Is it worth being an F1 reserve?

The reserve driver role gets a pretty bad rep among Formula 1 fans sometimes. This is hardly a surprise, because in these days of heavily restricted testing, it seems they do very little actual driving.

It's easy to look at drivers in these positions and think that all they do is stand around in branded team gear with headphones on, but of course there is a bit more to it than that.

There is also some (understandable) confusion surrounding the exact nature of these positions, given each F1 team has its own take on the third/reserve/test/development (delete as appropriate) role, depending on its individual circumstances.

It used to be that each team would employ test drivers (in the days when testing was unrestricted) and usually they would be most likely to receive a call to race if one of the regular drivers was injured, banned, or for any other reason unavailable.

But there have never been any hard and fast rules here. After Ayrton Senna died in 1994, Williams promoted test driver David Coulthard for two races, then rehired 1992 world champion Nigel Mansell for the French Grand Prix, then reverted to Coulthard for six races, then back to Mansell for the final three.

By that time Mansell was a reigning IndyCar champion with no affiliation to Williams other than history, so it's true teams have often made things up as they've gone along, which is still the case today.

This is something 2012 GP2 champion Davide Valsecchi knows all too well, having been appointed reserve driver for Lotus in 2013 only to see Heikki Kovalianen called up to race when Kimi Raikkonen quit the team ahead of schedule.

What different teams do in this area usually (but not exclusively) relates to a blend of necessary preparation for the untoward and a desire to observe and nurture future driving talent.

Reserve Valsecchi was all dressed up, but ultimately overlooked by Lotus in 2013 © XPB

Current world champion Mercedes, for example, has appointed DTM racer Pascal Werhlein as its official reserve driver for 2015, a role that includes simulator duties (a surrogate for testing these days), some proper testing in the W06, and requires him to step in if Lewis Hamilton or Nico Rosberg are unavailable.

Ferrari has made ex-Sauber racer Esteban Gutierrez its official 'third driver' (usually synonymous with 'reserve') and he performs broadly the same role for the Scuderia as Werhlein does for Mercedes, but Ferrari also has three 'test drivers' on its books.

Jean-Eric Vergne, Marc Gene and Davide Rigon all perform various simulator driving and ambassadorial roles for the F1 team, but simultaneously race in other categories, not necessarily for Ferrari. Vergne will compete for the Citroen-linked DS Virgin Racing in Formula E this season and Gene is part of Nissan's LMP1 roster. Rigon does race for Ferrari, but in GT racing. Werhlein's duties are all for Mercedes.

By contrast, midfield teams Force India and Toro Rosso have no official drivers listed in a reserve role, but each could call on 'parent' outfits to supply someone if needed. Force India has close ties with engine supplier Mercedes (Werhlein has already tested several times for the Silverstone squad in 2015), while STR naturally forms part of the wider Red Bull operation, which includes a fully-fledged junior driver programme.

Ferrari has its own version of such a scheme - the Ferrari Driver Academy - of which Sauber's 'test and reserve driver' Raffaele Marciello (who races in GP2) is a part, while Mercedes has no official junior scheme, but supports GP3 racer Esteban Ocon (who also recently tested for Force India) by making him a reserve for its DTM operation.

Again, there are no hard and fast rules, as the following list illustrates.

OFFICIAL NON-RACE DRIVER ROLES BY TEAM
Mercedes: Pascal Werhlein (reserve driver)
Red Bull: Sebastien Buemi (reserve driver), Antonio Felix da Costa (test driver)
Williams: Adrian Sutil (reserve driver), Susie Wolff (test driver), Alex Lynn (development driver)

Ferrari: Esteban Gutierrez (third driver), Jean-Eric Vergne (test driver), Marc Gene (test driver), Davide Rigon (test driver)
McLaren: Kevin Magnussen (reserve driver), Stoffel Vandoorne (test and development driver), Oliver Turvey (test and development driver)
Force India: N/A
Toro Rosso: N/A
Lotus: Jolyon Palmer (third driver), Carmen Jorda (development driver), Adderly Fong (development driver)
Manor: Fabio Leimer (reserve driver)
Sauber: Raffaele Marciello (test and reserve driver)

The official non-racing driver roles on the current F1 grid are actually quite nebulous, ranging from those who are seriously and actively involved in their respective team's current programmes, to those whose positions are not so hands-on.

Williams is a good example. Susie Wolff has been on a development programme with the team since 2013, has tested several times this year, and participated in several free practice sessions at grands prix, while GP2 racer Alex Lynn has also had the chance to test the current FW37, having been appointed a development driver for this season.

Sauber's 2014 drivers, Sutil and Gutierrez have picked up non-racing roles © LAT

Ex-Sauber racer Adrian Sutil has done no actual driving whatsoever this year, but it is the German who will most likely be called up in the event of a problem for the race team. He was signed for just that eventuality, once the team realised it had no one suitable on its books should Valtteri Bottas not have recovered sufficiently from his Australian GP back injury to make the next race in Malaysia.

The reason, of course, is that Sutil has relevant recent racing experience in F1 and is a proven safe pair of hands at the highest level. The same cannot be said of Wolff and Lynn, despite all the work they have completed thus far.

But arguably it is Wolff and Lynn who are getting more out of their respective roles than Sutil in this case. Lynn is being groomed for the future while continuing his rise through the junior ranks in GP2, and clearly hopes this will eventually propel him into a race seat, as happened with Bottas, who was a Williams development driver before he graduated to F1 in 2013.

For Sutil, it's clearly more a case of trying to remain connected to a world that forgets you very quickly if you don't stick around. It's something that worked extremely well for Force India's Nico Hulkenberg, who joined the team in a third-driver role after losing his Williams race seat for 2011. The German has been back on the grid permanently since 2012.

McLaren's Kevin Magnussen hopes to do something similar, having been dropped after his rookie 2014 campaign to make way for Fernando Alonso's return. He is the team's official reserve driver, but junior driver Stoffel Vandoorne or long-time test/simulator driver (and current sportscar racer) Oliver Turvey generally undertake testing duties when Alonso or Jenson Button are absent.

McLaren has Magnussen on the bench and Vandoorne dominating GP2 © LAT

Magnussen received an unexpected call to replace the Spaniard when a shunt sidelined him from the final pre-season test and the first race of 2015, but most of the time Magnussen is spending his days watching and waiting for an opportunity.

"It's to stay close with the team, to stay inside the loop, to stay inside the pool of drivers who are being considered for race drives," Magnussen tells AUTOSPORT, when asked about his current role. "And then it's to learn as well, especially right now because McLaren are learning a lot - coming in with a new power unit - [and there are] two world champions [to learn from in the race team].

"I wouldn't say I'm busy, but I try to keep busy and help the team as much as I can in terms of observing the sessions and seeing what everyone else is doing. I can see [what] all the other teams [are doing on track] and I can also help the drivers a bit and compare on-board videos to other drivers. It's not a huge amount but I can help a bit.

"I want to get back to racing in Formula 1 and you can easily check out of being in Formula 1 by going to America or going to Le Mans, and you can't just remove yourself from that little pool of drivers who are considered 'Formula 1 drivers'."

Magnussen and Sutil are in a more difficult position than some others in similar roles, because they aren't racing in other categories while they wait for an opportunity to return to race seats in F1.

Ferrari's Gutierrez shares that fate, but the likes of Sebastien Buemi, Red Bull reserve since losing his Toro Rosso race drive for 2012, has been able to carve out an alternate career in sportscars and Formula E while maintaining ties to F1.

The trouble with spending too long in this kind of situation is that you eventually cease to be a Formula 1 driver first in the eyes of the majority of the paddock, instead becoming cast as a 'something else' driver with an additional F1 role. The same could arguably be said of Red Bull 'test driver' Antonio Felix da Costa, who races in Formula E and the DTM and last tested an F1 car in 2013.

Da Costa and Buemi are both on Red Bull's books, but race extensively elsewhere © XPB

It's a question of emphasis. That said, Buemi has started 55 grands prix in his career, and even though he hasn't raced in F1 since 2011 he is prepared to step in on a grand prix weekend (should Red Bull or Toro Rosso need a driver in an emergency) in a way that da Costa or Red Bull junior and GP2 racer Pierre Gasly (who made his F1 test debut this year) are not.

And again, because of the fluid nature of this kind of opportunity in F1, the usefulness of it depends on the individual circumstance of the team and driver, and what they make of it.

That's what Gutierrez has tried to do since joining Ferrari as reserve driver. He's not racing anymore, but he sees linking up in this capacity with the Scuderia as a step up from racing at Sauber, and hopes to use this season as a springboard back onto the grid.

"I've been adopted by Ferrari and I have had to be very practical in the way that I get myself involved in things and to have the interest to be there," Gutierrez tells AUTOSPORT. "I think this is one of the main things, because it's not like you arrive and then somebody is doing everything for you. It doesn't work that way. You have to be practical and you have to be there and make an input.

"There is obviously my responsibility, which is being ready in case I need to jump in the car. Also, there is a lot of work in the background in terms of the simulator.

"For me, having a vision for the future, it [this role] is worth quite a lot.

"To take a step into consolidation after my stint at Sauber, which were quite tough years I have to admit, it's good to step up into the most important team in F1 as a third driver and have a great reference, and also to learn and keep on developing myself.

Unlike Magnussen at McLaren, Gutierrez got in-season testing miles with Ferrari © XPB

"From the outside, it looks like a step back, but actually, in my opinion, it's a step forward. This is how I feel, and obviously I would love to be racing in the car but I think sometimes in life you have to take risks in order to aim high."

The worth of one of these roles clearly depends on what stage of your career you are at, and what you have achieved previously. Buemi's reserve driver role at Red Bull, for example, is arguably less important to his career than Gutierrez's Ferrari responsibilities are to him - simply because one is plying his trade elsewhere having been overlooked for promotion to the senior Red Bull F1 race team, while the other raced in F1 for the past two seasons and is desperate to get back in before his career momentum arrests completely.

If you are Jolyon Palmer or Fabio Leimer (the past two champions of GP2), or Lynn or Marciello or Wehrlein, this kind of role presents an opportunity to gain valuable experience of F1 (including testing and race-weekend driving responsibilities) while preparing to become a Formula 1 race driver in the future.

But if you're Marc Gene, who hasn't driven a current F1 car on proper testing duty since 2009 but still attends grands prix in an official Ferrari capacity, the emphasis is clearly different.

Palmer's third-driver role at Lotus is intensive and clearly geared towards potentially racing in F1 in the near future, but Lotus development drivers Adderly Fong and Carmen Jorda (also present at grands prix and involved with the team officially, but possessing questionable single-seater pedigree) are not afforded similar driving responsibilities.

The important thing is not to paint everyone who has a non-racing association/affiliation as an F1 team's development/third/reserve driver with the same brush, especially in an age where the majority of F1 teams and drivers no longer boast manufacturer affiliation.

It's different strokes for different folks, depending on where they've come from, and where they're going. But in that respect, the reserve driver role in Formula 1 is not really any different, or any more or less worthwhile, than it ever was.