 Cup – and he is racing for Lotus, one of the most experienced teams in the championship.

Despite this I guess it won’t be an easy walk for the Briton to win the German Formula 3 Cup. Marvin Kirchhöfer, rookie and team mate from Bernstorff, will try everything to repeat his effort from last year: Winning a championship in his rookie year.

From my point of view – and I’m not the only one in the paddock with that opinion – the two Lotus drivers will be the logical favorites for the season opener in Oschersleben, their team’s home race. Lotus has shown quite often that they know every millimeter of the circuit that is literally next door to their workshop. If nothing strange or stupid will happen, I see one of the Lotus pairing Bernstorff / Kirchhöfer on the top of the two main races. The reversed gird heat will maybe be the only chance for the rest of the field to collect a winner’s trophy in the first meeting on Lotus’ home ground in Oschersleben.

What do you think? Who’s your favorite for the Oschersleben meeting next weekend?

Keep racing,

Annette

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FIA F3 in Silverstone – my personal ‘man of the weekend’

16. April 2013 at 16:12 · Filed under FIA Formula 3 European Championship, Racing ·Tagged , , , ,

Objectively spoken it’s quite difficult to find one ‘man of the weekend’ after the second meeting of FIA Formula 3 European Championship in Silverstone. Felix Rosenqvist and Raffaele Marciello were two strong candidates for that title. Raffaele raced for the first time in Silverstone and was directly able to score two podiums, including one victory. No question, that was a great performance.

But my personal ‘man of the weekend’ is Felix Rosenqvist. First of all he was fast, in every single race he found himself on the podium. But what impressed me most was his fighting spirit. After a (well, quite stupid…) mistake Felix lost the lead in race two, but he tried everything to come back. Finally he overtook Harry Tincknell with two wheels in the gras – a really brave and crazy move for a normally non-crazy guy like Felix…!!!

In race three Felix was leading and Raffaele Marciello was chasing him. The Swede could keep the hard pushing Italian six laps behind him, although Raffaele was faster. The fight of these two fair sportsmen was fantastic and showed how Formula 3 should be: man against man, car against car, fighting for every centimeter on the track. Finally Felix Rosenqvist lost, but he was more aggressive and pushing harder than ever before.

Because of his newly discovered fighting spirit (and because of a funny press conference…) I would call Felix the ‘man of the weekend’. And I’m sure, even Raffaele could accept it, because he is still leader of the FIA F3 European Championship and his gap to P2 is increasing more and more… If he goes on like this, in some months he maybe will be the ‘man of the year’…

Keep racing… ;-)

Annette

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A short view back on the season opener of the new FIA Formula 3 European Championship

4. April 2013 at 14:25 · Filed under FIA Formula 3 European Championship, Racing ·Tagged , , ,

It’s now nearly two weeks ago that Formula 3 has finally proofed it’s alive. In Monza 30 cars were on the grid for the first meeting of the new FIA Formula 3 European Championship and they’ve shown a great show. Especially in the first race, the only one under dry conditions, the youngster have shown great racing with a lot of overtaking. In the rain on Sunday it was more difficult and some Safety Car periods have interrupted the action.

A weekend like this was great for Formula 3, one of the most important categories for young drivers. After three years with a grid of less than 20 cars in the most important Formula 3 championships worldwide it was even fantastic to see the big and full paddock with twelve teams preparing cars for 30 drivers. I’ve always had to smile while I was on the way from the Media Center to the F3 paddock or when I walked around the paddock area. It felt more or less like being in the Formula 3 Euro Series in the fantastic years until 2009. Now, with the best Formula 3 drivers and teams racing together in the FIA Formula 3 European Championship, everything seems to be ready for some more golden years of Formula 3.

So don’t miss the second meeting of the FIA Formula 3 European Championship on April 12-14 in Silverstone and keep racing… ;-)

Annette Laqua

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Some thoughts about F3 Euro Series 2012 after the test days in Valencia

17. April 2012 at 13:49 · Filed under Formula 3 Euro Series, Racing ·Tagged

The first two days of testing are over now – time for some thoughts about the Formula 3 Euro Series…

Ok, nine cars at the test were not a lot, I have to admit. But there is one big reason for that small number of cars we’ve had in Valencia. We still have to wait six (!!) weeks before the season starts. In this period a lot of things can happen.
In addition to the participants from Valencia I definitely know some names (teams and drivers) that will also enter this year’s Formula 3 Euro Series. This information makes me really optimistic to have more or less 15 cars in the grid of the Formula 3 Euro Series 2012.

We don’t have to argue about the potential of the drivers, if we only think about having the latest winner of the Masters (Felix Rosenqvist) and the latest winner of the Macau Grand Prix (Dani Juncadella) in the Euro Series 2012.
The Valencia test has also proved that there will be a strong competition between the teams and the drivers. Even the new teams have directly shown a really good performance. URD Rennsport with rookie Lucas Wolf was less than one second away from the leading Mücke driver Felix Rosenqvist and GU-Racing with the very inexperienced rookie Philip Ellis showed a good learning curve during the two days.

All in all I’m leaving Valencia with quite a good feeling about the Formula 3 Euro Series 2012 and I’m looking forward to the start of the season…

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Hallo world!

17. April 2012 at 12:28 · Filed under Welcome

Welcome to my new blog. Feel free to read and comment whenever you like to do so…

Best regards,

Annette

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