Ever wondered who the fresh talents are going to be to fill the F1 seats of the future? With the new entrants for 2010 that question is a very hot topic amongst team principals and fans.
But it's so difficult to keep track of the various junior formulae. Knowing who's doing what and where is a full-time job in itself.
Have no fear, for GM introduces his patented Stars of Tomorrow Index! Taking account of results in the nine major series that F1 teams will be keeping their eyes on, I have devised a rough formula for comparing results and seeing who are the drivers at the head of the queue for their F1 chance.
The only criterion for inclusion in this list is that the driver not be over 26 years of age on 1st January 2009. So the top driver in this list in a particular series may not necessarily be the championship leader in that series - particularly true in the case of IndyCar and DTM, where there are plenty of over-26s.
The numbers in the Series column indicate how many rounds of that series have been completed.
At various intervals through the season (not every week - I do have a life, honest!) I will update these standings and see who's up, and who's down. For more information on these drivers, and many others, I can recommend the excellent Driver Database
But it's so difficult to keep track of the various junior formulae. Knowing who's doing what and where is a full-time job in itself.
Have no fear, for GM introduces his patented Stars of Tomorrow Index! Taking account of results in the nine major series that F1 teams will be keeping their eyes on, I have devised a rough formula for comparing results and seeing who are the drivers at the head of the queue for their F1 chance.
Series | Rounds | Chassis | Engine | Tyres | Weighting |
GP2 | 10 Sprint, 10 Feature | Dallara | Renault V8 (580bhp) | Bridgestone | 3 |
FIA Formula 2 (F2) | 16 | Williams | Audi turbo (400bhp) | Avon | 2 |
World Series by Renault (WSbR) | 8 Sprint, 9 Feature | Dallara | Renault V6 (425bhp) | Michelin | 2 |
IndyCar (Road & Street courses only) | 7 | Dallara | Honda V8 (650bhp) | Firestone | 1.5 |
GP2 Asia | 5 Sprint, 6 Feature | Dallara | Renault V8 (550bhp) | Bridgestone | 1.5 |
A1 Grand Prix (A1GP) | 7 Sprint, 7 Feature | Ferrari | Ferrari V8 (600bhp) | Michelin | 1.5 |
Formula 3 Euroseries (F3 Euro) | 10 Regular, 10 Reversed Grid | Dallara | Mercedes/VW (approx. 210bhp) | Kumho | 1.5 |
DTM | 10 | Audi/Mercedes | Audi/Mercedes (470bhp) | Michelin | 1.5 |
Superleague Formula (SF) | 6 Regular, 6 Reversed Grid | Panoz | Menard (750bhp) | Dunlop | 1 |
The only criterion for inclusion in this list is that the driver not be over 26 years of age on 1st January 2009. So the top driver in this list in a particular series may not necessarily be the championship leader in that series - particularly true in the case of IndyCar and DTM, where there are plenty of over-26s.
The numbers in the Series column indicate how many rounds of that series have been completed.
Pos. | Name | Nationality | Age at 1 Jan | 2008 | Series | Pts |
1 | Adam Carroll | Great Britain | 26 | A1GP (6th) | A1GP (14/14) | 123 |
2 | Kamui Kobayashi | Japan | 22 | GP2 (16th) | GP2 Asia (11/11); GP2 (4/20) | 112 |
3 | Jérôme d'Ambrosio | Belgium | 23 | GP2 (11th) | GP2 Asia (11/11); GP2 (4/20) | 97 |
4 | Neel Jani | Switzerland | 25 | A1GP (1st) | A1GP (14/14) | 95 |
5 | Vitaly Petrov | Russia | 24 | GP2 (7th) | GP2 Asia (11/11); GP2 (4/20) | 85 |
6 | Filipe Albuquerque | Portugal | 23 | WSbR (21st) | A1GP (14/14) | 79 |
7 | Nicolas Hülkenberg | Germany | 21 | F3 Euro (1st) | GP2 Asia (11/11); GP2 (4/20) | 67 |
8 | Romain Grosjean | France | 22 | GP2 (4th) | GP2 (4/20) | 67 |
9 | Davide Valsecchi | Italy | 21 | GP2 (15th) | GP2 Asia (11/11) | 64 |
10 | Roldán Rodríguez | Spain | 24 | GP2 (13th) | GP2 Asia (11/11) | 64 |
11 | Sergio Pérez | Mexico | 19 | F3 Britain (4th) | GP2 Asia (11/11) | 56 |
12 | Diego Nunes | Brazil | 22 | GP2 (22nd) | GP2 Asia (11/11); GP2 (4/20) | 54 |
13 | Marcos Martínez | Spain | 23 | WSbR (15th) | WSbR (5/17) | 52 |
14 | Earl Bamber | New Zealand | 18 | NZ Toyota (2nd) | A1GP (14/14); GP2 Asia (11/11) | 42 |
15 | Fairuz Fauzy | Malaysia | 26 | WSbR (18th) | A1GP (14/14); WSbR (5/17) | 42 |
16 | Robert Wickens | Canada | 19 | WSbR (12th); F3 Euro (15th) | F2 (2/16) | 42 |
17 | Bertrand Baguette | Belgium | 22 | WSbR (7th) | WSbR (5/17) | 41 |
18 | Pastor Maldonado | Venezuela | 23 | GP2 (5th) | GP2 Asia (11/11); GP2 (4/20) | 41 |
19 | Edoardo Mortara | Italy | 21 | F3 Euro (2nd) | GP2 Asia (11/11); GP2 (4/20) | 40 |
20 | Loïc Duval | France | 26 | F Nippon (2nd); A1GP (4th) | A1GP (14/14) | 36 |
21 | Adrian Zaugg | South Africa | 22 | A1GP (14th) | A1GP (14/14); WSbR (5/17) | 33 |
22 | James Walker | Great Britain | 25 | WSbR (13th) | WSbR (5/17) | 32 |
23 | Oliver Turvey | Great Britain | 21 | F3 Britain (2nd) | WSbR (5/17) | 31 |
24 | Clivio Piccione | Monaco | 24 | Euroseries 3000 (11th) | A1GP (14/14) | 30 |
25 | Chris van der Drift | New Zealand | 22 | IFM (1st) | A1GP (14/14); GP2 Asia (11/11); WSbR (5/17) | 27 |
26 | Giedo van der Garde | Netherlands | 23 | WSbR (1st) | GP2 Asia (11/11); GP2 (4/20) | 27 |
27 | John Martin | Australia | 24 | F3 Britain (13th) | A1GP (14/14) | 25 |
28 | Javier Villa | Spain | 21 | GP2 (17th) | GP2 Asia (11/11); GP2 (4/20) | 22 |
29 | Luiz Razia | Brazil | 19 | Euroseries 3000 (4th) | GP2 Asia (11/11) | 21 |
30 | Miguel Molina | Spain | 19 | WSbR (4th) | WSbR (5/17) | 21 |
31 | Jules Bianchi | France | 19 | F3 Euro (3rd) | F3 Euro (4/20) | 20 |
32 | Sakon Yamamoto | Japan | 26 | GP2 (23rd) | GP2 Asia (11/11) | 20 |
33 | Christian Vietoris | Germany | 19 | F3 Euro (6th) | F3 Euro (4/20) | 19 |
34 | Jean Karl Vernay | France | 21 | F3 Euro (8th) | F3 Euro (4/20) | 19 |
35 | Roberto Merhi | Spain | 17 | F Renault Europe (4th) | F3 Euro (4/20) | 17 |
36 | Sam Bird | Great Britain | 21 | F3 Euro (11th) | F3 Euro (4/20) | 17 |
37 | Andreas Zuber | UAE | 25 | GP2 (9th) | GP2 (4/20) | 16 |
38 | Marco Andretti | USA | 21 | IndyCar (7th) | A1GP (14/14); IndyCar (2/7) | 16 |
39 | Bruno Spengler | Canada | 25 | DTM (5th) | DTM (2/10) | 15 |
40 | Lucas di Grassi | Brazil | 24 | GP2 (3rd) | GP2 (4/20) | 15 |
41 | Mirko Bortolotti | Italy | 18 | F3 Italy (1st) | F2 (2/16) | 15 |
42 | Salvador Durán | Mexico | 23 | WSbR (9th) | A1GP (14/14) | 15 |
43 | Davide Rigon | Italy | 22 | SF (1st) | GP2 Asia (11/11); GP2 (4/20) | 14 |
44 | Felipe Guimarães | Brazil | 17 | Euroseries 3000 (9th) | A1GP (14/14) | 14 |
45 | Stefano Coletti | Monaco | 19 | F3 Euro (20th) | F3 Euro (4/20) | 14 |
46 | Adrián Vallés | Spain | 22 | GP2 (21st) | WSbR (5/17) | 13 |
47 | Carlos Iaconelli | Brazil | 21 | GP2 (29th) | F2 (2/16) | 13 |
48 | Paul di Resta | Great Britain | 22 | DTM (2nd) | DTM (2/10) | 12 |
49 | Charles Pic | France | 18 | WSbR (6th) | WSbR (5/17) | 11 |
50 | Luca Filippi | Italy | 23 | GP2 (19th) | GP2 (4/20) | 11 |
51 | Danica Patrick | USA | 26 | IndyCar (6th) | IndyCar (2/7) | 10 |
52 | Daniil Move | Russia | 23 | WSbR (22nd) | WSbR (5/17) | 10 |
53 | Jaime Alguersuari | Spain | 18 | F3 Britain (1st) | WSbR (5/17) | 10 |
54 | James Jakes | Great Britain | 21 | F3 Euro (13th) | GP2 Asia (11/11) | 10 |
55 | Oliver Jarvis | Great Britain | 24 | DTM (13th) | DTM (2/10) | 10 |
56 | Valtteri Bottas | Finland | 19 | F Renault Europe (1st) | F3 Euro (4/20) | 10 |
57 | Brendon Hartley | New Zealand | 19 | F3 Britain (3rd) | F3 Euro (4/20) | 9 |
58 | Mika Mäki | Finland | 20 | F3 Euro (5th) | F3 Euro (4/20) | 9 |
59 | Mikhail Aleshin | Russia | 21 | WSbR (5th) | F2 (2/16) | 9 |
60 | Graham Rahal | USA | 19 | IndyCar (17th) | IndyCar (2/7) | 8 |
61 | Kazimieras Vasiliauskas | Lithuania | 18 | F Renault Italy (21st) | F2 (2/16) | 8 |
62 | Philipp Eng | Austria | 18 | F3 Germany (11th) | F2 (2/16) | 8 |
63 | Edoardo Piscopo | Italy | 20 | F3 Italy (2nd) | A1GP (14/14); F2 (2/16) | 7 |
64 | Andy Soucek | Spain | 23 | GP2 (14th) | F2 (2/16) | 6 |
65 | J. R. Hildebrand | USA | 20 | Indy Lights (5th) | A1GP (14/14) | 5 |
66 | Yelmer Buurman | Netherlands | 21 | SF (2nd) | GP2 Asia (11/11) | 5 |
67 | Dan Clarke | Great Britain | 25 | - | A1GP (14/14) | 4 |
68 | Daniel Morad | Lebanon | 18 | F Atlantic (12th) | A1GP (14/14) | 4 |
69 | Hamad Al Fardan | Bahrain | 21 | F3 German Cup (11th) | GP2 Asia (11/11) | 4 |
70 | Henkie Waldschmidt | Netherlands | 20 | F3 Euro (26th) | F3 Euro (4/20) | 4 |
71 | Jamie Green | Great Britain | 26 | DTM (4th) | DTM (2/10) | 4 |
72 | Julien Jousse | France | 22 | WSbR (2nd) | F2 (2/16) | 4 |
73 | Karun Chandhok | India | 24 | GP2 (10th) | GP2 (4/20) | 4 |
74 | Maro Engel | Germany | 23 | DTM (16th) | DTM (2/10) | 4 |
75 | Nicola de Marco | Italy | 18 | F3 Spain (4th) | F2 (2/16) | 4 |
76 | Pasquale di Sabatino | Italy | 20 | WSbR (20th) | WSbR (5/17) | 3 |
77 | Fabio Onidi | Italy | 20 | Euroseries 3000 (2nd) | A1GP (14/14) | 2 |
78 | Henry Surtees | Great Britain | 17 | F Renault UK (12th) | F2 (2/16) | 2 |
79 | Hwang Jin-Woo | South Korea | 25 | Super GT Japan (34th) | A1GP (14/14) | 2 |
80 | Marco Barba | Spain | 23 | WSbR (14th) | WSbR (5/17) | 2 |
81 | Mike Rockenfeller | Germany | 25 | DTM (11th) | DTM (2/10) | 2 |
82 | Alex Brundle | Great Britain | 18 | F Palmer Audi (6th) | F2 (2/16) | 1 |
83 | Atte Mustonen | Finland | 20 | F3 Britain (6th) | F3 Euro (4/20) | 1 |
84 | Charlie Kimball | USA | 23 | F3 Euro (17th) | A1GP (14/14) | 1 |
85 | Ho-Pin Tung | China | 26 | GP2 (18th) | A1GP (14/14) | 1 |
86 | Marco Bonanomi | Italy | 23 | WSbR (11th) | GP2 Asia (11/11) | 1 |
87 | Rodolfo González | Venezuela | 22 | F3 Euro (24th) | GP2 Asia (11/11) | 1 |
At various intervals through the season (not every week - I do have a life, honest!) I will update these standings and see who's up, and who's down. For more information on these drivers, and many others, I can recommend the excellent Driver Database