New Super Licence points system

[Chloe Hewitt]

From 2016 changes are being made to how a driver becomes eligible for a Super Licence; this is a result of the signing of Max Verstappen to Toro Rosso despite 2014 being his only season to date in single seaters and being 17 years old.

Under the new regulations Verstappen wouldn't be illegible for a Super Licence as a driver must be 18 years old, have spent at least two years in junior single seater category and hold a valid road driver's licence (driving age in The Netherlands is 18 or 17 with supervision). Further to this drivers would also have to pass a test on the Formula One Sporting Regulations - the existing requirement of completing 300 kilometres in a recent F1 car remains.

Furthermore, the various junior single seater categories will be allocated points based on FIA ranking and drivers must accumulate 40 points over a three year period. Controversially, the category that holds the most weight - with 60 points on offer for coming first in the championship - does not actually exist currently and is simply referred to as 'Future FIA 2 Championship', second to this is the GP2 series that offers drivers 50 points for first place in the championship; its sister series GP3 is ranked sixth behind European F3 (which Verstappen finished third in for the 2014 season), FIA WEC (LMP1 only) and IndyCar. Formula Renault 3.5 which has been the training ground for more and more of the grid (notably the drivers that have come through the Red Bull programme) is ranked seventh offering only 30 points for first in the championship.

Based on these new regulations it's quite shocking the drivers that would not actually qualify for a Super Licence; world champions Kimi Räikkönen, Jenson Button and possibly even Fernando Alonso (depending on what now defunct categories would be classed as ) would miss out had this rule been introduced in the early 2000s. Another big name that would have missed out would have been that of Felipe Massa. Red Bull's Daniel Ricciardo would also miss out due to the lack of points being awarded to the Formula Renault championships and due to his lackluster GP2 career Marcus Ericsson too would not have made it to the grid.

 

[Ricoow]

If Max causes a collision now he will receive instant race ban(s) I guess. Only proving the point that a 17-year old should not race in F1 yet.

 

[Aaron Channer]

Zero respect for Verstappen...... yet.
He has to earn it.

 

[Frederic Schornstein]

It sounds like a good idea first, but it will be very hard and first of all very expensive to get these points together. It will be interesting how the new F2 shapes up. The last attempt was a big failure and regarding the old format it would be a joke to put GP2 second.
I think it is good that they try to avoid 5 year GP2 "veterans" that barely make the Top10 to enter F1 with a lot of money, but looking at drivers like Bottas, who probably wouldn't have qualified without his two F3 seasons it can get very expensive for drivers.

If you are a young guy and manage to get a budget for one season in single seaters like GP3, win all races, but then you aren't allowed to enter F1?!
The examples show, that those rules are not great. As well as ranking the FIA WEC LMP1 that low is a joke. If you have driven one 6 hour race in LMP1 you most probably have done more overtaking than you will do in one season of F1.

/edit: Small suggestion change the points just to "Finish in the Top3 of a single seater category" than most of the Ericcsons and so on wouldn't be allowed to be in F1, but drivers like Verstappen, Alonso etc. would have been allowed

 

[Ken Hughes]

Those rules also preclude drivers from the U.S. circuit. True, there haven't been many good ones, Juan Pablo Montoya being an exception but Scott Speed (remember him?) being more the rule. Even Michael Andretti didn't make the big-time.

Gene Haas was hoping to have a U.S. driver in his squad, but it looks now like it won't be a current Indycar driver. Things may be looking good for Alex Rossi.

 

[R.J. O'Connell]

Those rules also preclude drivers from the U.S. circuit.

Not entirely true, the IndyCar Series still counts for points - albeit less than it probably should be given that it is a true professional series, even if the current IndyCar is 0-lifetime in graduating talents to Formula 1. The closest they've gotten was Simona de Silvestro, before then, it was Dan Wheldon's brief test with BMW Sauber. Everyone prior to that came out of CART/CCWS.

This has both the intended effect of ensuring that pay-drivers aren't able to buy their way into F1 without winning something first, meaning that smaller teams may have to take drivers like Fabio Leimer and Jolyon Palmer who have actually won titles as "paying options" for the team, as opposed to a driver who hung around the 6-10th places in GP2 for four years and bought their way in.

But it also (un)intentionally sticks it up Red Bull's backside - Helmut Marko always scouts based on rapid progression, and of the last five Toro Rosso drivers, only Daniil Kvyat would have been eligible for a super license at the moment he debuted by one measly point. Vergne, Ricciardo, Sainz, and of course Max "the Max" Verstappen would have had to wait. They've also used FR3.5 over GP2 in recent years for their top talents - so making that series' title worth as much as GP3 will undoubtedly force Marko to put his top guys in GP2 instead.

Which brings me to my point about Verstappen. He gets far too much hate on this forum from the moment Red Bull signed him until now. He's 17 with one year in single-seaters, but with more race starts under his belt than Alonso, Massa, Button, or Raikkonen had before they came to F1. Usually, if a teenage driver comes into F1, it's not because they're brought in before they're ready. It's because they're already ready. You see three Fernando Alonsos for every Esteban Tuero nowadays.

 

[Chris Jenkins]

I like the new system.
Sure it needs some tweaking to correctly value some of the higher racing series, but the concept is good.
It should also stop drivers sitting around in F1 garages as "Reserve Drivers", unless they've already qualified for points.
The Reserve Driver role has become a bit of a GP2 graveyard the past few years, with barely any of the GP2 graduates ever making it to the F1 grid. This should hopefully encourage them to continue racing in other series to gain more points and experience.

And most importantly, will stop more Chilton's, Gutierrez's and Ericsson's clogging up the F1 race seats.

 

[Ho3n3r]

Did you guys even watch the European F3 championship he drove in this year? He barely made a single mistake, and not one race-ending mistake.

He's pretty good already, and I'd rather trust him than some others in F1. Can't wait for the season so that he can prove you wrong.

 

[threecounties]

I bet Renault are chuffed to bits that their series is considered inferior to GP2 when it reality it is probably stronger.
Also, people talk about Ericsson, Chilton and Gutierrez like they are muppets. Not the case, they all won races coming through the ranks, something which at the top level is very very hard to do. It is even harder to win a championship and unfortunately only one driver per category can do that each season, so we will always get 'questionable' drivers on the grid. Having said that this new points system is a good idea, but it needs some tweaking.

What is more worrying is that the state of modern single seater racing is such that Max Verstappen being 17 won't be a hindrance at all. With seamless gear changes that require no driver skill, unbreakable cars, telemetry to remove all doubts and hours and hours of practice in a simulator, his age just won't be a barrier. He might even be more prepared than Damon Hill who was twice his age when he entered F1.

 

[Ho3n3r]

What is more worrying is that the state of modern single seater racing is such that Max Verstappen being 17 won't be a hindrance at all. With seamless gear changes that require no driver skill, unbreakable cars, telemetry to remove all doubts and hours and hours of practice in a simulator, his age just won't be a barrier. He might even be more prepared than Damon Hill who was twice his age when he entered F1.

Add to that a supremely gifted driver and you're right. The sky's the limit for Max.

 

[TTupsi]

Kimi Räikkönen would've been eligible for F1 in 2003...

I don't like this. It's just so artificial solve for a problem that in my opinion doesn't exist. F1 teams should be allowed to hire any Deletraz they want, it's not FIA's or any one else's problem. If FIA wants to have the best of the best in the grid, it should secure that every team has money to pay the drivers, not the other way around (which is completely nuts).

 

[Chris Jenkins]

Gutierrez I can live with, as he won the GP3 championship and has 4 wins in GP2.
Ericsson only has 3 GP2 wins over the space of 4 years and was awful in an F1 car.
Chilton only has 2 GP2 wins and has never won any championships... anywhere. Doesn't belong in F1.

 

[R.J. O'Connell]

I do like that top prospects such as Vandoorne, Ocon, Lynn, and Marciello are still eligible if these points were instituted today. All of them deserve a proper F1 chance - shame there's too few teams in F1.

 

[Martin Maaskant]

What I don't get is that the FIA is trying to fix a system that hasn't proved that it's broken. As stated in the original post the whole discussion started with signing on Verstappen. There is yet no prove that he could not race in F1. All we have are a bunch of opinions. If he proves to be a danger to other drivers somewhere next year then ban him and then change the system. From my point of view the FIA is presenting a solution for a problem that does not exist.

 

[Queequeg]

I think restricting access to F1 more and keeping very young drivers guys waiting till they are old enough is a good idea, but that points system looks like a device introduced only to control and govern other series even more on the political side. The FIA can now basically decide which series will have talent and which won't and I do not trust them one inch to not exploit that.

 

[TTupsi]

The FIA can now basically decide which series will have talent and which won't and I do not trust them one inch to not exploit that.

Exactly. GP3 and FR3.5 are worth the same? And F3 Euro series more pretigious than the two? Yeeaaaahh...
All FIA is trying to do is promote their own series.

 

[Darth]

Exactly. GP3 and FR3.5 are worth the same? And F3 Euro series more pretigious than the two? Yeeaaaahh...
All FIA is trying to do is promote their own series.

Renault wants to hold talks with the FIA over the low grading of their series. I believe that
what the FIA wants to do is have a level of control over the rest of the series, or reduce them
even.

 

[R.J. O'Connell]

Renault wants to hold talks with the FIA over the low grading of their series. I believe that
what the FIA wants to do is have a level of control over the rest of the series, or reduce them
even.

What I see coming out of this, and I've made this comment elsewhere too - I think Renault may get the FIA to bump up FR3.5's value for the short term.

I have my doubts that the series was miles ahead of GP2 from a talent perspective last year, but they are essentially getting what I would like to call "25/8ed" as it stands - not really fair so long as there's not going to be an International Formula 2 for a while yet.