FIA taking a page from INDYCAR?

[since 1981]

Could there soon be a "Road To F1"?

Tost wants Berger to try & set up a clear developmental ladder

Discuss.

[ACCP]

Read: "Todt wants Berger to eradicate all other series that compete with FIA championships."

[Bezzen]

I found this quote by Berger to be somewhat amusing:

"We are missing something between karts and Formula 3 - call it Formula 4, if you will,"

Why don't we just call it Formula Renault 2.0 and admit that it's not really missing?

[Joe in LA]

I don't see this as taking a page from IndyCar at all--F1 has always had a ladder system of junior formulas. This is just an attempt to refocus on a few of the series. Over recent years, a lot of competing championships have cropped up. The ladder used to be F3, F2, F1 or F3, F3000, F1, with the F3 meaning the British F3 series in most cases. I think there is a lot of sense to standardizing the F3 rules among the various series. Aside from that, leave it alone.

[Ferris]

Joe in LA I concur with your thoughts. I believe that Berger and the FIA just want a more clear path outlined for advancing through the ranks for F1....Go to www.fia.com and read the entire article in the FIA In Motion magazine....

[OrdinaryRaceFan]

Problem: Too many championships

Easy fix: Create even more championships!

He has started by championing European F3, and the next step, according to Berger, could be an all new "Formula 4".

There he fixed it for us! Thanks Gerhard

[Frank Capua]

I thought this was gonna be about long August breaks in the action.

[Hardscrabble]

I thought this was gonna be about long August breaks in the action.

That would be Indycar taking a page from F-1...

[ForzaFerrari]

I found this quote by Berger to be somewhat amusing:

"We are missing something between karts and Formula 3 - call it Formula 4, if you will,"

Why don't we just call it Formula Renault 2.0 and admit that it's not really missing?

Hasn't that step always been formula ford? It is a well established class, with championships in almost every country and an unofficial world championship at Brands Hatch each year?

It is still expensive though. I looked into the costs when I was racing karts. I would have been looking at at least $50K to run the season, and more like 90-100K to do it properly.... which was about 80-90K more than my realistic budget for a season of racing!

The trouble is there is no real small stepping stone from karts to cars that both (a) can give you exposure and (b), doesn't require a tenfold increase in your budget. There are categories like Formula Vee that is only slightly more expensive than karting (and cheaper than the CIK categories) but even if you win every race, your next step is still going to be into a Formula Ford.

[ForzaFerrari]

Here's a good link I found with the various pathways and their typical costs.

http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/64894.html

[NativeDallas]

Here's a good link I found with the various pathways and their typical costs.

http://en.espnf1.com/f1/motorsport/story/64894.html

What would be interesting would be to compare these numbers with the developmental costs in NASCAR, IndyCar, and other forms of racing.

[ForzaFerrari]

I don't actually agree with those numbers in some cases. There are many drivers from countries with like Germany, Italy, Spain or Brazil where there is significant corporate dollars for junior formula racing, and drivers can move up purely on merit, however it is still rare. Generally, you still have to pay your own way into Formula Ford and have success with your own backing before someone else will pay.

The number about F1 is BS. Some smaller teams will still employ pay drivers, however Alonso does not pay $40M a year at Ferrari. He gets paid more than that by Ferrari. They are trying to argue that because Santander sponsors the car driven by Alonso, it is the same as him paying $40M a year. While it is true that without Alonso, Santander probably wouldn't sponsor Ferrari, if they didn't someone else would be paying the same amount for the same space. The fact that Alsono brings Santander to the party is a bonus, not the reason he drives. It probably does affect is salary however, as it means that Ferrari essentially get Alonso for 'free' as Santander basically pays his Salary. However that doesn't make him any different from any other top driver who is going to help bring blue chip sponsors to the part.

[ptclaus98]

I don't actually agree with those numbers in some cases. There are many drivers from countries with like Germany, Italy, Spain or Brazil where there is significant corporate dollars for junior formula racing, and drivers can move up purely on merit, however it is still rare. Generally, you still have to pay your own way into Formula Ford and have success with your own backing before someone else will pay.

The number about F1 is BS. Some smaller teams will still employ pay drivers, however Alonso does not pay $40M a year at Ferrari. He gets paid more than that by Ferrari. They are trying to argue that because Santander sponsors the car driven by Alonso, it is the same as him paying $40M a year. While it is true that without Alonso, Santander probably wouldn't sponsor Ferrari, if they didn't someone else would be paying the same amount for the same space. The fact that Alsono brings Santander to the party is a bonus, not the reason he drives. It probably does affect is salary however, as it means that Ferrari essentially get Alonso for 'free' as Santander basically pays his Salary. However that doesn't make him any different from any other top driver who is going to help bring blue chip sponsors to the part.

You might want to look at the grid sizes of championships in the countries listed and think again.

[ForzaFerrari]

There are still a lot of Italians and Brazilians in GP2 and GP3 this year, and almost half the teams in GP2 are Italian operated/based. Euro F3 championship is mostly German teams, with almost all teams running Mercedes or VW engines.

Most of the big Kart manufactures are italian, and don't underestimate the cost of running a top level CIK category kart. I've been out of karting for a while, and they have re-done the top formula's there, but it used to cost around $100K a year to run a season of Formula A karts. All of those Kart manufactures have fully backed factory teams in Europe that will recruit drivers from junior karting categories and pay there way to race all over Europe.