Silly season 2013-14

[kals]

Pic is a good driver, it is just Caterham are not a good team (in 2013). Maldonado hasn't done enough to keep his place on the F1 grid, he wasted far too many opportunities in 2012 and 2013 he's been poor in a poor car. Bottas has kept him very honest this season. And Chilton isn't deserving, of anything.

I agree with you on McLaren, that would be a good line-up.

[phil1993]

Some of these drivers need to be given time, but equally it's a balancing act. Do Force India want a super rookie or do they want a dependable midfield driver? I think their 2013 line-up shows what they want. So for some of these youngsters, it's back of the grid or getting lucky with a top team.

I'm just worried that the likes of Magnussen, Da Costa, Vandoorne etc will miss out - this is a golden generation of youngsters a bit like the Button/Alonso/Raikkonen group 10 years ago. But if they can't get a shot, we'll be poorer 10 years down the line. The likes of Wickens and Frijns have already missed the boat.

[kals]

You don't get time and multiple chances in F1. That's the issue.

[mikhailv]

Van der garde is better than Pic. Maldanado didnt waste too many opportunities, he won a race and was solid all year even with mistakes. This year he is now combfortably better than Bottas; who has been rubbish this season

[phil1993]

Van der garde is better than Pic. Maldanado didnt waste too many opportunities, he won a race and was solid all year even with mistakes. This year he is now combfortably better than Bottas; who has been rubbish this season

Van der Garde has improved recently, but overall this season Pic edges him. The problem for Pic is that he hasn't had any 'wow' moments like Van der Garde had in Belgium & Monaco. He's also extremely intelligent so that could be a bonus next year.

Maldonado wasted so many opportunities last year. I think I worked out it was about 40/50 points worth. He had misfortune [Singapore] but he threw the car off the road so many times it went beyond a joke. I agree that in Barcelona he was sensational.

Bottas has also done exactly what's been expected of him. The only thing missing, sadly, is a point. I don't think he's made a mistake all year, his qualifying pace has been very good, his main weaknesses now are starts and tyre preservation, both of which will come with experience.

[kals]

I agree with you 100% Phil.

Van de Garde has impressed me this season. He came into F1 under the "pay driver" label, which isn't entirely fair as he's shown in the past / in junior formulas that he is a very capable driver. He's acquitted himself very respectfully at Caterham and against a very good driver.

Bottas has also done very well. I was doubtful at the start of the season but he's been the match of Maldonado more often than not.

[phil1993]

The latest rumours are that Saxo Bank is looking at entering Formula 1, while Felipe Nasr has reportedly signed as Williams's reserve driver.

[kals]

I rate Nasr, even though he's flattered to deceive since entering GP2. But then again, look at what Sam Bird has achieved by staying in this level of Formula for 4-5 years.

[mikhailv]

Glad Nasr has been signed as test driver, but I said at the start of the year I dont rate Bottas; and he hasn't been impressive at all. More often than not, Maldanado has been better over the year finishing ahead more often than not. Still sand by Pic aswell; dont rate, never have, and he hasn't been at all impressive or showed anything this year.

Maldanado didn't waste too many opportunities, racing incident in Valencia where I thought it was 50/50, Singapore and Belgium were crying shames, he was superb, Bahrain was a puncture but he was shocking in Monaco and India. So it weights itself out, hence not wasting too many opportunities.

[kals]

Pastor Maldonado in 2012...

Australia - threw away a solid 6th place on final lap (-8 points)
Malaysia - poor pace throughout (0 points)
China - good race (+4 points)
Bahrain - poor week but not his fault (0 points)
Spain - stunning win (+25 points)
Monaco - terrible weekend, incident with Perez in practice then first lap accident (0 points)
Canada - not great weekend (0 points)
Valencia - threw away podium with unnecessary incident (-15 points)
Britain - threw away 6th place by taking out Sergio Perez (-8 points)
Germany - very good race but suffered from external factors (0 points)
Hungary - penalised for incident with Di Resta (0 points)
Belgium - jump start then hit Marussia on restart (0 points)
Italy - decent performance but affected by Spa idiocy (0 points)
Singapore - mechanical retirement while running in top 6 (0 points)
Japan - good race (+4 points)
Korea - ok race, car wasn't great (0 points)
India - incident with Koba after starting in top 10 (-2 points)
Abu Dhabi - very good race (+10 points)
USA - good race (+2 points)
Brazil - crashed out at T3 very early in the race (0 points)

The races blighted by indiscretion are highlighted. By my calculation Pastor threw away 33 points, but that doesn't account for the weekend's where he was compromised due to other antics either from the previous race, pre-race or after the race begun (like Monza, Monaco and Spa for instance). Pastor scored points in only 5 (in blue) races yet lost points or was involved in indiscretions in 9 (bolded and underlined) of the 20 races.

So yes, Maldonado did waste a lot of opportunities in 2012.

[phil1993]

Yeah, I don't get how Spa is a crying shame when he jumped the start then stumbled into a Marussia.

[mikhailv]

I thought he was took out in the first corner melee with grosjean?

[mikhailv]

And Hungary was a ridiculous penalty/silverstone was a racing incident. Australia too was pushing to get points from a slow Alonso. Nothing hugely bad

[phil1993]

I thought he was took out in the first corner melee with grosjean?

He was tagged and spun, but as he was making his recovery he ran into Glock, lost his front wing and retired.

[kals]

And Hungary was a ridiculous penalty/silverstone was a racing incident. Australia too was pushing to get points from a slow Alonso. Nothing hugely bad

None of these things matter. The point is that he was involved in incidents and by being involved in incidents he cost himself and Williams points. That's it. The end.