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[Kiwi_Chris]

Just saw this article,
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_news_item.php?fes_art_id=35222

I thought that was what Gp2 was for - so where does this leave the GP2 championship??

[bud]

i just saw it on F1live aswell

i think this is another pathetic power struggle Max move against Bernie who with Flav runs/owns GP2!

the upside is this F2 will tour the non euro races while GP2 does not

[EwanM]

i just saw it on F1live aswell

i think this is another pathetic power struggle Max move against Bernie who with Flav runs/owns GP2!

the upside is this F2 will tour the non euro races while GP2 does not

I always thought bringing back Formula 2 would have made more sense than the GP2.
Gp2 will continue because Bernie and co have launched so many different series of it, but don't be surprised if it loses teams, places on the F1 circus etc.

This may be the final straw for Bernie... but there isn't anything mentioned on Gp2 yet so we need to see.

[przemo]

I wonder where it will be placed in the Formula 1 ladder, and what teams will go there from GP2 (if any). I'm thinking it's a way to strengthen FIA's position in case of a possible breakaway series of F1.

[EwanM]

FIA plans to resurrect Formula Two http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/68628

By Simon Strang Wednesday, June 25th 2008, 12:44 GMT


The FIA has announced a shock decision to resurrect the Formula Two name from 2009 as an 'inexpensive' platform for aspiring driver talent as a stepping stone for Formula One.

In a statement following Wednesday's FIA World Council meeting in Paris, the sport's governing body has invited tenders for the new low-cost feeder series.

The statement read: "The FIA will invite tenders for a new feeder series for Formula One. This championship, called Formula Two, would be launched in 2009 and used as an inexpensive platform to develop emerging driver talent for Formula One. It is hoped this can be achieved within a budget of around €200,000 a car per season."

How the FIA hopes to achieve running costs of around €200,000 per car per season remains to be seen. The target figure is significantly lower than it costs to compete in the current traditional ladder series - GP2 Series and F3.

It is not clear if the intention is to run the series as a support race for F1, or even if it is being introduced as a replacement on the bill for GP2, which costs around €1.5m per season to run a car. Or indeed, whether it would co-exist alongside the second-string category that replaced F3000 in 2004.

One current GP2 team boss told autosport.com: "Our cars actually cost €190,000, and that's without the engines. If it's a junior formula, like Formula Ford or something, then fine, but you cannot run anything substantial for that kind of money. For example, a Formula BMW costs just under €300,000 to run per car in Europe, and that's with zero margin.

"I can't think what cars they expect to run for €200,000, because there are people spending that kind of money in karting in Europe."

The use of the name F2 could be seen as a clear provocation against Bernie Ecclestone, showing that the FIA is willing to set-up their own championships and are ready to go up against a series that is backed by the commercial rights holder, and is partly financed by CVC.

[McLaren Fan]

I agree, but I'm not sure how successful it will be. GP2 is already very strongly established and, generally speaking, is a great way to prepare young drivers for Formula One. Ecclestone has the money and the contacts to bleed Formula 2 dry as well. Also in terms of Formula One politics, Mosley is claiming that there will be a review of how the sport is governed, and is demanding more money for the teams in the new Concorde Agreement. So, with those and the revival of Formula 2, it seems like the FIA and Ecclestone are preparing for war.

[McLaren Fan]

From F1 Live:

The media has questioned the feasibility of the FIA's stated intention this week to set up Formula Two as a low-cost feeder series for F1.

Following Wednesday's meeting of the World Motor Sport Council in Paris, F1's governing body said it will invite tenders for the new series, 'to develop emerging driver talent for F1', which would presumably be run in 2009 in competition with the Bernie Ecclestone-organised GP2 category.

A report published by The Press Association, however, dismissed as apparently 'unworkable' the FIA's desire for an approximate per-car annual budget in the region of 200,000 Euros.


"A GP2 boss has confirmed it costs 190,000 Euros to run their cars without the considerable expense of engines," the news agency's report said.

The news agency Reuters, meanwhile, said GP2 budgets are actually much higher than that, "with an estimated 1.5 million Euros per car per season the current going rate."

Source: GMM
© CAPSIS International

[McLaren Fan]

From F1 Live:

FIA defends F2 plans amid ridicule
200,000 Euro target all but impossible
01/07/08 10:11

A spokesman for F1's governing body has played down suggestions that its plans to resurrect Formula 2 are a political ploy that is totally unworkable.

Ever since the FIA announced recently that it wanted to establish F2 in 2009 with a per-car budget around 200,000 Euros a season, it has been derided by industry insiders.

In the latest issue of the magazine GPWeek, unnamed figures of GP2, the support and feeder series that currently operates alongside Grand Prix, slammed the F2 proposal.

"It's bullpoo," said one, ridiculing the claim that any professional racing team could operate a high-tech single seater with such a low budget.

"Even if everyone worked for free and we set ourselves up as a registered charity, the team's travel expenses alone would be more than 200,000 euros," he said.

Another said that, with the tender process only now pending, FIA chiefs led by Max Mosley are 'barking mad' if they think there is enough time to organise the series for 2009.


The GP2 bosses suspect that the F2 announcement is just the latest twist in the current power struggle waged by Bernie Ecclestone and Mosley.

"What they don't realise is that they're playing with our lives and our careers," one said.

The FIA spokesman defended the plans.

"We're quite keen on it. It will give the ASNs (national sporting authorities) a means of promoting new talent and we have some very specific ideas on the way it will work," he said.

"There's no reason why it couldn't be at GP2 level, but with a more manageable budget. It's something the FIA Fund could help in trying to encourage new talent at national level."

GP2 organiser Bruno Michel did not comment.

[McLaren Fan]

From Planet F1:

FIA hope to have F2 up and running by 2009
Sunday 13th July 2008

The FIA have opened the tender process for its proposed Formula 2 Championships, which is scheduled to get underway next year.

Motor sport's governing body surprised all last month when it launched the low-cost feeder for F1 competition, which will rival the GP2 series.

F1 supremo Bernie Ecclestone ridiculed the idea, saying: "If Max (Mosley) manages to run a Formula Two car for 200,000 euros a year, then I congratulate him. A season of karting costs more.

"Maybe he have to use lawnmower engines but would that really be a feeder series for Formula One?"

However, the FIA are pressing ahead with its proposals, and have called on manufacturers to bid for rights to become exclusive suppliers of the single seat, open wheel racing cars that will be used in the 2009, 2010 and 2011 Championships.

The season will comprise 10 events in Europe and will run between April and September. Each event will take place over a Saturday and Sunday with one hour of free practice, one hour of qualifying and one race of approximately 175km.

There will be six official testing events, of one day each - three before the first race of the season and three during the season.