Pay Driver Rant

So I've finally lost my temper with the whole pay driver boohoo interviews. It has taken a while for me to really lose my temper but now I feel like I want to scream my opinion at everyone whether they like F1 or not!

***DISCLAIMER : I mean no offence to people who agree with the fact that "pay drivers" are killing the sport, I also do not disrespect that view from drivers. This is just an alternative view on the subject!***


I have lost count of the amount of "I'm not in F1 because people have paid for their seat" or "F1 seats are auctioned off" tweets/articles/interviews I have seen recently. I understand that for some people this is a big issue, personally for me I think its a lot of hot air!

First of all I want to say that I know people bring sponsorship to a team, the bigger the sponsorship the more likely someone will get a seat. But this isn't just in F1. In GP2 Adam Carroll has problems running a full GP2 season because of lack of sponsorship, but when he has been in GP2 no matter what team he's driven for he has brought results. Or at least that was what was happening when I followed GP2.

It is unfair to a point, but the outrage like it is somehow new to F1, or in fact limited to F1, is annoying. Pay drivers have always existed. Period. They used to run the back marker cars (because amazingly back markers as bad as HRT/Marussia/Caterham also existed before them lot joined the grid as well!) and never got very far.

Does this make it fairer? Probably not, but to act like its somehow new and only effecting the "youth" of today is childish and silly.

So now the excuse if you don't get a F1 seat is that "I couldn't afford it." Well tough shit! Drivers worth their salt seem to be in F1. What did drivers like Felipe Massa, Jenson Button, Mark Webber and Fernando Alonso do to get the sponsors they needed? Or are we forgetting that when big name drivers change seats their sponsors suddenly appear on the side of their new car as well?

Some people are unlucky, I'll agree to that, I'm a big Adam Carroll fan and was always sad he didn't get further in motorsports. But in my opinion some of the "cases" being bandied about recently are pushing it.

So Jaime Alguersuari didn't get a F1 seat after his best year in F1. He made noises that he could be back in F1 for 2013, but he isn't coming back. Fair enough it was his best F1 season, he finished in the points in 7 races, not getting higher then 7th. His team mate was 11 points behind him. He still only came 14th. That might be pretty good but it isn't astounding, it isn't world threateningly wonderful. Its just pretty good.

STR then ditched both drivers for 2012. And if Jaime wants to compare his second (and a half) season to two rookies then fair enough. In 2011 he did a better job. They only just between the two of them got the same points Jaime did.

You want to know something more interesting? It took Jaime 10 races (ohh I'm a rookie, ohh I don't know these tracks) to score points. Vergne got points in his second outing. And you can come up with as many excuses as you like, it still happened. In fact after one and a half season of mediocre it wasn't like his best season made up for much. He was still a solid midfield, partially reliable driver. So what? How is that impressive?

Replace Jaime with a solid midfield, partially reliable driver with (because I can't be bothered to deal with big or accurate (as I don't know them anyway) amounts) £200 more. After two and a half season Jaime has made baby steps forward, take the money and cut your loses on the other one. Fair? No. But who said life was fair?

The team earnt a little more but lost not much in the long run.

And to be honest I don't even know if Vergne was a pay driver? Was he? I don't know.

The other thing that annoyed me about the Jaime thing is he was going on about being told he'd get a 2013 seat and being upset when he didn't get it. He put his career on stand by on, what sounds like, a gentlemans agreement. Well if you haven't got the contract then you haven't got the job Jaime. Don't put your life on standby for a maybe. Then again what I read might be total tosh as well! Just commenting on what I've read and its sourced as being from Jaimes mouth, not that I think it sounded too upsetting either, he seemed to be thinking a little more positively then others I'm just using him as an example really....

Bruno Senna (yes I'm off on one about his and his fans again!) is another driver who (here it comes)... his FANS always seem to think is hard done by because of lack of sponsors. Likewise Karun Chandhok. I don't hear anyone lamenting Lucas di Grassi who outperformed both in 2010 (wow feels like a million years ago!) but then like Vergne he isn't a "twitter" personality, or a media whore, or he doesn't have a famous surname (and I swore long ago I would never say that about Bruno) and bring "so much feels" to F1.

Personally I feel for any F1 driver who shows promise and gets shafted. But it happens.

We have 11 teams? 22 drivers? I could probably name at least double that amount who I think deserve a seat.

So how do we pick 22 drivers who deserve a F1 seat?

Rookies are still coming into the sport. Yes sometimes you'll scratch your head why they are there but the truly dire ones are kicked out as quick as they came.

Being a rookie is being a rookie, yes mistakes can be terrible and some of the drivers need to calm the hell down, but to say because they made a few mistakes in their rookie year they are useless is over the top. Especially if that driver wins a race. Yes I look at Maldo here.

Thing is will we ever agree on talent conversion? Hulkenberg was the next big thing outside of F1 but I think he's been overhyped and pretty lackluster within F1. Again Paul di Resta was the man that "DESERVED" a seat but I don't think he had a brilliant first season (good but not brilliant.) The last two rookies to be outstanding were Hamilton and Vettel and look were they are now! OK both had huge backing from teams as development drivers but they still converted their talent into F1 and are now champions. I personally don't think Hulk or di Resta have.

I think Lucas di Grassi had a wonderful rookie season and should be given a second chance like Senna did in a better team, but I don't know anyone else other then fellow fans (who were fans to begin with) that agree with that. His disappearance goes unnoticed.

I also think Perez, Maldo and Grosjean have what it takes to be the next Buttons/Webbers/Massas of the grid. And you need them! They've all proved (Jenson by doing it) they can win a championship, they win races and they break up the monotomy of the Alonso's/Hamiltons/Vettels.

(Quickly as I'm taking forever to right this I'd also add Rosberg to the Button.... group!)

Are we missing out on the next Alonso/Hamilton/Vettel (I don't mean to compare I just mean the drivers that'll take their places), personally I don't think so. Alonso was the only real threat to Schumi at the end of his Ferrari run, Hamilton was the only real threat to Alonso until Vettel came along. Kimi is a beast of his own, really belonging to the Hamilton/Alonso/Vettel group but sometimes making you wonder if he's more a Button/Webber/Massa man. I think when the time comes the next "big" driver will show up.

The thing is you can win all the races or championships you want, someone will come around sooner than later saying "actually you weren't as talented as so in so" so it doesn't matter if at the time its seen as a lose in talent (how anyone can say that I don't know.) If Jules Bianchi joins F1 this season and does poorly, slowly getting better and by the time Alonso/Raikkonen have retired and Hamilton/Vettel have reached their best becomes a champion no one is going to think of him any lower other than people who didn't like him to begin with.

I don't think pay drivers are destroying F1, from what I saw of last season it was one of the best in a long while. I'm really excited about the grid for 2013 and will actually probably take time watching the BBC output unlike this year (difficult as I work during most races and highlight packages after hearing the result and not being able to talk about it live with my friends had no interest for me, I followed it through results not the actual show, which might make me less of a fan but I was heartbroken as well.)

If you had 100 cars on the grid and 50 were pay drivers you'd still have 50 that were there on talent. You would still have people complain that the 50 pay drivers should be replaced by x, y and z who haven't proven a damn thing within F1 but for some reason should get a seat because they are friendly or they've spoken out against something you think is wrong.

As it is we have 22 cars. I think it probably is equal to serious pay drivers and talent. In fact I think this year has talent in abundance  I think people need to stop being so negative because their driver is out of a seat and try and base talent on results not just money.

*****


And away from the pay driver debate...

Personally I think F1 teams should run 4 cars not 2. Be a bit like MotoGP with their customer bikes (can't remember what the actual term is, is it customer teams?)

Ferrari = 2 seats (Alonso/Massa)
New updates, bigger team around them, championship push
Scuderia Racing = 2 seats (Perez/Bianchi)
Starts the season in the same car, don't get the updates until later, more about teaching F1 to youngsters

That makes 44 car grids, maybe the customer cars have to fight it out in quali and shorten the grid a bit, or maybe only add 1 more car... Its a thought.

My other thing is Monday testing.

If you don't have a race the week after (say Spain --two week gap-- Monaco) then that Monday (in Spain) after the F1 race have young drivers testing updates.

Yeah they might not be perfect ideas, they might not work, but its better to come up with ideas to help this supposed situation then just moan about things.