Serious lack of skills on the current Formula 1 gridand it’s getting downright horrifying that there is no room for talented children Work their way up the so-called open wheel ladder to go. Lots of them graduate of the junior series being switched to IndyCar, sports car endurance racing, Formula E, or shipped to Japan to run in Super Formula. Don’t get me wrong, all of those series benefit from having world-class drivers on the track, but they deserve a chance to participate in F1 And incomprehensible because Sergio Pérez somehow deserved seventeen seasons of mediocrity.
Red Bull is the source of my greatest ire when it comes to how they treat junior drivers. Somehow, an entity running four cars on the grid doesn’t have enough space to risk its driver team. The energy drink company talks a lot about its junior driver development program, but no one has graduated to the majors since Yuki Tsunoda in 2021. The team quickly turned its back on young talent right away. when they had a difficult season, but would turn around and hire a Daniel Ricciardo past his prime after a season on the sidelines. It’s really crazy.
After eight Grand Prix events so far this year, nine drivers are full-time scored fewer points than Oliver Bearman, who replaced an unwell Carlos Sainz at half-time. While many of them were driving crappy cars that couldn’t have won with a world champion at the wheel, you’d think they’d accidentally scored points along the way.
I look at the current grid, with the average age in F1 being 30 years old, and I think about all the young guys who missed out on the chance to win an F1 title because the old guys wouldn’t give it up, and the club set of billionaires can’t see that they don’t have enough talent to ensure they stay around. Oliver Bearman, Liam Lawson, Felipe Drugovich, Theo Pourchaire, and maybe even Mick Schumacher are all going crazy because the old guys keep getting contract extensions. There’s no reason to hire the likes of Gasly, Ocon, Hulkenberg, Magnussen, Perez, Bottas or Ricciardo to replace them.
Give the kids a chance.
