3. Star Drivers Are Being Forced Out
In the "good old days" of Formula One - hell even 10 years ago - the majority of the grid would be made up of drivers present for their merits of driving ability and would be paid for the privilege. In 2012 only teams like Ferrari, McLaren, RedBull and, to a certain extent, Lotus can afford to pay their drivers. Most other teams require drivers to bring a certain amount of sponsorship with them. This means that in a toss up between a fast driver with no money and a slow driver with billions at their disposal, a team will normally choose the driver who has the wealth of a small country. This can take three paths: firstly a driver with lots of sponsorship can be quick - look at Sergio Perez, a stunning season with Sauber leading to a seat at McLaren and of course having sponsorship from the
world's richest man Carlos Slim Helu is always nice. Secondly a driver can be fast, have lots of sponsorship, but become accident prone like
Pastor Maldonado, a driver with obvious talent and a win at the Spanish Grand Prix backing that up. However crashing into Lewis Hamilton in the European Grand Prix quickly made people forget about his maiden victory. Lastly a driver will be very well sponsored but very slow, much like Bruno Senna, a driver who should be very good given he is the nephew of all time great Ayrton Senna. Sadly a 16th place finish didn't fulfil early season potential. You may now ask - what become of the quick drivers who don't have sponsorship? Well they become like ex-Ferrari and Brawn GP star Rubens Barrichello who was replaced at Williams in late 2011 by the previously mentioned Senna. Poor Rubens, after 18 years of solid results, had to move to IndyCar and race with compatriot Tony Kanaan as the monetary demands weren't as great as retaining a seat in F1. In order to keep Formula One as the proving grounds for the world's best talent there needs to be a way of subsiding drivers who can't keep up with the demands of increasingly high levels of sponsorship. This will mean that the best drivers may not eventually arrive in F1 leaving what could be a possible skill shortage in top flight racing. For example, Alex Brundle, has already achieved strong finishes at the Le Mans 24 Hours and in the World Endurance Championship in the LMP2 category is still quite a few years away from F1 even with an already impressive CV.