Current Carlos Sainz

Carlos Sainz Jr (is he dropping the Jr now?) may be the first rookie to come into F1 already demoralised and thinking his team do not believe in him. Sainz was number 1 in the Red Bull Driver programme and completely aced his season in WSR 3.5 and pretty much cruised his way to the title. Despite all of this it must have been a crushing blow to him when it was announced that Max Verstappen, who had been in the Red Bull Driver Programme for 2 weeks, was announced at Toro Rosso F1. Sainz was not happy and his form did drop off probably out of pure frustration. However Vettel's sudden departure to Ferrari opened up another space in the Toro Rosso team but even then Red Bull waited a good 3 months before announcing Sainz in the seat.

In 2013 Sainz lined up in GP3 and was considered by some as the favourite for the championship. His team had major issues with the tyres early on which left them struggling and coming back from behind. Sainz never got on terms with the front runners that year which would not have been that big a deal had his team mate not been fellow Red Bull driver Danii Kvyat. Kvyat stormed from way back in championship to win the GP3 2013 title which of course led him to be bumped up to Toro Rosso F1 and now of course will be taking on the challenge of the main Red Bull team for 2015. It will hard for Sainz not to think of what might have been as going in to 2013 he was considered in front of Kvyat in the pecking order and had he had better form in 2013 it might be him sitting in that seat now. Sainz issue was that whilst he was quick he appeared to be an accident magnet. He would find himself in the pack and whilst he was exciting to watch with some great overtaking moves he would more often than not end up running into someone.

To Sainz's credit he went away over the winter and fixed all those issues and came back a far more complete driver to take on the WSR 3.5 2014 season. Whilst he had some great tussles with Mehri and Rowland his title was really not in any doubt. He was cool, calm and exceptionally quick which made it all the more of a shock when Red Bull passed him over for Verstappen. He got a reprieve with the drivers market shuffle which I happen to think has meant a great miscarriage of justice was averted as he really has shown his potential this year but you have to ask yourself what his attitude will be coming into a team he has to think don't really want him that much.

I'm hoping that all the politics will mean he will come in with a steely attitude to make Verstappen look like an amateur but I get the feeling he won't help but notice the sympathetic glances from JEV as they pass each other going through the revolving door of Toro Rosso. It appears that however good your results are in that team it all comes down to whether they rate your or not.

Are we looking forward to seeing Sainz or do we think he is a lost cause already?
 
There is some history with French teams only wanting French drivers, albeit back in the 80's, as both Ligier and Renault only chose Frenchmen for many years.
 
Renault back in the 80's had been running French drivers mostly but that was probably helped by fundng and development of French drivers from the 70's and 80's that allowed them to do it . In the 00's its because they let Flav do his own thing which in the end turned into a big mistake

I just don't see Sainz staying at Toro Rosso so you're looking at Renault , Mclaren and probably unlikely Ferrari all trying to sign him
 
I know we are straying off topic but it was the Elf motor racing school which gave us a slew of French drivers in the 70's and 80's. BP used to do the same in the UK. Here is the French "mafia"

ob_e23f54_bakalian-pilotes-f1-francais.jpg


In case any of you are confused, the bloke with the 'tache behind Prost is Bernard Bakalian who was/is is personal photographer.
 
So the 'wisdom' in the media is that Sainz will be loaned to Renault next year in exchange for Torro Rosso switching to Honda engines.

I Don't get this. How does the conversation go.

Torro Rosso: We Don't really want to switch to Honda but it's good for the sport and might be a good gamble so go on then.

Renault: OK. Well we Don't really want to supply Mclaren either so as payment for making us, and taking an engine you Don't want, you need to give us your best driver.

Torro Rosso: Well that seems like a good deal!
 
I think the decision was more determined by Red Bull not Toro Rosso ( Helmut Marko , Christian Horner and in agreement with Franz Tost ) . It makes sense for both parties... Red Bull/ Toro Rosso get another of their drivers on the grid probably Gasly and Renault have one of the best upcoming drivers.

It can work so that Red Bull will promote Sainz if either of their current two move on or Sainz is going to be committed to Renault long term potentially
 
Oh it will be Gasly but I doubt Red Bull brokered the deal of Sainz to Renault in order to get Gasly on the grid. I think they would have much rather kept Sainz. This is something thrust upon them.

Everyone seems to do with Honda engines but what if it's to keep Renault engines for Torro Rosso? That makes more sense to me.
 
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So if it's not going to be Kvyat/Gasly, what will they go for? Kvyat/Galael?

if they dont rate Gasly thats 1 thing which i find very strange being reigning Gp2 champion. 2nd in FR3.5 losing out only to Sainz we all know how highly rated he is & 2nd currently in super formula with brilliant chance to win championship is 1 thing. but if they overlook Gasly for Gelael a guy who ive watched in F2 last 2 years is so slow he makes Hayarnto look like Vettel. then head of red bull youth driver programme needs sacking & then sectioning
 
RasputinLives Having spoken not so highly of him Gasly won his last race so he is getting notice again. Promoting Gelael makes no sense unless it was about the money. It would be something unusual by Red Bull not to consider promoting a GP2 champion

The Sainz situation meets all parties requirements

Sainz wants to move to a more competitive team
Renault wanted him so that is a tick
Red Bull managed to offload the Renault engine for a Honda engine to size up its potential I think they will make better fist of it if Adrian Newey is going to be more involved
They can see if Sainz is ready to promote to Red Bull if he shows well at Renault

Toro Rosso - the team carries on Red Bull's tradition in promoting its young drivers and they will have the worst young driver pairing for a while. If Kyvat does not perform he's finished , if Gasly fails to beat Kyvat then his chances to Red Bull gets reduced
 
I've also been a big fan of Hulkenberg since A1 GP, sadly he's never fulfilled my ambition for him. He's been wildly erratic and perhaps that's why he's never had a top drive.
 
gethinceri Erratic is probably not the word but inconsistent and certainly lacks the financial backing to say he is better than drivers who bring a bit of money but Hulkenberg has not been pushed enough by Palmer this year

Perhaps next season he will be pushed hard by Sainz to elevate him to the next level
 
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