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.
 
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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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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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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Spunkey said:
Have you seen the talent pool in Auto GP? I'd rate someone with a clean driving license higher.
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Yes, a field that contains Francesco Dracone and 40+ year old gentleman drivers (Michele La Rosa) is a little suspect :p

Quaife-Hobbs did win a GP2 race this year, and Facu Regalia has been a surprise in GP3, but other than that none of the 2012 AutoGP drivers have done much in more competitive fields. Not that GP2 is experiencing a stand-out year for talent...
 
Skeeter said:
It's not, they need a sizeable amount of test KMs in an F1 car.

But just driving an F1 car shouldn't be enough, they should have to prove they are also a competent single seater racer at high level, not just that they can physically drive an F1 car.
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Sauber will probably give Sirotkin enough mileage in pre-season testing, but considering how much Gutierrez has struggled (a champion in GP3, Formula BMW and title challenger in GP2), I can't see this working out for them.
 
Seems the owner of the team he is currently racing for agrees with me:

http://www.autoweek.com/article/20130722/F1/130729975

Salaquarda compares Sirotkin with Daniel Ricciardo, the Australian who drove for ISR in 2011 before he made to the leap to Formula One with HRT at the age of 21.

"Daniel came from British F3 and was then in the World Series for two years," he said. "But Sergey has only driven in Formula Abarth -- a series I don't know -- and Auto GP and Italian F3, but in both those series he had little serious competition. As such, he was fast. But if anyone is expecting him to win here right now, it's simply too much to ask. Already in the Eurocup 2.0 there is a great deal of competition, same as the [European] F3 championship, but Sergey skipped both those steps. He should spend more time in the 3.5 litre class to gain more experience."
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Perhaps the rumours about Sauber not paying Hulkenberg his wages may be true...dumb decision if they do it, considering his 5th place is by far the team's best result in 2013.
 
Fledging teams on shoestring budgets isn't what we're talking about though. There aren't 30+ cars entering a race, pre-qualifying etc. Even Marussia is creeping up to the ~$80 million mark. With all the money sloshing around F1, and the high global viewership, we shouldn't really be seeing this proportion of pay drivers. The commercial departments of teams should be doing more to acquire sponsors,

Joe Saward said:
‘The…question that F1 never seems to ask itself is why sponsors do not want to be involved in F1, if it is clear that the sport is a very good way to deliver a message in the world’s developing markets. It is easier to say that these are difficult times, rather than perhaps have to face up to the reality that F1 could present a better image to the world.

There is not enough work done on improving F1 demographics to make the sport attractive to mass market consumer companies that one sees in other racing championships. The brands involved are often global but F1 is not chosen by the likes of McDonald’s, Burger King, Subway or M&Ms. Why are chains such as Office Depot, Target and Wal-Mart not using the sport? Or UPS, Black & Decker and other such products that one might expect to see with F1′s demographic?’
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Yes, today's pay drivers are on average better - by definition they would be considering that Maldonado spent 4 years in GP2 alone. Then again, the 2012 Williams was almost entirely wasted on sub-par driving were it not for Maldonado's win at Barcelona. Perez's podiums look like a fluke based on his performance post-McLaren signing. Bottas and Gutierrez have yet to score any points despite carrying GP3 titles on their CVs.

this_is_gav said:
While they're at it they should go faster too. :rolleyes:
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Aerodynamic development is expensive, which is why I'm talking about sponsorship here. The rules prohibit avenues like modifying the engine by any significant amount. That is why the Newey school of design is dominant. At least in past eras you could use other aspects of the car to compensate for poor cornering speed (Arrows-Supertec comes to mind).

Even the race-winning teams are in financial trouble: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/mo...otus-F1s-56m-loss-is-motorsports-biggest.html

Judging by this loss, Marussia has no significant income beyond Chilton: http://www.thetimes.co.uk/tto/sport/formulaone/article3884031.ece

I would assume (although they're unlisted) that Sauber's position is no better.
 
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