The first of the 2021 Team Review articles, in which each team’s season is briefly assessed, along with comments from certain teams. The first article features the bottom four in the championship. Highwind FV Racing Drivers: Nikolai Milkovich, Karl Beckenbauer, Diego Campos (Reserve) Standings: 15th Wins: 0 Poles: 0 Podiums: 0 Points: 0 Best Finish: 19th Following a season of financial difficulties in 2020; the Cheema team was bought out by John Doe and renamed as Highwind FV Racing for 2021. The rebranded team brought in the experienced Karl Beckenbauer to partner Cheema hero Nikolai Milkovich, in what looked to be a strong and dependable line up. Unfortunately, the car itself proved to be totally incapable of producing any real pace and spent much of the season failing to advance past Q1. Milkovich must be praised for dragging the Imad-03 through to the race on five occasions – although one of these was due to a missed strategy on Arrow’s behalf – but it was a dismal season for the Highwind pair overall. The duo, who have both experienced the highs of Formula Virtual with race wins to their names, must’ve struggled to keep their spirits up throughout the season, especially once it became clear that Davenport’s fortunate 15th place in Australia would likely see Highwind finish rock bottom in 2021. Nonetheless, they soldiered on and Milkovich qualified for a couple of races towards the end of the season; even getting involved in a fantastic scrap with the leaders at Indianapolis – albeit a lap down… Whilst the season was clearly a huge struggle for Highwind, it was probably to be expected in the first year of Doe’s ownership of the team. Many pointed to this season as a transitional year for the Irish team, so it is likely that everyone involved will just be glad to see the back of the financial woes that plagued the team in its previous guise. For 2022, it’s all change in the driver department. Cheema stalwarts Milkovich and Diego Campos will leave the team, along with Beckenbauer, and will be replaced by ex-Phoenix driver Thierry Xylander and ex-Phoenix Youth Academy driver Daniel Zientek. The young pairing is a total change in direction for Highwind, who have previously always favoured experienced drivers, but Xylander and Zientek could be the breath of fresh air that the team needs to finally escape their Q1 struggles. Alexander McLaughlin and Sebastian Bergkvist have also been brought on board and will be waiting in the wings if either youngster fails to deliver. Team Principal Ahmed Cheema on Highwind’s 2021 and thoughts on 2022: “Not a year we're going to look back on too fondly. Things went wrong from the start and it never really looked to get better. I'm gutted to see Nikolai and Diego go, they've played a massive role in this team's early years and we'll miss them greatly. If there is one positive though, it's that we've hit rock bottom - the only way from here is up.” Technical Director Kimi Young: “With new regulations, there is always some chance of things going wrong. We made some wrong calls and we paid for that. However, I will, we will learn from our mistakes. Next year we will make up for this and bring Highwind back up the field.” Nikolai Milkovich: “It's unfortunate that my career here has come to an end like this but in the end we didn't have the pace to achieve much more. It was nice to qualify for a few races towards the end at least though, and I've had a fantastic time here at Highwind. I wish the team all the best for their future in FV and look forward to continuing to work with them through Campos Motorsport.” Karl Beckenbauer: “Probably one of my worst year in motorsport really. Even qualifying for a race needed a miracle. The car was not up to the mark, simple as. But it is what it is, I know that the factory tried their best so thanks to them. Hopefully with North Star next year I can get my career back on track.” BMPS Scuderia Meteor Drivers: Felix Beyer, Carson Davenport, Giani Ledesma (Reserve) Standings: 14th Wins: 0 Poles: 0 Podiums: 0 Points: 0 Best Finish: 15th BMPS Scuderia Meteor’s 2021 season can only be described as an absolute disaster, even by the most avid Scuderia Meteor fan. The Italian team brought Carson Davenport on board in the hopes that the Portuguese driver’s vast Formula Virtual experience would help the team to understand the car and progress up the grid. Evidently, however, this did not happen. Davenport regularly out qualified Felix Beyer but, due to the car being so clearly cut off from even the Highwind car’s pace, the season was filled with non-qualifications. In fact, Scuderia Meteor appeared on the grid just once throughout the entire year, setting an abysmal record for the most DNQ’s in a single season; 31. The only saving grace for the team was Davenport’s drive to 15th at the Australian V-Prix, enabling them to finish – somewhat undeservedly – above Highwind in the Constructors’ Championship. While things weren’t going to plan on track, events off track didn’t exactly show the team in a good light either. Towards the end of the season, rumours arose that former driver Mario Juan Lopez was suing the team for unfair treatment during the 2019 season; the first year under the ownership of the Caliri family. As well as the legal dispute, which is ongoing, there was also a significant shortage of spare parts in the second half of the year, leading to the Q1 hurdle being an even more impossible challenge for Davenport and Beyer to overcome. Looking ahead to 2022, it is unclear what lies ahead for Scuderia Meteor. Italian veteran Enzo Domenicalli has been signed to partner Beyer, with Ledesma remaining as the team’s reserve driver, but unless a miracle can be worked and the team manage to turn a huge corner, can we expect nothing more than a repeat of 2021? Team Principal Shane O’Connell on Scuderia Meteor’s 2021 and thoughts on 2022: “2021 has easily been personally the worst year in motorsport, no doubt. We tried a radical design with the limited resources we had to try to get some early results in but it just didn’t work with the exception of Australia which ended up putting us ahead of Highwind. Heart-breaking, demoralising and hopeless are three words to summarise our season. The only hope is that the legal dispute is over quickly and smoothly so we can get on with looking to 2022.” Deputy Team Principal Guido Caliri: “Sometimes it feels the world wants you to lose. Antics away from the circuit have slowed us and it sounds like excuses but it is the reality. We hope for this dark time to soon be behind us.” Felix Beyer: “Honestly, I’m a little embarrassed to become the first driver to fail to qualify for every race this season, but the car just wouldn’t allow for it. I need to do some soul searching over the winter break.” Carson Davenport: “This season was easily the hardest of my long career. It was always going to be tough but even so the car was nowhere near where I’d expected it to be and promises were made that turned out to be empty time and time again. I’m content with the job that I did by comfortably beating my teammate over the year and honestly can’t wait to get started in my new role at FIRST.” North Star Racing Drivers: Johan Halvosen, Brock Kidd, Hector Draper (Reserve) Standings: 13th Wins: 0 Poles: 0 Podiums: 0 Points: 1 Best Finish: 10th 2021 was arguably North Star’s most disappointing season since entering the series in 2016. While 2016 was, inevitably, a tough debut season for the Scottish team, 2021 was so disappointing because of how much hope there was surrounding the team heading into pre-season. With the signing of former IndyVirtual and eVirtual Champion, Brock Kidd, joining the team to partner the highly rated Johan Halvosen, the general feeling around the paddock was that 2021 could be the year for North Star to really take that next step and challenge for wins. Unfortunately for Nick and the team, that turned out to be a long way from reality. It soon became apparent that North Star would be facing a battle to avoid the drop into Q1 in 2021 and, as early as April, Team Principal Nick Forrest revealed the team were suffering with extreme balance issues, caused by a multitude of problems with the aerodynamic philosophy of the car. The clear highlight of the season was Halvosen’s tenth place in Belgium. The Dane drove superbly – on the contra strategy – to defend from much faster cars and make his medium tyres work and secure the team’s first point of the season. A reason for the team to hold their heads high is the fact that, despite dropping into Q1 at the earliest possible time, they managed to avoid losing their 100% start record; qualifying with both cars in every session which says a lot about the professionalism of the team, even in difficult circumstances. Additionally, a very clear positive for North Star this season was the undoubtable talent of Brock Kidd. The American running Halvosen close over the course of the season; something we haven’t seen at North Star since the Dane joined the team. 2022 looks set to be a step in the right direction for the Perth based team, with high up team personnel suggesting that steps have been made to right the wrongs of the last year. With the partnership of Halvosen and Kidd looking to be as strong as anticipated, North Star will surely be in a much better position next season if they have indeed managed to overcome their massive performance issues. ROKiT Arrow Mechanics Drivers: Zander Brynildsen, Yakumi Takahashi, Rodolfo de la Fuente (Reserve)
Standings: 12th Wins: 0 Poles: 0 Podiums: 0 Points: 2 Best Finish: 10th (x2) Arrow endured a tough start to life in Formula Virtual in 2020, failing to qualify for exactly half of their entries, but 2021 saw a much-improved performance from the German team. Lewis Ellington – who drastically underperformed during his time at Arrow – was dropped and replaced by former Ingram Fledglings driver Zander Brynildsen. Meanwhile, Takahashi was retained following an impressive debut campaign. Despite the AR02 being evidently more competitive than its predecessor, the first half of the season was by no means trouble free; with five non-qualifications and four retirements. However, a great drive from Takahashi in Germany brought Arrow’s run without a point to an end – a well deserved reward for the Japanese driver and the whole team after a tough eighteen months. Misfortune was never far away, with the team suffering eight retirements over the course of the season, the most of any team on the grid. However, a further point in Italy proved enough to see Arrow finish ahead of Highwind, Scuderia Meteor, and – impressively – North Star. Arrow have quietly gone about their business this season and kept out of the headlines, for the most part. One particular off-track story of interest, though, is the news that Arrow will be entering into a partnership with K8ley Racing for 2022. The two teams have collaborated before in the V24 hours, but this is a new step for the two outfits and could prove to be just the thing Arrow need to elevate them up the grid. Takahashi has once again been retained by the team, for 2022, but his teammate is yet to be confirmed. Brynildsen and de la Fuente are both confirmed to be leaving, so the second seat remains a mystery for now. If Arrow have managed to secure a driver to challenge their Japanese starlet; surely 2022 will be a very exciting one for Ben Farrell and his team.
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