I think you’re being overly optimistic there. Sure, there’s a minimum competency requirement before people are going to look at you, but Maldanado is still in F1 because he’s Venezuelan and they’ll spend a ton of money just for the propaganda value alone. And it’s not coincidence that Russian drivers with huge bankrolls behind them start popping up as we get a Russian Grand Prix.
Give, say, Will Power the funding for a halfway-decent seat, and maybe a little time to re-acclimate himself to Formula-type cars, and I suspect he’d do well.
I agree. Of the current drivers, Power is the most likely to do well. I’d go with road and street drivers, as opposed to oval drivers. There’s just more to it when you have to navigate a street/road course.
As an aside, as a huge IndyCar fan - I loathe ovals. Hates them. Boring, and just too hillbilly for me. I’d prefer no ovals in the series. On the other hand, I watch F1, and I get bored because all of the focus is on the cars - engines, companies, etc. I totally understand it, but I prefer paying attention to drivers as opposed to mechanics. Which is why IndyCar is my preferred series.
The Williams-Renaults were superb in 1992 and 1993, but they did a terrible job adapting to the 1994 rule changes. Hill might have won the 1995 championship because he had the best car, but his 1994 performance was one of the best seasons in the history of F1. Taking everything into account, that is - being the #2 driver for the first three races of the season, losing his team leader, and having a car that was almost undriveable at times. Despite all that, he only lost the championship because Schumacher drove into him.
I heard that one of the major reasons Michael Andretti didn’t perform in F1 was because he flew to all the races out of the US, instead of relocating to the UK where the McLaren factory was. This limited his testing time and prevented him integrating into the team etc.
ETA: By the end of 1993 though he did seem to be getting the hang of it and was showing improvement (instead of binning it at the start on the first corner) but his replacement was assured by then.
