It's an old adage that you can make a fast driver consistent, but it's very hard to make a consistent driver fast, the question is: Is there enough time to make Bruno consistent?
Bruno is fast in qualifying on "drivers' circuits" but far less impressive in the race. He also did well in GP2. Reminds me of someone...
Pantano though did have 2 or 3 years GP2 experience so you 'd expect him to beat Bruno Remember Bruno is making up for lost time not racing for 10 years after Aytron died Strangely despite Pastor beating Perez to the GP2 title Perez is the one people rate more highly
Because Pérez' history before GP2 is more impressive, as well as his GP2 results. Being runner up in your second season is more impressive than winning it in your fourth (and only managing to finish in the top 5 final championship standings once before that) Anyway, this is not about them. I know he's making up for lost time but he's clearly ready for F1 or else he wouldn't be racing for Williams this season. If he wasn't ready yet he should've stuck around in GP2. That argument holds little weight imo.
So Yamamoto, Ide, Yoong, Petrov, Grosjean, Karthikeyan, Scott Speed and several others were ready for F1 as they got a race seat? I know Senna isn't comparable to Yamamoto, Ide, Yoong or Khartikeyan, but getting a drive doesn't mean you are ready for F1.
TBH - I think Senna has probably found the correct team for him now. He was wasted at HRT, but at Renault there was to much pressure on him to perform. I think the Senna and Williams team fits well together and this has nout to do with his Uncle BTW. I just think Williams now have drivers that they can only afford and bring money in.
In the six seasons its run GP2 has been won 3 times by a driver in his rookie year (Rosberg, Hamilton and Hulkenberg) who all faced experienced drivers from the GP2 and F3000 catogry. Bruno now has 26 Grand Prix under his belt, he'll be the 15th most experienced driver on the grid and even with his 10 year gap he still has more years of experience in single seater racing than the likes of Ricciardo, Vergne, Pic, perez etc - in fact Bruno had his first year in single seater racing at the same time as Sebastian Vettel did so I think thats stopped being an excuse.
This is his third season and his second full season. I don't think he was really ready in 2009 but he should be more than ready by now. That was my point but it was late and I was tired so it wasn't very clear
I think BRuno will because of his name and the only reason he won;t is if he has an almighty fall out with Adam Parr who would like absolute stupid for taking him on the first place when he had more experienced drivers he could have turn to Bruno lacks his uncle's selfishness - Ayrton despite signing 3 years with Toleman was prepared to rip it up to join Lotus and one more thing the only GP2 champion to have had any success in F1 is Hamilton as a race winner and world champion so the old saying just because someone looks good in junior formula does not mean they will succeed in F1 - Jan Magnussen , Pantano, Heidfeld belong in this list
I agree I think Bruno's career wise seems a bit like Jenson Button's was moving around in teams in his early career - not all his fault and then when finally getting the car and the right people he looks like a different driver Bruno's had a tough baptism to F1... no one is going to achieve much in a HRT when it not even ready before the season started and it changed ownership from when he signed for the team as Campos Renault - there is a lot of infighting or uneasy tension between the guys at Enstone, Genii capital management and Proton and really as previously they relied on one driver - Kubica to perform miracles to mask their difficiencies At Williams he will be looked after and treated better certainly because there is no point the team within fighting each other after enduring their worst season. If Bruno does not beat Pastor his F1 career will be short lived unless his sponsors keep backing him
Very true - but can you name me a recent champion that hasn't had a good junior formula record? Lets face it the only reason Lewis Hamilton is the only GP2 champion to have any success in F1 is that the majority of other younger drivers have been so succesful in the junior formula they've skipped that stage and gone straight into F1! Vettel, Alonso, Button, Kimi, Massa - they all missed that stage out because they were spotted and brought to F1 before. Lewis only went in GP2 because Mclaren were waiting for a space to clear
I agree Lewis had to do GP2 because MClaren wanted him to do more single seater and did not want to throw him into the deep end straight away into their team Alonso's record in junior formula is not as impressive as Hamilton if I am right. Its just that he found the right people backing him and was smart enough to see the Ferrari contract would mean he would be No 2 to Schumacher and jumped at the chance that Flavio offered at Renault You have to go back to Jacques Villeneuve because he got into F1 because of the name and Damon Hill because he started his career late in single seater but impressed Williams and Prost wanted a non competitive teammate when Damon joined Williams Then Nigel Mansell has he never won any junior titles if I am right -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bruno not had a full season or a car at least to show his abilities. Now at WIlliams he should have a decent car not a HRT and he should beat Pastor as no one rates Maldonado am afraid and don;t see him as a race winner If Bruno loses to Pastor then he will miss his chance to get the big boys to notice him
It's also about context. Alonso was driving for Astromega, who were one of the minnows of F3000, compared to ART or iSport, who Hamilton and Senna drove for respectively. Even in a spec series not all teams are equal, and winning a race for Astromega should carry a lot more weight, IMO. You could advance the same argument for Kobayashi and d'Ambrosio with DAMS in F3000 too. Good performances in a mediocre team, even if they weren't title challengers.
I suppose Fernando's skills are taking a car, improving it with his technical feedback (the "six-tenths") and then performing at eight-tenths consistently, building a team around him politically at the same time. I'd say those skills may be more applicable in F1 than in F3000.
Does anyone else get chilli's down their spine when they see a photo of Bruno side by side against Ayrton. He looks so much like him it's spooky.
I daresay they said that about Jarno Trulli 's face resembling Ayrton but he failed to cut it at the highest level
