A little help!

Hi all,

Sorry if this question has been asked already, but can someone please explain to me all the stages of Formula? I know there is F1600 F3000 and F1, what about Indy and CART, how do they differ? And also what would be the best path to take if you wanted to become an F1 driver? Should you start out in F1600 then to F3000 and finally F1?

Any info is greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

Cart and IRL are not even remotely related to any of the Formulae racing, although they are all open wheel, it is best not to confuse them.

For more info, maybe try http://www.fia.com

I think we need a general racing forum. This is the sort of question that doesnt really fit anywhere else.

Welcome aboard, R_M, the common way into F1 is karts to Formula Ford and then onto one of the European circuts.

Thanks for the info guys. I just have one more question. I heard that some drivers pay for their own F1 car and some don't. What is the deal here? Do you have to get a sponsor to pay for your car otherwise you have to pay yourself? I think I am way off on this one. lol

Thanks.

Originally posted by Racing_Man
Thanks for the info guys. I just have one more question. I heard that some drivers pay for their own F1 car and some don't. What is the deal here? Do you have to get a sponsor to pay for your car otherwise you have to pay yourself? I think I am way off on this one. lol

Thanks.

Nope, no F1 driver pays his own ride, some drivers do get their own sponsorship deals to help them with team expenses, but the cars are owned by the teams.
In CART or IRL it is highly likely a driver may pay for his own car, just in order to get into the series and make a name, but in F1 when you consider the cost of a car, for a driver to pay for his own car he would already have to be a millionaire in his own right.

Originally posted by Racing_Man
Thanks for the info guys. I just have one more question. I heard that some drivers pay for their own F1 car and some don't. What is the deal here? Do you have to get a sponsor to pay for your car otherwise you have to pay yourself? I think I am way off on this one. lol

Thanks.

Yes, a great example was Pedro Diniz that payed his team $20,000,000 to hire him.

Originally posted by Grande
Yes, a great example was Pedro Diniz that payed his team $20,000,000 to hire him.

Really? That is astonishing!

Couldn't call him worthless then could you?

Hey Grande do you know a guy who goes by the name of Tso?

Originally posted by Grande


Yes, a great example was Pedro Diniz that payed his team $20,000,000 to hire him.

Well then that would be him hiring the team :lol:

That was sponsorship money wasn't it? I could have sworn that money came from his personal sponsors?

Okay, set up a bit of a buffer to the stupidity gravity well, can be serious for a bit.

Pedro's family own the Brazilian Parmalat chain. So the deal was he went with the sponsorship. Parmalat followed him from Ligier to Arrows to Sauber then Prost.

He did kind of hire the team to have a bit of fun on the weekends.