Famously, three F3000 champs never made it to Formula One — Jörg Müller, Bruno Junqueira and Björn Wirdheim — the other 17 all made it to the top of the pyramid. Vincenzo Sospiri was contracted as a driver and did enter the 1997 Australian and Brazilian Grands Prix.
How does GP2 stack up in that regard from a similar amount of time?
Vincenzo Sospiri and Riccardo Rosset being the two unfortunate victims of the dreadful, and sad end to Lola's involvement in Formula One.
I was working at the Albert Park circuit when word came through that the new Lola-Fords did not qualify for the race.
Neither car managed to dip below 1m40s in any session, with Sospiri being exactly five seconds slower than last "qualifier" Pedro Diniz in the Arrows-Yamaha.
Diniz with 1:35.972 was outside the 107% time of 1:35.625 but allowed to start at the discretion of the Stewards.
His time was a full second slower than 21st qualifier, Jos Verstappen, in the Tyrrell-Ford on 1:34.943.
This highlights just how far from making the grid the Lolas were.
For the record, Jacques Villeneuve put his Williams-Renault on pole position with 1:29.369, annihilating team-mate, and fellow front row starter, Heinz-Harald Frentzen's 1:31.123.
Michael Schumacher started third on 1:31.472.
The Lola cars and the team personnel made it all the way to Interlagos, Brazil for Round 2, when word came from England to pack up and come home asap.
To say the MasterCard financial backing of the Lola team was complicated, is a massive understatement.
As soon as the slightest sign of cash flow problems arose, Eric Broadley shut the doors.
