Despite getting together with Sebastian Vettel on lap one, Lewis Hamilton clinched his fourth World Drivers' Championship in Mexico City and he has more World Drivers' Championships than any other British driver. Andrea Dovizioso kept his MotoGP championship hopes alive with another victory in the wet at Sepang. Chase Elliott, Brad Keselowski, Denny Hamlin, Joey Logano and Kyle Busch all got together at some point at Martinsville. Here is a run down of what got me thinking.
Newgarden Deserves a Shot at Formula One and He Isn't The Only One
I would like to thank Haas F1 Team Principal Guenther Steiner because he has forced me to get to something I had planned on touching in a few weeks but his comments this weekend about Josef Newgarden's desire to race in Formula One created the perfect time.
Steiner said Newgarden could not just jump into Formula One and one reason for it was the pressure. "It's a lot more pressure," he said of Formula One and, "the pressure here is tremendous. After three races if you don't deliver, you know what your are – an idiot and you need to leave." Steiner cited Brendon Hartley's struggle in his debut at the United States Grand Prix at how tough Formula One is but in the next breath slightly contradicts himself and defended why Hartley could be in Formula One and not Newgarden because Hartley had been exposed to the culture of Formula One because of a prior role as a test driver, a role Newgarden never got the chance to experience.
Part of me thinks Steiner's words are a little out of context and I think what he is trying to say is Newgarden cannot just jump into Formula One and be a successful driver immediately but I think this is where it gets lost the minutia. I don't think anyone is saying Newgarden would come into Formula One and immediately start contending for podium finishes. What some people want and what I bet Newgarden wants is a chance to show what he has got.
Newgarden couldn't jump into a Formula One car and immediately start competing for top five finishes but why couldn't he have a year to consistently score points and maybe catch the attention of a team and potentially earn a promotion? That is basically what Valtteri Bottas did for four seasons at Williams and it earned him a Mercedes seat. Carlos Sainz, Jr. did the same thing at Scuderia Toro Rosso and he is now at Renault. I would love to see an American driver winning races in Formula One but first I want an American driver who can consistently show he or she is competitive and scores points on a regular basis and I think Newgarden can be that driver.
When it appeared Pierre Gasly would not be in Austin for the United States Grand Prix because of a scheduling conflict with his Super Formula commitments I wondered why an American-based driver, an IndyCar drive to be specific couldn't get the opportunity to do one race. André Lotterer got a shot in the 2014 Belgian Grand Prix in a one-off for Caterham and the man had won the 24 Hours of Le Mans three times, he was a World Endurance Drivers' Champion and he had won championships in Super GT and Super Formula. You don't win that much and not have talent and Lotterer deserved the opportunity.
IndyCar has its share of successful drivers. Besides Newgarden, who has enough FIA Super License points thanks to his championship this season, Scott Dixon was another name that came to mind of a guy who should at least get one crack at Formula One. You don't accidentally win four championships and 40 IndyCar races, not to forget mentioning two 24 Hours of Daytona victories overall and a finish on a class podium in the 24 Hours of Le Mans. Simon Pagenaud is another one of those drivers with success across many disciplines. Beside having an IndyCar championship to his name, Pagenaud won many races in LMP1, including for the factory Peugeot effort and he finished second overall at Le Mans with Peugeot.
Anyone of those three are talented enough for Formula One but there is a cloud hanging over the heads of North American-based drivers that makes them appear inferior to the Formula One teams based in Europe. At some point you have to see success and think it can't all be a fluke or the level of competition isn't at an insufficient standard.
Steiner's thought process has many flaws when it comes to why Newgarden is not ready for Formula One. If he is discrediting IndyCar for not having enough pressure for a driver to make the switch to Formula One, then what about the handful of drivers that have moved to Formula One directly from Formula Three in recent seasons? Does Formula Three really have more pressure than IndyCar? Max Verstappen and Lance Stroll followed that path and while Verstappen and Stroll have had their taste of success both have shown pure immaturity at times on the racetrack.
Esteban Ocon entered Formula One in the middle of last year after ten DTM races where he scored all of two points and the year prior to that he won the GP3 Series championship. Is there more pressure in GP3 and DTM than IndyCar? Let's not forget to point out the driver that had two points from ten DTM races has finished every race in his brief Formula One career and he has scored points in 17 of 18 races in 2017.
Another fallacy in Steiner's logic is while he said Hartley's experience as a test driver was enough of a reason for him to be in Formula One and why Newgarden should not be in Formula One, does that apply to all former test/reserved drivers? Would Carmen Jordá be a better fit for Formula One than Newgarden? Because despite failing to score a point in 44 GP3 starts and failing to qualify for two GP3 races and being disqualified in another and let's not forget her average finish of 18.0 in five Indy Lights starts in 2010, she was a development driver for Lotus F1 and Renault. By Steiner's logic, she is more qualified for Formula One than Newgarden. Is Haas' current development driver Santino Ferrucci, who had one podium finish in 26 GP3 starts, more qualified than Newgarden?
And there is just one more thing Steiner should consider. Didn't his team employ Esteban Gutiérrez for the 2016 season? I believe Haas did and if I recall Gutiérrez scored a grand total of zero points for the team and he got a full season! I thought drivers that didn't deliver results within three races were idiots and had to leave? And yet, Haas kept him on for the full season. So who is the idiot Guenther, the driver who doesn't score or the team that chooses to keep him on?
Let's not forget to mention that Gutiérrez went to IndyCar and while he had respectable results considering his lack of testing, the pressure he endured in Formula One didn't seem to give him an advantage once he got to IndyCar and he never once was a challenger to the likes of Newgarden, Dixon and Pagenaud.
If there is one thing I think we all wish would stop are people coming up with a reason for why an IndyCar driver couldn't make it in Formula One and not even think about giving him or her a chance. There has to come a point where a driver's success gets someone's attention. Talent is talent regardless of series and it will get the job done anywhere.
Champions From the Weekend
You know about Lewis Hamilton but did you know...
Franco Morbidelli clinched the Moto2 championship after Thomas Lüthi was unable to start the race from Sepang.
Sébastien Ogier clinched his fifth consecutive World Rally Championship with a third place finish in Wales Rally GB.
Winners From the Weekend
You know about Andrea Dovizioso but did you know...
Max Verstappen won the Mexican Grand Prix.
Miguel Olivera won the Moto2 race from Sepang, his second consecutive victory. Joan Mir picked up his tenth Moto3 victory of the season.
Elfyn Evans won Wales Rally GB, his first career WRC victory.
Kyle Busch won the NASCAR Cup race from Martinsville. Noah Gragson won the Truck race, his first career Truck series victory.
The #8 Jackie Chan DC Racing Oreca-Nissan of Thomas Laurent, Stéphane Richelmi and Harrison Newey won the 4 Hours of Zhuhai. The #18 KCMG Ligier-Nissan of Josh Burdon, Neric Wei and Louis Prette won in LMP3. The #91 FIST-Team AAI BMW of Jesse Krohn, Chaz Mostert and Junsan Chen won in GT.
Tom Chilton and Nobert Michelisz split the WTCC races from Motegi.
Coming Up This Weekend
World Superbike and World Supersport closes out their seasons in Qatar.
The FIA World Endurance Championship has its penultimate round at Shanghai.
Supercars heads to New Zealand and Pukekohe Park Raceway to be specific.
NASCAR's antepenultimate round is at Texas Motor Speedway.
Covering All Motorsports. From Indianapolis to Le Mans, Daytona to Monaco.
