Mark Webber retiring from Formula 1 has left a few
interesting possibilities in the developing 2014 driver market. It’s not just
the Aussie leaving that will alter the look at the front of the grid, there are potential openings at Ferrari and Lotus to consider too.
Felipe Massa started well this season but a sequence of
incidents dating back to Monaco has cast doubt on his future once again.
Despite a couple of great drives to the podium, particularly at the
last race in Germany, Romain Grosjean’s future at Lotus has been in doubt all
year as he struggles to harness his speed with control and consistency.
If Grosjean can repeat his Germany performance his drive
should be fine as I think there’s certainly a race winner in there somewhere
and maybe even a potential world champion. The same with Massa who has the
speed but lacks the consistency he once had from 2008/09 pre-accident.
Lotus’ current star driver is Kimi Raikkonen and he is
known to be in talks with them and Red Bull. The rumours go with a transfer
from Enstone to Milton Keynes but nothing is confirmed.
But with possible seats open at three of the top teams
who are the drivers likely to step up? Most F1 drivers are potential race
winners but out of the drivers looking to move up the grid, here are the ones I
regard most likely to be contacted and also the ones most deserving of a chance;
Paul di Resta, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo, Jean-Eric Vergne, Jules
Bianchi and Valtteri Bottas
The Red Bull seat
Apart from Kimi, there are only two others who look to stand
a chance at getting the most coveted seat in the sport; Toro Rosso pair
Ricciardo and Vergne.
Both have been slightly hit and miss but they are
increasingly getting their acts together and becoming more impressive. In
Monaco and Canada Vergne produced outstanding qualifying and race performances
to grab two points finishes. Since then he’s
dropped back a bit while Ricciardo has qualified 5th and 6th
at Silverstone and the Nurburgring respectively.
They never seem to be shining at the same time, and it’s
this inconsistency that could let Kimi into the drive even if it does seem a
bit of a kick in the teeth for the Red Bull young driver program. If they don’t
get the drive they don’t seem to be under consideration by anyone else and Red
Bull have already shown their ruthlessness with this program when they ejected
the fast improving Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi from Toro Rosso at the
end of 2011.
If they don’t immediately have Sebastian Vettel levels of
talent, himself a former Red Bull jnr, then life gets tough. Whereas Vettel won
a race for Toro Rosso, no one else has come close to replicating that for Toro
Rosso. But whereas Vettel had a Toro Rosso designed by Red Bull in 2008, since
then they’ve been designing their own cars which has made it difficult for them
to reach those heights again.
Red Bull have the likes of Antonio Felix da Costa doing a
good job in Formula Renault 3.5 and Carlos Sainz Jnr struggling but improving
in GP3 to promote if they continue their upward curves. The consequences of
this could mean Vergne and Ricciardo might not just lose out on a promotion but
also lose their drives which would be a great disservice to them both.
Potential seats at
Lotus and Ferrari
Paul di Resta seems to fly under the radar a bit, but his
reputation and image have grown a lot this year. Not sure the image is always
brilliant mind you as he has launched a few tirades about his Force India team.
Criticism of your team is generally understood to be kept in-house.
However, his performances on track have shone brightly this
year. After being eclipsed by Nico Hulkenberg last year, di Resta looks to have
come back stronger and has made a number of fantastic charges through the field
after problems in qualifying. His drive in Bahrain too was worthy of a podium
that he just missed out on.
The tyre changes may leave Force India at a disadvantage from now on but
he’s already shown himself to be ready to challenge at the front with some
great on track battles with the likes of Lewis Hamilton. That being said, of the
three teams with potential openings the only one I could potentially see him
getting is a drive at Lotus and that could only be if Grosjean returns to
misfiring ways.
I say this because Hulkenberg’s future is important for the
driver market too. He left Force India to join Sauber this year, a move which
looks increasingly like a big mistake. Officially he made the move because he
saw Sauber getting podiums last year and they looked like they were moving up
the grid.
Unofficially they’re regarded as something of a Ferrari junior
team. Before Sergio Perez moved from Sauber to McLaren he was being looked at
strongly as a replacement for Felipe Massa. Massa himself was originally put
with Sauber before he moved to Ferrari.
Hulkenberg is highly regarded in the paddock and has a
higher profile than di Resta. Despite his lack of points this season, he has
dragged a number of decent point scoring results from a struggling car. It
should also be remembered that even though they were close, as team mates at
Force India Hulkenberg beat di Resta significantly in the final points.
So if Kimi leaves Lotus and Grosjean stays, I would say
Hulkenberg would be first in line to grab that drive whether rightly or
wrongly. Even if di Resta has improved, perception in Formula 1 is very
important and Hulkenberg is perceived to be one of the next big things.
However, di Resta could get the drive if Hulkenberg replaces
Massa. This is where Jules Bianchi comes into the story. Bianchi has been in
the Ferrari young driver program for some time and could have been racing for
Force India this season if the team had taken Ferrari engines for 2014.
Bianchi has been impressive this season driving for Marussia
in his rookie year. He’s annihilated his team mate Max Chilton so far and
despite the team falling back since the start of the season is still mixing it
with the Caterham’s.
Ferrari really rate Bianchi and as he would only be in his
second season in F1, he would probably be more accepting of a support role to
Fernando Alonso whereas Hulkenberg is ready to win, especially after a season
where he hasn’t even had a sniff of a podium.
Bottas
So there we have it, the complex world of the F1 driver
market, these five drivers are the ones most likely to make a move to one of
the bigger teams but I would like to mention Valtteri Bottas who will likely
still be with Williams next year to continue his development; he’s very highly
regarded there. Bottas is in his rookie year but despite a poor car is showing
well against his race winning team mate Pastor Maldonado.
His performance in
Canada where he qualified third and defended well against far superior cars has
marked the Finn out as a future winner. He hasn’t been mentioned for any of the
drives available but I’m sure he will be on the way up soon enough.
Here are some of the permutations regarding the potential
drives available.
Red Bull:
Vettel & Kimi/Ricciardo/Vergne
Lotus:
Kimi & Grosjean/Hulkenberg/di Resta; Grosjean &
Hulkenberg/di Resta; Hulkenberg & di Resta;
Ferrari:
Alonso & Massa/Bianchi/Hulkenberg
all photo's taken from autosport.com
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