2013 BRDC Formula 4

[Ardius]

http://www.formula4.com/

Calendar
27/28 April – Silverstone GP
27/28 July – Brands Hatch GP
17/18/19 May – Brands Hatch Indy (supporting DTM)
17/18 August – Silverstone GP
15/16 June – Snetterton 300 (supporting British F3/GT)
7/8 September – Snetterton 300
6 July – Oulton Park International
28/29 September – Donington Park GP

Car
Built by Ralph Firman Racing
Wheels: 8" front, 10" rear
Tyres: Yokohama
Engine: 185bhp 2.0 litre Duratec engine
Gearbox: Sadev 6-speed paddleshift

Entry List (TBC)
(Driver name - Background)
Charlie Robertson - Karting, Ginetta Juniors
Falco Wauer - Karting, Formula Basic, Formula Ford
James Greenway - Karting
Matt Bell - Karting, Formula BMW, Formula Palmer Audi, Radicals
Jake Hughes - Karting, Formula Renault BARC
Daniel Headlam - Karting, Formula Ford
Jake Dalton - Karting, Intersteps, Formula Renault BARC
Sennan Fielding - Karting, Ginetta Juniors
Struan Moore - Karting, Ginetta Juniors, Formula Renault BARC

​

As this doesn't really fit in any other thread, it may as well have its own. I thought it might be worth discussing this series, especially with today's news that it will be covered in the UK on ITV4 with a 1 hour show the week after each event on a Sunday.
Presumably some of us might watch it, probably some people don't even know about this series or know its going to be shown on a freeview channel! So at least here's a friendly heads-up that we've got some more motorsport to watch on TV in the UK!

http://www.formula4.com/news/brdc-f4-championship-secures-sunday-night-prime-time-slot-on-itv4.aspx

 

[prisonermonkeys]

With British Formula 3 in such a sorry state at the moment, I cannot help but think that Formula 4 is perhaps the least-necessary championship in the world right now.

I suppose that, since the disaster that was Formula 2 has since collapsed, Jonathan Palmer needs another project to ruin.

 

[Ardius]

This series is filling the hole that Formula Renault UK and Formula Palmer Audi left (and British Formula Ford is trying to fill and stay relevant). Its meant to be below F3.

This is actually a series that is needed at the moment. Formula Renault BARC has had some decent grids but the open-wheel scene is a bit messy right now in the UK. There is barely anywhere to go and the only series left are very expensive, Formula Ford didn't do itself any favours by upgrading to a more expensive car.
Formula Renault UK also became too expensive with its new car (and the grid became too small and uncompetitive).
Formula Palmer Audi became irrelevant after Formula 2 was started.

Hopefully this series works out better and cheaper. Its nice to have some TV coverage at least, even if it only lasts for this year. Considering we've lost WRC completely from our screens and Indycar is disappearing onto ESPN..its just nice to have some motorsport on freeview TV for a change. That alone is something worth being happy about.

For reference, before the UK open wheel ladder looked like this:
Karting ->
Formula Ford, Formula Renault UK, Formula Renault BARC, Formula Palmer Audi, Formula BMW UK->
British Formula 3

Now it looks like this:
Karting ->
Formula Ford, Formula Renault BARC, Intersteps->
British Formula 3

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Formula Renault BARC has had some decent grids but the open-wheel scene is a bit messy right now in the UK.

I'd say it's a bit messy everywhere, now. There's so many feeder series out there and some of them are so inconsistent in terms of how competitive they can be that most young drivers simply have to guess at which series will offer them the greatest opportunity to be competitive.

 

[Jimlaad43]

I have a strong suspicion that Intersteps have gone aswell.

 

[Ardius]

^I only found out about that championship when I started looking up some of the driver's careers. What a completely anonymous series!

I'd say it's a bit messy everywhere, now. There's so many feeder series out there and some of them are so inconsistent in terms of how competitive they can be that most young drivers simply have to guess at which series will offer them the greatest opportunity to be competitive.

That's always been a problem with feeder series though, its never clear where is best to go and fields can be inconsistently competitive. Its why relying on career stats are not always such a great way of judging if a driver will be good at F1 level.
Even without an economic recession, field strengths can fluctuate. Especially when you have the Red Bull driver programme calling the shots to an extent.

I wouldn't say now is particularly a bad time for that - there are still plenty of talented drivers out there and you can generally see which series are going to be strong.

Its more a case of the open wheel ladder being particularly expensive and not well covered and organised. Ratel has done a fine old job of screwing up British F3 as he has done with World GT1. Apparently Alan Gow has been offering to include British F3 for a long time in the ToCA package so it gains the same coverage as BTCC..but Ratel/BF3 have preferred to stick it alone.

While Palmer's effort with F2 failed in the end, it wasn't a foolish idea really. He simply applied the same logic for Formula Palmer Audi to a higher, more European series. Unfortunately it was just placed at a strange level - it wasn't high enough to compete with GP2 or FR3.5 and was still kind of irrelevant and expensive for those at F3/national FRenault level. I think F2 came at the wrong time really, it would have worked better as a support to F1 along with GP2 - which GP3 obviously fills.

I don't think F4 is a particularly brilliant new series either..but at least its got some very good TV coverage. That alone is enough to give the series quite a bit of interest from sponsors.
It will be interesting seeing which series attracts the stronger field between F4 and Formula Ford this season as both are on ITV4 though FFord will be live as part of the BTCC package.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

That's always been a problem with feeder series though, its never clear where is best to go and fields can be inconsistently competitive.

I was under the impression that Jean Todt had asked Gerhard Berger to restructure the feeder series into something more manageable. As far as I know, all he has done is shut down the Formula 3 Euro Series and reimagine it as the FIA European Formula 3 Championship, but I get the impression that this is just the first phase - he doesn't want to change everything all at once, only to find that it didn't work.

 

[Ardius]

Does the FIA even have a say in any of these series though beyond safety and regulations? I know that all of the British series are run by independent bodies like the BRDC, PalmerSport, Ratel, Renault, etc? The FIA doesn't run or control these series - so how can they decide which to shut down and structure?

I mean, if I want to start my own open wheel championship I just need money really. Money to pay for the circuits and organisation. It doesn't seem like you need to gain any kind of approval from the FIA at all beyond things regarding safety (I assume this comes under the remit of the national motorsports body - MSA for the UK).

I'm fairly sure if the money was there, there could be 20 different championships in the UK and the FIA could do bugger all about it. At least thats the impression I get from how things are run.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Although the series are generally run by independent bodies, the FIA can give a certain degree of recognition to a series. For instance, they can make a series a "World", "International" or "European" championship. Doing so means that series would have to conform to FIA regulations, but at the same time, the title given by the FIA means the series is more likely to attract the top drivers and teams.

Ideally - at least to my mind - the feeder series would be streamlined and structured like this:

1) "Formula 3" would be a national-level championship. There would be some tolerance for a series racing outside its country of origin, but for the most part, it would be self-contained.
2) "Formula 2" would basically be Formula 3, but with much greater scope for international events, possibly as far afield as Russia, Turkey, Morocco and Abu Dhabi. Many of the circuits would be new to drivers stepping up from Formula 3.
3) "Formula 1" would remain as it is.
4) Elsewhere, GP2 and GP3 are fine, if somewhat expensive and let down by silly rules. The structure is okay; the format needs work. And the lower levels of Formula Renault are a bit tangled, but they all aim towards Formula Renault 3.5, so it's workable.

In this scenario, Formula 4 would serve as an introductory series that serves as a feeder series to Formula 3, GP3 and the lower categories of Formual Renault.

 

[Diehardracer]

Does the FIA even have a say in any of these series though beyond safety and regulations? I know that all of the British series are run by independent bodies like the BRDC, PalmerSport, Ratel, Renault, etc? The FIA doesn't run or control these series - so how can they decide which to shut down and structure?

I mean, if I want to start my own open wheel championship I just need money really. Money to pay for the circuits and organisation. It doesn't seem like you need to gain any kind of approval from the FIA at all beyond things regarding safety (I assume this comes under the remit of the national motorsports body - MSA for the UK).

I'm fairly sure if the money was there, there could be 20 different championships in the UK and the FIA could do bugger all about it. At least thats the impression I get from how things are run.

The last post does a very good job of selling the F4 series with recognition from the FIA but the fact it doesn't surely is no bad thing really IMHO that the FIA doesn't get to have a chance to have a total monopoly on the administrative control of motor sport around the world to the degree it's influence extends to small national championships like this new Formula 4 Series. This is about rising stars. Not attracting top teams.

The car and especially how it sounds should be enough to see a strong fanbase and decent young talent emerge.