Watching the start of the British Grand Prix a month ago, my initial reaction to Kimi Raikkonen’s ridiculous first-lap accident was one of complete disbelief. However now, on reflection, that crash appears to have been symptomatic of a wider theme that I believe has begun to emerge in Formula 1.
Looking at 2014 in a general sense, Raikkonen has had an absolute shocker. Another noughties veteran, Jenson Button, to my mind hasn’t been a lot better. But at the same time, we’ve seen some stunning drives from F1’s new hot shots, with Daniel Ricciardo and Valterri Bottas (to name but a couple) being among the best drivers of the year so far.
In this sense, we’re seeing a shift in F1 this year – the veterans are slowly expiring and the next generation are arriving with a bang.
That’s not to say this theory applies to everyone. I don’t have it in for all the veterans, and I firmly believe Fernando Alonso remains the best driver in F1, as he has clearly been achieving over and above his car for at least five years now. In addition, Felipe Massa has had a strong season, held back only by some horrendous bad luck. In addition, being young doesn’t win you votes automatically either. Esteban Gutierrez continues to find new ways to disappoint, while Max Chilton has been limp at best, both hanging on to their places by the skin of their collective teeth.
However, as a general rule, the veterans have been in decline at exactly the same time the youngsters have taken the ascendancy.
Starting with the old guys and Raikkonen – until Hungary, he had a best result of 7th, and even now, he sits only 12th in the championship with a measly 27 points from 11 races. Driving a Ferrari. Its almost Ivan Capelli’s 1992 all over again. With a better car and a better driver. And therefore, no excuses. In contrast, Alonso, in the same car, has been in the points at every race, has scored two podiums and has 115 points for 4th in the championship. Not a race goes by where Alonso hasn’t got as high as a Ferrari could possibly get, however, Raikkonen hasn’t managed to extract the maximum even once.
Silverstone was just the icing on the cake – a dangerous and reckless stunt, ignorant to the track’s characteristics, with a complete disregard for his rivals, his team and plain old common sense. And somehow oblivious to the mayhem left in his wake. For me, the final straw is his attitude. It’s fine to be aloof and laid back when you’re winning because everyone thinks you’re pretty cool. But when you’re not winning, that attitude smacks of not caring enough, or not working hard enough, and for team personnel working around the clock to find a solution, it’s pretty de-motivating.
Button hasn’t had the massive lows Raikkonen has plunged, and granted, he’s had two or three good races. But unfortunately, when he doesn’t have a winning car, he’s usually lukewarm at best. If we removed the Brawn of 2009 in which he dominated the championship, we’d probably mention his name in the same breath as Patrese, Alesi, Irvine and Webber. This year has been classic lukewarm Button. He says he’s trying but it’s hard to tell. He’s not dominating inside his own team and young Kevin Magnussen almost has him beat.
For both these old boys, it’s time to move on and move over. Regular disappointment and lazy attitudes just won’t cut it anymore. Especially when their teams need the maximum from them every week in their battles for constructor’s championship prize-money. But the real clincher is the quality of talent in and around F1. With so much potential not getting a race seat, justifying the retention of people who have ‘been there, done that’ and no longer really care is difficult. Time for NASCAR or DTM. Or in Kimi’s case, ice-cream.
Speaking of potential, the talent on the rise right now is possibly better than at any other time over the last 20 years.
Ricciardo and Bottas are the prime examples. Ricciardo has come into a world- championship winning outfit and demolished his four-time world champion team-mate in both qualifying and the races by a significant margin. His ability to make the decisive moves at the last moment has also secured him two unlikely, but thoroughly deserved, victories. Bottas has also pulled one over his more experienced team-mate, and his recent run of three straight podiums is testament to his consistency, speed and ability to be best of the rest behind the Mercedes’ on a regular basis.
These two haven’t been the only standouts though. Kevin Magnussen is on the rise and rise, it’s still a mystery how or why Nico Hulkenberg isn’t at a top team competing for the title, Daniil Kvyat has hit the ground running with remarkable determination and maturity and Jules Bianchi has been near-faultless, out-performing his Marussia in an almost Alonso-esque manner.
And outside F1, the talent pool continues to grow. Robin Frijns has been knocking the door down for two to three years, Felipe Nasr could very well pinch the GP2 title at the last gasp and both Stoffel Vandoorne and Raffaele Marciello have shown glimpses of epic speed that totally justify their inclusion in the McLaren and Ferrari junior driver schemes.
Further away, but feasibly only one step from F1, Esteban Ocon has utterly destroyed the competition in F3 Europe, while at 16 and in his first year of car racing, Max Verstappen has produced 7 victories and a prodigious turn of speed the likes of which are only seen once a decade. Lotus and Red Bull haven’t missed a trick either, signing both to their respective junior programs.
With so much talent on the rise, and with so much stale mediocrity hanging around, it really begs the question – how long can the old guys hang on? And for how long can Ferrari or McLaren justify keeping them? It’s only a matter of time really. For me, that time is now. Time to promote Bianchi at Raikkonen’s expense and get the wheels of change moving…
