Honda F1 team boss Ross Brawn has repeated his claim that the marque's development driver, Mike Conway, ought to find his way into Formula One in the next couple of years - and refused to rule out a place for the Briton within the Brackley squad's line-up.
Conway, who currently races for Italian outfit Trident Racing in his second year in GP2, was added to Honda's young driver programme in February, along with GP2 rival Luca Filippi, and has had the chance to impress Brawn with his work at the wheel of the F1 car on several occasions this season.
“I think Mike can make it to
Formula One, he is a good driver and has been doing reasonably well this year in GP2," former
Ferrari technical director Brawn told the driver's local
Kent News media group, “He has been doing a great job for us in testing, and I have been very impressed with him. The difficulty, however, is that Formula One is such a high standard and very few drivers make it, [but] I hope he can get there.”
Honda is well aware of how easily drivers can lose an opportunity to make it in the top flight, with another of its protégés,
Anthony Davidson, currently out of work following the collapse of Honda-powered minnow
Super Aguri F1. Davidson - who, like Conway, made his way through the junior ranks of British motorsport before reaching the fringes of an F1 seat with Honda - was a regular in the development squad at Brackley before being helped into the SAF1 by
Honda, but has managed just one test outing with his former employer since his race seat disappeared in May.
Conway, meanwhile, continues to combine his rare outings in the F1 car with the pursuit of glory in GP2, in the hope that a successful season will bring him to the attention, not only of Honda's paymasters, but the Formula One world in general. A disappointing start to Saturday's race at
Silverstone left him outside the points, but the 24-year old survived Sunday's tricky conditions to come home in fourth place, just missing out on a return trip to the podium.
