Jolyon Palmer, another "Daddy's Boy" in F1. A good thing?

[alfie2244]

I was at, in fact one of my children was also racing in, Lewis Hamilton's very 1st kart race @ Buckmore Park, (and many more for a few years)not saying his dad didn't struggle but he did have a fair bit of help from a certain Martin Hines owner of Zip Karts, sole importer of the engines and many times world champ.

Absolutely no doubt Lewis had lots of talent but I can think of several other young drivers from that era that IMO may have been better given the same support.

Here's an interesting article I found, especially when you consider everything was supposed to be identical:

"He had John Button’s engines and they were so fast compared to everyone else’s"

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/articl...

[gl20]

LDN said:

gl20 said:

Rather than arguing that having a F1 Dad is no guarantee of success (I agree, it isn't), can we turn this round? If everyone n PH got the same level of support as, say, LH, how far would the best of us get? My hunch is someone on here would be good enough to make the grid. Maybe quite a few could.

By comparison, we've all had to kick a ball around at school, but, in a sport where people the world over have the opp to shine, has anyone on here made the grade?

It's a reality that money is a barrier to F1, but it kind of fascinates me that that there may be someone out there (or many people) who could blow away the whole grid but for the fact they can't afford to drive a regular car, let alone an F1 car.

A load of rubbish I'm afraid.. with all due respect.. there are some on here who might make the grid but money is just one small part of it.. there are thousands of children that simply don;t have the determination. Talent will only get you so far. Most drivers have made it due also to an unwavering obsession that few children display.

Otherwise why has no-one on here made it in professional football; as you say, no money needed to get into that... or many other sports. Money is only one ingredient. In motorsport; it is vital - but on its own; it's nothing.

Think you've misunderstood me. My point is that to succeed in any sport you need talent and determination, but for F1 money becomes a 3rd requirement and becomes an absolute blocker for probably 99.9% of the world's population. Ergo you'd likely only need a population the size of the PH community to find someone worthy of making the F1 grid (perhaps - no guarantee, obviously) assuming all of us were supplied the necessary funds. By comparison maybe 90% of the world's population have access to grassroots football. (so statistically the chances off someone off here going pro in football is remote as they're up against 4 billion rather than just the 10000s or so who have the funds to have a crack at motorsport).

[l354uge]

alfie2244 said:

I

Here's an interesting article I found, especially when you consider everything was supposed to be identical:

"He had John Button’s engines and they were so fast compared to everyone else’s"

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/formulaone/articl...

Niki is the test driver for a karting series im in and boy the man has some talent, he wasn't too happy with this article!

While Lewis went on to be f1 champ, Niki never had the backing to get into junior formula so stuck to karting. Probably could of been just as successful as Lewis.

[alfie2244]

The same could be said about JB who's father just so happened to be the person that supplied the "Rocket" engines that were "identical" to all the others and "as manufactured".

I remember it being hard to explain "money = success" to an 8 year old.

[coppice]

And remember Senna's greatest rival- Terry Fullerton. See also Dave Coyne. But I never buy the 'He beat him in FF1600/ karts/ F3 so he would have beaten him in F1'argument - shoulda woulda coulda etc. Doesn't follow automatically - as plenty of near invincible drivers in lower formulae wobble in upper echelons . We have mentioned some above- hello again Dave Walker and Jan Magnussen.....

[Smollet]

coppice said:

And remember Senna's greatest rival- Terry Fullerton. See also Dave Coyne. But I never buy the 'He beat him in FF1600/ karts/ F3 so he would have beaten him in F1'argument - shoulda woulda coulda etc. Doesn't follow automatically - as plenty of near invincible drivers in lower formulae wobble in upper echelons . We have mentioned some above- hello again Dave Walker and Jan Magnussen.....

..and of course the converse can be true. Damon Hill wasn't particularly outstanding in the lower formulae but did rather well in F1

[l354uge]

Giorgio Pantano, legendary in kart (one of the f1 drivers said he had a poster of him on his wall)

Pretty rubbish in a f1 car.

[coppice]

Toby - absolutely . Some will say Hill lucked in - he certainly had the right team but on his day he was sublimely quick in F1. And I think history would have been so much kinder to Damon if that crappy Arrows hadn't expired a couple of laps early. Cue somebody saying - "ah but that was tyres" , ignoring other advantages for the usual suspects like Senna whose McLarens were often light years better than the rest and ignoring the fact that the Yamaha engine produced all of 39bhp....

[groomi]

btcc123 said:

Its crazy that the F2 champion cannot drive in the series the next year but could understand it if the champion gets a guaranteed Drive in F1.

Perhaps the F1 Constructors Champion should have to run a 3rd car in the next season for the GP2 Champion. It could be excluded from constructors points to avoid an advantage and if the GP2 champion already has an F1 drive arranged elsewhere, then the runner up gets the spot.

Sticks an extra car on the grid (always welcome) and enables an exploration into how 3 car teams can work.

[DeltonaS]

alfie2244 said:

Here's an interesting article I found, especially when you consider everything was supposed to be identical:

"He had John Button’s engines and they were so fast compared to everyone else’s"

Change "John Button’s" for "Mercedes" and nothings changed