Choosing a driver for F1 in 2016

So you are the boss of a top Formula 1 team, which one doesn't matter, and you need a driver for 2016.



Who do you choose?

And why?



First, a few criteria that you need to work within: the megastars are already under lock and key. Even if you could turn the head of one of Lewis Hamilton, Sebastian Vettel or the McLaren drivers, you can't afford them.



Your team also wants a driver for the long-term, twenty-something with more years ahead than behind them.


So with that framework in place, where do you look?

There are four drivers who would comprise the obvious shortlist. All four are active F1 drivers with a proven record of success in recent seasons and could potentially be available... some, naturally, only for the 'right' price, though.

The four are Valtteri Bottas, Nico Hulkenberg, Daniel Ricciardo and Romain Grosjean.

Behind the wheel of a grand prix car, all four members of the quartet have proven their worth. Only Ricciardo has a victory, or three, to his name, although the others have 16 podiums between them.

'The others', of course, refers solely to Bottas (seven podiums) and Grosjean (nine), because Hulkenberg has yet to finish in the top four of a grand prix in 85 attempts.

Ricciardo was the only non-Mercedes driver to win a GP in 2014 © LAT

The first factor that our ever-pragmatic team boss has to evaluate is availability. Bottas and Ricciardo would certainly require some kind of deal to be struck to extricate them from Williams and Red Bull respectively.

Hulkenberg and Grosjean would require a less challenging negotiation period. Certainly, by this criterion, these two are ahead when it comes to availability.

With that pragmatic consideration out of the way, it's on to driving ability. All four are fast, no question - but which really stands out?

By dint of already being in a race-winning team, Ricciardo has had the chance to most consistently prove himself at the front of the field.

The Australian was placed by AUTOSPORT as the number one driver in worldwide motorsport last year, and with good reason after his stellar season partnering Sebastian Vettel.

His qualities are already very clear. The speed was obvious from his days at Scuderia Toro Rosso. While repeatedly you see claims that nobody would have expected the kinds of performances he has demonstrated, the evidence was there for those willing to pay attention.

His classical style allows him to extract excellent performances in qualifying, but what really caught the eye in 2014 was just how well he was able to string everything together.

He had three opportunities to win a race, and on all three occasions he nailed it. The way he delivered his maiden win in Canada, which hinged on him pulling a great overtaking move on Sergio Perez for second place, created huge confidence.

Along with Vettel, Ricciardo is a rare Toro Rosso graduate © LAT

Ricciardo later offered a great insight into his mindset in reflecting on that victory later in the season.

"Those last few laps, a lot is going through your head and you make sure that your hands still work to change gears, that you don't freeze!

"When my body was functioning under that sort of pressure, I realised I had what it took."

It sounds like a flippant soundbite, but two things stand out. First, that he recognised that situation, being in a race he should win, as a watershed moment and delivered.

Second, that once he had achieved that for the first time he knew he could do it again. The difference between the great drivers and the very good is that the latter category can do that on their day but not repeat. Once Ricciardo had done it, the switch was flicked and stayed on.

The one pressure we've yet to see Ricciardo under is that of fighting for a world championship, which is the ultimate challenge. One day, it will happen and you would suspect he'll be equal to it.

That makes him in the ace in the pack of this quartet. He has climbed higher than Bottas, Grosjean and Hulkenberg in F1, although you have to concede that he has also had the opportunity to do so and therefore his selection is not an automatic slam-dunk.

And what of the rest?

Grosjean has bounced back from being thrown onto the F1 scrapheap in 2010 © LAT

On speed, it's difficult to argue against Grosjean. The Franco-Swiss driver is stunningly fast, arguably as fast as anyone on the grand prix grid.

And since his nadir early in 2013, when even those who were most convinced of his potential started to have serious doubts, Grosjean has shown himself capable of stringing together outstanding performances.

Just look at the second half of 2013, when the mistakes faded away and he comprehensively outperformed no less a driver than Kimi Raikkonen.

His drives at the Nurburgring (where the safety car and the team failing to inform him he was on an in-lap when he was on a lap cooling of the tyres led to him dropping from second to third), Suzuka and Austin typify what he's capable of.

It's true his performances have been more erratic since with Lotus, but last year's car was horrific to drive and the team isn't the force it once was. There is absolutely no question that, in a winning car, he will win races.

The only real question is whether he could deliver under pressure? Arguably, with all he has gone through - right back to ending up in GT racing and having to force his way back into Gravity Sport Management's good books via Auto GP and GP2 - he has shown the resilience to do so, as he stands on the brink of his thirties, that he could not have done at 24.

Like many of his countrymen, Bottas has proven a cool customer © XPB

Mental strength is one are where there are no doubts over Bottas. It's a stereotype, but he really is an unflappable Finn who has performed consistently for Williams over the past 18 months.

Even during his first season with the team in 2013, when the car was uncompetitive thanks to a failure to harness the Coanda exhaust concept, there were glimpses of genius such as qualifying third in the wet in Canada.

He was also remarkably fast at Austin, although it's worth noting that while his ninth place on the grid there is regularly lauded, his Q3 pace was disappointing. Had he simply repeated his Q2 pace, he'd have been sixth.

But the speed is there, and he's shown the composure to lay it on the line and gun for a couple of very unlikely pole positions. Both in Austria and Russia last year, he had a massive dig on the last lap, but asked too much off his tyres. Far from being a weakness, it shows admirable confidence to go for it like that, and it didn't compromise his subsequent races.

It's not without reason that Ferrari is looking seriously at Bottas. He has a long top-line career ahead of him and has shown the qualities needed to win races.

Many have picked up on the fact that he's not dominating team-mate Felipe Massa this year as a negative. While Massa is certainly driving far better than he did during his declining years at Ferrari, it would be good to see Bottas pick things up in qualifying even though he has often pointed to tyre warm-up struggles as at the root of his difficulties.

Getting on top of Massa in the Williams battle wouldn't hurt Bottas' reputation © XPB

But his ability to take podium finishes, along with the fact his race results are consistently good, is proof that he's a driver of serious potential with more to be realised.

As for Hulkenberg, his career trajectory has been pretty stagnant as he's been driving for teams that finish either sixth or seventh in the constructors' championship.

Arguably, there were signs that this stagnation was rubbing off. In the second half of 2014 and the first half of this year, he didn't seem quite as sharp as you would expect. But winning Le Mans seems to have revitalised Hulkenberg and helped him return to the kind of level he was performing at with Sauber in the second half of 2013, when he was driving incredibly well.

He's quick, adaptable and, while he has yet to stand on the podium that is primarily a consequence of machinery. The only thing that really counts against him is that he's faced a real battle to master tyre management. But that's an area he has improved significantly in.

So what does this imaginary team do? Bottas is probably best left at Williams for another year to mature and then be treated as a contender for 2017. After all, he will cost serious money to buy out and will be available for nothing (other than his pay) by then.

That leaves three contenders. Ricciardo is the most accomplished and would be a sure-fire performer, although he would be comfortably the most expensive and tricky to get out of Red Bull. That complication might make him tough to get on board.

Success at Le Mans with Porsche was a timely reminder of Hulkenberg's talent © LAT

Both Hulkenberg and Grosjean remain drivers of prodigious ability whose potential risks never being mined by top F1 teams. Both would do a very good job and offer excellent value for money.

So what do you do? Realistically, if you are a top team you would be foolish not to look very seriously at Ricciardo - who is the most proven package among the four.

With Bottas best looked at for the year after next, that leaves you with a simple strategy. Have a go at Ricciardo, and if you can't get him for sensible cash, go with Grosjean or Hulkenberg.

Or, better still, take a close look at your existing driver line up and sign two of them!

The bottom line is that this is extremely good news for grand prix racing. As well as the established stars at the front, there are some superb drivers who haven't yet sat in winning cars who could cut it among them.

It's just time for more teams other than my hypothetical one to start taking a serious look at them.