Drivers

Vitaly Petrov started racing when he was 17 unlike most top drivers he started racing late and not in go-karts, but Lada cars. In 2002 when racing in the Lada Cup he dominated the championship, winning all rounds and amassing the maximum points possible of 500. So the talent was there. In 2003, Petrov began racing in Formula Renault, racing in the Italian Championship for Euronova Racing, finishing 19th overall. He also competed in some rounds of the Eurocup Formula Renault 2.0.He also finished fourth in the British Formula Renault Winter Series at the end of the year, taking one win.He also made his debut in Euro Formula 3000 at Cagliari. Not a great first sseason in single seaters. However in 2006 he had a more promising year. He...

Just realised we don't have a thread on the young Scot and there's something I have to get off my chest but, first, here's some history. A real sporting family, his cousins are the Franchitti brothers and his step father was Scottish footballer Dougie McCracken (no, I'd never heard of him either but he played for Ayr, Dunbarton and East Fife). As ever, started in karting before moving to Formula Renault with Manor Motorsport. He was Formula 3 Euroseries champion in 2006 before moving on to DTM. With Mercedes backing he was lined up for a drive with Force India in 2009 but FI chose to continue with their '08 driver line up. As test driver in 2010 for FI di Resta finally secured a seat for the 2011 season alongside Adrian Sutil...

Courtesy of Planet F1 and Tranquility's post in the Belgian PQR thread here's a place to discuss the Williams' No.2 Pastor started his racing career in Italy in the Formula Renault and F3000. He would have been Formula Renault 3.5 Champion if he hadn't been disqualified from a win at Misano in 2006. Moving on to GP2 Pastor raced for 4 seasons, eventually taking the title in 2010. With not insubstantial financial backing from Venezuela's national petroleum company, PDVSA, he took Nico Hulkenberg's seat at Williams for 2011 winning his first point last weekend in Belgium. On a personal level, he is a self proclaimed Socialist and a personal friend of controversial Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez, which probably explains the backing...

How come this man doesn't have his own thread yet? DC is a true Gentleman and a credit to the sport we love. If it wasn't for him pushing for Safety in the 90's and 00's and even now when he's retired, we would have seen more deaths in F1 after the very sad weekend in San Marino back in 1994. DC was always the nearly man when it came to his F1 career piped to the title on more than one occassion by either Hakkinen and Schumacher. I wouldn't say DC was a number 2 either in his career. DC in his 247 Grand prix starts scored 13 wins, 62 podiums, 535 points, 12 poles and 18 fastest laps. DC at this current time is the all time points record holder for a Britain in F1. Can Hamilton or Button break his points tally of 535? DC has only...

Sergio Perez Mendoza also known as 'Checo'. 21 years of age and 12 Grand Prix under his belt. Already has a contract for Sauber for next year, is part of the Ferrari driving acadamy, current favourite to replace Massa but what he didn't have was his own thread on Clip the Apex so I thought I'd sort him one out. Won British Formula 3 at 18. Finished 12 in GP2 at 19. Finished runner-up in GP2 at 20. Made his GP debut at 21 and finished in the points only to be DQ'd later due to both Saubers breaking car regs. Had a big accident at Monoco and even chose to pull out of the Candian GP after realising he wasn't back to 100%. Has had 2 points finishes so far this season with his highest being a 7th place at Silverstone. Has been quite highly...

I was just watching the Qualifying buildup for Singapore 2009 and found this piece with Damon Hill pretty interesting. This was soon after the Renault crash-gate revelations where some were questioning the legitimacy of the sport.

The man who feels like a god when he puts his crash helmet on does not have his own thread and due to the fact we've found out his Godly status I shall write his thread in the approproite style. So please be upstanding for the 10 commandments of Alguersuari. Thou shall not judge a driver by his age! He broke the record for the youngest person ever to compete in a Grand Prix when he took part in the 2009 Hungarian GP at the age of 19 years and 125 days. He also won the British F3 Championship at 18. Jaime is not even 22 yet and he already has 40 grand prixs under his belt. As long as he can keep a seat he must be looking at breaking Barrichello's record. Thou shall judge thy too early! Like the Phoenix Jaime has shown the potential...

Was drafted into F1 with not an ounce of testing and replaced Nelson Piquet Jr in the middle of 2009 when he was possibly on route to becoming the GP2 Champion that season, which went to Nico Hulkenburg. In his 7 races in F1 he failed to impress and the no in-season testing rule didn't help his course. Plus having Fernando Alonso as his teammate couldn't have helped either. In 2010 Grosjean went to do Auto GP, before returning back to GP2 on July 20th for a few guess appearances for DAM'S. But in 2011 Grosjean was given a full-time drive by DAM'S for the 2011 GP2 series and went on to become the 2011 GP2 Champion. My question is will Grosjean get a drive for 2012? Plus how far can this guy go if he gets into F1?

One of F1's unluckiest drivers or a man who let his heart rule his head? Jean was spectacularly fast on his day, as his early performances at Tyrrell showed, but his desire to drive for Ferrari rather than Williams cost him the chance to prove he could be a World Champion. A single win, in Canada in 1995, was poor reward for such a talented driver but he always seemed to be in the wrong car at the wrong time. After F1 Jean raced in DTM, Speedcar and Le Man Series. It has also just been announced that Jean will compete in the Indy 500 next year at the ripe old age of 47. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/09/23/us-motor-racing-alesi-indy-idUSTRE78M45B20110923

Just noticed that this German doesn't have his own thread and thought it was about time he did. Sutil began his F1 career back in 2007, entering F1 in the same year that Lewis Hamilton did. Sutil has remained with the same team (only under different names) throughout his time in F1 so far. Since his F1 debut Adrian has competed in 84 races collecting 77 points in. Sutil unbelievable has a fastest racing lap to his name aswell! Sutil to me has always been one of those constant midfield runners who will score a point or two when he's on top of his game. But i'm really struggling to see him step up to another level of racing team as there's a lot of driver out their better than him. Other than Force India where could he actually go to?

Before reading further, just consider this. If someone told you that there was a driver who finished second on his Indy 500 debut and within 4 years had not only won the Indy 500 but the Indy Championship title and the Formula One world championship. You would think to yourself that sounds like one hell of a driver...... As soon as people mention the name Jacques Villeneuve however, the above paragraph gets completely forgotten and the view that forms in most peoples minds is one of a driver only motivated by money and who paddled around in an uncompetative car and struggled to beat the likes of Ricardo Zonta. He finally left F1 with his tail between his legs after being dumped mid season by Sauber. The question is, does he deserve...

I noticed young Daniel didn't have his own thread so thought I'd give him on as sure he'll be around for a good few years. Born in 1989 (that makes him 22 before you do the maths) this aussie started karting at the age of 9 and in 2005 entered the Western Australian Formula Ford Championship as a privateer driving a car that was 15 years old at the time and managed to finish 8th. He won a scholarship to compete in Formula BMW Asia the following year. As we all know he eventually became involved in the Red Bull young driver programme after winning the British Formula 3 championship in 2009. Became Red Bull's test driver and has now stepped up to drive for HRT. Has been really hyped as the next big thing by the Red Bull team and the...