Drivers

Of all the drivers in the Formula One fraternity, Kamui Kobayashi (小林 可夢偉) seems to be one of the most difficult to work out. Formula One fans love watching him, and he's famed for overtaking, but he does less overtaking than many drivers out on the field. He's rarely been defensively punchy other than his début in Brazil in 2009. His GP2 record is less than exceptional. He would never have got into Formula One if he was a different nationality. I think Kobayashi must be praised, but not for the usual reasons. What is outstanding is that given the opportunity, he picks up points. He did so at Abu Dhabi in 2009, for much of the latter half of 2010 and his run of points scores in 2011 (not counting his dsq in Australia) was longer than...

Today (19 August 2011) "Senna" opens in Toronto and i'm taking off early from work to catch a matinee' viewing. This is about as good a time as any to open this thread... From Prost's thread: There was no greater expert on the sights and sounds of a Formula One car at Aida that day than Senna himself...And if his expert ears and eyes noted that only Schumacher's B194 sounded and reacted like it had traction control then i'm going to believe it. Period. As per the accident at Tamburello...well, the saftey car that day wasn't exactly a Mercedes-Benz AMG...I believe it was an Opel and, as a result, a bit 'too' slow. The tyre pressures dropped significantly and that would have affected the ride height. Tamburello had a few bumps and...

Daniil Vyacheslavovich Kvyat or Danny Kvyat to you and I seemed to come as a shock to some as Toro Rosso's choice for a race seat that prompted all sorts of money accusations however if people had been paying attention then it might have been less of a shock. With Ricciardo being promoted to the A-Team it was only logical that Toro Rosso were going to promote one of their youth squad to the race seat and whilst Kvyat was not at the front of the queue in the fame stakes he certainly got there in the results stakes. At the begining of 2013 he was third in line to the throne sitting firmly behind the ever popular 'oh-my-god-he's-a-future-world-champion' Felix Da Costa and the 'oh-my-god-he's-the-talented-son-of-a-rally-driving-champ'...

There has been speculation about this guy potentially being on the F1 grid next season as the 2nd Marussia driver so does this guy deserve to be there on merit or is he a pay per driver ? Brother of Tom who races in touring cars because he is too tall for F1. His junior record is not impressive as he was only 4th in British F3 2009 won by his teammate Daniel Ricciardo and 4th in Gp2 this season behind Sauber bound Gutierrez, Razia and Valsechi ( neither of the latter two appear have found drives for 2013) However he has shown capability now and then to race at the front with wins and podiums occasionally Before the British press starts hyping this guy as a potential world champion. What is his true potential out of curiousity?

Now here's a driver who polarises opinion. A really nice bloke or a bitter man who should have grown a pair at Ferrari instead of bitching about it after he left. The most experienced driver ever in F1 but now, perhaps, past his sell by date? A brilliant car sorter who helped Jenson Button realise his title ambitions at Brawn or someone who failed to take an opportunity when it came his way? Rubens Barrichello: 314 GP starts 11 wins (No. 25 in the list of GP winners - ahead of Ronnie Petersen but behind Alan Jones) 14 poles 17 fastest laps Everyone's favourite No.2? The best choice Williams could could have made to lead there team or would they be better off without him?

Its been announced this week that Belgian Mclaren development driver Stoffel Vandoorne will return to the GP2 series in 2015 again driving for the ART team. Vandoorne is hoping a successful championship year with ART will be the pathway for him to get into F1 for 2016, preferably with Mclaren, but is that actually really likely to happen? Vandoorne’s potential is not in any doubt. He won the F4 Eurocup title in 2010 and then had a close tussle with Dani Kvyat in Eurocup 2.0 in 2012, a tussle he eventually won and took the title. In 2013 he jumped up to the WSR 3.5 series and scored a win on his debut. He scored 4 wins in total with 10 podiums in 17 races, all this in the much unfancied Fortec car as well. He was piped to the title by...

Alain Marie Pascal Prost OBE, Chevalier de la Legion d'honneur, is always mentioned whenever a list of the greatest F1 drivers is written. 4 times a World Champion, 51 Grand Prix wins, Alain pitted himself against some of the best drivers ever to race in F1, often in the same team - Senna, Lauda, Mansell, Rosberg, van de Poele, Schumacher. Known as the "Professor" Prost started his F1 career at McLaren in 1980, moving on to the French national team, Renault, in 1981 Prost came close to winning the title but had to return to McLaren to fulfil his ambition to be World Champion, taking his first title in 1985. Prost's career is often defined by his rivalry with Ayrton Senna but Prost the driver and Prost the man was far more than just...

My 1st article on clip the apex Do you think we will ever see Kovalainen at the sharp end of the grid again? He had much potential pre-McLaren. He spent 9 years in karting and did relatively well winning the 2000 Nordic championship. He was Formula Renault 2001 rookie of the year. He was also British Formula 3 2002 rookie of the year finishing 3rd with 5 wins. He moved to world series by nissan in 2003 and won the championship in 2004 with 6 wins. In 2005 he moved to GP2 and battled Nico Rosberg for the championship finishing runner up with 5 wins. He built a bit of a reputation for himself by winning the race of champions in 2004 defeating David Coulthard, Michael Schumacher and Sebastien Loeb. He was also test driver for Renault...

2014 GP2 champion Jolyon Palmer joins the grid for 2016 for a deserved shot at F1. The son of Dr Jonathan Palmer but probably quicker than he ever was. He has a younger brother named Will Palmer who is BRDC F4 champ and probably quicker than him but that's for a future debate. Palmer's pedigree is questioned by some due to that fact he spent 4 years in GP2 before winning the title but when you see that he joined the series as a 20 year old, and had only done 2 years of single setters prior, it's easy to see he did his development within the series. Anyone who saw his impressive 2014 championship will have no doubts this boy is a racing driver. He showed he was the master of consistency and very good at being in the right place at the...

Sebastien Buemi - know to some in these parts as The Moose - has always been a bit of a mystery to me. I go through stages of rating him and stages of just thinking of him as an avergae midfield driver so thought I'd put an article up there and see if the rest of you are as confused about him as me. His junior formula record is not that impressive. He's was a front runner in the majority of series he ran in but champion in none. The season before he came into F1 he finished runner-up in GP2 Asia and 6th in proper GP2 season - including 2 wins. One of the wins came in France where he started 21st on the grid - which is pretty impressive. He arrived in F1 with very little fanfare and you can pretty much say he's not made much louder...

Who is George Russell asked Titch - well he's is 21 year old from Norfolk who the latest Brit on the F1 grid. For once I can actually say I've watched this kid all the way up the ladder. I first saw Russell in BRDC F4 (thank you ITV4) and he stood out then because in a field full of kids putting everything on the line for a win he was the only one who had the brain to think about the championship race and realise getting a decent haul of points was sometimes more important than chucking it in do or die style for the win. Low and behold he won the title. I next see him in European F3 in a field containing Felix Rosenqvist, Antonio Giovanazzi and Charles LeClerc. He was mostly midfield that year but spent a lot of time wheel banging with...

I couldn't find a thread on him so apologies of there is one already. Alexander Rossi (21) is a racing driver from Auburn, California USA currently competing in GP2 and reserve driver for Caterham F1. Regular readers of Clip The Apex discussions may have noticed that I rarely get involved in discussions about new or relatively new drivers until they do something stupid. One of the reasons for this is that few of the newcomers have really grabbed my attention in their pre-F1 careers. However, having had a little look at Rossi's statistics, I have a feeling that at the very least he is one of the best young American talents that we have seen for a while. Not only that, he has clocked up a couple of championship wins, third place...