ltc

This 17 year old has definitely been put on the fast track for pay drivers.

http://www.formula1.com/news/headlin...3/7/14798.html

I assume he will be granted a SuperLicense regardless of his experience.

ltc

Story very similar to Max Chilton's ...

http://www.planetf1.com/driver/18227...-practice-runs

He is still in his teens, but Sergey Sirotkin is set to get behind the wheel of the Sauber during free practice sessions later this year.

Sauber announced on Monday that Sirotkin has been added to their development programme as part of their partnerships with three Russian companies including the International Institute of Aviation Technologies, which is headed by his father, Oleg. Under the deal, the Russian teenager, who will turn 18 in August, is set to earn a race seat on the Formula One grid next season.

His manager Nikolay Vetrov has also revealed that he will take part in some Friday practice sessions during the latter half of this campaign as part of his learning experience.

"Our target is simple," Vetrov told Autosport. "We want to be sure we do everything possible to make him ready for his debut in Formula 1 in 2014.

"We are preparing a package of measures - and in particular I can confirm that we will see Sergey in some Friday free practices [this year]."

In order to make it to Friday practice sessions, Sirotkin will require a mandatory superlicence, but he will need to win the Formula Renault 3.5 Championship, in which he is currently eighth, to qualify automatically.

If he fails then he can always get one through motorsport's governing body as drivers who are "judged by the FIA to have consistently demonstrated outstanding ability in single-seater formula cars" can get a licence.

Not many drivers would be given a chance to show their worth in the F1 set-up at the age of 17, but Vetrov believes his charge is ready for the challenge.

"I have known Sergey since he was 10, and I'm absolutely sure that he is far ahead of boys who are the same age in terms of self-development: both physically and mentally," Vetrov said.

"That makes me believe he can manage the task in front of him. For us it was not an easy decision, but we have weighed up all the pros and cons - and we understood that someone had to make this step. So we decided to do it ourselves."

.

Steward B.

there is a long history of well heeled or well connected drivers getting seats in F1 or sports car or even NASCAR....Peter Revson, Lance Reventlow from the past and Paul Menard currently.
Yes, in many respects these drivers oftentimes can be jokes but that's professional racing......after all, what's the answer to the old question "how do you make a small fortune in racing?"......."you start with a large fortune"

multi21

A far cry from when Peter Sauber had to petition the FIA to try out a young kid with only 23 car races under his belt..... That kid had some unbelievable natural talent but not much $$ behind him. What a difference 10 years makes at the highest level when a young kid like KIMI could come in and eventually win a WDC and now when the highest bidder gets their son or daughter in.

I'm sure Bernie's okay with it, afterall, it's a new avenue for sponsorship. Gone are the days of tobacco money and in are the uber rich dads and entire countries in the case of Maldonado that are willing to write a check for upwards of $49,000,000 for a single seater ride.

paradisenb

International Institute of Aviation Technologies, which is headed by his father, Oleg

Well all it takes is money. Lots and lots of money. I hope dad and Williams get their money's worth.

perfectlap

pretty soon the field will be Hamiton, Vettel, Alonso, Kimi and a bunch of billionaires from China, India and Russia. Which means that within a few seasons Hamilton might become the last British driver in F1 .

paradisenb

Button?

enduro911

I'm convinced that's how Maldanado and Perez ended up with their drives. Both have had good performances and made some stupid moves. My gut tells me there's better talent out there that's not being tapped for financial reasons.

perfectlap

will be gone if the cars continue to be such bad performers on Euros/points basis. Not JB's fault but with a pay driver already onboard Twitmarsh is going to try and bring in a big gun. Button is like Webber, a top driver but not part of the elite.

Now consider the number of British F3 drivers chomping at the bit, nothing new granted, to get into F1. Many are fast fast fast, and two of the top British teams have one seat taken up by drivers that would never have their jobs if not for the favor of some emerging market billionaire. If its gotten to the point where Williams and McLaren can't afford to hire both their drivers on merit what can the midfield and backmarker teams afford to do? I have to wonder if Hamilton hadn't been a prodigy project of Ron Dennis if even he would have gotten the chance to break into F1. Jenson Button's entry into F1 was a bit of fluke in its own right. He hadn't even won the F3 title when he skipped "F2" completely and landed in F1.

leejo

Personally I'm ready for a guy in his mid-40s with a bit of a gut to break in. *fingers crossed*

ltc

$500 million into the Sauber team?!

http://www.onestopstrategy.com/daily...+-+report.html

Don't see why they would get rid of Monisha, but I am sure they have a reason.

Ths kid just set the benchmark for a pay driver, he left Daddy and Max Chilton in the dust.

perfectlap

^ So we will have a Russian team, a German team (Merc), a Brazilian team, an Indian team, a Mexican team (McLaren .... LOL) and pretty soon a China team (who steal everyone's IP/tech).
The British/Irish, Spanish, Italian teams (PIGS GP) will all have to devalue their cars and demote themselves to F3 until the Euro finally caves in on itself at which point they will be taken over by an Saudi sheik to become OPEC GP.

ninjacoco

Are they getting rid of Monisha or is she getting rid of them? She seems like a fairly competent team boss--I have to wonder where she'll land.

IcemanG17

its all about $$$$$$$ as in huge stacks of it.....daddy is rich and owns a multinational corporation that can pretend sponsoring "child" is an advertising expense....ya its gonna happen.....then child will crash countless million+++ cars and finish in last place despite having a top flight team..... Bernie will laugh all the way to the bank (again) so HIS daughter can buy another 100 million house...

leejo

"Daddy's gonna pay for your crashed car"

Maybe some of you longtime students of the sport can answer this: has is always been this way, is this a product of an economic cycle (my guess is that F1 team investment is a "lagging indicator"), or has something changed structurally that drives teams to seek so many pay drivers?