The gone and soon to be forgotten

RasputinLives

No passing through my dirty air please
Contributor
So with the 2014 grid announced we now know which drivers from last year will not be returning. The list reads as follows:

Mark Webber
Paul Di Resta
Charles Pic
Giedo Van Der Garde
Heiki Kovalinen

(I've thrown in Heiki because he did race the last two of the year)

With the exception of Webber none of them have left F1 by choice however much they try and tell you in the media that they have chosen to take a test role. Other than Webber (who has been discussed) which of them are we going to miss and which ones will we barely remember this time next year.

As Van Der Garde is the only F1 driver in recent times to not have his own thread on Apex I don't hold out too much hope for him being pined for by the CTA masses. I also don't think many people will shed a tear for Pic. But what about Di Resta? Will we miss him the same way we missed Kobi this year?
 
Di Resta never pulled off crazy overtakes at Suzuka. He was always more buckfast than banzai. He never really made an impact in interviews either. To me they always sounded like a post incident police debrief. Just facts and no emotion.

Heiki will be missed but I don't think his F1 career is over, have caterham kept him as a possible option?

Pic and VdG will just slip back into obscurity. They never made their impression and their only contribution to f1 now will be in an obscure teabagyokel quiz in 20 years time.
 
I like Heikki but he is getting on a bit (32). Perhaps a good option for one of the bottom teams as an 'experienced' driver, but perhaps his chances even for that scenario have faded now.
We're being a bit unfair on Paul. He wasn't a bad driver but perhaps didn't get the right opportunities to shine.
 
Di Resta was pretty anonymous; decent level of talent, some decent results but nothing to excite the neurons. And when it came to contract renewal time he had a run of wall magnetism.

Substance over style like Jackie Stewart. If Stewart was slow.

Pic? My goodness, if di Resta was anonymous, this guy is practically Banksy. If no-one had heard of him.

GvdG showed a propensity to hit the headlines in wet quali, and that's pretty much as Caterham needed. But if Kobayashi cones with a suitcase full of money, for both attention seeking and talent he sure trumps van der Garde.

HK? He's got Hungary in 2008. He's also got Monza in 2009, which will always stand in his way.
 
Caterham and Marussia have a habit of ending drivers careers. Only Charles Pic has ever survived driving for Marussia to get a year with another team and that was Caterham!

Van Der Garde becomes the third rookie in recent times not to have a second year following in the footsteps of Di Grassi, D'ambrosio and Chandhock.
 
You know what you will get with Marussia - they rely on drivers with money - they've admitted that is how they plan for every season

So if you have not got the money then no drive - poor Timo Glock for the way F1 career ended

Caterham started with the right base as LOtus with experienced drivers and people who know a bit about F1 but as soon as they turned into Caterham and Fernandes starts seeking his fortune elsewhere they've turned into permanent backmarkers with reliance on pay drivers which is actually hurting their progress
 
DI Resta - well you have to say he may have missed the boat unless he gets thrown a lifeline that would if he gets a supersub opportunity
 
I could probably add a few more I wished weren't driving in F1 in 2014 but I shall keep my counsel. Shan't miss any of those listed as I don't think any had the talent to go any further than they did.
 
Caterham started with the right base as LOtus with experienced drivers and people who know a bit about F1 but as soon as they turned into Caterham and Fernandes starts seeking his fortune elsewhere they've turned into permanent backmarkers with reliance on pay drivers which is actually hurting their progress

Um, no. As I discovered researching for a reply on another thread Lotus aka Caterham have performed at pretty much the same pitiful level throughout. Unfortunately, they were Lotus in name only and even the heritage of Caterham Cars was only ever as a Lotus Elan and Lotus 7 dealershp and kit car builder. They were very good at that, by the way, so maybe they should have stuck to their day job.:D
 
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Fenderman
When Lotus ( now Caterham ) started they were ahead of Marussia and the defunct HRT since converting the name to Caterham they have fallen behind Marussia generally = the only real difference has been less investment from Fernandes and a reliance on pay drivers
 
Had Max Chilton not driven like a granny on a Sunday drive every weekend to make sure he got the car home I doubt Marussia would have finished ahead last year. There's a fag paper's thickness of difference in quality between those two minnow teams. Neither have made the cut and neither, realistically have the resources to cut it.

Just how much is one bloke expected to pump in year on year just to run at the back of the field? Without a redistribution of wealth toward the back of the grid and/or a serious injection of more funds from other sources they have fat chance of progressing up the order.

In 2013 Marussia's was reported to have spent £51m whilst Caterham spent £65m.* That's somewhat shy of the £100m or so that the mid-field teams were spending. Teams languishing at the back of the field will always struggle to find investors and sponsors.

*Budget figures are from Dieter Rencken's 'The True Cost of Formula 1' for Autosport
 
Had Max Chilton not driven like a granny on a Sunday drive every weekend to make sure he got the car home I doubt Marussia would have finished ahead last year.

Not true, I'm afraid. Marussia finished ahead due to Bianchi's 13th place at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Chilton actually finished behind both Caterham drivers in the Championship.
 
I have just realised that I fell for The Lion's tactic of bringing a discussion from another thread where his comment was relevant to one where it was at best a side issue. with regard to the side issue I stand by my statement. Had Chilton not racked up a full set of finishes Bianchi's 13th place may not have saved them from the wooden spoon. Of course it's what if's but who would have thought at the start of the that Marussia would have one of it's cars survive the entire season? I wish I'd thought of that and put a wedge on the bet when I some money to do so!:D

Back to the OP ...:embarrassed:
 
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I should say Caterham have gone for the pay driver route and it clearly is not working since they ditched Heikki .. weren't they asking him to come back to develop the car in practice sessions because they could not understand why their pace is worse than Marussia's
 
Pic - he looked good first season and famously helped marussia to 10th place stealing it from Caterham last race 2012 but he has not kicked on

i think Caterham have realised they need an experienced driver which was clearly missing from last season
 
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