And are the Doors upon the Country's Gran Primo
Drivers Factory about to Close?
Ah, once again, Felipe Massa has contested
his Final-Final Home Grand Prix at Autodromo Jose Carlos Pace, better known to
many simply as Interlagos - this past weekend in Sao Paolo.
Thus, it appears the once unthinkable
possibility of No Brazilians being on the Formula 1 Grid next year will occur,
albeit we got a taste of this in Budapest, when Massa became ill and an
unexpecting Paul di Resta raced for Team Willy' at the Hungaroring this summer.
As we all know that Brazil's most famous
driver is the late Ayrton Senna, one of the country's three world champions. As
Senna and his Bosom Buddy Nelson Piquet both won three titles respectively.
With Ayrton leading the wins tally with 41 W's, while Piquet collected 23 first
place trophies.
But it was a youthful Mutton Chop EMMO', nee
Emerson Fittipaldi becoming the country's debutante world champion in 1972 and
won his second title two years later, also notching the first Grand Prix
victory by a Brazilian Wayback in 1970 at Watkins Glen, before amassing 14
career wins.
As Massa and 'Rubino, aka Rubens Barrichello,
the driver to start the most Grands Prix currently, are both tied with 11
Grands Prix victories apiece.
While the racetrack's namesake, Carlos Pace
was a one-time winner, being victorious on home soil when triumphing aboard his
Brabham BT44/Ford Cosworth at Interlagos in 1975, before his sudden death in an
Aeroplane accident in '77.
But Brazil's next hope, the "Other
Felipe," the forlorned ex-Sauber F1 driver Felipe Nasr has just signed to
become JB's (João
Barbosa) rookie team-mate in the Weathertech SportsCar
Championship for 2018. Having fallen out of F1 at the end of 2016.
Whilst the Other Brazilian, Bruno Senna, who
contested this year's endurance races for Scotty sharp's ESM Tequila Patron
squad, along with some Kiwi' named Brendon Hartley, has left the team.
F2, GP3 Series
Hence, a perfunctory look thru the current
GP3 and FIA F2 Feeder Series reveals two names I've never heard of, due to the
appalling lack of media coverage here Stateside regarding European Feeder
Series.
Bruno
Baptista contested this year's GP3 Series for
perennial title contenders DAMS, having moved up from EuroCup Formula Renault
2.0.
Yet the 20yr old Sao Paolo native's rookie
GP3 campaign apparently wasn't overly mesmerizing, since I find nary a whiff
upon his season's results. With Baptista's claim to fame so far being the 2014 Formula 4 Sudamericana
Champion.
Sergio
Sette Camara drove for MP Motorsport in this year's
inaugural FIA Formula 2 Championship as the series youngest driver. And after a
fairly rough first half rookie campaign, after the summer break notched his
first win in the Sprint Race at the Mighty Spa Francorchamps. As the win was
his first ever single seater victory.
Sergio has something in common with DK'; NO!
Not Dairy King; Hya! But Daniil Kvyat - with both having
been ousted from Red Bull's Driver Factory by 'der Helmet, nee Helmet Marco.
Set Camara first tasted F1 machinery when
making a demonstration run at Motorland
Aragon before properly debuting at the Formula 1
Young Drivers Test at Bloody Silverstone in 2016 for Scuderia Toro Rosso.
Yet the 19yr old teenager Young Gun' from Belo Horizonte was
dropped from the Red Bull Junior Academy at the beginning of this year.
F3 European Championship
Wasn't aware that another Piquet was in the
offing... Having discovered the name Pedro Piquet when perusing the FIA
European F3 Championship Drivers roll.
Although not sure how far he'll go? As 60
races over two years with a best of 14th overall and no wins or poles in a
Junior Feeder Series without any notable results isn't exactly Formula 1
material, Ci?
Joining Piquet at Van Amersfoort Racing is
Felipe Drugovich, moving
up from the ADAC and Italian F4 series. where the 17yr old teenager finished
third overall in the ADAC Formula 4 championship this year. with a tally of seven
wins, three poles and five fastest laps from 45 races over the 2016-2017
seasons. Along with notching a single win in the Italian series during six
starts this year.
Future Generation...
Meanwhile, will History repeat itself once
again in the future? When a second brace 'O Fittipaldi's appear in the Pinnacle
of Motorsports, nee Formula 1? With the possible arrival of the Brothers
Fittipaldi 2.0, i.e.; Pietro & Enzo, whom are both members of the vaunted
Ferrari Drivers Academy...
Pietro, born in 1996, at age 21 is the older
brother of Enzo, who's still a teenager, having been born in '01.As Emerson's
Thar Gran Pappy, and their uncles are some Blokes named Christian Fittipaldi
and Max Papis.
Pietro's currently contesting his second
season of the mostly forgotten, now renamed World Series Formula V-8 3.5
series, having this year become a support series for the World Endurance
Championship. (WEC)
Pietro tenuously leads the championship by
10-points ahead of Russian Matevos
Isaakyan, (223-213) with 50-points on offer - utilizing
Formula 1's current points scoring system for the Top-10 finishers.
Thus, with these two rounds remaining during
the season's final weekend outing during the Six Hours of Bahrain WEC Sports
Car race, Nov 17-18, the Top-5 drivers are still in the championship hunt.
As fellow Rooskie' Egor Orudzhev
sits third with 198-points, Mexico's Alfonso Celis Jr. sits fourth with
192-points and Austrian René Binder is
P5 and mathematically alive with 174-points.
Meanwhile, younger brother Enzo's currently
working his way up the Open Wheel Racing ladder, noted as a member of the
vaunted Prima Racing's stable mates, currently competing in the Italian F4 series,
having contested three races to date...