GP2: Ferrari Tester Bianchi In Spotlight

Formula 1

GP2: Ferrari Tester Bianchi In Spotlight

The 2010 season for the GP2 Series begins this weekend in Spain...

Adam Cooper | http://www.speedtv.com | Posted May 04, 2010 Balen (BEL)

Ferrari test driver Jules Bianchi will be in the spotlight this weekend in Spain. (Photo: LAT Photographic)

The GP2 Series gets under way in Barcelona this weekend, and a clearout of many of the familiar faces means that some new stars will be in the spotlight, especially Ferrari test driver Jules Bianchi.

Not only does the Frenchman have to live up to his billing as Euro F3 champion and Ferrari protégé, he is driving for his manager Nicolas Todt’s ART team. That means he’s following in the footsteps of the French outfit’s past champions, namely Nico Rosberg, Lewis Hamilton, and Nico Hulkenberg.

A look at last year’s championship table reveals how much of a shake up there has been. The top three – Hulkenberg, Vitaly Petrov and Lucas di Grassi – have all moved up to F1 race seats, as have Karun Chandhok and Kamui Kobayashi.

Fourth place Romain Grosjean has already had his F1 chance and is in GT limbo, while fifth place finisher Luca Filippi is now in the second division Auto GP series.

Those who have stayed on and thus inevitably have to start as favorites based on their knowledge of the car and tracks include Pastor Maldonado (sixth last year), Giedo van der Garde (seventh) and Jerome D’Ambrosio (ninth).

Maldonado has moved from ART to Rapax, while Van der Garde has gone from iSport to Barwa Addax, the team that finished second in last year’s championship. D’Ambrosio is the only competitive driver to have stayed with the same team. DAMS will now in effect run as a Renault F1 junior team, and the Belgian is joined by fellow tester Ho-Pin Tung, who was in Superleague last year.

Others who have stayed in GP2 include Sergio Perez (12th last year), Alberto Valerio (15th), Davide Valsecchi (17th), Virgin F1 fourth driver Luiz Razia (19th), Michael Herck, Giacomo Ricci and Rodolfo Gonzalez. One man who already has a famous name is Johnny Cecotto Jr., son of Ayrton Senna’s first F1 teammate, who dabbled in GP2 last year.

The new boys have come from a variety of different categories. Bianchi will be the one most eyes are on, but there are other top names, especially Sweden’s Marcus Ericsson, who is at Super Nova. Long tipped for the top, he won the Japanese F3 title last year and tested for Brawn GP in December.

Then there’s Bianchi’s main rival of last year, 2010 Euro F3 runner-up Christian Vietoris, who has replaced di Grassi at Racing Engineering. Also from that championship is Bianchi’s new teammate at ART, Sam Bird, who finished eighth. Another quick Brit is Max Chilton, who was fourth in the British F3 series last year, and now drives for Tiago Monteiro’s Ocean Racing team.

Meanwhile from the World Series by Renault come third place Frenchman Charles Pic (now at Christian Horner’s Arden team), and fourth place Oliver Turvey (at iSport).

From the Formula Master series (in which America’s Alex Rossi finished fourth) come champion Fabio Leimer from Switzerland, Czech Josef Kral (third) and Vladimir Arabadzhiev (seventh). The latter is aiming to become Bulgaria’s first F1 driver.

Finally, returning to the main GP2 Series for the first time since 2007 is former A1 GP racer and Red Bull protégé Adrian Zaugg, who could cause a few surprises.

Meanwhile the new GP3 support series will also have two races on European F1 weekends. It has an intriguing entry list that includes the likes of Rossi (driving for ART) and Canada’s Rob Wickens, two men who could easily have moved straight into GP2. It will be interesting to see how they progress, and whether success in GP3 is ultimately better for their careers than the step up to the quicker cars.

Adam Cooper notched up his 25th season as a racing journalist in 2009. Born in London, England, he saw his first F1 race at age 10 in 1976. He began freelancing for Autosport magazine in 1985 and was on the fulltime staff from 1987-92. He then went freelance again, initially spending two years in Japan before following the 1994 Champcar series from a base in Indianapolis. He has not missed a Grand Prix since Suzuka ‘94, a run that has extended to Abu Dhabi ’09. Adam has written books about Eddie Irvine, Piers Courage and Michael Schumacher and hosts a race preview show on Sirius XM. He has written about F1 for SPEEDtv.com since 2005. Check out Adam's Blog or follow him on Twitter