Vasseur: “It will always be the best who will be in the spotlight”

This season, F2 introduced an entirely new generation of single-seaters. The technical architecture has been completely redesigned since the naturally aspirated 4.0 V8 has been replaced by a 3.4 V6 turbo. This new technical solution, proposed by the discipline’s historical supplier, Mecachrome, reminded everyone that motorsports are primarily a mechanical sport and that technical problems are an inherent part of it.

Since the beginning of the season, we have witnessed numerous starts disrupted by a series of stalls on the grid, at all levels. The problem was particularly evident last weekend at Paul Ricard, where the white shirts of the technicians were busy with many cars. For instance, George Russell, who had won the main race, was forced to start two laps late after experiencing problems on the grid.

But it is the Trident drivers, Santino Ferrucci and Arjun Maini, who have decided to speak out strongly in the media to express their dissatisfaction and lament the impact this could have on their careers. Alexander Albon, who is struggling to gather the necessary budget to compete in the category, also showed his despair when he himself was a victim of a technical problem during the first race.

However, it is important to keep a level head and put things into perspective. Certainly, top-tier drivers may have been impacted, but no one is favored over the other since the equipment provided is identical for the entire grid. When questioned on the subject during a press briefing in the paddock at the Red Bull Ring, Frédéric Vasseur, an expert in the discipline for having founded the ART Grand Prix team, took a step back to put things into context: One of the greatest championships we’ve had in GP2 is certainly the first one, with Nico Rosberg. We produced a world champion. It was a championship with a thousand times more problems than this year. Problem or no problem, it will always be the best who will be at the forefront.

For a man who has seen and trained the greatest champions of this generation, from Nico Rosberg to Charles Leclerc, including Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hülkenberg, the attitude displayed by the younger generation is clearly not doing them any favors: « I don’t think it’s a sign of intelligence. They will face problems in their careers. They will have much more pressure than they do today. If they react like some of them do today, it’s not reassuring for me to hire them in the future. »

When looking at the championship standings before this weekend in Austria, we can see that the anticipated favorites such as Lando Norris, George Russell, and Nyck de Vries occupy the top three positions, while you have to go down to the 14th and 18th places to find Arjun Maini or Santino Ferrucci. It just goes to show that sporting logic is often respected…

From our special correspondent in Austria