GP2 2010 line-ups

[jens]

After the first post-season tests at Jerez (6-8 October), let's start speculating. :p :

Here are the results of each day:
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/test-results/?testID=1176
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/test-results/?testID=1177
http://f1.gpupdate.net/en/test-results/?testID=1178

All in all I would say that among drivers with GP2 experience van der Garde and d'Ambrosio have probably chances of getting a top team drive in 2010, but several potential rivals (Parente, Perez) weren't present, so it remains to be seen, how will that pan out.

Potential rookies: Besides Bianchi also IFM champion Leimer and fresh Japanese F3 champion Ericsson impressed and I'm hoping to see both of them in GP2 next year. :) Rossi showed quite well too considering his youth and inexperience - but he may also opt for GP3 next year if the jump to GP2 might be "too much". And if Bianchi's drive at ART seems almost certain, then Turvey could likely get iSport drive. Vietoris has a decent shot at a GP2 seat as well, I reckon. I wonder, what is WSR champion Baguette planning to do?

[haho]

Well... VD Garde drove one day and was the fastest of the week, d'Ambrosio will be third year so he is gonna be a 'Pantano' champion if he wins. Besides, he is not nearly as good as some others. VD Garde will probably go to Addax, and will be a definite contender. Why no Perez and Parente at the test? That is weird. Maybe we will see them at the Gp2 Asia tests.
I would like to say to Bruno Senna: hahahahaha you arrogant idiot. He was on autosport.com saying iSport wanted to know if it was the car or the drivers which caused the bad year, and that Senna was gonna prove it was the drivers. He finished 14th on the day, behind Oliver Turvey in the same car :) . And the 'bad drivers', including Vd Garde, had a very good week. Vd Garde was fastest.... Senna needs to learn to be less arrogant, and be more talented.

Vd Garde for title next year, might fight with Perez, d'Ambrosio, and rookies like Bianchi, Ericsson, and perhaps Bird, vd Drift and Leimer... Who knows. ART should look at a good driver for next to Bianchi, perhaps vd Garde or another experienced driver.... We will see. Interesting though.

[Placid]

I like to see 2009 Atlantic champ John Edwards getting a seat.

Red Bull made a mistake after getting yanked from their program.

[patnicholls]

A lot will depend on who the new F1 teams (of those that make it - hopefully they all will) take for their first season, they'll most likely go for some of the top GP2 guys from 2009 - Petrov, di Grassi and maybe Perez [plus Bruno Senna] would be the most likely ones in addition to The Hulk who will surely be in a Williams next season.

Everything will fall into place from there I think - which is why the teams have been testing a lot of rookies at Jerez and leaving a few experienced guys on the sidelines.

Of fractionally personal interest is that Will Bratt has been getting some seat time - he tested this time last year too for DPR and was amazingly quick (2nd in a full field at Paul Ricard, I think). He's also a past graduate of my former university karting team which I set up! (although, it has to be pointed out that he was a professional racing driver before that - he was in Spanish F3 last year, and Italian F3000 this term to allow him to complete his uni studies as it has a smallish schedule). Even so, quite interesting!

[jens]

By the way, one of the key figures at the market might be Grosjean. If the rumours are true and he is going to be dropped from Renault, where would he go? Back to GP2 for another season?

[seppefan]

Will Bratt has secured a Coloni seat in Asia after winning the Euro3000 series yesterday against much more experienced opposition. Seems Coloni have a good set up after the Jerez test so will be interestingf to see if he can do enough in Asia to get a main series ride.

[DazzlaF1]

Will Bratt has secured a Coloni seat in Asia after winning the Euro3000 series yesterday against much more experienced opposition. Seems Coloni have a good set up after the Jerez test so will be interestingf to see if he can do enough in Asia to get a main series ride.

Wasn't that his prize for wining the Euro F3000 championship? Still though its a great chance to impress for a seat in the main series

CONFIRMED SO FAR FOR GP2 ASIA

DAMS: 1. Edoardo Piscopo, 2. Christian Vietoris
PIQUET: 3. Vladimir Arabadzhiev, 4. Dan Zampiere
BARWA ADDAX: 5. Max Chilton, 6. Luiz Razia
ART: 7. Sam Bird, 8. Jules Bianchi/Marcus Ericsson
DURANGO: 9. ???, 10. ???
ARDEN: 11. ???, 12. ???
SUPER NOVA: 14. James Jakes, 15. Josef Kral
iSPORT: 16. Ollie Turvey, 17. Davide Valsecchi
TRIDENT: 18. Plamen Kralev, 19. Johnny Cecotto Jr
MERITUS: 20. ???, 21. ???
OCEAN: 22. Fabio Leimer, 23. Alex Rossi
COLONI: 24. Will Bratt, 25. Roldan Rodriguez
DPR: 26. Michael Herck, 27. ???

[Placid]

Wasn't that his prize for wining the Euro F3000 championship? Still though its a great chance to impress for a seat in the main series

CONFIRMED SO FAR FOR GP2 ASIA

DAMS: 1. Edoardo Piscopo, 2. Christian Vietoris
PIQUET: 3. Vladimir Arabadzhiev, 4. Dan Zampiere
BARWA ADDAX: 5. Max Chilton, 6. Luiz Razia
ART: 7. Sam Bird, 8. Jules Bianchi/Marcus Ericsson
DURANGO: 9. ???, 10. ???
ARDEN: 11. ???, 12. ???
SUPER NOVA: 14. James Jakes, 15. Josef Kral
iSPORT: 16. Ollie Turvey, 17. Davide Valsecchi
TRIDENT: 18. Plamen Kralev, 19. Johnny Cecotto Jr
MERITUS: 20. ???, 21. ???
OCEAN: 22. Fabio Leimer, 23. Alex Rossi
COLONI: 24. Will Bratt, 25. Roldan Rodriguez
DPR: 26. Michael Herck, 27. ???

It is a good thing I am not the only 1 who know Rossi is in GP2 Asia!

[Nikki Katz]

Should be good qhoever half of these drivers are. It's a shame that there's only 4 rounds this year though, it leaves a huge motorsportless gap for several months in the winter.

I think we've probably seen the last of Durango too, they didn't end the main season and have hardly tested since.

[jens]

The main excitement about GP2 Asia is to see, how will various potentially quite talented rookies perform. Filippi could be a strong contender for overall GP2 Asia win though with his vast experience.

Latest information from GP2 insider. :)
http://gp2insider.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/gp2asia-lineup17.jpg

[truefan72]

The main excitement about GP2 Asia is to see, how will various potentially quite talented rookies perform. Filippi could be a strong contender for overall GP2 Asia win though with his vast experience.

Latest information from GP2 insider. :)
http://gp2insider.files.wordpress.com/2009/10/gp2asia-lineup17.jpg

interesting, not one Asian amongst the bunch

why not just call it GP2 EuroX

and what's with the 4 rounds only?

seems like a lost cause to me, with a bunch of drivers who already drive in the GP2 main series instead of fielding newcomers to asses their potentials

[F1boat]

I personally see the GP2 Asia series and the winter GP2 series, so I like the fact that many drivers in the main series drive in the Asian one as well. Besides, there are many rookies, including two Bulgarians :)

[Nikki Katz]

I missed this morning's race as it wasn't broadcast live and Eurosport in their infinite wisdom decided to schedule the replay opposite F1. Honestly, they'd got more viewers if they put it on in the middle of the night! Any idea if it's repeated?

[F1boat]

Huh? In my shedule it is written that it will be live from 10.30 CET? I better not enter any motorsport sites. I hate to be spoiled.

[Josti]

Giedo van der Garde signed for the Addax Team next season.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/80194

I reckon he can go for a championship, his first test with the team was promosing at least. Fingers crossed he can make a jump to F1 someday.

[jens]

Based on these news van der Garde is surely one of the drivers to take seriously in top contention next season, although I don't quite consider him as a special talent in the vein of Hulks and Hamiltons of this world as it looks like it takes vd Garde some time to adapt and find speed. He has stayed around in European feeder series for some time already before becoming a serious force and also in '09 it took him some time to adapt to GP2 and start performing at iSport, while other rookie Hülkenberg clinched the title in comfortable fashion. But 2010 should really be "now or never" in terms of title contention if Giedo aims to break into F1. He needs to leave potential rookies like Bianchi, Leimer, etc clearly in the shadow with his relatively vast experience to become attractive to F1 team bosses in any way.

Potential team-mate? I think Sergio Perez will likely join either ART or Barwa Addax. Maybe Grosjean will make a comeback to Barwa?

[Josti]

Based on these news van der Garde is surely one of the drivers to take seriously in top contention next season, although I don't quite consider him as a special talent in the vein of Hulks and Hamiltons of this world as it looks like it takes vd Garde some time to adapt and find speed. He has stayed around in European feeder series for some time already before becoming a serious force and also in '09 it took him some time to adapt to GP2 and start performing at iSport, while other rookie Hülkenberg clinched the title in comfortable fashion. But 2010 should really be "now or never" in terms of title contention if Giedo aims to break into F1. He needs to leave potential rookies like Bianchi, Leimer, etc clearly in the shadow with his relatively vast experience to become attractive to F1 team bosses in any way.

I agree, Giedo is no Hamilton or Hulkenberg, but after last season I think the guy showed sparks of potential again. Indeed, he made a bit of a slow start, but as a first time GP2 driver, he faired pretty well in the 2nd half of the season. But now that he has (presumably) one of the best cars for next season, he has to show what he's truly made of.

He already has some experience driving F1 cars as a testdriver, which could be an advantage. A smaller team would probably come in line for him rather than a big name, that's true.

[Copse]

Maybe Grosjean will make a comeback to Barwa?

He's been there, done that. He has nothing more to prove in GP2, and even if he wins, he'll just end up like Pantano. If he is not in F1 next season, Grosjean needs to find good racing elsewhere. Going back to GP2 would be bad for him, and bad for GP2. There's already too much of the same lot of drivers coming back year after year without shining.

[DazzlaF1]

He's been there, done that. He has nothing more to prove in GP2, and even if he wins, he'll just end up like Pantano. If he is not in F1 next season, Grosjean needs to find good racing elsewhere. Going back to GP2 would be bad for him, and bad for GP2. There's already too much of the same lot of drivers coming back year after year without shining.

I think he'll end up doing a Bourdais, go to the USA, be immensly successful before coming back to F1.

[Placid]

I have a feeling whether or not he will get a 2010 test / reserve role, I prefer
for Hildebrand to move up to GP2. JR did not get any response from any
Indy Car teams for a possible ride in 2010. Hopefully with this Force India
test may open the GP2 paddock.

[jens]

Well, meantime there have been some more news. The full line-ups of both ART and Barwa Addax have been confirmed. The signing of Sam Bird is a surprise to me, considering that he really hasn't shown much in so far. Considering that the difference of performance between ART team-mates has been significant in recent years, I suspect this is going to be the case next year as well... However, Perez has signed with Barwa as kinda expected and it's going to be a very important battle between him and vd Garde in 2010, whoever wants to have a bright future in motorsports. Younger and less experienced Perez has less to lose in this of course.

I think based on confirmations so far three drivers stand out, who could potentially regarded as 2010 title contenders: Bianchi, Perez, vd Garde. Wonder, which other driver could potentially be in the mix. D'Ambrosio has a shot at a Racing Engineering seat, but is struggling to gather the funds together. Valsecchi may race for iSport in the main series as well. If the Valsecchi deal doesn't materialize, Ericsson might get the second iSport seat - Arden is an other option for the Swede. By the way, one interesting news item for the long run - Ocean has signed Portugese Felix da Costa for 2011 (!) GP2 season. :p :

[Nikki Katz]

RIP Durango :(

Yeah, I think that Addax have a great lineup for next year, but at first glance ART have an awful one. Bird? Why??? Well, maybe he'll prove me wrong.

[patnicholls]

A shame that Durango have been forced to quit, as series stalwarts they'll be missed.

There used to be a running joke in the British Uni Karting Championship with everyone saying "I was quicker than Sam Bird", and indeed he is a fair old surprise to be snapped up by ART and while he's not been F3 title material he's not been a million miles off, so maybe he'll spring a surprise. I'd think Bianchi will be rather strong though for ART so they should be in title contention.

The Addax lineup also looks strong and Oliver Turvey will also be decent for iSport - mark him down as 'future star' also. There's plenty of other up-and-comers who'll be in there, Josef Kral who's with Super Nova in GP2 Asia looks good and surely someone will pick Christian Vietoris. Recent F1 test star Daniel Ricciardo won't be there though - he's going to be in WSbR with Tech 1.

[jens]

So Leimer and Chilton have been confirmed at Ocean for 2010. Leimer was quite expected and I suppose he might be one of the drivers to watch next year, especially as ORT has made a significant step forward during 2009 under new ownership. Maybe title contention would be a long shot for the Swiss, but Top10 in overall standings is surely achievable. Chilton is a bit more surprising choice, maybe the youngster will be rushed into GP2.

[Hayley]

I agree, Giedo is no Hamilton or Hulkenberg, but after last season I think the guy showed sparks of potential again. Indeed, he made a bit of a slow start, but as a first time GP2 driver, he faired pretty well in the 2nd half of the season. But now that he has (presumably) one of the best cars for next season, he has to show what he's truly made of.

He already has some experience driving F1 cars as a testdriver, which could be an advantage. A smaller team would probably come in line for him rather than a big name, that's true.

I would say VDG already had one of the best cars this year but it took him too long to drive it how it needed to be driven. I think he fought iSport too hard and in the end they were right and he changed his driving to adapt to the GP2 car and Bridgestone rubber. He will be strong at Addax so long at it doesn't blow up socially as is known with VDG and his very quick team mate doesn't affect his confidence.

[DazzlaF1]

Super Nova have confirmed Marcus Ericsson and Josef Kral for 2010

SO FAR

ART: 1. Jules Bianchi, 2. Sam Bird
BARWA ADDAX: 3. Giedo Van der Garde, 4. Sergio Perez
SUPER NOVA: 5. Marcus Ericsson, 6. Josef Kral
RACING ENGINEERING: 7. Dani Clos, 8. ???
iSPORT: 9. Oliver Turvey, 10. Davide Valsecchi
DAMS: 11. ???, 12. ???
RAPAX: 14. ???, 15. ???
ARDEN: 16. ???, 17. ???
OCEAN: 18. Max Chilton, 19. Fabio Leimer
COLONI: 20. ???, 21. ???
TRIDENT: 24. ???, 25. ???
DPR: 26. ???, 27. ???

[Placid]

Any chance that USF1 can get involved in Durango's vacant spot?

Or will Qi-Meritus take Durango's vacant spot?

[patnicholls]

Charles Pic in one of the Arden seats confirmed today on the various sites. The season doesn't start til May though, so plenty of time for the rest to get sorted.

[jens]

It's quite interesting that we will see so many rookies in 2010, while in the past the amount of experienced racers in GP2 has been quite significant. Among confirmed drivers so far rookies have an advantage of 8-3.

I suspect the reason for this phenomenon is that the economic crisis has had a detrimental effect especially on experienced drivers. Sponsors have become more choosy on who to support and in this case have preferred younger drivers with more perspective rather than those, who have been trundling around in feeder series for years without a notable breakthrough.

[Copse]

The season doesn't start til May though, so plenty of time for the rest to get sorted.

True, but on the other hand it is just a couple of weeks to the next GP2 Asia round. And as we saw last year, teams tended to put their signings for the main series into their Asia cars as soon as they could, sometimes at the cost of drivers who thought they had rides for the whole series. The Pitpass article about SuperNova's signings hints that Ericsson will be in their car in the Asia series, presumably at the cost of James Jakes.

[Nikki Katz]

The Asian series is fairly meaningless though this time around, it's a hugely budget series. And the addition of the UAE circuit to the 2010 GP2 calendar means that there's even less call for it next year - even tracks in the middle east are abandoning it.

Most of the drivers announced in the main series are new though, which is a bit of a shame as there are good experienced drivers out there, but I think that's really the recession kicking in. I wonder what'll happen to all the old drivers now A1GP's dead.

[patnicholls]

I suppose it's a tough balancing act - keep too many old hands in and some people will say 'oh, Pantano and Filippi are past it' but conversely you've gotta wonder where they go if nothing opens up in F1 or in the States. I understand Giorgio Pantano was racing Renault Meganes last year, which seems ridiculous. Personally, I can't keep up with the throughput of young rookies nowadays! *laughs*

The old hands generally seem to end up racing sportscars - every time I see any GT stuff it's full of ex F3000 guys.

[jens]

In my view something very important is missing in European open-wheel racing and this is an alternative series to F1. I mean why should a driver, who has for his whole life dreamed of racing in open-wheelers, give it up and go to sports/touring cars straight after feeder series after failing to get into F1 (where only a few chosen ones get), while the heart is elsewhere?

At the moment if a driver leaves a junior series or has dropped out of F1, the only options are either American "openwheelers" or racing cars with a roof. IMO European-based racing world should have a respected open-wheel series, where 30+ drivers can really make a realistic career. All those Davidsons, Kliens, just sit as reserve drivers doing nothing - then they would at least have a meaningful series to race in and keep themselves fit for a possible F1 return. Recently it has been complained, how "drivers have not raced for 3 years, so how on earth are they supposed to successfully return to F1?" An alternative open-wheel series would be a great option also to oldies like de la Rosa, Schumacher, Villeneuve, now also Fisichella, etc to keep racing in the type of cars they love most.

I think A1GP was in this respect a decent alternative, but alas it has disappeared. Maybe Superleague Formula is taking over that role? But it still doesn't have a decent reputation to attract drivers and media attention.

[Placid]

RIP Durango :(

Yeah, I think that Addax have a great lineup for next year, but at first glance ART have an awful one. Bird? Why??? Well, maybe he'll prove me wrong.


Well... maybe NWR might field the vacated Durango's spot. They recently
shut down their operations. Their options include fielding John Edwards
with only 1 car in the Indy Lights series. But on the other hand, they
are also looking for the GP2 route. If so, they can bring Edwards. And
possibly Hildebrand. Summerton is eyeing the Formula 2 series.

[Mekola]

RIP Durango :(
Durango, despite their troubles, still lives as a team. They'll move their activities to Auto GP (series that uses ex-Lola A1GP cars) for this season.

[Nikki Katz]

Hang on, did Herck just nearly win a race? Ok, that was thanks to finishing from a 7th place yesterday which he should really have been disqualified from for twice punting cars off the track, but all the same!

[jens]

I see that the signings of various Gravity-drivers (Vietoris to RE, Tung and d'Ambrosio to DAMS) have gone unmentioned here. :p :

Herck? IMO he showed signs of improvement in late-09, so I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to put together a more competitive campaign this year. :)

[DazzlaF1]

I see that the signings of various Gravity-drivers (Vietoris to RE, Tung and d'Ambrosio to DAMS) have gone unmentioned here. :p :

Herck? IMO he showed signs of improvement in late-09, so I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to put together a more competitive campaign this year. :)

Its not confirmed but you can probably be sure that he'll be back at DPR again this year

LINEUP SO FAR (including Herck)

ART GRAND PRIX: 1. Jules Bianchi, 2. Sam Bird
BARWA ADDAX: 3. Giedo van der Garde, 4. Sergio Perez
SUPER NOVA: 5. Marcus Ericsson, 6. Josef Kral
RACING ENGINEERING: 7. Dani Clos, 8. Christian Vietoris
iSPORT: 9. Oliver Turvey, 10. Davide Valsecchi
DAMS/RENAULT JUNIOR: 11. Jerome d'Ambrosis, 12. Ho-Pin Tung
RAPAX: 14. ???, 15. ???
OCEAN: 16. Max Chilton, 17. Fabio Leimer
ARDEN: 18. Charles Pic, 19. ???
COLONI: 20. Alberto Valerio, 21. ???
TRIDENT: 24. ???, 25. ???
DPR: 26. Michael Herck, 27. ???

[MikeD]

Its not confirmed but you can probably be sure that he'll be back at DPR again this year

LINEUP SO FAR (including Herck)

ART GRAND PRIX: 1. Jules Bianchi, 2. Sam Bird
BARWA ADDAX: 3. Giedo van der Garde, 4. Sergio Perez
SUPER NOVA: 5. Marcus Ericsson, 6. Josef Kral
RACING ENGINEERING: 7. Dani Clos, 8. Christian Vietoris
iSPORT: 9. Oliver Turvey, 10. Davide Valsecchi
DAMS/RENAULT JUNIOR: 11. Jerome d'Ambrosis, 12. Ho-Pin Tung
RAPAX: 14. ???, 15. ???
OCEAN: 16. Max Chilton, 17. Fabio Leimer
ARDEN: 18. Charles Pic, 19. ???
COLONI: 20. Alberto Valerio, 21. ???
TRIDENT: 24. ???, 25. ???
DPR: 26. Michael Herck, 27. ???


To my knowledge from team-personel at iSport then Davide Valsecchi is not confirmed at iSport for the main series. But his chances are good.

Dani Clos is not either confirmed yet at RE, even though he is likely to get it.

[Placid]

Scratch Edwards from the list. He will do Grand Am GT

[jens]

Meantime a few more drivers have been confirmed:

Rapax: Maldonado - Razia
Trident: Cecotto
Coloni: Arabadzhiev

I consider Maldonado as a potential dark horse for this season. After all, back in 2008 in the same team - named Piquet GP then - he had quite a competitive season.

[Nikki Katz]

Maldonado's been quickest every day in testing so far. I know that could be on low fuel, but that can't be a bad thing. He's got to be a title threat despite Rapax's recent form. I expect that Valsecci, van der Garde and Bianci will also be contenders.

Coloni and Trident will probably struggle, I can see them falling behind DPR. I don't know what's with Coloni's choice of drivers or why they chose Valerio over Parente, I can only assume it's sponsorship related.

[Placid]

Any word if JR Hildebrand may get a GP2 seat?

[jens]

Any word if JR Hildebrand may get a GP2 seat?

I doubt it. Probably Ricci will be confirmed at DPR and Gonzalez, Villa or maybe someone else will fill the second Arden and Trident seats.

[Nikki Katz]

I imagine with only a couple of weeks until the new season that it'll be the drivers that are currently being tested, as it was last year with the exception of Jakes. So,

Arden - Gonzalez
Trident - Zaugg
DPR - Ricci

I think the rest of the drivers are confirmed anyway.

Villa, Parente and Filippi appear to be without seats, at least at the start of the season, which is a little surprising as they all did quite well in the winter series.