28-01-2015, 22:52
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/2015/01/th...o-in-2015/
Justin Hynes on a dark horse in Toro Rosso’s bull pen
The headline-grabbers for the upcoming season will undoubtedly be the return of Honda, Fernando Alonso’s reunion with Ron Dennis at McLaren and Sebastian Vettel’s role in the ongoing soap opera that is the politically charged reinvention of Ferrari.
Screen Shot 2015-01-28 at 18.26.40
However, away from those marquee melodramas there are some smaller, but no less fascinating stories that will give us something to ponder over across the course of the season.
One of these is the potentially intriguing battle between the rookies at Toro Rosso. All eyes will of course be on the progress of 17-year-old Max Verstappen – a driver who thanks to the FIA new Superlicence rules will for the foreseeable future hold the record of F1’s youngest driver.
Verstappen’s ability to transition from F3 to the rigours of Formula One will feature substantially in coverage of the team, but in the background a stealth weapon may be shaping up to eclipse the much vaunted youngster – in the shape of Carlos Sainz Jr.
Amid the clangour surrounding Verstappen’s rise, Sainz’s arrival in the big league has elicited barely a shrug. However, even a cursory look at the 20-year-old’s racing record reveals that in the ‘son of former driver’ stakes it may ultimately not be the expected scion that shines.
Arriving into the Red Bull Junior Programme at the same time as the highly-rated Daniil Kvyat, Sainz has been paired with the hot shoe Russian through much of his junior career and has frequently beaten the driver who this year takes over from Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull Racing.
In Formula BMW Pacific both won on their first weekend in the series, in Malaysia in 2010, with Sainz eventually scoring three race wins to Kvyat’s two. The following year, in the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC series Kvat took an impressive seven wins, including victories in the last four races. That was enough to hand him second in the championship. The man ahead of him, though, was Sainz, with 11 wins and six other podium finishes. He finished with 489 points to Kvyat’s 441.
In the same season, Kvyat finished third the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup standings with two wins and four other podium finishes. Again the main in front of him was Sainz with two wins and eight other podium finishes.
Screen Shot 2015-01-28 at 18.37.55
There the pair’s careers diverged and while Kvyat went on to Formula Alps triumph in 2012 and then a GP3 title in 2013 before joining Toro Rosso, the slightly younger Sainz toiled through a variety of series in 2012 to gain experience and then endured an unspectacular GP3 tour in 2013.
Midway through that season however, Sainz was given a chance to try out Red Bull Racing’s RB9 at the Silvertsone, with the word coming back from the then champions that the youngster had hugely impressed with his pace, intelligence and assured feedback.
Last season saw a huge return to form, with Sainz dominating the Formula Renault 3.5 series to become its youngest champions with seven wins and seven pole positions.
The underlying message then is that the son of the double world rally champion might have had a low-key entry into F1 thanks to his more high-profile team-mate but he could well end the listen as the one in the limelight.
Justin Hynes on a dark horse in Toro Rosso’s bull pen
The headline-grabbers for the upcoming season will undoubtedly be the return of Honda, Fernando Alonso’s reunion with Ron Dennis at McLaren and Sebastian Vettel’s role in the ongoing soap opera that is the politically charged reinvention of Ferrari.
Screen Shot 2015-01-28 at 18.26.40
However, away from those marquee melodramas there are some smaller, but no less fascinating stories that will give us something to ponder over across the course of the season.
One of these is the potentially intriguing battle between the rookies at Toro Rosso. All eyes will of course be on the progress of 17-year-old Max Verstappen – a driver who thanks to the FIA new Superlicence rules will for the foreseeable future hold the record of F1’s youngest driver.
Verstappen’s ability to transition from F3 to the rigours of Formula One will feature substantially in coverage of the team, but in the background a stealth weapon may be shaping up to eclipse the much vaunted youngster – in the shape of Carlos Sainz Jr.
Amid the clangour surrounding Verstappen’s rise, Sainz’s arrival in the big league has elicited barely a shrug. However, even a cursory look at the 20-year-old’s racing record reveals that in the ‘son of former driver’ stakes it may ultimately not be the expected scion that shines.
Arriving into the Red Bull Junior Programme at the same time as the highly-rated Daniil Kvyat, Sainz has been paired with the hot shoe Russian through much of his junior career and has frequently beaten the driver who this year takes over from Sebastian Vettel at Red Bull Racing.
In Formula BMW Pacific both won on their first weekend in the series, in Malaysia in 2010, with Sainz eventually scoring three race wins to Kvyat’s two. The following year, in the Formula Renault 2.0 NEC series Kvat took an impressive seven wins, including victories in the last four races. That was enough to hand him second in the championship. The man ahead of him, though, was Sainz, with 11 wins and six other podium finishes. He finished with 489 points to Kvyat’s 441.
In the same season, Kvyat finished third the Formula Renault 2.0 Eurocup standings with two wins and four other podium finishes. Again the main in front of him was Sainz with two wins and eight other podium finishes.
Screen Shot 2015-01-28 at 18.37.55
There the pair’s careers diverged and while Kvyat went on to Formula Alps triumph in 2012 and then a GP3 title in 2013 before joining Toro Rosso, the slightly younger Sainz toiled through a variety of series in 2012 to gain experience and then endured an unspectacular GP3 tour in 2013.
Midway through that season however, Sainz was given a chance to try out Red Bull Racing’s RB9 at the Silvertsone, with the word coming back from the then champions that the youngster had hugely impressed with his pace, intelligence and assured feedback.
Last season saw a huge return to form, with Sainz dominating the Formula Renault 3.5 series to become its youngest champions with seven wins and seven pole positions.
The underlying message then is that the son of the double world rally champion might have had a low-key entry into F1 thanks to his more high-profile team-mate but he could well end the listen as the one in the limelight.
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