“Kindergarten to F1” moves threaten GP2, says team boss

Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll have secured promotions straight to F1 from Formula 3, while several others have moved up to grand prix racing directly from GP2's feeder series GP3.

And Strelnikova, whose Russian Time team has been part of GP2 since 2013 and won the teams' title in its debut year, says that such moves create questions over the series' purpose.

“Many now are trying to leapfrog GP2 – move up to F1 from Formula 3, for example,” Strelnikova told Motorsport.com. “That makes it difficult for teams to structure their business. It's unclear how it all works at the moment. What kind of system is being drawn up?

“If you can go to F1 straight from kindergarten, what's the point of other championships?

“Before that, for many years, there was a working system – you go to a smaller formula after karting, then to F3, then you have either Formula Renault 3.5 or GP2. And then, if you have enough money, whoever's lucky, whoever has enough talent and speed, they made it to F1.

“But now if people are coming from F3, bypassing GP2 and 3.5, you get the question of whether they're even needed. Even 3.5 is already too expensive for some, and we're more expensive.”

The future for Markelov and team

Artem Markelov has been a big part of Russian Time's GP2 programme, having been part of the outfit since 2014.

But Strelnikova says the 2017 GP2 campaign is planned to be the last for Markelov, who last year finished 10th and took his maiden victory in the series.

“At the moment that's the plan,” she said. “We could stay like [Sergio] Canamasas, like Johnny Cecotto, for many more long and happy years. But I'd like to see him show this year already what he's truly capable of.

“I can't say that we've already have a final decision. There's always options.”

On what variants there were for Markelov outside of F1, she said: “Well, what do we have... America. WEC, where everybody goes now. Artem really likes Le Mans, he'd love to take part in that race.

“There were some negotiations with teams, we have offers, but nothing concrete. He's keen. As a challenge – to do the Le Mans 24 Hours.”

The Russian Time boss also said that Markelov's GP2 teammate for 2017 has not yet been selected, although noted that the list of candidates was short.

Asked whether the team had a future past Markelov, Strelnikova assured: “Of course. The question is in that the championship will change cars in a year. And what will happen to to the championship itself then?”

Budget concerns

Reflecting on rival team Carlin's exit from GP2 after six seasons, Strelnikova said: “It was simply because there aren't enough drivers with the budget required. Sure, our budgets aren't the same as Formula 1, but they're based on the money that the drivers bring. And the market situation is rather complicated.

“Now there's one less team, and it's difficult to find drivers. In a year there'll be new cars, and that's another factor that adds unpredictability, which teams don't like.

“Everybody already knows the current car like the back of their hand, and even then there's sometimes problems. This year Sergey [Sirotkin] was complaining about electronics, and we had the same issue with Mitch [Evans] last year. We'd changed basically everything, and it was still stalling out. Even the GP2 tech director said it was a mystery. And with new cars there'll be more problems like that.

“There's also the matter of financials. You have to buy new cars, and new equipment. That requires a big budget – without support from racing drivers, it's not possible.”