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Who should Sauber pick? - Printable Version

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Who should Sauber pick? - Jody Barton - 25-11-2017

With Williams seemingly settling on Kubica for their second seat, that seemingly (barring any sudden retirements) leaves only the Sauber seats left. So, if you were Sauber which two drivers would you stick in your cars and why. I give some of the ins and outs of the options below:

Ericsson - pro: his daddy knows the owners / major financial backers very well, very, very well. Cons: he’s utter garbage. In a car that is 3 to 4 development steps ahead of his team mate he is regularly out raced and out qualified.

Weherlein - pro: he’s a very talented young driver, who apparently knows a lot about the technical side of the sport, also comes with a very large bag of cash from Mercedes. Cons: comes with a very large bag of cash from Mercedes, Ferrari won’t like that.

Leclerc - pro: arguably the most exciting young driver we’ve seen for a very long time (yes including Verstappen) he comes with a record that’s damn impressive and some drives under his belt that mark him out as something very special. Plus comes with a bigger bag of Ferrari cash.

Giovinazzi - pro: he too is talented, in many respects over a single lap probably more talented than his fellow Ferrari Young Driver Stablemate Leclerc. He too comes with a big bag of red cash, and potentially an Alfa Romeo link up that could genuinely propel the team much further up the grid. Cons: with his speed also comes errors, throughout junior formula his wish to push hard led him to being error prone, as was displayed in China.

Kvyat - pro: he’s a quick driver, with lots of Kremlin cash and experience, more likely to be able to help develop the car. Cons: he’s a torpedo.
PS the poll allows you to pick two drivers, let me know why you choose who you have, also if there’s a driver i’ve Missed off.

RE: Who should Sauber pick? - Antilochos - 25-11-2017

I chose Leclerc. He is fast and has a bright future, but more reason that he could be ending up with Sauber now, is the Ferrari link.

RE: Who should Sauber pick? - ReneSpeksnijder - 27-11-2017

I've picked the odd one out: Kvyat. If he can recover from the blow RBR dealt him he is a good driver, with a lot of experience as well.

RE: Who should Sauber pick? - BrendanSylvester - 29-11-2017

Well, since Sauber needs two drivers, I think Charles Leclerc is a shoe in for one seat. The big question was who would get the other one, but with Marcus Ericsson in the Abu Dhabi tyre tests, I think it is will be him.

I'd like to see Frederic Vasseur have the guts to stand up to the team owners and hire a great driver in the second seat. After all, Monisha Kaltenborn, for all her faults, stood up to the current owners over what it was she believed in. Was it Honda engines? Not favouring Ericsson? I'm not sure...

I'd like to see Giovinazzi get his chance in F1 - I think he has shown he has pace, even if he needs to be a bit more even tempered. I think Nasr or Wehrlein would also make great team-mates to Leclerc. With Ericsson still there, there is a chance of 'favouritism' that allegedly (and most certainly) happened this year against Wehrlein, happening again to Leclerc, just to make Ericsson look good.

RE: Who should Sauber pick? - morini - 29-11-2017

(29-11-2017, 12:02 AM)BrendanSylvester Wrote:  Well, since Sauber needs two drivers, I think Charles Leclerc is a shoe in for one seat. The big question was who would get the other one, but with Marcus Ericsson in the Abu Dhabi tyre tests, I think it is will be him.

I'd like to see Frederic Vasseur have the guts to stand up to the team owners and hire a great driver in the second seat. After all, Monisha Kaltenborn, for all her faults, stood up to the current owners over what it was she believed in. Was it Honda engines? Not favouring Ericsson? I'm not sure...

I'd like to see Giovinazzi get his chance in F1 - I think he has shown he has pace, even if he needs to be a bit more even tempered. I think Nasr or Wehrlein would also make great team-mates to Leclerc. With Ericsson still there, there is a chance of 'favouritism' that allegedly (and most certainly) happened this year against Wehrlein, happening again to Leclerc, just to make Ericsson look good.

Welcome Brendan, good to see someone from the Southern Hemisphere on here!

I agree on Leclerc, I'm undecided on who should get the second seat. There are too many young, talented and deserving drivers out there. Not enough seats.

RE: Who should Sauber pick? - Jody Barton - 29-11-2017

Brendon the rumours are that Monisha stood up to them over shovelling of funds to development of parts to one car. Is it a coincidence she was unceremoniously dumped after the weekend where Weherlein finally got the new floor that Marcus had had since China? Methinks not. I live in Sweden and sports journalists over here normally like a home grown boy done good, but they haven’t warmed to Marcus at all. In fact they’ve continually pointed out he has new parts on his car whereas Weherlein is pretty much running the car they had in Australia. I think I’d personally pick Weherlein over Ericsson, and I think it’s a shame the sport will lose him. In junior Formula he has a mightily impressive record and won won a very competitive DTM at the first attempt in 2015. He’s talented.

Giovinazzi though also deserves a drive, as do many others. RBR have three very talented youngsters who will be chomping at the bit very shortly, Macau winner and all round speed demon Dan Ticktum and Richard Verschoor are both probably just as ready as Verstappen was and have great records in probably tougher competition than he did, their third driver Neil Verhagen is probably still a bit raw, but he has pace and at 16 plenty of time on his side, plus he’s a yank. You then have Russell and Norris and a few others too, there’s a younger Spaniard in the karts currently doing what Lewis did, which is destroy everyone at the age of 13. The youngsters coming through are damn fine, and it points to the fact that F1 desperately needs a grid of 26 cars, and if we have the likes of Stroll and Ericsson on the grid next year, and no Giovinazzi or Wehrlein then there is something deeply wrong with the sport.

RE: Who should Sauber pick? - BrendanSylvester - 29-11-2017

(29-11-2017, 11:16 AM)Jody Barton Wrote:  ... if we have the likes of Stroll and Ericsson on the grid next year, and no Giovinazzi or Wehrlein then there is something deeply wrong with the sport.

I totally agree with everything you just said. The current Sauber team has poor management in my view, to do that to a talented driver like Wehrlein. I have kept scratching my head trying to understand why he was so much faster than Ericsson around Bahrain - Spain, and then seemed to fade.

However pay drivers taking up spots on the grid is nothing new... look at 1995 with Lavaggi, Katayama, Inoue and Aguri Suzuki, while Emmanuel Collard, Jorg Muller and Vincenzo Sospiri never even set foot in a car.

RE: Who should Sauber pick? - Jody Barton - 29-11-2017

Brendon, of course paid for drivers aren't really anything new in the sport, or drivers who bring sponsorship. I get that, but with only ten teams on the grid, none of them should have to be in that position given the amounts of money washing around the sport. On a 26 car plus grid you might expect it from lower teams, but I think it speaks to how the sports prize money has been horrendously skewed. I mean, it's also not like Wehrlein and Giovinazzi don't come with oodles of cash. Wehrlein has the might of Mercedes and a few other rather large German brands adding to his bribe money, and Giovinazzi has Fiat and many others too contributing, and both have records that blow Stroll and Ericsson away. I get Ferrari wanting to get Wehrlein out of the Sauber, especially given this link up with Alfa Romeo now, but it is sad to see, if however, Giovinazzi is given the second seat alongside Leclerc then I guess we can at least be happy about that. Now, get shot of Moanjean and I'd be happy.

RE: Who should Sauber pick? - The Professor - 29-11-2017

I know it'll never happen, but I voted for a Charles / Pascal combo.

RE: Who should Sauber pick? - morini - 29-11-2017

(29-11-2017, 09:29 PM)The Professor Wrote:  I know it'll never happen, but I voted for a Charles / Pascal combo.

I only picked the one, don't much fancy any of the given list. How about Charles Leclerc / George Russell :-)