HEADING TOWARDS F2?

The announcement that the the Formula 3.5 is to become a support event for the

World Endurance Championship in 2017 would appear to be a step towards the series

becoming an FIA-sanctioned formula, and potentially the long-awaited Formula 2.

However, there are also stories that the FIA is less than happy that series promoter

Jaime Alguersuari Sr, who created the championship 18 years ago, has done such a

deal, although there is no obvious reason why there should be resistance to the idea,

unless the negotiations are continuing to turn GP2 into Formula 2. This makes sense

in terms of coverage and the proximity of races to F1 events, but the price of the

series is a serious stumbling block as the FIA has made much of the need for costeffective

championships. GP2 is anything but that and is treated by its owners, CVC

Capital Partners, as a profit centre.

The price of a season of GP2 these days is around $2 million per car and many of the teams are struggling, unless they have backing from a wealthy family, of which there are many in GP2 at the moment. The danger of this is that the best drivers do not come through. Formula 3.5 is considerably cheaper, but was handicapped by the fact that it could not achieve much as a standalone event and because the series only offered European events.

The deal with WEC means that there will be six of the nine planned Formula 3.5 races twinned with the sports car championship. Three of these will be outside Europe and the promoters have agreed to pay for all the equipment and 10 team members at each event.

These would be in Mexico, Japan and Bahrain, with the other three European events being

Silverstone, Spa and Nürburgring. This means that youngsters will be able to race at

major international circuits at an affordable cost. The agreement includes some end

of season tests in sports cars for the top three finishers in the championship.

"A single-seater championship of this level has never before offered such a wide

international calendar at an affordable budget," says Alguersuari.

The FIA recently agreed to include the Formula 3.5 in its Superlicence points

categories, which was only sensible given that the series has produced a couple of

dozen Formula 1 drivers over the years.

Source: JSMB Newsletter