Ocon replaces Haryanto

[VladD]

BBC F1

[patmahe]

VladD said:

BBC F1

Feel sorry for Haryanto as he's done a good job this year, but money talks in F1 I guess. Will be interesting to see how Ocon gets on alongside Wehrlein, 2 very fancied drivers for top teams.

[Rude-boy]

This will be interesting as only the other day a couple of other posters and I were debating his merits.

Time to see if I have missed something. If he is matching/beating PW by the end of the year i may have to revise my opinion (good but not great). Best of all he will be in the same team as a rated driver...

[Jasandjules]

What was interesting to me is that Haryanto was not exactly being left for dead was he?!?! Be interesting to see what Ocon can do... But sad for Rio.

[Flooble]

Is it me or is the driver market becoming a lot more brutal these days? Lots of moves, drivers being dropped etc. I don't remember it being this varied in times of yore ... unless you go back to the 80s or before of course.

[PhillipM]

The insane cost of developing those power units has taken it's toll and most teams just cannot afford to choose skill or loyalty over sponsorship money until you get to the front runners.

[kambites]

Flooble said:

Is it me or is the driver market becoming a lot more brutal these days? Lots of moves, drivers being dropped etc. I don't remember it being this varied in times of yore ... unless you go back to the 80s or before of course.

I suppose it's a combination of many (most?) of the current drivers paying for their seats via private sponsors and the relative volatility of the markets recently. With the amount of money required to develop and maintain a competitive car these days, a mediocre driver who brings in tens of millions in sponsorship is better for a team's overall performance than a good driver who doesn't.

[Vocal Minority]

I felt a bit for Haryanto.

I remember a lot of people saying Wehrlein was a little disappointing for not showing him a cleaner pair of heels given their respective pedigrees - but no one seemed interested in entertaining the possibility that Haryanto just stepped up to the plate!

[Smollet]

Vocal Minority said:

I felt a bit for Haryanto.

I remember a lot of people saying Wehrlein was a little disappointing for not showing him a cleaner pair of heels given their respective pedigrees - but no one seemed interested in entertaining the possibility that Haryanto just stepped up to the plate!

I thought much the same. He was no slouch in GP2.

[Blayney]

Looking back and one driver (in my opinion) in the last 5 years has progressed from one of the "smaller" back marker teams...

Ricciardo drove for HRT in the beginning but Red Bull backing helped him out, thankfully!

Arguably Bottas was in a bottom 3 team and moved to a top 3 team... both teams were Williams!


So is it F1 career suicide to join Manor (caterham/lotus and HRT have long gone from that bottom 3 battle)? I wonder what will happen with Haas or Sauber in the future.

[rubystone]

Blayney said:

Looking back and one driver (in my opinion) in the last 5 years has progressed from one of the "smaller" back marker teams...

Ricciardo drove for HRT in the beginning but Red Bull backing helped him out, thankfully!

Arguably Bottas was in a bottom 3 team and moved to a top 3 team... both teams were Williams!


So is it F1 career suicide to join Manor (caterham/lotus and HRT have long gone from that bottom 3 battle)? I wonder what will happen with Haas or Sauber in the future.

I think Ricciardo was backed by the Red Bull Young Driver scheme before entering F1 and was placed by them at HRT, rather than being picked up by them after that.

I'm not sure Ocon has enough experience to jump into that car and match Wehrlein. His DTM performances have been patchy. The only good thing for him is that as he's not in the cut-throat environment of Red Bull, a mediocre performance need not mean he's out on his ear.

[SunsetZed]

Blayney said:

So is it F1 career suicide to join Manor (caterham/lotus and HRT have long gone from that bottom 3 battle)? I wonder what will happen with Haas or Sauber in the future.

I like to think it's more that these team's are picking driver's based on sponsorship more than talent that's caused this scenario (although that in itself is far from ideal).

I think that the other thing that may well have changed is the top teams signing up up and coming driver's earlier and not worrying about getting them a run out at one of the lower team's before giving them a shot in one of their cars. Possibly because simulators / other formula have progressed (and F1 has regressed in some ways, as Alonso says) so it's less of a challenge to move into an F1 car from say GP2 than it was from a Formula 3 car.

[AXlawrence]

Blayney said:

Looking back and one driver (in my opinion) in the last 5 years has progressed from one of the "smaller" back marker teams...

Ricciardo drove for HRT in the beginning but Red Bull backing helped him out, thankfully!

Arguably Bottas was in a bottom 3 team and moved to a top 3 team... both teams were Williams!


So is it F1 career suicide to join Manor (caterham/lotus and HRT have long gone from that bottom 3 battle)? I wonder what will happen with Haas or Sauber in the future.

With the exception of Ricciardo, Wehrlein and Bianchi, though, none of their drivers have been in F1 on merit. With the exception of Glock, Kovalainen and Trulli who were pretty much finished in F1 anyway.

Senna was the only driver who moved up the ladder after HRT. But could you ever see a top team picking up Chilton, Stevens, Merhi or Yamamoto? Robin Frijns was the only driver I can think of who was signed on merit, but that was only as a test/reserve.

Edited by AXlawrence on Saturday 13th August 11:16