Formula Renault 3.5 2014 Paul Ricard

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

If practice means anything, Stockinger will dominate this weekend

Looks like we could have a fun weekend. Merhi is of course the form man in the series, but none of the 4 supposed title rivals were right at the front during practice, and Ocon will be learning fast.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

And almost as soon as I post that, Sainz Jr claims pole from Gasly. Vaxiviere and Merhi make up row 2.

[Rf1 Fan]

Gasly seems to have some curse this year with victories. 5 second places, a rate of 50% of podiums but just not victories.....

At least he has consistency, good race craft and 18 years old but still.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Sainz Jr won R1 ahead of Gasly and Vaxiviere, with Rowland out of the title hunt.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Gasly looks to end his "curse" by claiming pole for R2...

[gomick]

Is Sainz Jnr F1 material?

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Originally Posted by gomick

Is Sainz Jnr F1 material?

Yes. Whether he's WDC material is debatable but he's better than a few current F1 drivers, and I'd rather see him than e.g. Sutil in F1.

[p-matt]

Originally Posted by gomick

Is Sainz Jnr F1 material?

I would say he is F1 material. He's been on the same path as Kvyat his entire career and has normally been ahead of him, except obviously when it counted in GP3 last year. And when they did the young driver tests last year, the feedback was that Sainz was much more impressive behind the wheel of an F1 car than Kvyat. He's reacted to being beaten by Kvyat by upping his game this year, and delivered a more controlled and consistent season. He hasn't got himself into incidents like he used to, but still has mega pace. How he's responded this weekend has been magnificent after still suffering from being passed over for Verstappen and Merhi taking strips off his championship lead last time out.

Let's not forget it was purely bad luck for Sainz that Verstappen came along. Sainz did everything that Red Bull could feasibly have expected him to do this year, and probably would have replaced JEV if it wasn't for Max.

A more pertinent question is are any of the rest of them ready? Merhi has done such a good job relearning single seaters this year that I could see him do a respectable job in an F1 car. Gasly needs more time and to find his spark, because he isn't looking as good as a Frijns or Vandoorne right now. Rowland has only driven Formula Renault so he needs to demonstrate a bit more versatility for me. I think he'd struggle quite a bit in a GP2 car if he moved there next year. I was always a fan of Sirotkin and Sorensen, but it hasn't worked too well for either this year, and they've probably both drawn too many blanks over the years to be considered serious F1 contenders. But they both have cash, and would do OK if they got to F1. None of the rest have really shown serious promise for me.

[Rf1 Fan]

Originally Posted by p-matt

Gasly needs more time and to find his spark, because he isn't looking as good as a Frijns or Vandoorne right now. Rowland has only driven Formula Renault so he needs to demonstrate a bit more versatility for me.

I don't get that for Gasly , he can't be compared to Frijns and Vandoorne as he is much younger( hence he was still at school until july).

Also he is at Arden not Fortec.

He made more front row starts than Antonio Felix Da Costa, more podiums than Antonio Felix Da Costa, more fastest laps than him also, as much points as him with one weekend left.

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Sainz won R2 from Gasly

[p-matt]

How many wins?!

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

Only 7, with 7 poles. Out of 16 races.

[p-matt]

My question was to RF1 about Gasly

He's got to be decent enough to do what he's doing (although I strongly suspect with a lot of support from WSBR). He has the potential to be world class, no doubt. But the question was who from this pack will be ready for F1 next year, and I cannot agree that he will be.

[Rf1 Fan]

Originally Posted by p-matt

My question was to RF1 about Gasly

He's got to be decent enough to do what he's doing (although I strongly suspect with a lot of support from WSBR). He has the potential to be world class, no doubt. But the question was who from this pack will be ready for F1 next year, and I cannot agree that he will be.

But who said that he was ready for f1 next year?

Making a similar job to Da Costa in his rookie year at 18 years old with less than 60 races of car racing doesn't necessarily mean that he is f1 material currently.

He has loads to learn in technical side to gain cutting edge on one lap pace or having car up to temperatures right from first lap.

In fact at international racing level he is at little bit more than 50 races currently as Vandoorne like Nato raced in Eurocup 1.6 liter championship in 2010.

But would Kvyat have been F1 material in 2013 with the much bigger mileage that he had with 8 F3 meetings?

In fact he only started to shine after his 28th races while before that he was only a midfielder in Gp3 and a front runner in F3.

Difficult to judge a driver (especially a teenager) progression without many parameters such as:

- Overall mileage during the year
Free practice time is lower by quite a bit this year in order to reduce costs + racing time reduced by 10%
- Team quality
Arden is a good team but not quite Fortec , Dams or Zeta in terms of peak peformance
- Age
He is 18 years old - he would be the first driver under 19 years old to score an overall top 3 position.
- School programm
He was still until mid season passing his A-level exams while racing

[olev]

Originally Posted by p-matt

[...] Sirotkin and Sorensen, [...] they both have cash, and would do OK if they got to F1. None of the rest have really shown serious promise for me.

No clue about Sirotkin, but Sorensen has no cash at all.

[gert]

Gasly is not ready for F1 ... yet.

I hope and expect him to return with Red Bull next year (possibly taking Sainz' seat?) and aim for the title. Then, F1 in '16?

Sainz is ready. He was really impressive in France this weekend (at least the 2nd race, didn't get to see the 1st one) and even more so at Spa. He impressed me much more there than Magnussen or Vandoorne did last year.

I really feel for him that Red Bull suddenly "discovered" Max.
There's not much more he could have done, or is there?

[kotkot]

So if Sainz joins F1 in 2015 but he doesn't perform well, we'd say he was learning the car? If Gasly does the same, we'd say meh, he was not ready?

What does 'ready for F1' mean anyway? If you get someone a seat and he spends a year without performing but learning and then he delivers in the second season, does it mean he was ready for F1? I am sure all the GP2/FR3.5, and many of the GP3 talents are at this stage.

However, lately F1 expects way too much from rookies, especially when this year Magnussen and Kvyat are considered to be really good even though they only took advantage of the fact these car were relatively new to everybody.

[gert]

Sainz has nothing left to prove at this level (More so if he wins the title - which is looking quite likely) but Gasly has (for example, he still has to win a race!)

I think it would be better for Gasly to stay put for one more year.
Mind you, maybe he'd do a stellar job in F1 if given the chance.

[Go_For_Pole]

Nothing left to prove when this is just his first title after so many years of trying?

[gert]

Not at this level (Renault 3.5 / GP2), no.

What do YOU think Sainz has left to prove? And where should you send him off (to prove that)?


BTW: How many of this year's F1 drivers DID win one or more titles in the junior categories in all their years of trying?

[olev]

Originally Posted by Go_For_Pole

Nothing left to prove when this is just his first title after so many years of trying?

Well, he's won the Formula BMW and the FR2.0 NEC so far with FR3.5 on the way, which is more than what Vettel won before stepping into F1.
And, just for the record, by no means I'm positioning myself about who of the two is better.

[chunterer]

I couldn't believe the gap Sainz Jnr pulled in 2 laps on Sunday!

He really rumbled Gasly at turn 1!

Disappointed Merhi couldn't do better, in fact I suspect he had overdrive as the cae clearly wasn't to his liking?

Those 2 races killed the championship off really. Sainz was on another planet.

Vaxiviere was very good and I wonder if it might be an all French title battle next season?

Gasly v Vaxiviere v Ocon?!

[Biscuits In A Red Bull]

I think Sainz is ready. He may not have won at F3/GP3 level but he was very young and raw up until this season. He's come on a lot and deserves the title.

Nyck de Vries reckons he'll be in FR3.5 next season.

[olev]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

Nyck de Vries reckons he'll be in FR3.5 next season.

Some rumours point to GP3 with Koiranen, but dumping the 500.000€ prize he gets for 3.5 sounds crazy to me.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Biscuits In A Red Bull

I think Sainz is ready. He may not have won at F3/GP3 level but he was very young and raw up until this season. He's come on a lot and deserves the title.

Nyck de Vries reckons he'll be in FR3.5 next season.

The speed is obviously there in spades, the jury is still out on consistency and I would gather ability to dial a car in/set up etc judging by the up and down form in some of the rounds?

In F1 he'll need to be able tp pour over the data, analysis and make changes that improve pace very quickly?