STR Silly Season

STR Silly Season

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Crafty_

Original Poster:

13,248 posts

199 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
So with Max Verstappen confirmed at the team Tost has confirmed they have shortlisted four drivers for the second seat;

Jean Eric Vergne
Carlos Sainz Jr
Pierre Gasly
Alex Lynn

Looking at the results in the lower formulas you can see why Vergne might be shipped out. Of course, success in the lower formula may not be reflected in F1.

Who do you think is a shoe-in to get it and probably more importantly where to the other three go?
Lynn is likely to be GP3 champ, Sainz to be WSR champ (44 points ahead, 50 left), Gasly 3rd in WSR (11 off 2nd).



hdrflow

854 posts

137 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
Carlos Sainz Jr definitely. STR will look at the data and from your four he should be the best. Vergne is on his way out mainly because they like to have young drivers and then promote them. Makes sense to me.

The other three go nowhere frown or stay in their current formulas or just move sideways. I think it's great to see so much motorsport but there isn't that much choice of high profile top formulas that people like to engage with at all times, and for which drivers feel they can and should be targeting as the pinnacle of their careers. Japan beckons to people like Lotterer for example.

Of course the above is all speculative and not based on any facts hehe. And with enough money anyone can drive a Caterham but these kids don't really have it.

But I raise your silly season and how about Sainz Jr going to Ferrari with Vettel. Now that would be interesting. Or Williams dumping Massa and picking one of these kids effectively promoting Bottas to lead driver.

hdrflow

854 posts

137 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
I should also add that Vergne has a massive PR problem. How many times has he been interviewed compared to Ricciardo and now Kvyat? He's probably terribly fast but people don't perceive it that way.

It's something he needs to improve. He's not all about the racing at this level.


Crafty_

Original Poster:

13,248 posts

199 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
Its hard to really compare, but looking at results for all four (full seasons only)

JEV: 2010 Brit F3 - 1st. 2011 WSR 2nd. 2012 F1 he outscored Ricciardo despite 4 DNFs (one was his fault, Ricciardo had one DNF). 2013 he finished behind Ricciardo, 5 DNFs all non fault (Ricciardo had three).

Sainz: 2012 Euro F3 - 9th. 2012 Brit F3 - 6th. 2013 GP3 - 10th. 2014 WSR - currently 1st (44 points ahead, 50 remaining).

Gasly: 2014 WSR - 3rd.

Lynn: 2013 Euro F3 - 3rd. Macau GP 2012 - 3rd, 2013 - 1st. 2014 GP3 currently 1st 52 points ahead, 66 remaining.

Doesn't tell all the story, I'm not really up on F3/GP3 enough to say if they had good or crap cars, if they had good or bad luck etc.

Sainz dominated WSR this year (9 wins out of 16 races so far and only a single retirement (collision with Oliver Rowland). The rest of his results don't really stand out to me.

I think they will put Lynn in to WSR or maybe GP2, Gasly another year in WSR - Although promising I think you'd want to see a little more experience behind them. Maybe they'll get test driver seats ? I assume TD for RB is open as well as Toro Rosso.

So the choice is between JEV and Sainz then ?

hdrflow

854 posts

137 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
quotequote all
I think the choice is Sainz but they can surprise. I don't think they look at the results alone but they compare all technical related data like reaction times, braking distances and what have you. I'd love to see what kind of stuff they have on each drivers.

Besides, I was critical of their choice of Kvyat rather than Da Costa but they chose well ultimately. If I was JEV would also be considering next steps. The dream of moving to Red Bull is not happening.

anonymous-user

53 months

Saturday 11th October 2014
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I personally think it will be Sainz JR with Lynn stepping up to World Series.

Rare for Red Bull to put anyone in GP2, wonder if thats where Gasly will be next season?

Sad to see that Antonio Felix Da Costa will probably never get his chance at STR for all the world he looked to be a shoe in.

thegreenhell

15,115 posts

218 months

Sunday 12th October 2014
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The only thing that I can think might save JEV for one more year is that he has experience and would be a good benchmark for Verstappen. With a 17yo rookie in the team, and young Kvyat with only one year of experience moving up to the big team, if they plug in another young rookie then they are leaving themselves with very little experience amongst the four drivers. It's a big gamble to have two teenage rookies in one team.

rubystone

11,252 posts

258 months

Sunday 12th October 2014
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It's seems that despite Mitch Evans' links to Webber and Horner, he won't see the inside of an F1 car. Do we think Palmer will secure a berth with Caterham or Marussia for next year? I also wouldn't rule out his father emerging as the co-owner of an F1 team either. I believe there are two candidates for that - Caterham or Marussia, but let's see what happens there.

RYH64E

7,960 posts

243 months

Sunday 12th October 2014
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Red Bull seem to be doing well with young and cheap drivers, I wonder if other teams will reflect upon their current practice of paying huge salaries to established superstar drivers when there's plenty of up and coming youngsters ready to replace them? If Red Bull do well in 2015 with Ricciardo and Kvyat it will surely raise questions, especially when budgets are tight.

Crafty_

Original Poster:

13,248 posts

199 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all

hdrflow

854 posts

137 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
Interesting. Are they getting soft on the drivers? hehe. A lot of people agree that Vergne is pretty good, but a Red Bull opening for him is unlikely though.

Crafty_

Original Poster:

13,248 posts

199 months

Tuesday 14th October 2014
quotequote all
I was thinking a bit more about it, Ricciardo, Kvyat and Verge were offical test drivers, Vettel did his stint with BMW.
In other words RB have never just pushed a driver from a junior formula in to F1. So Sainz to test driver for a year, Vergne gets a reprieve.

Maybe!

Crafty_

Original Poster:

13,248 posts

199 months

Tuesday 21st October 2014
quotequote all
According to this: http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/carlos-sainz-jr-...

Cepsa (Spanish oil company) is set to halt sponsoring STR, this is seen as being bad for Sainz.

That could mean the team need a new sponsor..