Jeff Gordon

[Mclaren11]

Frank Williams has offered NASCAR star Jeff Gordon an honest Four Day test session. When jeff and Juan did the tradin' paint last year williams was impressed with jeff's pace and said that within one test he would be up to pace. with so many american sponsors supporting williams Jeff would be a major boost to the team. with two open seats in 2005 assuming jeff is for it is he a real option?

[joseff]

Yes! Give him 4 days and he'll learn to turn right

No seriously, the guy's good. He'll do well in F1.

[Becker4]

when your a good racer, your a good racer . . . im not a fan on NASCAR, but i believe that its best drivers can drive. i think if you give jeff a fighting shot he'll be quick as hell. would certainly bring a lot of American intrest (and money) into F1. i would love to finally have an American in F1, and although im not a follower of gordon, ive heard he is a class act and methinks he would make a good rep for the USA.

[dumrick]

A great driver would be good driving anything... but NASCAR is a show (not really a sport, is it?? ) so far from F1...
From my point of view, the fitness, sensitivity, talent and intelligence required to drive a "whale", with a big, heavy, old-fashioned big-block V8, pre-historic suspension design, tubular chassis and basic aerodynamics in circles (most of the time...) are far, far lesser than those needed to succeed in F1...

[Scuderia_Russ]

Will be very interesting to see what he can do...i think he lapped to within a second of JPM last time.

[SKRAT]

I think it's <<interesting>> that F1 is looking to NASCAR for increasing their marketability. Sure NASCAR tech is way old and I agree that F1 is tech is way cooler than anything going, but Melbourne was boring after the 1st few laps and I actually watched the entire Daytona 500.

And don't even start with the F1 needs less aero / less downforce. Next to fighter planes, I think these cars are some of the prettiest in the world (I'm biased of course, I've only been watching since last year). But downforce is the main reason they can run so damn fast and make the stock cars look like bricks. And if you limit aero, you automatically limit engine, and then you might as well have a spec series. Bah!

Anyway, does BMW think that an american in the cockpit will help their US marketing? They're pretty well regarded already, but this news along with their own Fomula series looks like a push into the US market.

Gordon can afford to make a little less anyway he's no longer at the b very top of stock cars and he's admitted to open-wheel racing as his 1st interest.

Cheers,
Paul C

[West]

BMW's biggest market is the US (I believe) so the Formula BMW series is not only a way to get an American into F1, but to increase awareness of the brand in America. I thought I was going to join because when mentioned in Motor Trend it was so non-chalant... then I found out entry fee is around $250,000. Damn

As for an American in F1, I see more success in bringing somebody from CART or the IRL instead of NASCAR... assuming there are "Americans" left in the series, anyway.

[Jukebox]

Frank Williams is certainly looking for a seasoned new talent....just like when he brought in Monty since he's gonna loose both of his current drivers next year.

The champion material nowadays that is already in F1 is very limited and very expensive.