The latest Brazilian to enter Formula One is Felipe Nasr, who is from the capital Brasilia. Admittedly, he is not from the usual motorsport heartlands of Sao Paulo or Rio de Janeiro, but he is not as far out as Antonio Pizzonia.
He has had some impressive championship results over the last couple of years - 4th and 3rd in the last two GP2 seasons. He was also runner up in the 2011 Macau Grand Prix, as a faster team-mate to Kevin Magnussen. His last three seasons in GP2 paint a picture of an outstandingly consistent driver - from 19 GP2 finishes last season, 18 were points scorers, 16 were top 6 finishes.
However, that is where the questions arise with Nasr. His first GP2 win only came in the sprint at Barcelona last year, and of his four GP2 victories only the win in Speilberg was a feature race. He also lost a big lead over Stoffel Vandoorne for a 2nd place in the championship that looked to be his.
Having said that, is a sporadically brilliant driver what Sauber need? Their non-score in 2014 can be attributed to the fact that they were not around to pick up points when others failed. This would seem to be Nasr's speciality. He is a driver who brings sponsorship, of course, but it would seem that he is far less likely to stupidly bin their only chances of points as Gutierrez did in Monaco, for example.
In less important news, Nasr has chosen to take the number 12, a number associated with Ayrton Senna's title victory in 1988. I suppose it is fitting that a Brazilian would take the number in the new system.
He has had some impressive championship results over the last couple of years - 4th and 3rd in the last two GP2 seasons. He was also runner up in the 2011 Macau Grand Prix, as a faster team-mate to Kevin Magnussen. His last three seasons in GP2 paint a picture of an outstandingly consistent driver - from 19 GP2 finishes last season, 18 were points scorers, 16 were top 6 finishes.
However, that is where the questions arise with Nasr. His first GP2 win only came in the sprint at Barcelona last year, and of his four GP2 victories only the win in Speilberg was a feature race. He also lost a big lead over Stoffel Vandoorne for a 2nd place in the championship that looked to be his.
Having said that, is a sporadically brilliant driver what Sauber need? Their non-score in 2014 can be attributed to the fact that they were not around to pick up points when others failed. This would seem to be Nasr's speciality. He is a driver who brings sponsorship, of course, but it would seem that he is far less likely to stupidly bin their only chances of points as Gutierrez did in Monaco, for example.
In less important news, Nasr has chosen to take the number 12, a number associated with Ayrton Senna's title victory in 1988. I suppose it is fitting that a Brazilian would take the number in the new system.
