GP2: Drivers Tip Senna for F1 Stardom

Formula 1

GP2: Drivers Tip Senna for F1 Stardom

The battle for the GP2 championship is really hotting up, with only nine points separating wily veteran Giorgio Pantano from the latest Brazilian talent, Bruno Senna.

SPEED Staff | Posted August 22, 2008 Valencia, Spain

Bruno Senna (middle) looks like a lock for F1, but what about Di Grassi (left) and Pantano (right). (LAT photo)

Program note: The Valencia round of the GP2 Series can be seen on Sunday morning at 6:00 a.m. ET.

The battle for the 2008 GP2 Series championship is really hotting up, with only 9 points separating wily veteran Giorgio Pantano from the latest Brazilian talent, iSport’s Bruno Senna.

All three previous GP2 champions, Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton and Timo Glock, have progressed to Formula 1 the season after winning the title – something that has proven a selling point for the series – and the current F1 grid also includes GP2 runners-up Heikki Kovalainen and Nelson Piquet, as well as Kazuki Nakajima.

We asked the main protagonists in this year’s championship who among the current GP2 grid would make it to F1 in the coming seasons – and their answers spoke volumes about attitudes in the F1 paddock.

ART’s Romain Grosjean said, “I think Bruno Senna is on good pace now. He’s doing a really good season. Maybe Sebastien Buemi and Kamui Kobayashi; they are with Red Bull and Toyota (as test drivers) so they are well placed to be in Formula 1.”

Sometime Honda test driver and Arden International GP2 driver Luca Filippi mischievously quipped, “Bruno Senna, because he looks stupid but really he is clever! He’s a good guy and learns by his mistakes. We tested together a couple of times and I really respect him, I hope he will do it.”

When asked if there was anybody else capable, Filippi added, “Romain Grosjean, of course, because he’s tested (with Renault), and he’s quick.”

Campos Racing driver Vitaly Petrov, who won at the Valencia Ricardo Tormo track in 2007, said simply, “Bruno Senna, that’s all!”

Hungaroring sprint race winner Sebastien Buemi said, “it’s difficult to say, but obviously I think people running at the front of the field will have a better chance to get there. I suppose people like Grosjean, Senna and (Lucas) di Grassi will have a good future.”

Senna’s iSport teammate Karun Chandhok also tipped Buemi and Grosjean, before dropping a considerable hint about Senna’s immediate future. “Of course Mr. Senna is there, but we all know about him,” said Chandhok. “He doesn’t really count – that’s a fairly dead cert.”

Points leader Pantano said, “I’m sure Grosjean, Senna and probably di Grassi,” whereas Senna himself added, “I think Grosjean has a place there, Buemi too. Who knows if Giorgio will be there – but hopefully another Brazilian as well.”

Of the six drivers polled, Senna was tipped by everybody except the man himself – who in turn was the only driver to even suggest that Giorgio Pantano might make it back to F1, more than four years after his abortive first go-around with the Jordan team. The GP2 Series may therefore have a problem developing, as having taken pole position for the Valencia race, Pantano is nine points clear at the top of the championship, looking to be the oldest champion at this level of the sport since Geoff Lees won the 1981 European Formula 2 title at the age of 30.

Senna is clearly the most fashionable name in GP2 racing right now, but after winning four of the seven feature races in 2008, Pantano will surely feel as though F1 owes him another chance. Should he go on to win the title, the GP2 organizers may feel the same way.