Allright, starting a thread as there was no place to talk about F1's main support series. Therefore I decided to open this thread, while we are currently approaching half-way point in both GP2 and GP3.

Calendar:

08-09 May Barcelona, Spain
14-15 May Monte-Carlo, Monaco*
29-30 May Istanbul, Turkey
19-20 Jun Portimao, Portugal
26-27 Jun Valencia, Spain
10-11 Jul Silverstone, Great Britain
24-25 Jul Hockenheim, Germany
Jul 31-01 Aug Budapest, Hungary
28-29 Aug Spa-Francorchamps, Belgium
11-12 Sep Monza, Italy
13-14 Nov Yas Marina Circuit, Abu Dhabi

* Only GP2

The GP2 feature race usually starts on Saturday around 40 minutes after F1 quali; sprint usually starts at 10:30 local time.

The GP3 race 1 usually starts on Saturday 2 hours after the F1 quali. Race 2 usually starts at 09:30 local time.

Most of the races are usually broadcasted on Eurosport or Eurosport 2, either in live or delayed.

GP2

After 4 rounds we can already say that the man of the first season half is Pastor Maldonado. The Venezuelian driver was one of the favorites this year thanks to his great experience in GP2(it's his 4th season IIRC). He showed a very good pace and some consistancy which allow him to be in the lead of the championship with 42 points before Silverstone. He's probably not the future F1 star considering his age and huge GP2 experience, and he might follow the Pantano way after this season - but a title would be great for him to relaunch his carreer.

The most improved and most impressive driver so far has been with no doubt Sergio Perez. No one was really waiting for him after a rather anonymous 2009 season(finished in 12th place), but he showed an enormous potential so far, especially with a great victory in the Monaco feature race. Unfortunately, he's also been very unlucky so far, after being disqualified in the Istambul feature race and being taken out in both races at Valencia.

Somehow the two runners-up of the championship are currently Giedo van der Garde and Dani Clos. The 2 drivers never really fought for the victory in feature races(except at Monaco for the latter, who pulled a great pole on Friday), but their consistancy helped them a lot, especially in sprint races.

We've been expecting a lot from ART's Jules Bianchi and Sam Bird, but unfortunately the two rookies have been very unconsistant so far, and have been involved in several incidents also. Anyway, the F3 Euro Series has proven to have some pace so far, and might get his first victory later in the season.

Also, note that the GP2 2011 car has had its maiden test a few days ago at Magny-Cours. It will be visually and technically speaking even closer to F1s than the former cars.

GP3

So far, the man of the season has been Esteban Guttierez. The ART driver is on a different division somehow, and his pole at SIlverstone, 5 tenths in front of everyone, is a great example. With a 16 points lead at the championship, after only 6 races, he will probably be the first champion of the GP3 history if he doesn't fall apart with the pressure.

The fight for the final podium positions will be very interresting to follow though. For the moment they are held by the 2009 Formula 2 and Formula Masters season revelations, Robert Wickens and Alexander Rossi.

For its first season, the series has been doing nice so far with still 30 cars on the grid.

Anyway... We have Silverstone's first GP2 and GP3 races this afternoon! And oh joy, Eurosport 2 France will broadcast the GP3 live! Don't know about the other countries too, Eurosport is a bit weird with its program grids sometimes.

Personally i think F3.5 has a better breed of drivers.

Wooo for the 70,000th single seater series.

Quote from Mustafur :

Personally i think F3.5 has a better breed of drivers.

It's hard to say honestly. GP2 definitely is closer to F1 and is more challenging. It's like 7 seconds faster than F3.5 in most tracks IIRC. But in terms of racing quality, it's very hard to say TBH. Over the last few years GP2 clearly provided more drivers to F1.

I must say that the creation of GP3 was hardly necessary though, and I wouldn't be surprised if there's an drop of cars on the grid in a near future. Of course being a F1 support series means more interrest from the media, and is a huge avantage on F2 for example.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

It's hard to say honestly. GP2 definitely is closer to F1 and is more challenging. It's like 7 seconds faster than F3.5 in most tracks IIRC. But in terms of racing quality, it's very hard to say TBH. Over the last few years GP2 clearly provided more drivers to F1.

I must say that the creation of GP3 was hardly necessary though, and I wouldn't be surprised if there's an drop of cars on the grid in a near future. Of course being a F1 support series means more interrest from the media, and is a huge avantage on F2 for example.

I would say overall GP2 has had Better quality drivers since its started but F3.5 is definetely ahead this season.

Quote from Mustafur :

I would say overall GP2 has had Better quality drivers since its started but F3.5 is definetely ahead this season.

It's very hard to say IMO. The cars are so much different that you can't really compare the two series reliably.

One thing you can't deny though: F3.5 has been a lot cleaner so far, but this could be because it has slower cars and shorter grids than GP2, and the cars does have an onboard starter so people can get away from small tangles, even if they stall.

Grosjean to replace D'Ambrosio at Hockenheim in the DAMS car.

James Jakes and Simon Trummer ... two different incidents.

The latter even pulled a Kral after flying on someone else's rear wheels in the entry of the Mercedes complex - but don't search for this on YouTube, the cameras missed the crash somehow.

GP3 was a crash fest at Germany this week.

Quote from Mustafur :

GP3 was a crash fest at Germany this week.

Yea, sometimes it clearly was like destruction derby. A good part of the field should realise that quali=/=race, it is simply ridiculous to see at every single race 2 or 3 drivers trying to take the hotlap breaking points in the first lap. Really, I can't recall of any race with no first lap pile-up, except Silverstone perhaps.

Quote from GreyBull [CHA] :

Yea, sometimes it clearly was like destruction derby. A good part of the field should realise that quali=/=race, it is simply ridiculous to see at every single race 2 or 3 drivers trying to take the hotlap breaking points in the first lap. Really, I can't recall of any race with no first lap pile-up, except Silverstone perhaps.

lol eurosport reconned that danny sulivan had drawn the short straw being chief steward there, they reconned it would take him to wednesday just to sort out the gp3 runners

Huge crash between ART's Bianchi and DAMS' Ho-Pin Tung today at the start of Hungaroring's GP2 feature race. The race has then been red flagged for several tens of minutes. It has been shown on the stream that Tung has been taken to hospital from helicopter. No reliable update concerning him yet. Bianchi has been taken to the medical center also, he complains about back pains.

http://www.autohebdo.fr/monopl ... jules-bianchi-a-l-hopital

The race was won by Maldonado, in front of Vietoris and Perez by the way. The Venezuelian secures his championship lead.

E: "Initial reports are that neither driver was seriously hurt." according to Autosport. http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85750

Jules Bianchi has broken one of the spinal vertebrae.

Quote from Zdenek CZE :

Jules Bianchi has broken one of the spinal vertebrae.

Indeed.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/85759

I guess this means end of the season for him. Well, we might see him back for the finale, since it's on November. But still... Bad luck. Probably means the end of his F1 chances for 2011 too.

Auchhh, I hope he will get fine soon...