Apparently there are vultures hovering in Formula 1 – who knew? When weren’t they? We haven’t been told if they are of the white beaked ‘Old World’ variety or the black beaked ‘New World’ type – but I doubt that matters to the headline writers. Here is a headline in the New Zealand Herald of 23 May 2018:
Motorsport: The vultures are circling Brendon Hartley – former F1 driver
I looked for the author of the piece – there isn’t one however a website I hadn’t heard of called badgergp.com is quoted – so I jumped on that. It’s a reasonable looking site and this is what the stories on offer were on the morning of May 24:
Look at that then – Why Toro Rosso should stick with Brendon Hartley – a piece dated May 19th. Something’s not ringing true here…
I heard the interview between Bob McMurray and Martin Brundle on Radio Sport’s Driven hour on Monday evening (May the 21st) and, as you’d expect, it was excellent – two blokes on top of their respective games. Radio Sport contacted me the following day to see if I’d be able to give my view as to these birds of prey seemingly not far from the head of Brendon – and I was happy to do so. I’ve not met the host, Daniel McHardy but I’d been interviewed by him last October when a whisper went around the country that we might be on the verge of having a Formula 1 driver for the first time in decades. I like listening to him on Radio Sport and also, as a bit of a cricket tragic, his commentaries.
He began by asking me about Brundle’s comments that Brendon was under pressure to keep his seat – frankly you find yourself struggling to add anything new to all the standard lines – stuff like ‘it’s one thing getting to Formula 1 but it’s another to stay there’ and ‘we know he’s quick – but is he F1 quick?’ blah blah. Frankly Martin was merely responding to a question put by Bob and I suspect Bob only asked it because of the local interest here – I don’t expect either imagined a headline like that in the Herald two days later that quoted the ace Formula 1 commentator/observer – a headline that dangled over a story with an unnamed author.
Brendon, I was told, is “languishing in 18th position on the table with a solitary point” – ok so the same place on the table then as Esteban Ocon whose team-mate has more points than Brendon’s – seen any suggestions of vultures in the vicinity of the lanky Frenchman? Of course not – Ocon’s a bright young thing who has looked at home in Formula 1 pretty much from the get-go. I told Daniel that if I was to name the three drivers most at risk – and remember, we are a mere five races into the season – then the Kiwi doesn’t make the list.
Romain Grosjean would top it, especially when compared to how well Kevin Magnusson is going. The Haas boss is quoted as saying the Frenchman “will get back where he belongs” – I imagine some of the long-suffering Haas mechanics might think that place is on a rock or in a zoo as they repair yet another smashed up pale grey and red car.
Vandoorne is next – the former GP2 champion was touted as being the best thing out of Belgium since Jacky Ickx but consistently comes up short against Fernando Alonso. I am unapologetic in my view that the Spaniard is the best out there but he is 36. Stoffel is 26 – if you’re going to ever cut in F1, then you need to be at least matching your decade older team-mate – especially after the time he’s now had at McLaren.
Number 3 – Marcus Ericsson. I’m already reading about comparisons between Charles Leclerc and both Senna and Schumacher (yawn) but there is no doubt he’s talented. The Swede is in fact better than many have predicted but I expect the gap between the two Sauber men will widen as the season progresses.
I wanted to make it clear that objectivity must prevail and we can’t get caught up in patriotic pride – Brendon must be considered as if he were Moroccan, Mexican or Martian. Is there a clearly better option ready to go right now? I don’t believe there is – and we know teams like continuity. Swapping drivers part of the way through a season has the opposite effect. I mentioned to McHardy that I doubted we’d be chatting about Brendon if it weren’t for that crash in practice in Barcelona – one tiny mistake had massive repercussions – and of course it looked worse because when the car was being loaded onto the rescue truck, the gearbox made a run for freedom meaning and that it looked like the thing was a ‘take it to the tip’ job. But it wasn’t – it, and Brendon were patched together and he brought it home a very solid 12th.
We can’t say that his drive is safe because this is Formula 1 – it’s a pool of piranhas, “brutal” was the word I think Martin Brundle used – he knows better than most. Ones team-mate is always the barometer and in Pierre Gasly, the Kiwi has an impressive measuring stick. We don’t know yet if Gasly is a future world champion or even as good as Leclerc might be, but to make his seat safer, there is no doubt Brendon has got to start qualifying closer to the young Frenchman, and preferably ahead of him, on merit – at least occasionally.
Just as last October when it seemed that some in New Zealand media were trying to pre-empt Brendon’s arrival in Formula 1, I almost wonder if some are trying to pre-empt his departure. Why, I have no idea but I certainly don’t include the Radio Sport boys as having any part of it.
I concluded by telling Daniel that I’ve been following Formula 1 far too long to take rumours seriously and believe stories written by people who haven’t put their name to it – and that in any event, as for these supposed vultures, they won’t get much of a feed off Brendon, he’s thin even by F1 standards.
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