[Izzy]

Is there a regulation that prevents a driver from going back to a lesser series? As a for instance, say that Alonso won 6 more championships and broke Shumacher's record. Is there any regulation to keep him from going to GP2 and trying to establish a win record there also? The question is could he, and not why would he want to, what for, etc.?

[UMATURLIN]

Well...theres driver pride

Yamamoto ran in GP2 this year after being in F1 last year, and in the 60's F1 drivers regularly competed in F2 races, so I don't think theres any preventative regulation for doing so.

[chodeasyday]

No regulation to prevent that, just a drivers' own wish not to "step down". It does happen though. As an example, Giorgio Pantano spent three years in GP2 before getting his chance in F1 with Jordan in 2004. He then had a couple of races in the IRL but has spent the last three years back in GP2.

In years gone by it was common for drivers to compete in numerous different series while they were in F1. For that reason the likes of F2 was a great proving ground for upcoming drivers because they were measuring themselves against the GP "stars" of the time, and so had the opportunity to impress F1 team owners. Also series such as CAN-AM, sports cars, the Indy500 and even touring cars were (IMHO) stronger for having a wide variety of drivers taking part.

I guess in the opinion of some the likes of Montoya and Villeneuve have taken a "step down" to NASCAR but I don't think those opinions bother them much

Of course the "demands" (contracts) of modern F1 prevent drivers taking part in anything other than demonstration runs now even if they wanted to

[CoiI8XIj]

Nope. There used to be a rule in the old Formula 2 that stated that "graded drivers" (those who'd scored a certain number of points at F1 level, IIRC), were ineligible for points in F2 championship events, although nothing stopped them actually competing, and a lot of them did, Rindt, Stewart, Hill, Brabham etc. Unfortunately Jim Clark as well...

The point being this doesn't happen any more - so there's probably no regulation in GP2 stating F1-proven drivers are ineligible. However if the likes of Alonso, Kimi etc. started frequently doing cameos in GP2 or what have you, I'm sure the powers that be would resurrect such a ruling.

[gastabegree]

Of course the "demands" (contracts) of modern F1 prevent drivers taking part in anything other than demonstration runs now even if they wanted to

Yes, like all other professional athletes, the contracts prevent them from endangering themselves by doing anything the team decides is too dangerous.

Too bad, because in years past, we were often treated to seeing top F1 drivers in Can-Am, USAC (IRL/ChampCars), LeMans, Tazman Series, F5000, and even NASCAR. I think the drivers became more balanced.

I remember Jim Clark in his Cortina going flat out in the BTCC against huge Ford Galaxies. But sadly, he had an encounter with a tree while driving an F2 car. I guess that's why teams protect their investment in drivers today.