GR Motorsports

GR Motorsports are a British FF1M team founded by George "Statto" Roke and have competed in FF1M since the 2008 season.

FF1M History[]

Early Days (2008-2012)[]

2008[]

Statto was part of a record 15 team roster in his first season, and he had recruited Italian veteran Giancarlo Fisichella and French novice Romain Grosjean to drive the GRM-BMW. Like their fellow debutants Autodynamics, they joined FF1M in the middle of a fierce technological dogfight, and as the result of an undeveloped car, they failed to qualify for any of the 17 races.

2009[]

Nevertheless, GRM were still part of the FF1M in 2009, where they had switched to Renault engines and recruited Sebastien Bourdais and Rubens Barrichello. In a season that featured three different tyre compounds to choose from, GRM favoured the super-soft tyres from Monaco onwards, a compound that was quick in qualifying, but faded very quickly in the races. This helped Barrichello qualify on the front row in Monaco and race well to finish 3rd, GRM's first ever podium finish. The super-soft tyres then helped Barrichello take the team's first ever pole position at Silverstone, although he would suffer an electrical failure during the race whilst running 2nd. Two more pole positions followed at Hockenheim and the Hungaroring, although points were harder to come by due to unreliability. A switch to mediums for Monza proved disastrous as GRM failed to qualify, so it was back to super-softs for the rest of the season. The team eventually finished a hard-earned 10th in the constructors championship.

2010[]

Barrichello remained with the team for 2010, but this time, he was joined by Ferrari engines and Gary Paffett, who last raced in 2006 with Jamie Mason's Venture team. It was a brave decision by the Brit after being spooked out of competitive racing after a collision with Jarno Trulli led to a multiple somersault into the barriers at the Hungaroring. Although GRM had one of the more reliable cars on the grid, their lack of pace in the races was an issue. They could only manage a handful of points finishes including a 4th place for Barrichello in front of his home crowd, but GRM finished last in the constructors championship having been the only team not to score a podium finish all season.

2011[]

GRM opted for an all-Brazilian line-up for 2011, with Barrichello being joined by Lucas Di Grassi, who had been Gui Racing's test driver from the previous season. The Ferrari engine wasn't competitive in 2010, and little improvement had been made as Di Grassi was the only driver who failed to score a single point all season. Barrichello managed nine, and this was enough for GRM to avoid finishing last for the second season in a row.

2012[]

Disappointed with the lack of performance produced by the Ferrari engine, GRM switched back to Renault for 2012. They also brought in former Mitchell race winner Sebastien Buemi and rookie Jean Eric Vergne. The engine switch appeared to be unfortunately ill-timed as there was no works support for Renault, engine performances were reset, and Ferrari suddenly became competitive again. The season was therefore a bit of a write-off as Buemi and Vergne could only manage five points between them. They didn't exactly get along well either as they collided at Silverstone, costing them a possible double points finish.

The Bottas Breakthrough (2013-Present)[]

2013[]

Everything had changed for 2013 as Renault were replaced by customer Mercedes engines, and the two quarrelling drivers were replaced by FF2M rivals Valtteri Bottas and Paul Di Resta. Mercedes had been competitive during 2012, but unfortunately, they had been outdeveloped and once again, GRM found themselves without a powerful engine. This showed up during the races where they struggled to score points, but then a miracle happened at the Hungaroring. On a wet day that saw many drivers lose their heads on a circuit that resembled an oily ice rink, Bottas steadily made his way up the order from 11th on the grid and found himself 2nd with 15 laps to go, but this amazingly became the lead when Kimi Raikkonen suffered a puncture with just eight laps to go. Despite a couple of off track moments on the sodden circuit, Bottas sensationally took his and GRM's first ever win, but the lack of points scores meant that 9th place was all the team could manage in the constructors championship. As for Di Resta, he earned the coveted Bandit of the Year award after contact with Jenson Button at Singapore left his car in a completely perpendicular position for a moment before self-righting.

2014[]

Bottas remained with GRM for 2014 and was joined by customer Mugen engines and Spanish novice Carlos Sainz, who had been solid but unspectacular in FF2M during 2013. From the first race meeting, the car was much more competitive than in previous seasons with Bottas qualifying 6th and racing well to finish 3rd. Another podium at Estoril followed before battling with Jenson Button for the win in Canada. On fresher tyres, he had been catching the FJR driver throughout the final stint and started the final lap within striking distance, although FJR had a small straight-line speed advantage. Luckily for Bottas, he needn't have worried as Button suffered a heartbreaking gearbox failure going into the tight hairpin, gifting a no-less deserved win for Bottas. The general consensus was that Bottas outperformed his car as Sainz had just a single points finish courtesy of 4th in Canada, although the Spaniard was very unlucky to be caught up in the aftermath of Alonso and Di Resta's collision at Hockenheim. GRM and Bottas finished a career best 6th in the constructors championship.

2015[]

Stability was the aim for GRM in 2015 with Statto maintaining Bottas and Sainz alongside customer Mugen engines. The only change was another new livery as Panasonic and Petronas swapped allegiances between Andrew Racing and GRM. Early races indicated that qualifying was an achilles heel as a poor ERS system masked what was a very quick car in race trim thanks to a naturally power engine. Sainz used this to set his first career fastest lap at Interlagos, although this was aided by a late unscheduled pitstop, while Bottas went from 11th on the grid at Mugello to finish 2nd. He could've gone one better at Estoril; he went from 4th on the grid to take the lead at the start of the race with a brave move at the first corner and led for most of the race before inexplicably crashing out. Some form of redemption was on hand at Road America where both Bottas and Sainz finished on the podium, despite the Finn being forced into a less than ideal three stop strategy.

Both drivers continued to have their high moments throughout the season despite the engine's lack of boost in qualifying. Sainz put in a great drive at Silverstone to go from last to 6th, while both featured strongly at the Hungaroring until their medium tyres went off causing mistakes. Although the third quarter was the team's roughest patch of the season, Bottas bounced back in style with two wins in a row. Although he had inherited the win from a hugely unlucky Sebastian Vettel at Spa, he fully deserved his dominant win at Monza, and he had a chance of finishing runner up in the championship. Despite another strong showing at the final round, Vettel regaining his form meant that Bottas had to settle for 4th in the drivers championship, while Gojira jumped GRM in the constructors championship thanks to Robert Kubica's win. Nevertheless, GRM improved on last season's effort by two places.

2016[]

Both drivers were retained for the 2016 season but GRM's powerful and reliable customer Mugen engines had been replaced by Megatron, which had contributed to Shake 'n' Bake being the least reliable car during the previous season. Pre-season testing started off badly for the team with Bottas suffering a mechanical problem on his first lap out of the pits. From then, reliability improved but the car was lacking overall pace. The only points score in the first eight race came at Interlagos where Sainz finished 7th in what would turn out to be his only points score of the season.

A minor breakthrough for the team came at the Red Bull Ring where Bottas qualified an excellent 5th and challenged Magnussen for the podium, but just missing out by two tenths of a second, but it was back to reality for the next two races, with Bottas' suspension failing at GRM's 150th race at the Hungaroring. A handful of points finished followed with Bottas taking a hard-earned 3rd at Suzuka after putting a one-stop strategy to good use and benefitting from Vaino Kimminen's late error. The Finn fought similarly hard for 8th at Macau, but it had been a tough season for GRM as ended up 9th in the teams championship

2017[]

For the first time since 2014, GRM opted to modify their driver line-up for 2017 as they signed Sergio Perez to partner Valtteri Bottas in what was a solid driver pairing. They remained as Megatron customers and were hoping for better performance from the Shake 'n' Bake-run powerplant.

Classic Format[]

1988[]

Statto has also competed in the Classic FF1M series under the GRM name. Their first and so far only season was in 1988, where they recruited Mauricio Gugelmin and Luis Perez Sala to drive the Larrouse-Ford chassis and engine combination. Although it proved to be a difficult season, they managed to comfortably beat Autodynamics to 10th.

Results and Statistics[]

**Canon Results (1950-Present)**
Year	Engine	Ch. Pos.	Races	Points	Wins	Drivers	Ch. Pos.	Races	Points	Wins
1988 (C3)	Larrouse-Ford	10th	16	6		Mauricio Gugelmin	15th	16	5
1988 (C3)	Larrouse-Ford	10th	16	6		Luis Perez Sala	19th	16	1
2008	BMW	14th	0/17	0		Giancarlo Fisichella	31st	0	0
2008	BMW	14th	0/17	0		Romain Grosjean	28th	0	0
2009	Renault V8	10th	17/18	24		Sebastien Bourdais	14th	17	13
2009	Renault V8	10th	17/18	24		Rubens Barrichello	17th	17	11
2010	Ferrari	11th	18	16		Gary Paffett	22nd	18	4
2010	Ferrari	11th	18	16		Rubens Barrichello	19th	18	12
2011	Ferrari	10th	17	9		Rubens Barrichello	16th	17	9
2011	Ferrari	10th	17	9		Lucas Di Grassi	22nd	17	0
2012	Renault (C)	11th	17	5		Sebastien Buemi	22nd	17	1
2012	Renault (C)	11th	17	5		Jean-Eric Vergne	20th	17	4
2013	Mercedes (C)	9th	18	17	1	Valtteri Bottas	12th	18	16	1
2013	Mercedes (C)	9th	18	17	1	Paul Di Resta	19th	18	1
2014	Mugen (C)	6th	18	57	1	Valtteri Bottas	6th	18	52	1
2014	Mugen (C)	6th	18	57	1	Carlos Sainz	21st	18	5
2015	Mugen (C)	4th	18	82	2	Valtteri Bottas	4th	18	65	2
2015	Mugen (C)	4th	18	82	2	Carlos Sainz	14th	18	17
2016	Megatron (C)	9th	19	19		Valtteri Bottas	14th	19	17
2016	Megatron (C)	9th	19	19		Carlos Sainz	22nd	19	2
2017	Megatron (C)					Valtteri Bottas
2017	Megatron (C)					Sergio Pérez

FF2M[]

Main article: GR Junior Motorsports

AFIA Indycar Series[]

Main article: GR Motorsports (Indycar)