When you get older, everybody else seems so young, especially policemen and bank managers. And racing drivers.
Talking to Tiff Needell on our podcast the other day, I was interested in his comments about getting into Formula One back in the old days. Not that many decades ago a young, thrusting driver would buzz around, chatting up team managers and, if he was lucky, he might get offered a race. In Tiff’s case he finally got an opportunity with Mo Nunn’s Ensign team based on his results in Formula Ford and Formula Three. This entailed turning up at the track on race weekend, learning the car and track in practice, then attempting to qualify for the race itself. There was no testing, no time in a simulator and – more often than not – no money. Imagine that.
These days young drivers have managers, or even management teams, and they are groomed in the skills of public relations and marketing. Some have already done hundreds of hours in a simulator before they get near the racing car itself. Most have money, and a lot of it. No point hoping for an F1 drive these days if you don’t have access to a great deal of money.
So where does all this leave a bunch of talented drivers waiting for the older ones to retire, or get fired for lack of results? So what happens is this. Managers and management teams roam the paddock, knocking on doors, huddling in meetings in smart motor homes and talking money. The big problem, it would appear, is a fundamental lack of opportunities.
With 12 teams entered for the FIA World Championship, there are 24 Grand Prix drivers in the world at any one time. This in itself clearly presents hurdles. Then there is the matter of experience. Teams running cars worth tens of millions of pounds like a bit of experience. They’re not so keen on a lad who goes extremely fast but crashes the car into solid objects. So, when one of the chosen 24 finally retires, or walks away, there is a gap in the ranks. The problem is, they hang on in there for as long as they can. Trulli, Barrichello, Massa and Michael Schumacher come to mind. Schumacher has decided that enough is enough, but when will Massa?
The point here is that when Tiff Needell and Co were ferreting around for a Grand Prix seat the costs and budgets were lower, there was less need for a talented young man to bring his own sponsorship. And the ‘turnover’ among drivers was higher, sadly because more were sidelined with injuries and more had not signed long-term multi-million dollar contracts. As a result, we now have some very talented drivers, all of them proven winners, waiting in the wings with the occasional outing on a Friday morning. Valtteri Bottas is a good example. This young Finn is very quick, has talent to spare, yet he spends a lot of his time watching Bruno Senna race the Williams. And we know that Senna has taken some much-needed sponsorship to the team. I have nothing against Senna, he’s a very competent racing driver, but I’d like to see Bottas in the car next year. Just as I’d like to see a young charger replace Massa in a Ferrari alongside Alonso when the 2013 season gets underway.
There is no easy solution. Grand Prix racing has always been the top of the tree and making your way up the branches has never been a simple matter.
Oh Rob, that’s such a fan’s plea! I know what you mean – I can hardly say my enjoyment of the season has been enhanced by watching Pedro de la Rosa … but were you Massa, would you give up your seat because fans wanted to check out a new talent?
Compared with Tiff’s day, F1 is impenetrable to everyone, not just drivers. It’s a travelling empire. Do journalists travel and party with drivers any more? Can Aussie and Kiwi mechanics roll up in the pits and be spannering on an F1 car that afternoon? And as for fan access ….
i recvd the news that MS was retiring with some pleasure it has to be said, and thankfully the previous reason a lot of younger drivers got their chances – i.e. through tragedy, hopefully doesn’t apply anymore, but yes, some of whom still cling on to their youth/ sorry drives, are really in need of saying au revoir
Bruno is a bit of a mystery to me, I thought he would blow Maldonado away and quite the opposite has happened and yes, a very personable guy but I would like to see Bottas there next year
That wonderful article on Watkins Glen, said it how it was but now? money and power has reared its rather distasteful head and we, the people have paid the price for this- with limited access and lack of truth etc- and that is a fan’s plea, mainly as i had forgotten Japan was on murdoch’s list not on the beeb’s. wonder just how many people actually watched qualifying last year vs this year, hope the sponsors get those figures.
the problem is that these dinosours, keep going because safety is too high. In the past, self preservation kept them honest, now they stay forever. And that does “not” make me happy.
Rob , The solution is, Team Owners spotting a talent and giving him a chance. Jordan needed cash; but, that’s what put Schummacher in at Spa. Peter Sauber spotted talent in Kimi and Massa. Sir Jackie found a dud in j Magnussen who proclaimed was going to be the next Senna! I can’t recall if Alonso brought money to get to Minnardi or Webber.
It requires massive balls by a Team Principle and perhaps a shorter or differently structured contract with a driver. Maybe the team principles never thought of it this way. Maybe it’s their stupid way of thinking? After race one with luca Badoer Ferrari should of tried any of the other young guns, the use to do it. Lauda . Villaneuve were snapped up this way!
I like Pedro Delarosa and his development feedback is needed; but that’s why McLaren used him as such.
The cost. Pushing the envelope will break some cars. If Team Principles are worried about that, that’s why they are stuck where they are.
Rob it was a privillige to see racing 1970-1985! Tyre war, engine wars, fuel wars qualifying tires! That was magic!
Team Principles stop your whining ! You created the arms race and now due the recession you feel you can’t sustain it. Is that my fault as a fan. Races in far away lands where their are empty seats, what horse shit!
Go back to metal wish bones. How about the wings you start the season with are the same version until the end of the season. DRS what a stupid gimmick, why not have Bernnie with a magic rev limiter button screwing up the races, remember his idea on water sprinklers on the track?
The top of the tree develops how it does – shouldn’t be meddled with.
The lower formulas need looking at. If a talented kid without big money backers could get into GP2 and did well he’d no doubt get noticed by the big teams for sure. Talent talks at the top end of the grid. No question.
The HRTs and Marrusias of F1 have always been there, and they’ve always been vessels for sponsor advertising and places where rich boys with daddy’s (or now country’s) money can buy seats. Ignore them, they’d still be taking pay drivers even if the feeders were a pure meritocracy.
Stop wasting our time, Rob. Would you prefer a bunch of joker teams that can toss in “promising” drivers race in and race out until something sticks?
Your comments all seem to imply that the driver really matters for success in F1, but the reality is that any driver is reliant on the car and team first, Schumacher is a prime example of this.
If you want to see a higher turnover and better accessibility for an F1 seat, then the formula has to change to be dependent on the driver, not the car. In the era of truckloads of engineers and DRS, Niki Lauda’s mythical monkey that he referred to years ago could do well in F1. In the 70s, a low budget team could make a huge impact with a good driver, now, it really doesn’t matter if an Ayrton Senna is sitting in an HRT or Caterham.
F1 is really resisting the idea of making F1 about drivers again, because this would mean that big budget teams would not rule the sport.