Sergey Sirotkin \ Sauber getting desperate

Indy500

Indy500

Indy500

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Most of you following F1 in this forum will know that Sauber are running out of money. 17 year old Sergey Sirotkin has a lot of financial backing but precious few racing results, yet there is talk of him being given a race seat next year.

The discussion here illustrates that he is nowhere near ready for F1: http://oppositelock.jalopnik.com/just-how-terrible-is-likely-2014-sauber-driver-sergey-s-791618086

Sirotkin couldn't even keep up with Narain Karthikeyan in AutoGP (Dale Coyne Racing laughed at the idea of Narain driving an Indycar for them). As Ma Qing Hua has demonstrated recently with Caterham, this kind of signing is a realistic possibility. Esteban Gutiérrez who brought more Telmex money and won the GP3 championship in 2010, has scored no points so far. I can't see Sergey Sirotkin being anything other than a backmarker in an F1 car.
 
I can't see how he will drive without a super licence, which is only granted after coming in the top few positions in GP2/GP3.

I don't think he has won a race?
 
He is still very young, there may well be potential there and who knows he may well end up being a decent driver.

There is no way he is ready for F1, they should put him through the feeder series (which is kind of the point of them) and give him Friday test sessions if they are that keen for him to be in an F1 car... rushing him in to F1 will do much more harm than good.
 
I found this quite baffling when I read this yesterday, but it's becoming the sharp end of where the current money situation in F1 is going.

The days of the billionaires' son who wants to race in F1 is upon us.

If it wasn't robbing capable drivers of seats, it would be almost comical watching these wannabes get slaughtered by the rest of them.

To event tout this guy as racing in F1 next season when his racing record is marginally better than mine is quite laughable.
 
Duke said:
I can't see how he will drive without a super licence, which is only granted after coming in the top few positions in GP2/GP3.

I don't think he has won a race?
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Not in Formula Renault 3.5 no. He's on 34 points (1 podium), the championship leader is Stoffel Vandoorne who has scored 136 (4 wins and 2 podiums).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Formula_Renault_3.5_Series_season#Drivers.27_Championship

Robin Frijns who did a test for Sauber won that championship last year. By the way the super licence didn't prove an obstacle for Ma Qing Hua, I'm not sure he did the 300km of testing required.

Duke said:
That happened a while ago, cough *Diniz* (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pedro_Diniz).
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Yes, Diniz was there for Parmalat sponsorship. Scored points for Ligier, Sauber, and Arrows. Highly inconsistent though.
 
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Certainly at Forti he appeared to be rubbish, but at Sauber he was giving Alesi a very real run for his money (pun not intended).

Indeed, in 1999 in only finished outside of the points once in all of the races he finished (granted, he only finished 4 races(!), but Alesi completed more races and was still had a point less than Diniz).
 
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this_is_gav said:
Certainly at Forti he appeared to be rubbish, but at Sauber he was giving Alesi a very real run for his money (pun not intended).
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The '99 Sauber broke pretty often and was a dog to drive apparently. Alesi only scoring 2 points with it would back up my opinion.

Sirotkin might turn to be decent with a few more years racing experience, but his manager is already trying to get him a Friday practice drive. Without a full season in anything more powerful than an Italian F3 car. Diniz spent two years in the F3000 Forti team before entering F1. Not to mention in that era, one small mistake and you were out of the race. No anti-stall, far less aero gadgets, gravel traps everywhere, Monaco still had the barriers next the racing line...etc.
 
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Duke said:
I can't see how he will drive without a super licence, which is only granted after coming in the top few positions in GP2/GP3.

I don't think he has won a race?
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Ma QuickQuid proved that the Super License is pretty much meaningless now.

It's meat to be a way to ensure only top drivers get into F1 and keep driving standards high, but as you can now just write a big cheque and get one it makes the whole things pointless.
 
Formula 1 history is littered with drivers that completed a season or two before their funds ran out. This is nothing new and has always been a valuable source of income for the lower teams.
 
Its becoming more of an issue now as people are buying a seat and a Super License.

So the potential is there for teams to move from taking on competent drivers with money, to taking on anyone with money. I refer again to Ma Quing Hooha.
 
Skeeter said:
Its becoming more of an issue now as people are buying a seat and a Super License.

So the potential is there for teams to move from taking on competent drivers with money, to taking on anyone with money. I refer again to Ma Quing Hooha.
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Go check some of the sites that list F1 drivers, these sort of drivers come along at regular intervals. Most tend to get a seat, fail to ever qualify and promptly disappear never to be heard of again.
 
BF-Bert said:
Go check some of the sites that list F1 drivers, these sort of drivers come along at regular intervals. Most tend to get a seat, fail to ever qualify and promptly disappear never to be heard of again.
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Indeed, it's hardly something new, Ralph Firman springs to mind :D
 
Or there was that unknown driver that Sauber wanted a super license issued to after only taking part in 23 races, even Max Mosley asked if it was wise letting such an inexperienced driver race in F1.

Needless to say the super license was granted and Kimi still races.

Granted he had talent and didnt buy his seat but was still very inexperienced for F1.
 
At the end of the day though, motorsport isn't cheap, so even at junior levels, you need financial backing which is likely to come from substantially well off parents.
 
Nexus said:
At the end of the day though, motorsport isn't cheap, so even at junior levels, you need financial backing which is likely to come from substantially well off parents.
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There's a difference between Robin Frijns having the family business on his GP2 car (while being pretty damn talented: check his CV) and Sergey Sirotkin's father buying him an F1 seat at a midfield team when he is 17 with a modest racing record. Incidentally, why isn't Frijns in line for a race seat? He's infinitely more qualified than Sirotkin. Does Peter Sauber really think doing business with these dodgy Russian organisations is going to pay off in the long run?

Raikkonen dominated British Formula Renault, Italian Abarth doesn't compare to that. He was also 3 years older, not to mention the extensive testing Sauber put him through.

Ralph Firman was mediocre, yes - but even he had British Formula 3 champion (including winning Macau; Juan Pablo Montoya was part of the competition) and Formula Nippon champion on his racing CV before F1. Jordan had Fisichella in the other seat, anyway. Sauber is planning to run *two* pay drivers which is unprecedented in their history.
 
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Stories are out there that Sirotkin has signed to drive for Sauber in 2014. The chap hasn't even been in an F1 car yet...

Doesn't say if it's a race drive or reserve/test driver role.
 
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