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Too early for F1


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#51 kayemod

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Posted 27 October 2016 - 18:24

I'm not aware that Kimi Raikkonen had strong views about Jos Verstappen. Probably best not to mention his son Max in Kimi's presence however.  

 

Since Verstappen the elder was 22 when he first raced an in F1, it never occured to me that you meant him, I thought you must have typed the wrong name. Surely the media, fellow racers etc didn't think he was too young at the time?



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#52 BRG

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Posted 27 October 2016 - 18:33

Not too young of course, but I seem to recall there was some feeling that he didn't have enough experience in cars.  Although he was hardly the only one to enter F1 straight from F3.  But in those pre-|Button, pre-Kimi days there was still a feeling that you had to pay your dues before you entered F1.



#53 opplock

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Posted 27 October 2016 - 19:04

Before the discussion on Jos Verstappen goes much further can I point out that Sterzo brought him up and from the context has probably confused him with Max. My attempt to draw attention to this may have been too subtle.

 

Others to enter F1 directly from F3 included Senna and Brundle in 1984.     



#54 BRG

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Posted 28 October 2016 - 20:02

It is interesting that both father and son seemed to reach F1 too early though.



#55 Charlieman

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Posted 29 October 2016 - 10:53

To me, it seems that moving up from F3 to F1 (i.e. skipping F2, F3000, GP2 or similar) is a red herring. A lot of drivers managed the change because there was real testing in F1 cars at the time. Timed testing was a brutal way to judge whether a driver could handle F1 power and grip. Some teams allegedly made it a maturity test, making the driver wait to the end of a session after others had worn out the tyres.

 

Drivers with starts in a variety of different classes are more likely to cope with the big step. If a driver has experience in two types of single seater -- driving school car to get a racing licence and F3 -- you can guess whether they are quick but you don't know if they have the other track skills.

 

Historically, some F3 races (Monaco, Macau) have counted more than others. Partly, that is down to F1 team bosses making time to watch challengers on a tricky circuit. 



#56 Ibsey

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Posted 31 October 2016 - 13:39

Jos Verstappen is defiantly a candidate for this. He only had 52 previous single-seater races before F1 and at the Pacific Grand Prix in Aida he pushed too hard when resuming on cold tyres from his second pit stop. Also worth saying Irvine still blames Jos for the Brazil 1994 pileup. Also I recall seeing a Eurosport interview with Jos (at that years British GP) where he admitted to struggling with the car setup. Something that is backed up in Steve Machett’s book Life in the Fast Lane. IIRC Steve said at Aida Jos spent 3 days chasing his tail on car setup, only to just copy M Schumi’s setup in the end. There were more examples of this in 1994...