F1: 2014 Season Driver Predictions

Howard Choularton submitted a new blog post:

F1: 2014 Season Driver Predictions

With all the shakeup in the past few weeks, it's becoming increasingly obvious that there's going to be some changes in the paddock next season. Well, here's some details on the current situation, and some (probably completely incorrect) predictions from us.

What do we actually know? Well, so far, three teams have contracted their two drivers for the 2014 season.

With Mark Webber departing to...
[URL='http://www.racedepartment.com/2013/09/formula-one-2014-season-driver-predictions/']Continue reading the Original Blog Post
 
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Frijns failed to impress? Well, 1st and 2nd place in only your second GP2 season, in a midfield team as Hilmer Motorsport. Not impressive? Frijns only heard every thursday before the race if he would race for the team or not.

Frijns was left by Sauber only because of Saubers financial problems, Monisha felt very sorry to do so, she explained it was pure for financial reasons. Meanwhile now that Robin Frijns is a free man, he is linked to Force India for next year. Dutchman Michiel Mol, who his one the three shareholders of Force India told the press he was enthousiastic to support Robin Frijns in his career. Just Sports management has found some investors and sponsors alreqady to back up Frijns financially and Force India already told the press they are looking for a line up out of talents, not out of paydrivers. The support of Mol, the wish of Force India to have big talents in the team, and the financial back up to at least bring some basic financial goods to the team, makes Frijns a real candidate for a Force India raceseat next year.

Robin Frijns has a very impressive CV, the best of all young drivers at the moment, even won more then Vettel before he entered F1. And Robin is just 21 years old. He is not just another good driver, he is that "once in a generation" sort of talent. Some even compare him with Aryton Senna in terms of talent en determination. Although Frijns does not appear to much in these Silly Season lists, he is on a lot of lists of F1 bosses, the F1 paddock is more then aware of this talent. Rumours tell Werner Heinz (Frijns manager) is talking to Williams, Force India and Torro Rosso.
 
ChamptecRacing, speaking of Sauber, what happened to Suzie Wolff? She would be an instant hit with the media and the fans (um, male mostly) and brings some cash? and influence via her husband. Also wasn't she very fast in mid-season testing and ran some decent overall seasons in DTM in a crappy team? I mean hell, look at what Danica did for IndyCar, love her or hate her.
 
ChamptecRacing, speaking of Sauber, what happened to Suzie Wolff? She would be an instant hit with the media and the fans (um, male mostly) and brings some cash? and influence via her husband. Also wasn't she very fast in mid-season testing and ran some decent overall seasons in DTM in a crappy team? I mean hell, look at what Danica did for IndyCar, love her or hate her.
Sorry....Sauber should be "Willliams"
 
@Robert Waddell

I believe she performed in the midfield during the Silverstone test. However, she didn't drive particularly well in DTM, usually finishing in the bottom half with a handful of exceptions over her six year DTM career - however her performance was on par with the performance of her teammates at Mucke. Susie's times were slower than Juncadella's at the test outing and she's also quite old for a rookie driver, at 30.

Now, there will always be the debate of 'Toto owns 16 percent of Williams, so his influence is what gave Susie the test' which I believe to be false. Certainly, having Toto Wolff as your husband is certainly not going to hinder her chances, and I do question his involvement in driver choices. Susie will be great for PR, which I think is another major reason for her being associated with Williams. There are plenty of drivers 'better' than Susie, which do not race in Formula 1, I seriously doubt that it's Susie's racing ability that is sought after, more her value as a person.

Don't take any of this the wrong way, she is a fantastic racer, performing in the top percentile of racers in the world, and she is fully qualified to race in F1. Given better circumstances (i.e., perhaps she has been discriminated against from joining other series earlier, giving her a head start in racing), she may well have silenced the critics. I wouldn't be surprised if teams gave preference to male drivers, as technically speaking they are generally physically more able than female drivers, however in this case I think Wolff is a victim of criticism she doesn't deserve.

Currently, I don't know whether she has the sponsors to support racing in F1. With her husband being who he is, and her high profile image, I think that it's perfectly plausible. However, at this moment in time, it seems there are drivers more suited to entering F1 at this time. The next few years will see older drivers, Button & Alonso for example, move aside, and it may simply be too late for Wolff to join the sport, which is unfortunate.

@ChamptecRacing

Clearly you are a fan of Robin Frijns, so I read your comment with a handful of salt. Frijns performed well at two GP2 races, which is clearly great. However, by my comment 'failed to impress', I'm hinting towards performing so well that he's propelled into the spotlight - and potentially snapped up by an F1 team. As you will be aware, Frijns has not performed well in every other GP2 outing excluding Spain. He has retired in a third of his races, and finished below 10th in another third.

The 22-year-old has been struggling with finances, and regardless of who his management is, he still requires strong sponsorship in order to enter Formula 1. The points you have raised are entirely based on conjecture, and you should understand that entering F1 is almost entirely down to finances, particularly with mid-low table teams. Robin carries no large sponsorship at all, compared to drivers (even bottom table ones) like Chilton with multi-billion dollar companies like Aon backing them.

If a strong enough sponsorship package can be built for Frijns, then it is likely he will land a seat with a team. However, as you are aware, Frijns will require extensive financial backing, which he does not have. Crowdfunding does simply not work for F1, no fan funded drivers have ever competed, and it is almost certain that they never will. Considering the super licence alone costs drivers upwards of £1,500,000 for the season, and the drivers are expected to bring huge amounts of money to the team. For example, Maldonado brings an expected £50,000,000 to Williams from his sponsors.

I wish Robin luck, and it will be fantastic to see him race in F1, however it is highly unlikely that he will in the coming season.
 
Good analysis, but it's also easy to forget the fact that F1 2014 will perhaps be a whole "new ball game" as every team will have to cope with the "new" V6-turbo engines. Will all teams (and their drivers) "adapt" their strategies accordingly, and -most importantly- in time (i.e., P1 in Melbourne, Australia)??
 
Good analysis, but it's also easy to forget the fact that F1 2014 will perhaps be a whole "new ball game" as every team will have to cope with the "new" V6-turbo engines. Will all teams (and their drivers) "adapt" their strategies accordingly, and -most importantly- in time (i.e., P1 in Melbourne, Australia)??
It will be very interesting to see the drastically altered season take place!
 

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