Final weekend’s fourth spherical of the season was Autopolis was purported to mark the long-awaited return of Crimson Bull junior Juri Vips to Tremendous Components after the Estonian was compelled to forego the opening three races of 2020 on account of COVID-19 journey restrictions.

Vips is known to have made the journey to Japan in early October, after the principles on new visa candidates have been loosened, simply previous to the Sugo race that he couldn’t attend as a result of 14-day quarantine rule. However on the Monday previous the race that ought to have heralded his return, Mugen revealed that Vips stand-in Ukyo Sasahara would see out the season.

Later that week, the rationale for that U-turn turned clear: Vips had been recalled to Europe to finish the required kilometres in a Components 1 automobile to get a superlicence and to be on standby for Crimson Bull within the clashing Turkish Grand Prix at Istanbul.

By then, Tremendous Components had misplaced one other headline attraction for Autopolis within the type of Sergio Sette Camara, who had been on Crimson Bull reserve duties earlier within the season.

Sergio Sette Camara, B-Max Racing

Sergio Sette Camara, B-Max RacingMasahide Kamio

Masahide Kamio

Sette Camara sat out the opening two rounds of the season earlier than stamping his authority on the sphere at Sugo by taking pole in his first-ever qualifying session within the collection. An error on chilly tyres after his pitstop within the race meant his weekend ended along with his B-Max automobile stuffed within the limitations, but it surely was nonetheless a formidable debut.

Sadly, we have been denied the prospect to see how the Brazilian might construct on that, as he elected to depart Japan forward of schedule to participate in a non-public Components E take a look at for the workforce that he’s now confirmed to be racing for in 2021, Dragon Racing. And it seems most unlikely he’ll be again for the remaining races at Suzuka and Fuji.

Meaning, maybe for the primary time since 2015, there are actually no drivers on the grid in Tremendous Components that could possibly be mentioned to have reasonable aspirations of occurring to race in F1 – probably drawing a near an period that started in 2016 with the arrival of Stoffel Vandoorne.

Story continues

It was virtually 5 years in the past to the day that then-McLaren protege Vandoorne made his first look in a Tremendous Components automobile, ushering in a stage of worldwide curiosity within the collection not seen for the reason that days of Ralf Schumacher and Pedro de la Rosa within the late ’90s.

Vandoorne was positioned in Tremendous Components in 2016 beneath the tutelage of McLaren’s then-engine companion Honda within the Dandelion Racing squad, as there was no alternative for him to graduate to F1 off the again of his dominant GP2 title win – what with Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button occupying the Woking squad’s two seats that yr.

Stoffel Vandoorne, Dandelion Racing

Stoffel Vandoorne, Dandelion RacingYasushi Ishihara

Yasushi Ishihara

The Belgian additional underlined his class with a pole and a pair of wins in his one and solely SF season, but additionally exhibiting that success in Japan – particularly in opposition to the likes of established stars like Andre Lotterer, Kazuki Nakajima and Hiroaki Ishiura – isn’t any assure of championship success even for a prodigious expertise ok to be in F1.

Vandoorne duly earned his promotion to McLaren in 2017, however the thought of F2 skills heading to Japan for his or her closing season earlier than graduating to the large leagues had taken maintain to the extent that Crimson Bull moved to position its protege Pierre Gasly in Tremendous Components.

It ought to be remembered that the deal to position Gasly at Honda squad Mugen in a pukka Crimson Bull-branded automobile that yr predated the power drinks big’s F1 alliance with the Japanese marque. And it was a tie-up that got here inside half some extent of yielding the title, Gasly’s bid solely thwarted by a hurricane that triggered the season finale at Suzuka to be cancelled.

Since then, the second Mugen seat has at all times been managed by Crimson Bull, with first Nirei Fukuzumi, then Dan Ticktum, Patricio O’Ward and eventually Vips all at numerous phases thought-about to be on the cusp of a future in F1. A second Crimson Bull-backed automobile was added for Lucas Auer final yr on the B-Max/Motopark operation, though the Austrian discovered the going more durable than he anticipated and was ultimately lured again to Europe by BMW.

Lucas Auer, B-Max Racing Workforce

Lucas Auer, B-Max Racing Workforce Masahide Kamio

Masahide Kamio

However with Vips now set to race in F2 subsequent season – probably in a Crimson Bull junior super-team alongside FIA F3 graduate Liam Lawson at Hitech – it raises the query of what type the Crimson Bull-Mugen association takes in future, or whether or not it even continues in any respect.

One insider instructed to Motorsport.com at Autopolis {that a} new association is being labored on that might contain Crimson Bull persevering with to again Mugen, however with the target of figuring out drivers to ship to Europe for additional coaching, quite than offering a pre-F1 house for people who have already excelled within the typical coaching formulae.

And maybe such a transfer would assist Tremendous Components discover a new, extra sustainable, spot on the ladder to F1 than the one it has ostensibly occupied in latest seasons.

Whereas partly influenced by the worldwide well being disaster, the 2020 marketing campaign has been notable for its relative paucity of overseas drivers. The Okayama spherical featured simply two non-Japanese drivers on the grid (Nick Cassidy and Sacha Fenestraz, each residents of Japan), an all-time low for the Components Nippon/Tremendous Components period that started in 1996.

Nick Cassidy, TOM’S

Nick Cassidy, TOM’SMasahide Kamio

Masahide Kamio

With COVID-19 diminishing alternatives for others to come back to Japan and take a look at, and no Vandoorne or Gasly-like determine within the collection offering would-be F1 drivers with inspiration to make the leap, that drought is more likely to proceed no less than within the short-term. And there are not any apparent candidates able to make the step up from Tremendous Components Lights, the place only one worldwide driver – Eire’s Lucca Allen – is at present plying his commerce.

Nonetheless, the well being disaster will ultimately cross, and the core parts that make Tremendous Components enticing to these drivers working out of choices in Europe stay: a automobile boasting virtually pre-2017 F1 automobile ranges of downforce, the prospect to check oneself in opposition to a high-quality area of skilled professionals and the promise of a paid profession at a time that European classes aren’t precisely overflowing with salaried drives.

In addition to the apparent chance of turning into a manufacturing unit driver in Japan – one thing Fenestraz achieved in lower than a yr since arriving within the nation – the likes of Cassidy (Components E) and final yr’s star rookie Alex Palou (IndyCar) have proven that success in Tremendous Components is usually a launch pad to high drives in different high classes worldwide exterior F1.

So long as junior single-seater budgets in Europe stay sky excessive, and manufacturing unit drives in additional ‘conventional’ F1 options just like the FIA World Endurance Championship or the DTM stay scarce, Tremendous Components is more likely to go on offering alternatives for these exterior Japan for a while but. However people who do are available future are more likely to be a lot additional away from the completed article than the likes of Vandoorne and Gasly have been.

Ukyo Sasahara, Workforce Mugen

Ukyo Sasahara, Workforce MugenMasahide Kamio

Masahide Kamio