[Jody Barton]

The trouble with F2 as it is now (previously there were two series, but they were the same), you need to come in and hit the ground running in your first season to impress. Those that have invariably go on to be top drivers, Hamilton, Alonso, Vettel, Rosberg, Schumacher, etc. etc. etc.

If you've had a season or two in F2 it shows you take time to get up to speed, and that's something you just can't afford in F1. Soooo... of the current crop in F2 it's going to be hard for the likes of King to ever make it. He's too long in the tooth in F2 terms and never shown enough, ditto De Vries, Ghiotto, Camara, Delatraz et el.

Latifi is an odd one to me. He's been there for a few years and always at the sharp end. His failures to "win" an F2 title are mostly down to bad luck out of his control (being hit, car breaking down), however there's also that feeling even with that taken into account he should never have found himself in those seasons fighting with rookies and often losing out to them by big margins.

I fear Aitken will go the same way as Latifi (sorry if that's disappointing you), but to me they're both Jolyon Palmer's in the making. Hard workers who can chip away at things and eventually get to a good approximation of where a driver "should" be, but not quick enough to make them a natural or adaptable driver, which is what you need in F1. For the record this is also why I didn't rate Gasly before he came into F1.

So what of the rookies this year? Well... they've got it tough. Firstly this is a very deeply experienced F2 field, and to be at that level right off of the bat is a big ask. Secondly I don't think many of them are ready. Schumacher has not been impressive and the hype around him needs to stop. The pressure on him to be like his father is unbearable and unfair. It's clear he's not that sort of driver, he's actually more like his uncle, he seems less ruthlessly methodical, and more emotionally driven.

Either way, I'd say right now only Latifi is ready for an F1 drive in my opinion, but that if he were to get one he'd not do much with it. The other rookie in F2 a lot of people rate is Mazepin, he was great in GP3 with a poor team like Ticktum was, punching above weight of their respective teams. Yet he's found F2 hard going, he's struggled with the tyres and reliability, but Mercedes have got him a seat at ART and he needs to do more with it.