Why F1 drivers keep getting younger

Last week's AUTOSPORT magazine contained a remarkable sidebox to the main story. A group of world champions were ranked in order of victories at the age of 24 years, five months and five days (Sebastian Vettel's age as of last Thursday), with each frame further listing grand prix starts, poles and titles won.

Vettel obviously came out on top in all categories, with Jim Clark, for example, having made just four grand prix appearances at that age, each of which had delivered no pole position or wins. By extension, the Scot had no title to his name either.

Just one 1950s champion (Mike Hawthorn) had started a grand prix at that age, while only Clark represented the '60s. By contrast, Jenson Button, Kimi Raikkonen, Fernando Alonso, Lewis Hamilton and Vettel all made their debuts in the noughties before they were 24. Spot the trend?

The message is clear: F1 stars are getting younger, almost by the season.

At the other end of the spectrum we have Rubens Barrichello who, on home soil in Brazil a month ago, started a record-stretching 323rd career grand prix - comfortably ahead of Michael Schumacher on 287, and well up on '80s/90s star Riccardo Patrese's 256. Interestingly, the top 20 drivers on that list comprise no fewer than eight drivers who raced at the top level from 2000 onwards, seven who retired during the 1990s, four from the '80s and a single (Graham Hill, 176 starts) who retired in the '70s.

Saliently; of the 20, just two - Michele Alboreto and Hill - are deceased, with neither dying in an F1 car. Or, for that matter, in a race of any description. That said, the trend is no less clear.

Then, sitting between the two extremes is Mark Webber (debut age 25 and on 176 grands prix starts), who during Red Bull's victory run in Milton Keynes last Saturday, when asked whether he was counting down to retirement, responded with: "The results are the important thing, not the age. I've had team-mates who don't get the results, and they're finished when they're 21. It's a results-based industry. If you don't get the results, you don't operate with the top teams."

Hamilton and Vettel have been backed by big F1 teams since they were kids © LAT

That drivers are getting younger is obviously due to the opportunities on offer to kids from four upwards. In fact, Button, Hamilton and Vettel were professional racers way before the completed their schooling. In fact, one can almost imagine their CVs at age 13:

Name: XYXY
Date of birth: 12345
Profession: Racing driver
Hobbies: School, playground games
Marital status: Definitely single

A driver such as Clark had, in those pre-kart days, no opportunity of going racing until he could effectively afford a car of his own, and even then the sport's authorities insisted that a competition-licence holder hold a valid road-driving licence. Plus, the danger factor was such that parents seldom encouraged their offspring to compete, let alone do so professionally on tracks such as the original Spa-Francorchamps.

Then, various manufacturers introduced young driver programmes, and sponsorship and commercial initiatives have enabled kids from modest backgrounds to make it to the very top. Red Bull's programme, albeit based on a shotgun rather than sniper approach, and the defunct Formula BMW provide ample proof of the effectiveness of such staircase-of-talent initiatives: it is unlikely that F1 would be feting Vettel without the support of these two programmes.

Thus it's no coincidence that, with just two exceptions, every F1 world champion since the mid-1990s has achieved his boyhood dream despite not having well-heeled parents. The exceptions? Damon Hill and Jacques Villeneuve, both of whom made it into F1 despite having lost their (racing) fathers at an early age. Again, a trend...

Thus in Brazil we had the remarkable spectacle of the sport's youngest double world champion taking on (and beating hands-down) the two most experienced drivers in the 62-year history of F1, with Jarno Trulli (253 starts) and Button (208) also in the mix. Meanwhile, the youngest driver to make a grand prix start (Jaime Alguersuari) finished 11th.

Barrichello, a veteran of 323 starts, bucks the trend, as do a couple of others © LAT

Shortly before that weekend HRT confirmed that veteran tester Pedro de la Rosa - the Spaniard heading for his 42nd year - would join the young team as lead driver, meaning the youngest team on the grid would be headed by one of the oldest drivers...

Yet, while the likes of de la Rosa, Trulli (37) and Barrichello seem likely to be around in 2012, plenty of new-generation youngsters - of whom Bruno Senna, Jerome d'Ambrosio, Vitaly Petrov, Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi have solid grand prix showings to their CVs - are sitting on the sidelines, waiting for the call that may never come. For there are just 24 seats available, 21 of which have now been filled. Add in at least five drivers from feeder formulae capable of stepping up to F1, and the list of disappointed youthful hotshots easily swells to 10.

Yes, Charles Pic (21) has been picked up by Virgin (in exchange for a healthy budget, according to paddock sources), while Toro Rosso has confirmed Jean-Eric Vergne (21) and Daniel Ricciardo (22) as replacements for Alguersuari (21) and Buemi (23) - this team has effectively done nothing other than swap youth for youth.

That said, if the reason for ever-younger drivers entering the sport is easily identifiable, so too is the fact that drivers are remaining in the sport well into their forties, notching up start records in the process. Where once F1 had been subjected to what has since rather crudely (and extremely insensitively) been dubbed a 'culling process' due to the number of deaths per season, the sport has become immeasurably safer thanks to, initially, the efforts of Jackie Stewart and various FIA initiatives.

In those 'bad old days', as Stewart now refers to them, up to five drivers were killed per season - not only as a result of the lamentable prevailing safety-(non)standards, but also due to their competing in up to 40 events per year covering the full single-seater, sports/GT and saloon car spectrums - thus opening up a host of cockpit vacancies. Thankfully F1 has lost just two drivers (Roland Ratzenberger and Ayrton Senna) since June 1982, but the impact on young driver careers is all too evident.

Some, like Emerson Fittipaldi, got their F1 break following a high-profile death © LAT

A side-effect of F1's unquestionably safer environment is that drivers are less likely to retire early to enjoy their riches. Where once they were extremely relieved to have survived F1 by age 30, and thus inclined to retire from the danger zone early to enjoy their hard-won riches and (young) families, present-day standards mean danger is less of an omnipresent consideration.

Add in factors such as enormous advances in medical science (as outlined here), factors such as starting races behind safety cars in risky conditions, stewards' enquiries after the slightest touch between cars and a massive reduction in competitive distance per year (in return for a hundredfold increase in remuneration) and virtually zero testing, and it's easy to understand why Barrichello and co are hanging in there well into their forties.

Is this column suggesting a return to the 'bad old days'? Of course not, but the fact remains that safety, while vital in this nanny-state, politically-correct day and age, is seriously impacting on the careers of some extremely promising young drivers.

The other factor is the ban on in-season testing - save for, in 2012, a handful of days - and restricted pre-season testing. Where Damon Hill and Mika Hakkinen spent a year thrashing around test tracks - the Finn stepping back from a race seat to do so - before earning promotion to a race team, Alguersuari completed his first F1 test session fully six months after making his grand prix debut! Talk about screwy...

Thus, with restrictions on engine life, transmissions and tyres, teams are understandably reluctant to let young guns loose on Friday mornings - or worse for the future stars of the sport, gamble on unproven talent for an entire season. Yes, F1 currently holds a three-day rookie test in November, but of the 25 drivers present four weeks ago, just two (it appears) will be on the grid come Melbourne in March - and one of those came strapped to a large wallet! By contrast, that Australian grid is likely to feature three over-forties.

Pic, 21, makes his debut next year, but how long an F1 career will he have? © LAT

Is there a solution, or are scores of youngsters destined to join F1's 'lost generation'.

Thankfully, yes: F1 has long banged on about 'the show', and with all 12 teams based in Europe - and all having cars at least two years old - they could conceivably fill gaps in grand prix Friday schedules at continental venues with two two-hour rookie test sessions on an evaluation or rent-a-drive basis, with choice of car livery being free to enable sponsors to pay the bills.

Yes, there are logistics (and technical) considerations, but if Red Bull can send cars to the Himalayas for publicity purposes, then surely it's not too much to expect that they send a car to Silverstone on a Friday - and ditto the rest. The sport will be all the richer for it, even if some of the over-forties won't be.