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GP2 Features & Interviews
GP2 Feature - Glock Steps Up To The F1 Challenge
19/10/2007
Timo Glock has arrived at the Brazilian Grand Prix this weekend as the reigning GP2 Series champion at a time when the outgoing champion, Lewis Hamilton, is gunning for the Formula One world championship.
The German, who is in Brazil as part of his duties as the BMW Sauber F1 Team’s third driver, will have his attention not on his predecessor however, but on the seemingly ever growing possibilities of a race drive for 2008.
Glock is widely tipped for the vacant seat at Toyota, but Williams are also known to be interested in him through the opinions of Jonathan Williams (son of Sir Frank) who is on the board at iSport International.
Interestingly, such a move could see Glock as 2007 champion, line up with Nico Rosberg, the 2005 GP2 Series champion.
“Winning the championship in the GP2 Series really meant a lot as it opened the door to Formula One for me,” Nico Rosberg said. “It was a special year. The category was great and I had a fantastic team in ART Grand Prix.”
Of course Glock’s title and the team crown for iSport came at the expense of ART Grand Prix, who had taken both previous champions to F1 and Glock’s task in beating the might of the double championship squad could make him all the more attractive in the big paddock.
“GP2 is as close as you’re going to get to Formula One without actually being in F1,” confirms 2006 champion Lewis Hamilton. “The opportunity to learn and experience the European Grand Prix circuits was also invaluable.”
Glock has large boots to fill as he attempts to follow in the footsteps of Nico and Lewis, but with them as examples of just how well a GP2 champion can perform in F1, he is sure to be in demand.
Indeed, BMW Sauber are already looking for a replacement so confident are they that he will be snapped up by a rival team.
With Nelson Piquet Jr also expected to step into an F1 race seat, and Kazuki Nakajima being linked to openings as he makes his F1 race debut in Brazil, 2008 could yet see the largest presence of GP2 Series graduates than in any previous year.
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