Can a touring car series, racing primarily in a single nation, be considered a pathway to Formula 1?
Generally, that's a fairly simple question to answer. If you take the UK as an example, then those who have raced in the British Formula 3 Championship over the past few years will have had their sights far more firmly set on F1 than recent British Touring Car champions Colin Turkington, Andrew Jordan and Gordon Shedden.
But when you get to Germany, the distinction between reigning DTM champion Marco Wittmann and 2014 F3 king Markus Pommer is a little less clear-cut.