Di Grassi was, IMO, definitely the best and most “F1-ready” driver in GP2 this season. If he’d started the first few races, he would have easily won the championship. He had the best combination of pure speed, poise, and consistency. If I’ve got an open seat next year, he’s in my top-3 drivers I’m looking at to fill it, and that includes F1 drivers. He’s got a bright future.

Pantano is a consistent driver who can do a good job in a F1 seat, but his upside isn’t great.

Grosjean’s got the most raw speed of any driver in GP2, but again, he’s very inconsistent and erratic. He needs another year in GP2.

I actually liked Buemi. He seemed to have good race pace and handled overtaking well. He seemed to me in the races I watched to have good consistency.

The field generally this year wasn’t tremendously impressive. I think there are plenty of guys who have F1 pace (Senna, Grosjean, etc.) but don’t have the consistency, and there are people like Pantano who have F1 consistency but are limited in their pace upside. The only one who I would put in a F1 car right now without hesitation is Di Grassi.

Senna is a bit of a contradiction. He did not beat Pantano, who is in many ways a benchmark of how good a drivers is. As a very experienced F3000/GP2 driver who is normally found in the top third of the grid, a young hotshoe should be seen beating him. Rosberg, Heikki, Hamilton, Piquet & Glock all did.

That being said, with his family name, fan appeal & undoubted ability to raise sponsorship, Senna may well find his way into F1.

Does he deserve to be there on merit? Probably not, consider Premat the ART teamate of Rosberg & Hamiltion, a race winner & front runner that never got the F1 chance.

Lucas diGrassi has had a great season but then so he should. He was the driver who did all the development driving so the car should be entirely to his taste. There would be something wrong if he could not win races in a car he developed.

Bruno Senna can only lose by staying in GP2 for another season. He has had a good season and should get an F1 seat of some kind. We will never know how good he could have been had he not missed out on 10 years experience but he improves every year and has more untapped potential than drivers delivering similar performance.

I am not overly convinced about Buemi yet. Ithink he could benefit from another GP2 season as could Grosjean. He seems to have a bit of the Nicolas Minassians about him. Fast driver but prone to being reckless.

I think on balance Pantano has just about deserved his GP2 title on consistency, but it’s arguable that he’s been around in the series so long he really ought to know it inside out. Pantano has probably reached his maximum. Senna, Grosjean, Di Grassi and Buemi (and maybe Maldonado too) haven’t and as such they should be the ones to make the move up, though I think (as per the Nakajima example) not just yet – 1 more year for those guys.

If the grid was 26 cars there’d be a slot for Pantano. With only 20, there probably isn’t.

If you are going to nick anything, take all their technical data for the 2009 car, and send it off to the printers and hope no one notices. If you make it that far, then give Martin and Ron a call and make them an offer they cannot refuse. Request cash only, no cheques!
And, after their busted again and minus another $100 million, you’ll be tucked up nice and safe on some yacht off the Caymans! The big score…………
Then again, you could nick something that they would never miss, such as Nelson Piquet JNR for instance!

That said, you don’t win a championship by accident and Pantano could be a solid – if not amazing – F1 driver.

His pit exit gaff today didn’t do him any favours though. I guess a lapse of concentration is understandable, being 20 minutes away from winning your first title in eight years, taking it with a win in front of your home crowd, at Monza of all places, but with everybody looking for the next Hamilton, F1 demands perfection.

A development role with a mid-field team is probably the best he can hope for.