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| Things had been going well...for anyone with an eye on Schumi's seat - Photo: parepinvr4 |
I'm also in awe of the current quality on the F1 grid. I'm not talking about the six world champions malarkey. I mean the grid in general. Absolutely rammed full of talent racing drivers, all of whom could be frontrunners in the right car - as some have already had the opportunity to do in this ridiculously close season.
But as in most years, there are plenty more drivers knocking on the doors. Be it Valtteri Bottas, Jules Bianchi, Esteban Gutierrez, Davide Valsecchi, Luiz Razia, Giedo van der Garde, Max Chilton, Alexander Rossi...the list goes on.
Last year there were veterans on the F1 grid like Barrichello and Trulli, both of whom I campaigned all season long to see the back of at the end of the year in order to let other drivers have a go. Fortunately, both were finally ditched, for younger drivers with something to prove.
So recently I was looking at this year's F1 crop and pondering who could leave the sport at the end of the year in order to vacate their seats for someone new. And I was struggling.
Obviously at HRT there's De La Rosa - and you'd probably think I wouldn't be a fan of a 41-year-old trundling around at the back. Well, actually, I feel that HRT are entitled to an experienced driver (and I mean, properly experienced, been-there-been-a-tester-for-McLaren level of experience) and a Spaniard, so I have very few issues with De La Rosa on the grid. After all, I'd like to see HRT become more competitive. But they do need to get rid of Karthikeyan. Like Minardi used to, HRT should be giving chances to younger drivers. They have their experienced man - there are plenty of well-backed younger drivers out there - even if their junior careers aren't super-exciting they still deserve their place on the 2012 grid more than Karthikeyan does. Anyway, I wasn't here to moan at HRT...
Looking through the rest of the grid, I was struggling to find many dud drivers who don't deserve a place in 2013. So I had to target Schumacher.
He doesn't need to be in F1. He's achieved all he's ever going to have achieved. And he's struggling to match Rosberg. I know there's some bad luck to blame for his meagre two points versus the 41 of his teammate, but the pace hasn't really been there either. I find it incredibly annoying that Schumacher is hogging a Mercedes seat that go to a potential future world champion like Di Resta or Hulkenberg, the signing of whom would free a Force India seat up for other youngsters like Bianchi, Bird or Calado. And after Spain it genuinely looked like the pressure was on. Mercedes publicly talked about Di Resta as a potential replacement, and Schumi looked uncomfortable when asked about his future.
I was also looking to Webber as a man to make way. Comprehensively thrashed by Vettel last year, it looked as though his chances of ever winning the title were over - if the Red Bull was a title threat, Vettel was always going to be quicker than Webber. Furthermore Red Bull have invested a lot of money into young drivers and with two very promising stars at Toro Rosso, I'm sure they'd like the opportunity to give one of them a chance at the big team. I was becoming confident Webber would be making way at the end of the year.
There was one final obvious candidate. Massa. Outscored by Alonso 62 points to two up to now, there was no way Ferrari were going to retain him. And I was struggling to see how he was going to end up at another team. Sauber would be the obvious choice, but Massa has no sponsorship money and with the likes of Perez, Gutierrez, Bianchi around he was going to struggle to land a drive there.
So I had three guys I was hoping would be out of seats by the end of the year, freeing up spaces for three new rookies.
And then Monaco qualifying happens.
Schumacher fastest. Webber takes pole. And Massa's found his pace again too.
Disaster.
As many have commented, Schumacher has proven that "he's still got it".
That may be true. And as such it unfortunately means that the team are likely to hold on to him, and that he's likely to want to stay on.
But I still don't think he should be on the grid. If he was pottering around in a slow car I wouldn't mind so much, but he's preventing some top talents from driving a race-winning car. While they're stuck with the Force India (which may I add has massively disappointed me this year, as has Toro Rosso. All these teams fighting for wins and yet these two teams, with their super-epic exciting driver pairings, aren't).
On to Webber. Pole around Monaco, while Vettel scraped through into both Q2 and Q3 and didn't have confidence in his ability to get pole to even bother with a time in Q3. Proof to both himself and the team that he can beat the pesky German. If he keeps that up, I can't see either party wanting to part ways at the end of the year.
Which is a shame, because I don't see a lot of point in Toro Rosso and the Red Bull Junior Team if they're not actually going to give any of them a chance in their top team, despite their obvious talent. If it were down to me, it would be Alguersuari and not Webber in that car this season. Instead, poor Jaime's stuck in a commentary box. And for radio.
As for Massa, most of us thought he was dead and buried. To be honest it was almost painful to see a guy who as he put it "was world champion for a few seconds" in 2008, struggling so much. So good for him. But can he keep it up for the rest of the year? And can he actually start threatening Alonso a bit? If so, there might just be a chance yet that Ferrari may be loyal and stick with him for another season while they wait for his successor to emerge.
So if this past-their-peak trio can keep up their sudden form for the rest of the season, they could all end up on the grid again next year.
In which case, I'm struggling to see how any newcomers are going to get a chance. Which is a shame.
But in this unpredictable season, things could turn right back around to how they were before. Even in the race.
