In the summer of last year, I wrote a “Stars of Tomorrow” countdown. It featured the top ten drivers that I feel will be making up a Formula One grid in years to come. I gave my self a few rules regarding which drivers could and could not be entered. Basically the only drivers that were exempt were GP2 drivers and regular Formula One testers.
Now the season is over I will revisit the ten drivers and based on their 2007 performances reassess my opinion and predictions for their future.
10. FELIPE ALBUQUERQUE
In 2007 Felipe was competing in the World Series by Renault Championship. He ended the season in fourth place after taking one win from fifteen races for Epsilon Euskadi.
He also drove two events in GP2, he drove for Racing Engineering, replacing injured Ernsto Viso at Silverstone and Arden at Valencia replacing A1GP Team South Africa driver Adrian Zaugg. He ended the GP2 series unranked after scoring no points from four races.
He missed both GP2 tests in November so it appears that he will be remaining full time in World Series by Renault.
It was announced in February that he will take over from Juan Umberto as the main driver for A1GP Team Portugal from the South African round for the rest of the season. At the time of writing there has been no announcement regarding where he will be racing during the summer of 2008.
Through his Red Bull sponsorship he was offered a drive for one of the Red Bull controlled teams in the Japanese Formula Nippon championship for 2008. He turned the drive down and as a result he is no longer a member of the Red Bull Young Driver Programme.
I stated in the original countdown that I do not rate him as highly as some other drivers that were missed out on the list. His performances since the countdown have done nothing to change my opinion and since losing his Red Bull backers his chances of ever making it to Formula One unless he can find a lot of money and paid for a Force India drive.
9. ALX DANIELSSON
In 2007 Alx was competing in the Formula 3000 Euroseries. The season comprised eight events, in which he ended in fourth place after taking a total of one win for ELK Motorsport.
This now seems unlikely with the rumours that Fernando Alonso will return to Renault, therefore putting Nelson Piquet Juniors promotion on hold.
Alx is now twenty-six years old and with no Formula One contract or even a wild speculation linking to a Formula One team, I fear that Alx has missed his opportunity of making it.
8. ROMAIN GROSJEAN
Romain spent 2007 competing in the Formula Three Euroseries. After twenty races he ended the season as champion, after taking a total of six wins for ASM Formule 3. In the Zandvoort Masters of Formula Three race he qualified on pole position and finished in fourteenth place after stalling on the grid.
In the late October GP2 test at Paul Ricard, he tested for ART, setting the fourth fastest time on day one and the third fastest time for Racing Engineering on day four.
In the Macau Grand Prix he finished eighth from twenty-first on the grid after suffering a puncture in the qualification race.
In December he was part of a triple announcement from the Renault Formula One team. Fernando Alonso and Nelson Piquet Junior were announced as race drivers and Romain was announced as the teams new test driver.
He is also driving for former double GP2 Champions ART Grand Prix in 2008 in both the regular and Asian series. In the opening round in the Asian series and he debut in a GP2 car he took pole position and won both races,
He impressed me on his GP2 debut in the test session at Paul Ricard. Racing Engendering spent 2007 as a mid-field team so third place shows off Romain’s talents. In the prestigious Formula Three races he showed how good he is going from last to fourteenth in Zolder and twenty-first to eight in Macau. I am now even more convinced that he will be Frances next Formula One hero.
7. SEBASTIAN HOHENTHAL
Sebastian spent 2007 competing in the British Formula Three championship. He ended the season in a strong ninth place after win in his debut season wins for Fortec Motorsport.
He has been very quiet over the winter, so he has not done much to alter my opinion but his performance in last season Formula Three championship suggests that he could be a championship contender in 2008 as I predicted. In February it was announced that he would be remaining the Fortec Motorsport team.
6. MARO ENGEL
Maro was in the British Formula Three championship in 2007. He ended the season in second place after taking three wins for Carlin Motorsport.
He was absent from the early October GP2 test, which makes me think that a move up will not happen for 2008. At the age of twenty-two another season in British Formula Three will not be a disaster but he will have to become champion or his career could stall.
He did, however make his GP2 debut at Paul Ricard in the late October GP2 test. He drove for FMS on day two and was twenty-third fastest.
I am not as impressed with Maro as I was on the original list, the FMS car he drove at Paul Ricard was a race winner in 2007 and twenty-third is not good enough for a “Star of the Future”.
5. MARCUS ERICSSON
Marcus was in the British Formula Renault championship. He ended the season as the champion place after taking seven wins from eighteen starts for Fortec Motorsport
For 2008 Marcus is making the jump up to British Formula Three. He will either sink or swim at that level.
If he is a success in Formula Three at the age of 17 he could challenge for the title in his second season at the age of 18, he could be in GP2 by the time he is 19 and then Formula One at the age of 20 or 21. Then when you consider that Michael Schumacher raced until he was 37, it is my opinion that in twenty years the discussion of this kid will be named in the discussion of “Who is the best Formula One driver ever?”
4. SEBASTIEN BUEMI
2007 saw Sebastien compete in the Formula Three Euroseries. He ended the season in second place after taking three wins from twenty races for ASL-Team Mücke Motorsport.
Following the injury of Michael Ammermuller he was drafted in as a replacement driving for the ART team in GP2. He finished twenty-first in the championship after competing in eleven races. He was also working as a test driver in Formula One for Red Bull
In early October Sebastien participated in the GP2 test session at Jerez. On the opening day he set the third fastest time driving for ART and on the second day he was nineteenth fastest driving for Trident.
In the late October test at Paul Ricard he was fifth fastest on day one driving for DAMS. On day two he drove for his fourth different team this winter, Arden, setting the third fastest time.
At Macau in the Grand Prix he finished a disappointing eleventh place.
In December Red Bull announced that he was going to drive for the Arden International team full time in GP2 for the 2008 season and he is going to be the full time test driver for the Red Bull Formula One team.
My opinion of Buemi has increased despite the Macau disappointment. All he needs is a good year in GP2 next year and with David Coulthard and Mark Webber both getting on a bit, he could easily find himself sitting in the Formula One grid in Melbourne 2009 possibly in a Toro Rosso, replacing Sebastien Vettel who will be promoted to the main Red Bull team.
3. MARKO ASMER
2007 saw Marko compete in the British Formula Three championship. He ended the season as champion after a dominant performance all season. He took a total of eleven wins from twenty-two starts for Hitech Racing including “doing the double” at both Donington and Silverstone. He also competed in Formula Three in Japan, finishing the season ninth in the championship after eight races.
He was another driver absent from the Jerez GP2 test in early October and from the Paul Ricard test in late October. In October he was he was included on a shortlist of potential third and reserve drivers in Formula One for BMW.
He competed in the Macau Grand Prix finishing fourth in the race after starting from the front row.
He participated in the two day Formula One test at Jerez driving for the BMW-Sauber/view.html">Sauber team. It was his first run in a Formula One car since a disappointing run for Williams in 2003. He ran on the first and last day of the four day test at Jerez, ending the days in eighteenth and thirteenth.
At the launch of their new car in January the BMW Formula One team announced that Asmer will be one of their two regular test drivers for the 2008 season.
Marko continued his domination and won the British Formula Three championship in dominate fashion. His absent from both the GP2 tests and a three day World Series by Renault test at Paul Ricard in November is very worrying. After being so dominate in Formula Three a driver must move onto one of those two championships to keep developing. Another year in a Formula Three championship could dent Marko’s career if he does not win easily.
2. OLIVER JARVIS
In 2007 Oliver was in Japan competing in Japanese Formula Three. He ended the season in second place after taking four wins from nineteen starts for Toyota Team Toms. He returned to A1GP with Team Great Britain, winning the feature race at Zandvoort.
He was absent from the GP2 test at Jerez in early October. At Paul Ricard in late October he made his debut setting the eighth fastest time for DPR and the fifteenth fastest time on day four, also driving for DPR.
He dominated in Macau, restoring the faith I had in him when I put him at number two. He qualified on pole in qualifying and won the qualifying race before dominating the main race.
I put Oliver at number two based mainly on his A1GP performances at the end of the 2006-2007 season. With him racing in Japan I did not see many of his races in 2007 and so other drivers began impressing me. In the opening round of this years A1GP championship he took victory and reminded me why I put him in the countdown.
However in the second round the was working as a pit lane reporter which I feared could be a sign of thing to come, that was until his dominance in Macau when he beat the best Formula Three drivers in the world, but I stand by my original comments, if he does not make it in to GP2 in 2008 his career could stall.
1. NICO HULKENBERG
In 2007 Nico was competing in the Formula Three Euroseries. He ended the season in third place following four wins from twenty starts for ASM Formule 3 including the historic Zandvoort Masters of Formula Three race held in the unusual surroundings of Zolder.
He was missing from the both the Jerez and Paul Ricard GP2 tests, so it appears that he is going to spend another season in Formula Three Euro Series driving for ASM.
At the Macau Grand Prix He retired in both the qualification race and the main race but was classified as finishing a lap behind in twenty-third place.
He made his Formula One debut at Jerez in November driving for the Williams team. He tested on the first two days setting the fifteenth and sixteenth fastest times. In December the team announced that he was to be given job of official test driver for the 2008 season.
In 2008 he is going to remain in Formula Three Euroseries driving for the ASM team that has powered Lewis Hamilton, Paul Di Resta and Romain Grosjean to the championship in recent years and will be renamed ART after the GP2 team for 2008.
My opinion of Nico depends on which one turns up. He is like Filipe Massa, when all is going well like in the Masters at Zolder or the Hockenheim Euroseries race he is unstoppable, but when things go wrong like at Macau he is looks very average.
Written by Paul Crossling on Mon, 28 Apr 2008 09:25:25
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