We are coming into the final stages of the season but who will we not see in F1 next year? Grosjean: He has improved this year but isn't maximising the results like his team mate. Di Resta: The last few races he has looked amateur and seems to have properly lost his cool. Missed his chance to move to a bigger team. Sutil: Hasn't really set the world alight with his performances. Gutierrez: Looked out of his depths at times. Vergne: has lost the shootout for the Red Bull seat. is it worth STR keeping him on? Bottas: was supposed to be the next big thing but has been very quiet and slow. Pic: did look good at the start but now losing to VDG Van der Garde: has come alive but has he done enough? Chilton: Can daddy pay for another year of lining the bottom of the grid?
Grosjean: Has been unlucky this year, has actual tallent to go with his Total monies Di Resta: Despite it all he's not actually that bad. Although FI is about as high as he can go Sutil: Not really going anywhere but then again not worth replacing (much like di Resta) Gutierrez: Up until a few races ago I would have gone with 'burn with fire'. Lets see how he finishes the season. Vergne: Tad unlucky but probably likely to face the boot Bottas: I expected more, but how good is Maldanado these days as a bench mark? tbc Pic: Kind of neither here nor there, Caterham probably can do better. Van der Garde: Shows glimmers but much like his team mate is struggling to match his sparkle with consistency. Chilton: He's getting better but is still not good enough All in all boot Chilton with a few others on the knife edge
RG, has the speed occasionally, has also been unlucky, but he's very inconsistant, and he's now had 2 full seasons should be doing better, has another season to prove himself Di Resta, his failure to make Q2 on numerous occasions says it all really, that and with his propensity for blaming his team another one with a season to prove himself, has had some good results but they were more down to the tyres and the teams strategies Sutil, was unlucky early on in the season, and maybe a little rusty, but is now out-performing Dire, unfortunatley due to the tyre changes he's not going to catch his team-mate. Gutierrez, he needs another season, has shown lately that maybe he does belong in F1 Vergne, has been very unlucky this season, deserved the RBR drive more than Ricciardo IMO. Bottas, everyone expected more, but is the car good enough? fantastic Q in Canada, and raced fairly well there, but that's been his highlight for the season, another season. Pic, needs to drive a decent car, has another season to try and earn it VDG, has had some decent races, and some woeful ones, he's getting on a bit for a rookie these days, but if he can keep on improving, and has deep pockets, he might get another go. Chilton, has shown flashes of mediocrity, but is normally woeful, really doesn't belong behind the wheel of formula ford, let alone an F1 car
Grosjean: Willing to give him 1 more full year in F1 to prove himself, has cut out 90% of the crashing needs to improve his consistency! (Keep) Di Resta: I think Paul has already peaked and he seems to struggle with the whole season, starts strong, finishes very weak. His attitude also stinks and will bring down the team with him and he will never do well in F1 with that amount of arrogance. (Drop) Sutil: Still outdoing Paul IMO even with a year out of F1, just been very unlucky with cars crashing into him or mechanical problems. But both drivers have failed to maximise the car against McLaren and should still be ahead of them. (Drop) Gutierrez: The wildcard, stupidly strong in the wet yet struggles for form in the dry against a guy like Hulk. hated him at the start, but he is showing signs of brilliance and is still only 22. (Keep) Vergne: Again another strong wet weather/street driver, just needs a bit of time to improve his qualifying. Reckon he would beat Ricciardo easily with equal time in an F1 car to Daniel (Keep) Bottas: Pretty hyped and has probably been the most quiet of the rookies IMO, needs time to develop more as it's clear he is quick as shown at Canada qualifying 3rd. Needs a whole season to get rid of the race rust. (Keep) Pic: Probably as quiet as Bottas and no real standout, tbh his younger brother drives better than him IMO. is also getting beat by VDG (Drop) Van der Garde: Erratic at start but as been said here he is starting to outperform Pic who gave Glock a good challenge in Marussia. Still amazed for 3rd in wet qualifying at Spa and getting into Q2 (Keep) Chilton: There's a reason why he is bottom of the pile and getting beaten by Bianchi *Though with a lot more miles in an actual F1 car*. (Drop)
Di Resta has outscored Sutil by a decent margin when most were expecting Sutil to blow him into the weeds. Bottas has failed to deliver on a regular basis and aside from Canada qualifying has been a dissapointment. Chilton has the drive thanks to daddy, but he has done a solid job with relatively few mistakes for a rookie, but Bianchi is clearly the more talented. Vergne has just looked average and RBR should put someone else into Torro Rosso, unless they think his experience will help them next year if paired with a new rookie. Pic & VDG is hard to guage as the car is not great. Both had their spells as the better driver but neither have really stood out consistently. But who would you replace the above with? 6 drivers from GP2 & Renualt 3.5? A lot of mumblings about the number of rookies at the start of the year by a lot of posters, so all you;d be doing is replacing rookies with rookies!
I would welcome new rookies, afterall we are moving old stock in the form of Webber and Massa. A rookie would also come in a time the rules change so the gap between them and the experienced may not be so wide
The sport needs new drivers, I was just referrig to a lot of people who bemoan the number of rookies and the dangers they allegedly possess from their inexperience. I also think that quite a few drivers mentioned probably deserve another year to show if they are worthy of an F1 drive
Grosjean: DROP (but may end up at a different team). Clearly has talent, particularly in qualifying, but his racecraft is still amateurish despite being in the sport for 3 years now. Di Resta: KEEP. Force India is probably his level and as has been mentioned he's outscored Sutil when everyone was expecting the opposite. Sutil: KEEP. Force India won't be able to attract someone better and he's not done anything wrong per se. Gutierrez: KEEP. Over the last few races he's started to show what he can do, albeit in a poor car. Vergne: DROP. Hasn't really improved since joining the sport, especially with his qualifying weakness. Bottas: UNDECIDED. Has managed to outqualify the very quick Maldonado on occasions and hasn't really had a chance to show what he can do in an admittedly poor car, but he's not lived up to his high expectations. Pic: KEEP unless Caterham can find a driver who will help them develop. Van der Garde: UNDECIDED - has some pace in him but really needs to learn about blue flags Chilton: KEEP - done better than expected, although that's not saying much, and could help Marussia out next season to have a stable development platform.
It also needs to get the deadwood out and new drivers to replace them. Without getting a top team drive, everyone is expected to bring in money now which is a sad state of affairs when you think how much money some teams gets from the commerical contracts of F1.
Grosjean: Has impressive moments but is inconsistent and accident-prone Di Resta: The same but with added attitude problem Sutil: Nothing to get excited about Gutiérrez: After a shaky start, now showing some spark and potential Vergne: Could do with a bit of luck but occasionally impressive Bottas: I've not been impressed so far, Canada quali aside Pic: Hasn't built on last year's potential Van der Garde: Better than expected Chilton: As expected, out of his depth. The only one I'd definitely boot is Chilton but Bottas is borderline and Pic and Sutil need to up their games.
Grosjean: Still looks very quick, and with Kimi going, Lotus need someone who knows the team. Wouldn't replace him with Valsecchi. di Resta: Doing slightly better than Sutil but still not great. Borderline. Sutil: Would rather see a young gun in that seat. Gutierrez: First season, and has picked up his game. Vergne: Unlucky to not even be considered seriously for RB seat, good measure for the "next big thing". Bottas: Not as good as many were expecting, but matched Maldonado often and only first season. Pic: I thought he was going to be better than this, and now being matched by rookie vdG. van der Garde: Actually not ****e. Chilton: Not great, but still young, and Marussia could probably use both his money and experience, if they plan on another rookie.
Grosjean: Good driver, suffers from terrible luck, whenever he drives well, something bad happens. Plenty talented though. - Keep Di Resta: We mock him, but he's a good enough driver for a midfield team like FI - Keep Sutil: Not driven well, but still a better bet than most of the young guns - Keep Gutierrez: Not an F1 driver, shouldn't be on the grid - Drop Vergne: The whole policy of Toro Rosso is to evaluate people for the RBR job, he lost, so - Drop Bottas: I'd give him another season, maybe the new car will be better - Keep Pic: Never understood why people like him. Very average, now getting beat by VDG - Drop Van der Garde: Was dreadful to start with, but has really upped his game, looks an OK driver - Keep Chilton: See Gutierrez Perez should be on this list.
Grosjean: Can't see Lotus wanting two unknown (to them) drivers next season, so think he'll be kept. As others have said, he's crashed less and had some poor luck. (Keep) Di Resta + Sutil: Keep one, drop one, not bothered which way around. Neither are exciting young talent looking to drive the team on, but neither are they both so appalling they need dropping. Keep one as a baseline, then either see what Massa can do in the other car or someone like Bianchi. Gutierrez: I say keep, although I haven't really seen that much of him. I wonder if sponsorship will force his hand though, with Sirotkin inbound, a Sirotkin-Gutierrez partnership (should Hulk move?), would be worrying, but equally Hulk isn't going to be cut loose if he doesn't get another drive. Wouldn't mind seeing him further down the grid though. (Keep) Vergne: To me he's the model "good but not good enough" driver for RB/TR to compare Sainz/Da Costa to. I'd keep him for a season as a benchmark, then if Sainz/Da Costa are equalling or bettering his performances, then ditch Vergne and bring the other in. (Keep) Bottas: Needs time I think. At least he's kept his nose reasonably clean. (Keep) Pic: I have an irrational liking of him, but doesn't appear to be showing the form that made Caterham poach him from Marrussia, so little point keeping him on for me, although I can't remember how old he is, which might save him. (Drop-ish) Van der Garde: His age goes against him for me, but he is slowly putting things together, so deserves another season. (Keep) Chilton: Bianchi is undoubtedly good, but if Chilton is driving acceptably, then Bianchi must be Clarke, Fangio and Vettel all rolled into one - and I'm not buying that just yet. (Drop). As to this bringing in yet more rookies, I'd still like to see seats for Kovalainen, Kobayashi and Massa, so that would decrease the number coming in. Unlikely though I accept.
Grosjean's had a good season. I think people forget he has a great team mate, who often has upgrades he doesn't, and whenever he's in front he's ordered to move over. Definitely shouldn't be dropped. His racecraft's improved loads too (Monaco aside), his overtake on Massa in Hungary is the best of the season so far. I know people hate Di Resta because he's an arsehole, but he's a good driver. Easily in the top 20 in the world and therefore deserves a place on the grid, Force India is about his level. Sutil has one year left at the most, seems to be declining to me. I think he'd be excellent for Caterham or Marussia, but I wouldn't be surprised if FI wanted someone younger in the car. Gutierrez has managed to show flashes despite being stuffed by his team mate every week. Possibly deserves the benefit of the doubt given his age, but probably doesn't deserve a drive next season. Vergne's good for a place in the midfield. He'd be a decent benchmark for Da Costa. Bottas hasn't been slow. He's outqualified Maldonado 7-6, and dragged that heap of **** Williams to 3rd on the grid. His starts seem to be terrible, but he doesn't cause any dramas which is why he largely goes unnoticed. Pic and Van Der Garde should both be dropped because neither of them know what a blue flag is despite racing for many years. Chilton's one of the all time great **** drivers.
