Formula 1's best supporting acts of 2016
The Formula 1 undercard is littered with drivers with the ability to make it at the top of single-seater racing. We pick out the best performers from GP2 and GP3 this season
Both of Formula 1's on-site feeder series' title fights went to the final round, and both were won by highly-rated F1 junior drivers. But the 2016 GP2 and GP3 seasons were about more than just their champions.
Nineteen drivers won races across the two categories this season, highlighting the depth of talent that litters the F1 undercard.
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Marcus Simmons is the Deputy Editor of Autosport magazine. As a child he was a regular on the chalk banks of Thruxton – hence his unhealthy obsession with 1970s Formula 2 and F3 – before he became an MSA timekeeper at the age of 17. At 19, his reporting debut for Motoring News arguably overshadowed Maradona’s ‘Hand of God’ goal as the sporting moment of June 1986, and he joined the staff in 1990 after graduating from his degree course in Plymouth. A parallel Formula First career – which was as incident-packed as his childhood exploits in show-jumping and hunter trials – finished when he wrote off his car and put himself in hospital in 1991.
Marcus moved to Autosport in the summer of 1996. Since then he has had two stints as a freelancer and a brief spell as editor of Motor Sport magazine, during which the revered green cover was revived, before he rejoined Autosport in 2008. He lives in Teddington with his wife (who, gratifyingly, grew up within earshot of Castle Combe), daughter, stepson, dog, cat and guitars, and additionally has an adult daughter and stepson.
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