FORUMula1.com - F1 Forum

[scotty]

What are the requirements for a super license? Don't you have to have some number of kilometers or hours behind the wheel of an F1 car to get the license?

To qualify for an FIA Super Licence the requesting driver must already be the holder of a Grade A competition licence, and additionally meet the requirements of the FIA International Sporting Code, Appendix L. These requirements state that the driver must be either the reigning champion in a lower category of motor sport, for example Formula 3 (British, Italian or Japanese championship, or Euroseries) or GP2 Series (formerly known as Formula 3000), or must have consistently finished well in these categories. For example, a driver finishing in the first three positions five times within the last two years in GP2 will be eligible for a Super Licence.

Additionally, drivers who have competed in the IndyCar Series are eligible for a Super Licence if they finished within the first six places of the drivers championship. This allows drivers from the United States domestic series to move into Formula One without first taking part in other FIA sanctioned events. Under exceptional circumstances Appendix L also allows the FIA to award a Super Licence to a driver who does not meet the normal criteria if a vote reveals unanimous agreement by the members, and provided that the driver has completed 300 kilometres of testing at racing speeds in a current car.

Of course, Wikipedia isn't always right... but that makes sense. What was the issue with Kimi Raikkonen's licence being given? Was it that he had only 1 year of experience in single seaters or something? Regardless, his performances in 2001 further showed that experience doesn't count for everything.

[Leo-The_Red]

I wrote this a while a go on the subject. Didn't much feedback but I think it's ok

Is Chopping and Changing Beneficial?
With Bourdais now gone and Alguersuari in, and with growing rumours over Piquet's future and maybe even Nakajima leaving Williams, I just thought, 'What can the teams gain from putting young inexperienced drivers in Formula One?'

And the answer really is not a lot.

Lets take the Alguersuari situation, the 'kid' had never driven a 2009 spec Formula One round a corner until yesterday morning yet he has a seat for what won't even be half a season. Bourdais was given the sack from Toro Rosso not because of his name certainly not, the Red Bull franchise seem obsessed with the name Sebastian (or Sebastien), but instead he got the boot because he wasn't scoring points for Toro Rosso on a basis let alone a consistent one!

But what difference is Alguersuari going to make? Lets be honest he is no Lewis Hamilton, the likelihood of him scoring a single point this weekend is much less than the chance Bourdais would have had.

The boy has gone straight from Formula Renault to Formula One, the leap there is huge not only in speed but in quality of racing. I'm not saying that Formula Renault isn't exciting but the standards are no where near as high as those in F1. Even in Formula Renault he was a rookie after driving in British F3 in 2008.

But Alguersuari won't even get to race the full 8 remaining races due to, yet another Sebastien, Sebastien Loeb having agreed to race in Abu Dhabi and if Autosport Magazine is to be believed it could even be earlier if Loeb wraps up the WRC championship early or if he gets the consent of Citroen!

If I was Alguersuari I would be worried about this because surely the main reason he was given a seat is because they will be assessing him for 2010 seat and lets be honest again, I would rather have Loeb a proven Motorsports champion and someone who has done a few days testing for Red Bull where he was lapping relatively good lap times, over a young 19 year old who is still yet to prove himself in the higher forms of motorsport.

But can Renault and maybe even Williams gain anything if they get rid of Piquet and Nakajima respectively?

Well I personally believe they can.

The two drivers who would take the seats would be Romain Grosjean for Renault and Nico Hulkenburg for Williams. Both drivers are currently first and second in the GP2 series with Nico just leading. So these drivers are showing good current form in the closest series to F1 whereas Alguersuari is only 8th in the World Series by Renault a class that is slightly lower down the pecking order.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2238 ... beneficial

Reading over it again it doesn't read like my best articles and there's just something about it that doesn't quite seem right!

[headless]

How can you measure experience before getting a Super License?
It is one of those unmeasurable things.

[JamesD89]

I wrote this a while a go on the subject. Didn't much feedback but I think it's ok

Is Chopping and Changing Beneficial?
With Bourdais now gone and Alguersuari in, and with growing rumours over Piquet's future and maybe even Nakajima leaving Williams, I just thought, 'What can the teams gain from putting young inexperienced drivers in Formula One?'

And the answer really is not a lot.

Lets take the Alguersuari situation, the 'kid' had never driven a 2009 spec Formula One round a corner until yesterday morning yet he has a seat for what won't even be half a season. Bourdais was given the sack from Toro Rosso not because of his name certainly not, the Red Bull franchise seem obsessed with the name Sebastian (or Sebastien), but instead he got the boot because he wasn't scoring points for Toro Rosso on a basis let alone a consistent one!

But what difference is Alguersuari going to make? Lets be honest he is no Lewis Hamilton, the likelihood of him scoring a single point this weekend is much less than the chance Bourdais would have had.

The boy has gone straight from Formula Renault to Formula One, the leap there is huge not only in speed but in quality of racing. I'm not saying that Formula Renault isn't exciting but the standards are no where near as high as those in F1. Even in Formula Renault he was a rookie after driving in British F3 in 2008.

But Alguersuari won't even get to race the full 8 remaining races due to, yet another Sebastien, Sebastien Loeb having agreed to race in Abu Dhabi and if Autosport Magazine is to be believed it could even be earlier if Loeb wraps up the WRC championship early or if he gets the consent of Citroen!

If I was Alguersuari I would be worried about this because surely the main reason he was given a seat is because they will be assessing him for 2010 seat and lets be honest again, I would rather have Loeb a proven Motorsports champion and someone who has done a few days testing for Red Bull where he was lapping relatively good lap times, over a young 19 year old who is still yet to prove himself in the higher forms of motorsport.

But can Renault and maybe even Williams gain anything if they get rid of Piquet and Nakajima respectively?

Well I personally believe they can.

The two drivers who would take the seats would be Romain Grosjean for Renault and Nico Hulkenburg for Williams. Both drivers are currently first and second in the GP2 series with Nico just leading. So these drivers are showing good current form in the closest series to F1 whereas Alguersuari is only 8th in the World Series by Renault a class that is slightly lower down the pecking order.
http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2238 ... beneficial

Reading over it again it doesn't read like my best articles and there's just something about it that doesn't quite seem right!

It's interesting that you make the distinction - Grosjean and Hulkenburg have much to gain and Algersuari has much to lose.

I would suggest that Algersuari has the most to gain of the 3. He isn't driving a competitive car so isn't expected to score many points, if any. Renault and Williams both have superior expectations.

Algersuari also doesn't appear to have the strongest of teamates, making it easier to perform well in comparison to the 1st driver than it is for Hulkenberg and Grosjean.

But if they're given sufficient time (which fair enough, I think you're rightly suggesting JA's not), then they have nothing to lose.

To date, they haven't achieved anything in Formula 1. Even if they qualified last and left the grid in reverse, nothing would have changed. But if they drive a solid race in difficult conditions or find the odd blistering lap they're on the road to a full contract.

[Jabberwocky]

you could say the same when Brundel and Senna made the step up to F1. one was in a big team and people expected results, the other went into a team that no one expected much of.