What happened to JEV?

[teabagyokel]

The Canadian Grand Prix saw Toro Rosso's Jean-Eric Vergne score a 6th place, behind Mercedes, Red Bull and Alonso, albeit a lap down on winner Sebastian Vettel. Vettel was the only driver ever to score a better result in a Toro Rosso than 6th, and Vergne had scored 29 points in his year-and-a-third in F1, to compare to only 17 for Daniel Ricciardo.

We knew he couldn't qualify, but he was seen as Toro Rosso's Sunday half of their two drivers. Should Mark Webber retire in the near future, surely he'd be considered as their replacement...

Since then, he has somewhat justified Red Bull's decision to go for Ricciardo. In the 10 races since, 12th is his best result, and Ricciardo has caught up in the career points ranking; they're now at 29 each. While Ricciardo's Sunday pace has hardly been spectacular, he turned a blistering one-off qualifying Q3 appearance into a regular slot since he was announced as Red Bull's latest driver.

So what's gone wrong for JEV. Was he simply achieving the results that vaulted him past Ricciardo on a bit of a fluke and mugging his team-mate of points? Has the loss of car number 2 left him demotivated and thus his form has dipped? Either way, I struggle to see how he is going to stay in Formula One unless there is a significant upturn in form - he needs to nick some points to keep his reputation for doing so.

 

[tooncheese]

He doesn't have anything to race for, Ricciardo already has the seat for next year. All he can do is beat Kyvat and hope Ricciardo has a shocker at Red Bull in time for 2015.

 

[jez101]

He will never go much further unless he can qualify much better. He can't keep getting his results against the flow of traffic.

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

It is always better to over achieve in qually and fight it out to a lower finishing position ... than to under achieve in qually and simply pass cars you are truly quicker than during the race (and should have been quicker during qually)...

I like JEV ... I hope he gets it hooked up next season ... I hope the Toro Rosso is a more consistent package ...

 

[Il_leone]

teabagyokel

for JEV read Nick Heidfeld - touted for a big drive and when the announcement came he was left disappointed and really has nothing else to aim for

His confidence may be shot by the rejection because he never did get a chance with a blown tyre at Silverstone and not able to show his ability in the races that followed . It does not help either that Helmut 's making noises about Ricciardo proven to be the right choice as well

He also appears to have most of the Toro Rosso's reliability woes with 5 retirements this year

Also it seems like Ricciardo was always the preferred choice to promote unless he had an absolute shocker of races over Kimi Raikkonen anyway

I've said it elsewhere being not promoted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull seems to be cursed and deemed failure and pretty much every driver not promoted from Toro Rosso to Red Bull has disappeared and never seen in F1 again apart from poor old Liuzzi who has a knock of landing the wrong drive for him

So can JEV break the mould then ? I don;t see how Renault demanding a French driver in the car loudly as essential

 

[Mephistopheles]

It is always better to over achieve in qually and fight it out to a lower finishing position ...

Now that I totally disagree with, the points are handed out on a Sunday not a Saturday what is the point of qualifying on pole if you fail to score? Surely it is better to qualify lower down and score points on a regular basis, unless you think Trulli was a good role model for racing..

Also surely RedBull wants a driver to bring home the points without beating Seb....

 

[teabagyokel]

Problem is, he's scored nothing since Canada.

 

[Mephistopheles]

Maybe he feels he has been passed over and has got the hump...

Oh sorry teabagyokel were you talking about Ricciardo?

I really haven't been following what the Toro boys have been doing points wise.

 

[teabagyokel]

No, JEV hasn't scored since Canada. There've been races Vettel hasn't won since then!

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

Now that I totally disagree with, the points are handed out on a Sunday not a Saturday what is the point of qualifying on pole if you fail to score? Surely it is better to qualify lower down and score points on a regular basis, unless you think Trulli was a good role model for racing..

Also surely RedBull wants a driver to bring home the points without beating Seb....

We are talking Toro Rosso here ... not RBR ...so you would be happy with a driver that qualifies at or below the cars potential and pretty much performs at that during a the race... rarely racing in points paying positions ?

 

[RasputinLives]

I think its a combination of his head going down and some bad luck. He was on for a good result in Silverstone before a puncture and they were slow to react to his tyre issues last weekend too.

JEV is a talented driver but I have been a tad dissapointed with hin this year. Having said that Ricciardo's form has not been much better. JEV can't qualify but he can get the car off the line!

 

[Il_leone]

I think the one Helmut really wanted in the 2nd seat was Ricciardo all along unless he really stuffed it .

JEV like I said seems to get the worst of reliability problems

- he's got nothing to go for now and needs to really think about life outside Red Bull family possibly if he does not blow away Kyvatt

 

[pob]

It's strange how quickly the general view of a driver can change, it's not that long ago that he was considered as Red Bull's next rising star. I do wonder if Ricciardo is now the first to get his hands on any car upgrades at Toro Rosso to try and boost his results and justify the decision to select him over Vergne.

If the Vergne-to-Lotus rumours earlier in the season had any factual basis, he really should have jumped on it when he had the chance because he has no future now at Red Bull. I think it would have been Renault who were pushing for Vergne as then they would then have a true Frenchma in the team rather than a Swiss driver racing under the French flag (Grosjean)

 

[Il_leone]

I just read F1 racing magazine the other day about the Red Bull young driver programme's poor success rate in F1 with all the drivers from Klein, Liuzzi, Buemi, Algarsuari , JEV and Ricciardo

Some say its very harsh and if the drivers donlt make it they are finished before their F1 career has started.. I guess we don;t realise Red Bull will help these guys race in junior formula and allow them to impress with no worries about sponsorship and on $250, 000 a year salary

So basically dangling a carrot to these drivers and see if they can cut the mustard at the junior category and if they can't then they surely cannot in F1 ..like Button mentioned the other week instead of 10 people or so you end up working with 600 people or so

The carrot is if you perform then the ultimate reward would be having to drive for best car in F1 .

THat is what Trevor Carlin - F3 team boss said Red Bull programme are looking for future race winners which supposedly why Ricciardo has got the nod

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Now JEV really has only a slim chance to get into Red Bull through either Vettel having a bust up or Ricciardo failing to shine

 

[Bill Boddy]

If Ricciardo were not to shine what would be the point of putting Vergne in who at best might be slightly quicker?

 

[Il_leone]

Bill Boddy
Best ask Helmut MArko that question because he decides which young driver deserve the shot at Red Bull

 

[Bill Boddy]

Bill Boddy
Best ask Helmut MArko Vettel that question because he decides which young driver deserve the shot at Red Bull

You could be right though.

 

[ZakspeedYakspeed]

It doesn't matter so much who goes in there ... because when <insert 2nd drivers name> they turn up to work ..."hey guys, so glad to be here" ... there will be SV, Newey, Horner and Marko all huddled around together like school boys looking at a stick magazine... and they will peer over at the 'transfer' from the 'up north ... ' snigger and sneer and continue to ignore him ...