F1 Fanatic

Angolan racer Luís Jorge Sá Silva joins Carlin

http://www.pressreleasemanager.co.uk/viewPressRelease.asp?ID=59A72ED7-ACD2-408A-8B7B-B67533260188

I’m happy about him (despite never hearing his name before) because he is from Africa.

Vainio’s problem is that he’s now going into his third season of GP3, and he’s the first driver to do so. Unless he thinks he can skip GP2 like Valtteri Bottas did, he’s got his work cut out for him because he’s going to need to show some genuine pace both this year and in GP2 if he makes it. He’s had some strong performances in GP3 and Formula Renault 3.5 last year (three podiums and a race win in GP3, and a podium in FR3.5), so maybe he can pull it off – but I think it’s a huge risk unless there is a deal going on in the background somewhere and he thinks tying himself to Koiranen will pay off in the long run. I can only imagine that such a deal would involve buying into a Formula 1 team or some such. The last thing Vainio wants is to be treated as a yardstick to measure the success of incoming drivers against in GP3.

Facu Regalia joins ART

Happy to announce Facu Regalia @facuregalia in our #GP3 Team for this season ! #LineUp #1ToGo

— ART Grand Prix (@ARTGP) February 15, 2013

Samin Gomez also to Jenzer:

http://www.gp3series.com/News/2013/02_February/Jenzer/

Additionally, Fontana has signed to Lotus’ junior driver programme, along with Marlon Stockinger (who replaces Kevin Korjus). Stockinger and Sorensen will comprise Lotus-Charouz’s line up in WSR. Notice how Lotus GP has reverted to its original name of ART Grand Prix- it explains why Fontana isn’t at the French squad.

Additionally, Fontana has signed to Lotus’ junior driver programme, along with Marlon Stockinger (who replaces Kevin Korjus). Stockinger and Sorensen will comprise Lotus-Charouz’s line up in WSR.

I’m not entirely sure why Lotus has a driver development programme – they’re not going to let go of Raikkonen or Grosjean any time soon.

Notice how Lotus GP has reverted to its original name of ART Grand Prix- it explains why Fontana isn’t at the French squad.

No, it doesn’t. It’s more likely that Lotus simply decided to kill their funding to various teams, and instead just back individual drivers.

Here’s another series debutant:

I’m very excited to announce that I will be racing in @gp3_official this year with @marussia_f1team !! #GP3 #Racing

— Dino Zamparelli (@DinoZamparelli) February 19, 2013