Discussion
Formula One is back to the bad old days of renter drivers. Adrian Sutil been shown the door after a solid season at Farce India, to be replaced by Hulkenberg who was last year shown the door by Williams who needed a pay driver in Maldonado. Even Rubens would need to bring a budget to carry on racing. F1 has always been an expensive sport and even the likes of Ayrton Senna came to europe sat on a heavy wallet from Nacional Bank. Now however, we have Heidfeld replaced mid season by Bruno Senna! Interviewed yesterday he hinted that only money would secure his seat. Sadly talent is no longer at the top of most teams list. Maybe we will have a grid of arab drivers in a few years. One things for sure Bernie couldn`t care less.
Its never been any different though has it ?
For example: Schumachers first test in F1 with Jordan was paid for..
Damon Hill only got started thanks to a big loan from George Harrison..
The list is endless.
Yesterday the BBC interviewed Romain Grosjean who said that a driver needs talent and commercial skills as well, he's right on the money there.
Heidfeld got the boot due to poor performance, it was in his contract. Bruno seems to be doing a pretty good job for a rookie (experience of the HRT hardly counts), I think in 8 races he's out qualified Petrov 5 times ?
For example: Schumachers first test in F1 with Jordan was paid for..
Damon Hill only got started thanks to a big loan from George Harrison..
The list is endless.
Yesterday the BBC interviewed Romain Grosjean who said that a driver needs talent and commercial skills as well, he's right on the money there.
Heidfeld got the boot due to poor performance, it was in his contract. Bruno seems to be doing a pretty good job for a rookie (experience of the HRT hardly counts), I think in 8 races he's out qualified Petrov 5 times ?
Petrov seems to have mysterious lack of running and poor timing in qualifying. Makes you wonder what Renault are doing. Watching the on board feed from Bruno Senna you can see he has a long way to go. All drivers have some form of backing, lets face it we would all want to have had the same chances in life. Just as technological developments have taken results away from driving skill, so too has corporate backing made the driver choices too.
skwdenyer said:
Commercial skills only go so far; you usually need to be able to show some results in order to court / retain sponsors. None of these drivers are awful.
And a lot of that is down to the car; we haven't had enough wet races this year for any of the lower teams to really shine.There is a difference between a driver being hugely rich and racing as a 'playboy' like Deletraz and Lavaggi in the 90s, and the sort of driver that is smart enough to build his network of commercial contacts from a young age.
As one of the earlier posters wrote, Schumacher, Senna and Hill bought their way into F1.
Sutil clearly delivers value for Medion, Schumacher did for DkW and Tic Tac, Lauda did for Parmalat, Stewart did for Elf, Goodyear, Rolex and Ford.
Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel were working pretty much full time for their investors from a very young age.
I see lots of poorly prepared sponsorship proposals from talented drivers, most of which are like begging letters rather than commercial propositions. If you want to get to the top, look at how the professionals get there.
Its the same at National level. Plato has nurtured Silverline and Tesco Fuel and can therefore fund his racing. These drivers deliver value by being professional, commercially astute and talented. This is where the work of the MSA and organisations such as Racing Steps or the Autosport Young Driver of the Year are so important and valuable. No driver will get to the top of their sport without PR and commercial skills. Those that don't want to learn probably aren't dedicated and serious enough to deserve their place in the upper levels of the sport. Like fitness, commercial skills are something every driver must add to their range of skills in order to win.
As one of the earlier posters wrote, Schumacher, Senna and Hill bought their way into F1.
Sutil clearly delivers value for Medion, Schumacher did for DkW and Tic Tac, Lauda did for Parmalat, Stewart did for Elf, Goodyear, Rolex and Ford.
Alonso, Hamilton and Vettel were working pretty much full time for their investors from a very young age.
I see lots of poorly prepared sponsorship proposals from talented drivers, most of which are like begging letters rather than commercial propositions. If you want to get to the top, look at how the professionals get there.
Its the same at National level. Plato has nurtured Silverline and Tesco Fuel and can therefore fund his racing. These drivers deliver value by being professional, commercially astute and talented. This is where the work of the MSA and organisations such as Racing Steps or the Autosport Young Driver of the Year are so important and valuable. No driver will get to the top of their sport without PR and commercial skills. Those that don't want to learn probably aren't dedicated and serious enough to deserve their place in the upper levels of the sport. Like fitness, commercial skills are something every driver must add to their range of skills in order to win.
Grand Prix motor racing started for a way for amateurs with money to have fun and compete.
It has evolved into the global F1 beast it is today through the attraction of talent..
And Alot of money... F1 is all about money.
always been the same.. But the talent usually floats to the top.
It's incredibly hard to fund a lower season of formula racing... never mind even get close to F1.
It angers me when money gets a driver into a drive when they should not be there...
But it's the way it works.. love it or hate it.
Thankfully the natural talent of the top drivers is still bloody impressive.
It has evolved into the global F1 beast it is today through the attraction of talent..
And Alot of money... F1 is all about money.
always been the same.. But the talent usually floats to the top.
It's incredibly hard to fund a lower season of formula racing... never mind even get close to F1.
It angers me when money gets a driver into a drive when they should not be there...
But it's the way it works.. love it or hate it.
Thankfully the natural talent of the top drivers is still bloody impressive.
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