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Formula 2
F3 Euro Series
British F3
German F3
International F3 Open
Australian F3
Italian F3
Formula BMW Pacific, America & Europe
GP2
GP2 Asia
GP3
Indy Lights
Formula Nippon
Auto Sport Academy
International Formula Masters
Superleague Formula
World Series By Renault - Eurocup Formula 2.0 & Formula Renault 3.5
Italian Formula Renault 2.0
British Formula Renault 2.0
Swiss Formula Renault 2.0
Formula Renault 2.0 NEC & WEC
Formula Abarth
Star Mazda
etc... (I'm sure I have missed a lot)

Seriously something need to be done... This year, the fields are very low (only a few are doing well with 30 cars or more) and it kills the racing.

F3 Euro Series seems to be the 1st to struggle with 15 cars or so on the grid. Remember it has been a great championship to access GP2 or F1, a lot of great drivers have won it and are in Formula 1 at the moment, now the championship title doesn't mean 'anything' with like 15 drivers or so. F3 Euro Series & International F3 Open should merge with Italian F3, German F3 or British F3, national classes are the way to go with lower entry fee & cost since they are running on 1 country (except British F3). Same with Formula 2.0 etc...

And what the hell FIA doing ? Looks like they want to kill every lower Open classes with their new GP3, Formula 2 championship... They are enough !! Now we won't know who the best drivers are with so many championships, it's better to have one bigger field (30 cars) than 2 championships with 15 cars for sure.

I think GP3 was the best idea of all of these new open wheel classes. It fills the gap between Formula BMW and GP2. The rookie drivers are now able to learn the F1 tracks and way of life step by step.
I don't see a sense behind Formula 2 to be honest. Most of the tracks they're racing on are not even in the F1 calender. They also claim to be as fast (or even faster) as GP2.
GP2 however established itself as being the best and most competitive supporting series of Formula 1 and the best "school" for the top classes such as IndyCar or Formula 1.

Both Formula 2 and GP3 were created to fill gaps in the 'Formula' ladder and the 'GP' ladder respectively.

The final step will be the creation of GP1.

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Dan Wheldon ¦ 1978-2011
Marco Simoncelli ¦ 1987-2011
Jules Bianchi ¦ 1989-2015
Justin Wilson ¦ 1978-2015

Yeah, I know he's mad and I don't care. I do not care. I did not care then. I do not care now. I'm here to race him.

In Europe, yes there are a lot of pointless single seater series that really don't need to be there

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"An idea whose time has come cannot be stopped by any army or any government"


3x TBKL rFactor Hillclimb champion

why is it pointless?
I don't see people complaining about the millions of levels in football

as long as there are enough drivers, why not let them race?

+1

I would only keep these series around:

Formula BMW Pacific, America & Europe: first series to get into after karting
British F3, German F3, Australian F3, Italian F3: step up from BMW to this
F3 Euroseries: from a local F3 series to the european series
GP2: final step to F1
Indy Lights: Final step towards Indycar
Formula Nippon: Japanese training ground
Superleague Formula: this is no feeder series, but a series like F1, Indycar and the late A1GP
World Series By Renault: Alternative for GP2


Formula 2 and GP3 are pointless additions, and Formula Masters is also not a logical step in the ladder.

The newly emerged series might play a role in undermining the field count and depth of traditional international lower open wheel categories, namely Euro F3, but the way I see it is it's not really a problem. If F2 or GP3 proves to be accommodating the teams better than Euro F3, then market is the best decision maker. I think we are just in the middle of a transiting period. The national series and the one make series on the other hand have always been there anyway and do not seem to be having too much interest conflict with their international counterparts.

You guys do realize that there is no FBMW Americas, right?

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Oh, and what the fuck are you guys thinking? The more series, the better. You realize that if you don't get to F1 you can still make a good career out of racing, right? There are tons of seats in GT and TC racing and barely any ladder in those forms of racing.

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IMO the creation of GP3 was completely unnecessary.

If in one side, it's good to see so many open wheel series that can reveal more talents and it also means more opportunities for drivers, in the other side its confusing for fans and sponsors. I still think the best way is karting > formula renault > british formula 3 > F1. If a driver is good, this sequence is enough. Some racing series like Superleague Formula for example, should be considered pro-open wheel and not school.

As a selfish race fan the more championships there are the more racing I get to watch..

As someone who views quality over quantity, I'm not so sure...

I don't think it will take long, however, for natural selection to sort itself out.

The lower level ladder series with the best chances of A)Moving up to the top tier, whatever you may think that is and B)The best TV coverage to keep sponsors happy C)A high level of overall talent meaning winning the championship is an achievement will see the majority of drivers flock to them, leaving the weaker championships to wither and die.

It happened a few years ago when F3 Euroseries was created and British F3 suffered (remember how Hamilton's team choosing to run him in Euro and not British was quite controversial at the time? But they wanted Lewis to prove himself against a better talent of drivers than the British F3 allowed at the time...) but now it seems GP3 is even more desirable than that, with guaranteed exposure on F1 racing weekends probably being the icing on the cake.
Now I guess F3 Euroseries finds itself a needless step on the ladder.
Drivers will graduate from national F3 series to GP3 and onwards, no need for F3 Euroseries now...

There are too many series with too low grid numbers, and too much "spec" (there shouldn't be any spec racing above Formula Ford)

We have Formula 1 and Formula 3 which are always strong and open to competition, so why not have a proper 'Formula 2' which can do the same?

Losing a few of these series would also lump the grids together abit, would grids of 30+ cars be better than series barely being able to get 20 starters?

Well, not every driver can afford particular series'. That's why you get scattered grid numbers. Especially with the economical shit going on that's another key factor to why there are a lot of low grid numbers. I think having as many championships as there are now is fine, i wouldn't complain about having too many.

At my Opinion, yes, there's too many lower open wheel series, a lot can disappear with this time of economic crisis.

For me, we will keep some series:

In Europe (and others):
-Autosport Academy: first step to make an racing driver career.
-Formula Renault 2.0 or Formula BMW: Next step, with a little more covering of your career.
-British F3, Italian F3, Spanish F3, German F3, French F3(yes, i want they're come back), Australian F3, F3 SudAM or Japanese F3: improve those series for a lot of those drivers of their country; the first 3 drivers of those championships can pass in F3 Euroseries.
-Formula 3 Euroseries:More covering and racing all about Europe.
-GP2 Series and/or WSR by Renault: Final step before the Graal; The Formula 1!

In America:
-Skip Barber Racing School: eqaul of Autosport academy
-Formula Mazda: equal of Formula BMW
-Formula Atlantic: now, they're more of a F3 american championship than a final step
-Indy Lights: Final step before the US OPen-Wheel Graal: the Indycar Series!

Others:
-Formula Nippon: to Japanese F3 to this. Winner can pass in F3 Euroseries or WSR.

Top Series for is, of course: A1GP (if they're come back), Formula 1, Indycar Series and Superleague Formula.

the new formula 2, GP3, Auto GP and IFM are completely useless.

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Motorsport Lover since 1988
First TBK member to post it with a wiimote

why should some disappear? because they don't have guys who can make it to F1?

guess what, most of those drivers know that, but that doesn't mean they don't wanna race in a single seater

i never said that. i think more of those should race in these series. Economically, a series with more participants is a series with a good health. in many of those series had a lack of participants, unfortunally. so, yes, some series must disappear to favorise the series with more money, but also more of top seats!

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Motorsport Lover since 1988
First TBK member to post it with a wiimote

Go-karts

National F-Ford
National F3
F2
F1

Barber Pro
Atlantic/Indy Lights
IndyCar

F-Nippon

That's it.

btw Gauthier, Atlantics are dead now.

I'm liking the *huge* jump between Skip Barber and Indy Lights there. Many fatals will occur. Star Mazda please!

Well, heres how I see it all.. pretty simplified with F3 for example, sumarising a variety of different country-specific championships. Probably have forgotten something major haha. Yellow for Europe, blue for America and green for asia/japan. Clear progressional paths indicated.
I wouldn't say there were too many open-wheel series; there just isn't a logical path all the way through.