Why GP3 is bulging with talent in 2011

When a championship features 10 different winners in its first 10 races, it begs a question or two. Is it because there is such a lack of talent on the grid that the results are almost random, or is it because there is so much talent on show that it's hard for anyone to get a foothold at the top of the pile?

In the case of GP3 in 2011, it's unquestionably the latter.

This year's grid is the biggest single pool of talent sub-GP2. That's not to say other championships at this level don't have good drivers at the front, but it's the sheer number of exciting prospects on the GP3 grid that makes it so interesting.

It has the atmosphere of the F3 Euro Series in its 2003-2009 heyday, when you knew that you were watching stars of the future fighting it out each season, and there was never any question over the talent of the driver who came out on top. Now, that aura has transferred to GP3.

It's that growing intrigue that's behind Red Bull Formula 1 driver Mark Webber's huge interest in the series in which he co-owns a team. His MW Arden squad isn't the only one affiliated to a grand prix winner, but he is the only high-profile name making a regular visit to the paddock this year.

Yes, he has his own protégé racing in the series (more on him later), but Webber clearly has a genuine desire to be as involved as possible on grand prix weekends. When his team made a pre-race cock-up on the grid at the Nurburgring, potentially costing Mitch Evans a victory, Webber was straight down to the F1 support paddock after the race to find out for himself exactly what went on. And when the cars line up in the pitlane before a session, he's out the front of his Red Bull garage and leaning in his driver's cockpits with a few last-minute words of advice.

Mark Webber coaches his young drivers, including Lewis Williamson © LAT

The strength of the grid this year is proof that GP3's main selling point - its place on the Formula 1 support bill - carries a lot of weight. And as the series is still in its formative stages, it's given us a fascinating and potentially one-off mix of experience levels for this year.

The championship is currently being led by Valtteri Bottas and Alexander Sims, two drivers who made their GP3 debuts this year with two years of top-level F3 experience under their belts.

Giving chase are graduates from lower levels such as Formula Renault, and in the future it is more likely that the grid will be made up drivers with this level of experience. So the younger chargers such as Lewis Williamson and Mitch Evans have perhaps been a little unfortunate to join the ranks just as some impressive talent has made the sideways step from F3.

But the fact that so many drivers with less experience have taken the fight to the supposed veterans of this level is yet more proof of what a cracking mix this year's grid has thrown up. Just to illustrate that point, here's a quick overview of this year's current top six:

Looking at the front, it's remarkable to think that Bottas was 10th in the standings just two rounds before he took the lead of the championship. But since his ART team has got on top of the 2011-spec car (with reduced downforce and different tyres), he has been able to unleash the sort of performance that was clearly there in F3.

Alexander Sims has been a frontrunner from the beginning thanks to his win on the season-opening weekend in Turkey, but his campaign has been hit by plenty of misfortune and incident (not to mention various penalties) along the way. Again, he had showed what he was all about in F3, and that has carried over into this year.

Currently leading the chase is Nigel Melker, who bounced back from a disappointing rookie season in this category to win the first race of the year and lead the standings for the first two weekends. Since then he's mastered the art of salvaging points from difficult situations to keep himself closer to the front than his car should perhaps allow, which is a handy skill in itself.

Valtteri Bottas is beginning to come good © LAT

Two Britons are up next, in a field that has plenty of hot prospects from the UK. Last year's McLaren AUTOSPORT BRDC Award winner Lewis Williamson has shown plenty of speed and impressive racecraft in his rookie season, while James Calado is the next of the F3 converts showing well.

Calado has made a name for himself in recent races by charging from the back of the field. The circumstances for those heroic drives have given him plenty to be annoyed about, but he has turned them into positives by going from 27th to sixth at the Nurburgring, and 25th to third in Hungary. Read those numbers again, consider how strong the field is this year and how short the races are (just 30 minutes), and you realise just how impressive those drives have been.

Webber's protégé Evans led the championship earlier in the season. The teenage sensation turned 17 on the day he moved to the head of the points, but since then he has had some misfortune - such as not having all of his wheels fitted three minutes before the start when he was on pole at the Nurburgring.

While the Kiwi's racecraft has been impressive for the most part this year, his inexperience has shown on the odd occasion. His lap-one dive on Calado at Hungary was a move he will look back on and regret as more time passes, but it's that young feistiness that makes him yet another exciting prospect in this field.

Behind the current top six you have more thoroughly deserving race winners such as Adrian Quaife-Hobbs, Nico Muller and Rio Haryanto. And buried even further down the order there are winners from various other categories who could come to the fore over the next couple of years.

All of this proves one thing for certain: those doing the winning on this year's GP3 grid need to be taken notice of. Should that trend continue, don't be surprised in years to come if the majority of young drivers making it to F1 have GP3 success on their CVs.