Patronise F1

As well as a turgid F1 race, the Barcelona weekend also sees the start of a new season in GP2, with 24 more drivers aiming to follow in the footsteps of 2009 heroes Hulkenberg, Petrov and, erm, Grosjean. Patronise F1 takes a look at the season ahead.

The 2010 GP2 Series has quite a bit to live up to in terms of wheeling out future F1 talent, after the 2009 series produced no less than six Formula One graduates. Starting in Barcelona this weekend and somewhat stupidly not finishing until the final GP of the season in Abu Dhabi (the extra round tacked on at the end means that there is now a rather preposterous two month gap between the traditional season finale at Monza and the new season finale at the Yas Island track), a mixture of twenty four dour GP2 veterans, highly-rated rookies and other randommers from all walks of motorsport will do battle for the chance to do slightly crap in a midfield F1 drive in 2011.

The GP2 grid, like the Asia Series grid over the winter, is missing two cars after the Durango team withdrew from the series completely (due to financial issues, though somewhat bemusingly they have allegedly found some new backing and have pitched for the spare F1 grid slot for 2011). This year also represents the final year of the current iteration of Dallara-Renault cars and team 'franchises', with the grid open for new teams to bid for spaces in 2011. If anyone can really be that bothered.

Still, the GP2 Series is becoming increasingly relevant for the F1 drivers of the future, and not just for the winners. With another backmarking team set for the F1 grid in 2011, there is now a litany of F1 seats available for each and every silly season, following a couple of seasons of relative parity among F1's grid. Compare the six 2009 GP2 graduates, for example, to the 2008 grid, where the only driver to make it to F1 was 6th placed man Sebastien Buemi.

So, there's a lot more to play for as the GP2 field rolls out for another season of thrills and spills, and plenty of drivers with F1 aspirations hoping to make their mark on the watching teams. As for who is likely to win, Patronise frankly (as ever) has no idea, but here's a check on the drivers that will be lining up for the start of the season in Barcelona next weekend.

Runners and Riders

ART Grand Prix - Jules Bianchi (Fra) / Sam Bird (Gbr)
The champion ART team which took Nico Hulkenberg to the title last season has signed the hot new French prospect Jules Bianchi to lead their 2010 campaign. Bianchi was the F3 Euroseries champion for the team last year and became the first name on Ferrari's nascent young driver programme, but had an inconsistent GP2 Asia Series over the winter, proving to be fast but also prone to mistakes, much like former French GP2 frontrunner Romain Grosjean. Will nevertheless start the season as one of the title favourites, if only because he is at the title-holding team. In the other seat, Bird endured a winless pair of seasons in the Euroseries in 2008 and 2009, but did finish 3rd in the season-ending Macau GP for ART, which was enough to convince them to give him a go. Didn't show too much evidence in his Asia Series performances to suggest he is the new Lewis Hamilton, mind you.

Barwa Addax Team - Giedo van der Garde (Ned) / Sergio Perez (Mex)
The Addax team, formerly owned by failed F1 team boss Adrian Campos, became a slightly surprising frontrunner throughout 2010 with Grosjean and Petrov, but have had a mixed pre-season showing with van der Garde and Perez. Both of their drivers have flattered to decieve in their GP2 careers so far, with van der Garde, a former Super Aguri and Spyker test driver, winning three races in 2009 but never looking like getting in the title hunt, while Perez has struggled to find the form that gave him two race wins in the 2008-09 Asia Series. Both face make-or-break years in the series for 2010, but have shown in the past that they could well be up front more often than not.

Super Nova Racing - Josef Kral (Cze) / Marcus Ericsson (Swe)
The Super Nova squad used to dominate the old F3000 series, but have never won a drivers or teams title in GP2 since it's inception in 2005. And it is difficult to see them breaking that rather naff run with their rookie pairing in 2010, though both have the potential to be solid frontrunners. Kral finished third in the 2009 Formula Master series, and secured a podium in the Asia Series, while Ericsson has a Formula BMW UK title and a Japanese F3 title to his name, though he struggled in his pair of Asia Series outings, firstly for for ART and latterly with Super Nova.

Fat Burner Racing Engineering - Dani Clos (Spa) / Christian Vietoris (Ger)
The amusingly-sponsored Racing Engineering team slipped back in 2009 after sweeping to the 2008 GP2 title with motorsport's forgotten champion Giorgio Pantano, and will likely be putting all their hopes for 2010 on the shoulders of Vietoris. Partly because the German finished second in the 2009 F3 Euroseries, triumphed in only his second GP2 Asia race over the winter for the DAMS team, and was the youngest race winner in the brief history of the A1GP series, and partly because Dani Clos, the man in the other seat at the team, is utterly hapless.

iSport International - Oliver Turvey (Gbr) / Davide Valsecchi (Ita)
The iSport squad swept all before them in the GP2 Asia Series, with Valsecchi setting a scorching pace to clinch the title almost parodically early in the season. Back in the regular GP2 series, though, with the newer version of the Dallara chassis, the team hasn't looked anywhere near as quick in pre-season testing. Valsecchi will have to prove that his Asia win was more than just an anomaly after never finishing higher than 15th in the main series, while Turvey will be hoping to build on his single, dramatic race win in the winter Asia series as he looks to try and lay claim to the 'new Lewis Hamilton' award.

Renault F1 Junior Team - Jerome d'Ambrosio (Bel) / Ho-Pin Tung (Chi)
The fancy new name for the old DAMS team, which will run with Renault F1-apeing yellow-and-black liveries in 2010, have been lumbered with a pair of drivers from new Renault owner Gerard Lopez's extensive back catalogue of middling drivers currently signed up to his own personal Gravity Sports Management portfolio, and completely coincidentally, the two drivers who form the Renault F1 team's 2010 test driving squad. D'Ambrosio is a GP2 veteran of little note, though he did set the quickest time across the three-day pre-season test in Barcelona, while Tung achieved little in the series in 2007 and 2008 and spent last season racing in the needless Superleague Formula series. May be a good bet to be title outsiders, particularly with D'Ambrosio.

Rapax Team - Luiz Razia (Bra) / Pastor Maldonado (Ven)
The former Piquet Sport outfit, which has been renamed after succeeding in its remit to somehow get Nelson Piquet Jr into Formula One, could be a bit of a surprise package in 2010. Pastor Maldonado has been a dominant force throughout the pre-season campaign, and assuming the rumours linking him to Pedro de la Rosa's Sauber F1 seat are as wide of the mark as the Venezuelan claims they are, he should start the season in the mix. Has won four times in three seasons of GP2 to date, without ever threatening to get into a championship-winning position. Razia, meanwhile, is a Virgin Racing test driver, albeit one who has not really done any testing, and won the Monza sprint race in last year's GP2 series for the relatively naff Coloni team, so might be in the mix for podiums at least.

Arden International - Charles Pic (Fra) / TBA (TBA)
Christian Horner's Arden team is another to have slipped down the pecking order since the inception of GP2. Finished second in the inaugural championship with Heikki Kovalainen, but since then has looked all at sea. Things are unlikely to significantly improve in 2010, though Charles Pic was a race winner and pole winner in the Asia Series for the team. As of 2nd May, the team are yet to announce their second driver, though former British F3 National Class champion Rodolfo Gonzalez ran in their second car throughout pre-season testing.

Ocean Racing Technology - Max Chilton (Gbr) / Fabio Leimer (Swi)
The team owned by former Jordan and Midland F1 lackey Tiago Monteiro enjoyed a slight improvement in fortunes in 2009 after a dreadful couple of years as BCN Competition, and could pick up some useful results in 2010. Chilton is an undoubted raw talent, winning races in British F3 before his 18th birthday, but he generally looked a bit too green for GP2 just yet (he's still only 19 years old), after being rather outclassed in the Asia Series. Leimer could be a bit of a dark horse for podiums or even race wins after sweeping to the almost-relevent International Formula Master title last year. Also possesses one of the worst haircuts in the history of motorsport.

PPR.com Scuderia Coloni - Alberto Valerio (Bra) / Vladimir Arabadzhiev (Bul)
A relatively uninspiring lineup for a relatively uninspiring team. Valerio won a race last year for Piquet GP, but has been generally unimpressive at this level for the last couple of years, while Arabadzhiev scored a mighty zero points for the Rapax team in the winter Asia series. Expect precious little success from this lot in 2010, even if a late cameo from former Virgin tester Alvaro Parente in the Asia Series yielded a surprise podium.

Trident Racing - Johnny Cecotto Jr (Ven) / TBA (TBA)
The Trident team have long been an inconsistent midfielder in GP2, and had a woeful 2009 when they finished just 12th out of 13 in the teams standings. So far, only famous surname Johnny Cecotto Jr has been announced in their 2010 lineup, though jobbing workaday GP2 veteran Adrian Zaugg ran their second car in testing, and would be a safe pair of hands for the team if they secured a race deal with the South African.

David Price Racing - Michael Herck (Ger) / Giacomo Ricci (Ita)
The perennial GP2 backmarkers come into this new season in the main series buoyed by an unprecedentedly successful Asia Series campaign, where DPR finished third in the teams standings and won their first GP2 race in over four years thanks to Ricci. Keeping with the same driver line-up for the 2010 series, including Herck, the neptostic son of the team boss, the team will now be looking to translate that form into points in the main championship, having finished bottom of the pile in the championship for the last two years. Don't get your hopes too high, though, DPR fans.

Previous Champions

Aside from 2008, when the geriatric veteran Giorgio Pantano clinched the title (in an event so spectacular, PatroniseF1 MBMed the race), the GP2 champion has always managed to graduate directly to F1, and in some cases, do remarkably well. Lewis Hamilton's 2006 GP2 triumph, followed by his 2008 F1 crown, made him the first feeder series champion to win an F1 title ever, through Formula Two, Formula 3000 and now the GP2 Series. Which is an oddity of a statistic if ever there was one.

2010 Schedule

Aside from the farcical addition of the final round in Abu Dhabi, which throws some doubt on the continuation of the GP2 Asia Series, given that the Yas Marina round of the F1 season served as the Asia series opener in 2009, the other events remain the same for GP2 in 2010, with the only real calendar change being the moving of the one and only standalone weekend for the series, at the Portimao circuit, from the end of the season to an earlier date.

* - Standalone event with GP3 Series 

2010 GP3 Series Preview

As if the GP2 circus wasn't enough fun, Barcelona will see the debut of the all-new GP3 Series on the F1 support calendar. Ostensibly a direct competitor to Formula 3, but really just another pointless feeder series to further dilute the talent pool below F1.

Ten teams have signed up to run three identical Dallara-Renault cars each, with a yearly budget for a drive in the range of 600,000 Euros. The grid sees a mix of established GP2 teams, ex-F3 Euroseries runners, the odd ex-Formula Master lot and even a race team for F1's very own Mark Webber, run in conjunction with Christian Horner's Arden squad.

So far, only 24 of the 30 seats for 2010 have been officially filled, though a wealth of lower formula driving 'talent' tried to make a name for themselves in winter testing.

The strength of the GP3 package is similar to that of GP2. With almost all of the rounds taking place in full view of GP2 and F1 bosses, the drivers will be able to showcase their abilities (or lack of) to their target audience directly, rather than relying on them tuning in to a dodgy highlights package on Eurosport at some point. The draw of this new series can be most palpably felt by looking at the mess it has made of the F3 Euroseries, which has lost established teams Manor and Carlin to GP3, and has started 2010 with a paltry grid of 13 cars at the championship's opening round.

Runners and Riders

ART Grand Prix - Esteban Gutiérrez (Mex) / Alexander Rossi (Usa) / Pedro Nunes (Bra)
Status Grand Prix - Robert Wickens (Can) / Ivan Lukashevich (Rus) / TBA (TBA)
Manor GP - James Jakes (Gbr) / Rio Haryanto (Jap) / TBA (TBA)
RSC Mucke Motorsport - Nigel Melker (Ned) / Renger van der Zande (Ned) / Tobias Hegewald (Ger)
Carlin - Josef Newgarden (Usa) / Dean Smith (Gbr) / Lucas Foresti (Bra)
Addax Team - TBA (TBA) / Pablo Sanchez Lopez (Mex) / Mirko Bortolotti (Ita)
MW Arden - Michael Christensen (Den) / Miquel Monras (Spa) / Leonardo Cordeiro (Bra)
Jenzer Motorsport - Pal Varhaug (Nor) / Simon Trummer (Swi) Nico Müller (Swi)
Tech 1 Racing - Doru Sechelariu (Rom) / TBA (TBA) / TBA (TBA)
ATECH CRS GP - Patrick Reiterer (Ita) / Oliver Oakes (Gbr) / TBA (TBA)

Schedule

* - Standalone event with GP2 Series 

Ones To Watch

- Esteban Gutierrez (ART Grand Prix)
The Mexican dominated testing for the crack ART squad, and after a disappointing debut season in the Euroseries last year will be looking to scrap for the championship in GP3. Tested a BMW Sauber F1 car in December last year as a rather tardily-arranged prize for winning the 2008 Formula BMW Europe championship, and former BMW partners Sauber still have their eye on him.

- Robert Wickens (Status Grand Prix)
A race winner in all manner of lower formulae, including the Renault World Series, A1GP and Formula Two, Wickens is Canada's next big single-seater hope. Has never really strung a concerted run of results together in any of the other series, though, and may well be hamstrung by racing for the slightly unfancied Status team.

- Alexander Rossi (ART Grand Prix)
Dominated the 2008 Formula BMW Americas championship before switching to Europe to further his dream of becoming America's first F1 driver since Scott "misnomer" Speed. Won races in Formula Master in 2009, but looked out of his depth in GP2 Asia over the winter. A step back down to GP3 might do wonders for him though, and he was another man to test strongly over the winter.

- Renger van der Zande (RSC Mucke Motorsport)
Had a "what might have been" season in British F3 last year, finishing third in the championship despite missing four races and largely working as a helpful 'Boobens' for his team mate Walter Grubmuller. Given free rein, many believed he would have challenged Red Bull tester Daniel Ricciardo for the F3 crown, and he won on a random outing in the Euroseries as well.

- Michael Christensen (MW Arden)
Finished fourth in last year's Formula BMW Europe championship for Mucke Motorsport, and raised a few eyebrows with some strong testing performances throughout the winter programme. If Mark Webber is to become a championship winner with his new GP3 side project, the Dane is the man most likely to make it happen.

- Mirko Bortolotti (Addax Team)
That he was considered as a replacement for the hapless Luca Badoer at Ferrari during Felipe Massa's injury issues last year shouldn't detract from the fact that this is a make-or-break year for Bortolotti. Stepping down to GP3 level after a relatively disappointing year in Formula 2 means that the Italian really has to perform in 2010 to have any hope of furthering his career.