It's not rocket science to figure out that more and more teams in the series – even historic squads such as Williams F1 – have started going the pay-driver way due to the financial difficulties encountered in recent years, courtesy of the recent worldwide economic turmoil. Under the circumstances, winning an F1 feeder series, be it F2 of the GP2, doesn't mean a whole lot unless you benefit from a strong financial, or even political support.
Examples like Sakon Yamamoto, Karun Chandhok, Pastor Maldonado and even Vitaly Petrov speak for themselves. Soucek voiced his frustrations over this state of events in a recent interview with Spanish newspaper AS.
“As a driver you've always needed sponsors and support, but now I see a problem,” said Soucek. “In the current situation with reduced marketing and sponsorship in the world, there are other drivers that are backed politically or even by their countries.”
“It means the prices [for F1 seats] have gone above what is 'normal', and the teams desperately need the money. You win in F3, F2, you do a test with Williams, you drive in GP2, Superleague, but compared to others who are already in F1 you see they have no such achievements. In the end it's not important only to be good.”
Under the circumstances, Soucek admitted that he will not give up on his dream of making an F1 debut, but admitted other options must be considered in order to keep his career alive.
“I am negotiating with several teams, some to be the main driver and others to be the third driver. I will give everything to get to F1, but there are other options,” added the former Virgin Racing driver.
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