The F3 Euro Series is dying. Multiple champion team ART have withdrawn for 2011, and reigning champions Signature say they will consider a move to British F3 if the Euro Series grids are not big enough. I have come up with a solution of how the two series could merge, while still maintaining a series for British teams.
Currently the British championship calls itself the 'British F3 International Series'. It then calls its secondary class for older cars the 'National class'. For 2011 the calendar is made up of six rounds on English circuits and four rounds on European circuits.
If Euro Series teams such as Signature wished to join British F3 they would probably ideally want more European rounds than currently. However, this would not be the preference of the smaller British teams, who may not have the budget. It would also stop the British F3 Championship from being much of a British championship!
The way to solve this would be to take a leaf out of the Superstars touring car series, which is based in Italy, but now has an 'International Championship' with races abroad. The British F3 Championship could have an International Series and a National Series. The International Series would be open to whoever wants to enter it, while the National Series would be open to only the British teams.
Both series would have 10 race weekends (the current amount), with four shared rounds that would count towards both series. The six 'International' rounds would take place alongside FIA GT1 World Championship rounds, which shares the same promoter, SRO.
The calendar could be as follows (italics races are shared between both series):
International:
1. Monza
2. Silverstone Arena
3. Brands Hatch GP
4. Paul Ricard
5. Spa
6. Portimao
7. Rockingham
8. Nurburgring
9. Donington Park
10. Navarra
National:
1. Oulton Park
2. Silverstone Arena
3. Snetterton
4. Brands Hatch GP
5. Thruxton
6. Brands Hatch Indy
7. Croft
8. Rockingham
9. Donington
10. Silverstone Bridge
For the International Calendar, I took the three 'main' UK circuits that British F3 visits (Brands Hatch, Donington and Silverstone) and added a fourth UK 'International Standard' venue - Rockingham. Using the 2011 British F3 calendar, I moved the Silverstone round to the FIA GT1 event in May, retained the four overseas races in Monza, Spa, Paul Ricard and Nurburgring, and added FIA GT1 supporting races in Portimao and Navarra.
For the National Calendar, I took the existing six UK venues on the 2011 calendar (Oulton Park, Snetterton, Brands Hatch GP, Rockingham, Donington Park and Silverstone). I needed to add three additional rounds in addition to the Silverstone GT1 support (which would mean the later Silverstone date would be run on the shorter 'Bridge' layout). I chose to use Brands Hatch Indy, as well as the two most recent British circuits to feature on the calendar - Thruxton and Croft.
Could RoC victory push Albuquerque onto greater things?
Due to family commitments, I was unable to watch the Race of Champions live last Sunday. Imagine my surprise when I get home to find that Portuguese racer Filipe Albuquerque had beaten the likes of 7-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb and newly-crowned F1 champ Sebastian Vettel to win!
To give you a bit of background into the one with the long name, Albuquerque was once a member of the Red Bull Junior Team that produced Vettel. However, when the Austrian energy drink brand dropped him his single-seater career stalled. This found him landing in Italian GTs in 2009 with the Audi Sport Italia team. He has also had the chance to race for the team's Superstars Series squad, racing at his home round in Portimao for the last two years, picking up two runner-up spots last year before claiming a victory in 2010.
After the RoC win, I said on Twitter how this should boost his career. Autosport then ran a story the following day with the headline: "Albuquerque: Roc win no career boost". Now, this is actually a bit unfair, as what he actually said when asked whether it would bring a career boost was "I don't know".
I am of course fully aware that winning the Race of Champions doesn't make you a great racing driver. It doesn't mean Albuquerque could go to any race series and beat the likes of Vettel and Schumacher. However, it will boost his profile. No longer is he just 'another racing driver'.
I think that this could help Albuquerque to get a seat in a higher profile series than Italian GTs. He is an Audi driver in Italy, and of course Audi run a DTM team. He has proven with his occasional Superstars appearances that he can drive a powerful touring car, so I think Audi should give him a shot. They recently got rid of Alexandre Premat, so there's definitely a seat going. F3 conqueror Edoardo Mortara will test for the team in the near future, and can no doubt do a good job for them too. If it was up to me, I'd ditch Katherine Legge, who was well outperformed this year by fellow British girl Susie Stoddart. However, it isn't, so we'll see what happens.
To give you a bit of background into the one with the long name, Albuquerque was once a member of the Red Bull Junior Team that produced Vettel. However, when the Austrian energy drink brand dropped him his single-seater career stalled. This found him landing in Italian GTs in 2009 with the Audi Sport Italia team. He has also had the chance to race for the team's Superstars Series squad, racing at his home round in Portimao for the last two years, picking up two runner-up spots last year before claiming a victory in 2010.
After the RoC win, I said on Twitter how this should boost his career. Autosport then ran a story the following day with the headline: "Albuquerque: Roc win no career boost". Now, this is actually a bit unfair, as what he actually said when asked whether it would bring a career boost was "I don't know".
I am of course fully aware that winning the Race of Champions doesn't make you a great racing driver. It doesn't mean Albuquerque could go to any race series and beat the likes of Vettel and Schumacher. However, it will boost his profile. No longer is he just 'another racing driver'.
I think that this could help Albuquerque to get a seat in a higher profile series than Italian GTs. He is an Audi driver in Italy, and of course Audi run a DTM team. He has proven with his occasional Superstars appearances that he can drive a powerful touring car, so I think Audi should give him a shot. They recently got rid of Alexandre Premat, so there's definitely a seat going. F3 conqueror Edoardo Mortara will test for the team in the near future, and can no doubt do a good job for them too. If it was up to me, I'd ditch Katherine Legge, who was well outperformed this year by fellow British girl Susie Stoddart. However, it isn't, so we'll see what happens.
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