Igor Fraga to Make Formula 3 Debut This Weekend
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Not sure whether Igor will continue succeeding... his Charouz is a backmarker, but teams don't like to look at that, they look at raw performance most of the time and a single point doesn't say anything to suggest a better drive next year. I could be wrong, but right now I don't know whether Igor can succeed in Formula 3
I think he got the talent, i really hope he have sponsors to keep him competing and try to get him in a better team/seat, in racing you need to be consistent and Charouz team/car cant deliver that, at least from all the issues in qualy/mechanical/organization seems to be team faults not driver related.
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- GTP_Famine
A lot is made of George Russell's ability in a really quite heinously poor Williams car (it's less awful this year, but still a Q1 car). He is overperforming the car and outperforming his team mate by a considerable margin.
It's safe to say that teams will look at not just outright results, but results as compared to other drivers in the same car. When not eliminated by vehicle failure (GBR Race 2; AUT Race 2), or collision (HUN Race 2), or out of position due to vehicle failure in qualifying (STY Race 1), Fraga consistently beats his team mates - only finishing behind one of them once... at Silverstone on Saturday.
AUT R1: 16 (17, 25)
STY R2: 14 (17, 24)
HUN R1: 15 (16, 23)
GBR R1: 15 (17, 25)
70A R1: 18 (15, 22)
70A R2: 10 (15, Ret)
The truly weird thing is qualifying. Fraga said something about other teams not showing their pace in practice, but it's the Charouz not showing its pace in qualifying.
At Silverstone the practice times and qualifying times were pretty much the same spread - the top three were 1'45.0-1'45.4 in qualifying and 1'45.1-1'45.4 in practice; the top ten were under 1'45.9 in practice and 1'45.85 in qualifying - but Fraga was 0.6s slower than his practice time, and his team mate Stanek was 0.5s slower. Weirdly exactly the same thing applied the week before: top time was 1'46.3 in practice, 1'46.2 in qualifying; top ten was 1'47.0 in practice, 1'46.9 in qualy; Fraga and Schumacher were 0.6s slower in qualy, and Stanek 0.4s slower.
For some reason, the Charouz has no single lap pace in qualifying trim, even compared to its own practice pace. Then the drivers have to fight up to lower mid-pack in race one and hope they can survive in race two to get into the points. If they can solve the qualifying issue, they can start 10-15th in race one and then maybe get into the points and benefit from the reverse grid draw in race two.
GTPNewsWire
Contributing Writer
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This is the discussion thread for a recent post on GTPlanet:
This article was published by Andrew Evans (@Famine) on August 16th, 2020 in the Motorsports category.
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- Longueuil
Pain in Spain... What a title 
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- GTP_Famine
I was hoping for Gain in Spain...Pain in Spain... What a title
- 860
- Longueuil
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- TeamACRZARacingo
- GyroxOpex
To quote Tiametmarduk, "[He's] in Spain but the S is silent"
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- Philip-Giger
An important Brazilian journalist specialized in motorsport - Lito Cavalcanti - said informally that the Charouz team is experiencing serious financial problems. Some employees are not being paid. And those who receive it, the salary is not full.
Then it gets hard...
Then it gets hard...
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- Canada
I hope his dreams aren't being destroyed here, his team seems to have a pretty bad car but that's just my view point.
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- mustafur
If he somehow gets another chance to do F3 next season it has to be in a better team or it's not worth it, All your doing is damaging your reputation.
He has Sponsership from Redbull and Gran turismo and he is in one of the worst teams on the grid(last year they where bad as well), either his Sponsership is much more minor then we think or he is being managed incompetently.
He has Sponsership from Redbull and Gran turismo and he is in one of the worst teams on the grid(last year they where bad as well), either his Sponsership is much more minor then we think or he is being managed incompetently.
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- GTP_Famine
He beat Liam Lawson in equal machinery, on tracks Lawson knew (but Fraga didn't) over a series that Lawson was the defending champion.
Lawson currently sits third in the F3 table in a car that works. Lirim Zendeli, who Fraga also beat in TRS, was driving the Charouz last year and got two of the team's five points finishes, to place 18th. This season he's in a car that works, is 11th, and has two podium finishes - while Fraga is in the Charouz and has all of the team's one points finish and rarely finishes behind either of his team mates.
Judging his ability on the strength of the raw results from this season in the clearly cack Charouz is not wise. They need context.
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- 694
- Australia
In addition to what @Famine said... he was team-mate to Yuki Tsunoda in Toyota Racing Series this year. Fraga won the title while Tsunoda finished 4th.
Fraga went to Formula 3 for a backmarker team, while Tsunoda now drives in Formula 2 for Carlin and is a race-winner.
It tells me that Igor isn't missing opportunities due to lack of talent.
But yes... as everyone knows, in order to reach F1 you need a lot more than just talent alone.
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