Pantano: F1 career unlikely

Eurosport - Thu, 04 Dec 14:30:00 2008

Giorgio Pantano has admitted his recently-won GP2 championship is unlikely to lead to a career in Formula One.

GP2 Giorgio Pantano - 0

If his fears are confirmed, the 29-year-old would be the only GP2 champion, in the company of Nico Rosberg (2005), Lewis Hamilton (2006) and Timo Glock (2007), who has not gone on to secure a seat in the premier category.

The frustrated Italian slammed the situation as a "joke", where contenders he defeated in 2008 - Bruno Senna and Sebastien Buemi - appear posed to make their Grand Prix debuts.

"I feel total indifference towards me. I read of Senna and Buemi but, really, what have they done?" Pantano told Italian magazine Autosprint.

"At this point, a guy in my situation must think that being a racing driver is not advantageous, doing another job would be better."

It appears that not only Pantano's age played against him in the eyes of F1 team bosses.

He actually made his F1 debut for the uncompetitive Jordan team in 2004, before being replaced near the end of the season.

Prior to his abortive Jordan tenure, Pantano had tests with Williams, McLaren and Renault.

Pantano charged: "Money is becoming the priority in order to race, talent doesn't exist anymore."

He said the only figure in the F1 paddock who has not "abandoned" him is F1 chief executive Bernie Ecclestone, who spoke with Pantano on the phone a few days ago.

"The only real drives still available are at Honda and Toro Rosso," he said. "Bernie told me that if anything moves, I'll be the first to know."

F1-Live.com / Eurosport

Comment 1 - 13 of 13

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  1. Pantano u are just wasting ur time Listening to Bernie­ the crackhead

    From Babajide, on Fri 5 Dec 8:22PM

  2. Giorgio, the way things are going, there will be­ precious few F1 teams to drive for, anyway. GP2 is in­ better shape!

    From , on Thu 4 Dec 9:56PM

  3. hjlio oi all i am suggesting is you are a tit cant u­ write something different.

    From Major Bumsore, on Thu 4 Dec 7:28PM

  4. Pantano's disadvantage isn't so much his age,­ but 2004. Its not the car people remember him in, its­ the lack of results he had that year. A top quality­ driver proves it even in a poor car (Button in the 2006­ Honda for example, or better still Timo Glock in his­ Toyota, Sebastian Vettel's win and final race in a­ Toro Rosso, and Alonso dragging the Renault to two­ victories) and in 2004 Pantano didn't really prove­ he was a top quality driver.

    From ginger_gitt, on Thu 4 Dec 6:49PM

  5. f1 rookie at 29 your to old mate its time for young­ blood

    From wayne H, on Thu 4 Dec 4:55PM

  6. Pearson404: just remind me who is F1 world champion­ 2008 & who does he drive for.Ferrari sure as hell­ wern't the better team then..

    From Tonka, on Thu 4 Dec 3:26PM

  7. What a 29 years old untalented driver wanna do in­ F1?
    Go home pantano

    From mauricechlela, on Thu 4 Dec 3:16PM

  8. please do have a go -- then we can all follow your­ example if successfullll -.!

    From susan4campbell, on Thu 4 Dec 2:18PM

  9. Paul T - the answer is no - you wouldn't win and no­ lawyer would take on your case.

    From Gordon B, on Thu 4 Dec 1:54PM

  10. Adam Carroll deserves an F1 seat

    From Creaven91, on Thu 4 Dec 1:54PM

  11. come on OBSERVATION you sound like a tipical football­ fan when things arnt going there way and manchester­ united are getting all the decisions because all the­ refs are bent i come from manchester and not beeing a­ football fan but here it said in pubs up and down all­ the time. just admit it FARRARI are just far supierier­ to any other f1 team

    From pearson404, on Thu 4 Dec 1:33PM

  12. Pantano, Pantano, did his dad ever drive in F1? If not­ then what did he expect?

    From TeamJuanF1, on Thu 4 Dec 1:16PM

  13. Paul T- I'm a F1 fan first and a Ferrari fan­ second. I hate the way the FIA cheat for us becasue it­ hurts our reputation with other F1 fans. I agree with­ you that we should sue the FIA and Bernie. CLASS­ ACTION!!!

    From TeamJuanF1, on Thu 4 Dec 1:07PM
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