F1: Rising drivers and backmarkers

Luck marches with those who give their very best – H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

It’s not always true that luck favours the brave or luck favours those who give their best, especially if you look at the likes of Nico Hulkenberg.

Hulkenberg has shown his passion towards racing, and has given his best in every possible series on this planet. We can’t really compare the Hulk with Kimi, but it was really an unfortunate move from the Prancing Horses that has further stalled his career. Thankfully, age is on his side, but once you get stalled at a particular place, there is very little that will keep you going, considering the fact that Force India, in various disguises, has been the home to Adrian Sutil who was once tipped to be an Formula 1 Champion. Nothing seems to be going at this moment in terms of his career, and in all probabilities, Sutil might stay with Force India for yet another season.

Many critics have stated that Hulkenberg needs a stability in his career, and that Force India could have been an ideal place for him to be in 2013. But looking at Sutil’s career, it couldn’t be a wise choice. Hulkenberg sidestepped to Sauber and would have hoped for that 2012 form where the Swiss team had scored podiums on more than one occasion, but it wasn’t the case in 2013. Instead. he has strengthened his Ferrari connection, which could eventually help him on the long run.

It has to be said that the 2014 seat at Lotus could improve the career of Hulkenberg, but the amount of funding that Lotus needs to have in place for next season would depend on too many factors, including the stake sale to Infinity Racing, and also the supposed funding from Renault who are looking for more exposure on their Formula 1 project.

However, Sauber is all set to ride on the Russian sponsors, and if Sergey Sirotkin gains that super licence, Sauber could eventually gain their lost glory. If that has to be the case, Hulkenberg could gain that exposure that he was banking on from the Swiss team, and if at all a seat at Ferrari gets vacant in 2015 (talk about the Alonso to McLaren rumor), then Hulkenberg could be the first choice for the elevated job.

The men who have succeeded are men who have chosen one line and stuck to it – Andrew Carnegie

As we have seen in the case of Adrian Sutil, this quote isn’t applicable to Formula 1. Maybe Hulkenberg knows it, and thus gambles on trying different things until he eventually discovers the recipe of success. There’s a lot of factors that are involved in Formula 1 which segregates the real winners to others, and performance of the chassis is far more important along with the value of the team.

It’s quite obvious that we always look at the teams and drivers that are in the points, and we tend to notice other drivers when there is an exceptional performance difference between the two teammates or if the experienced driver is matched by his rookie teammate, like Charles Pic matching Timo Glock all through last season. Bottas and Bianchi are unfortunately handicapped by their machines, and their ability to make a difference is clearly limited. This gives a chance to their teammates to get the maximum performance from their cars, even if it takes a bit longer.

With all due respect to Maldonado and Chilton, we aren’t underestimating their abilities – after all, we are talking about a GP2 champion and the other coming from the family of racing geeks and his father being a multi millionaire. We have to say both Maldonado and Chilton have started to challenge their teammates’ pace more often than at the beginning of the season. The reasons for the spike in performance could be their personal form, which could have seen an improvement, or might be the maximum performance achieved from their chassis.

Either way, it would be impossible for these drivers to gain a reputation if the performances are the same from the teammates. This ultimately plays a role in the success of a driver, and ultimately one of the drivers should seek a new challenge to regain his reputation. Thus, sticking to a particular team for a prolonged period wouldn’t do justice to a person’s reputation, unless the team is above the midfield pack.

Ferrari is right about seeking a fresh challenge for Bianchi, as a seat higher up the grid could reflect his true potential. Bottas can only hope that the fresh changes to the Williams stable would lift the team’s prospects, which would eventually elevate his career to a new high.