The pitfalls that can end a young driver's F1 career

In 2019 the focus will be on a new generation of Formula 1 drivers, and not only because we have four rookies: George Russell, Lando Norris, Alexander Albon and Antonio Giovinazzi.

Charles Leclerc and Pierre Gasly - with just 21 and 26 GP starts respectively behind them - have been promoted to teams that are challenging for race wins and world championships. Their progress will be fascinating to observe, because history suggests that such early career moves to teams with lofty expectations can be problematic.

Just take a look at the example of Stoffel Vandoorne, who arrived at McLaren in 2017 with the world at his feet. He is now damaged goods, trying to rebuild his career in Formula E.

And consider too Daniil Kvyat, who fell from grace after being fast-tracked to Red Bull in similar circumstances to Gasly. Kvyat has unexpectedly been granted a lifeline with Toro Rosso, and is another example of how F1 can treat young drivers.

But everyone is different, and what worked for Max Verstappen - propelled into F1 at 17, with just a season of car racing behind him - might not work for others with different personalities and backstories.

And even the mercurial Verstappen has faced some difficult times, notably as a consequence of the string of errors he made early in the 2018 season.

However, there are some lessons that can be applied across the board.

"We all must not forget that currently in F1, if you look to the young drivers, we are a little bit like a kindergarten," says Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost.

"The guys are not as mature as we knew in F1 10 or 20 years ago. They come into F1 at 18 or 19, they did in the past nothing else but karting or racing in the junior formulas, and F1 is another level.

"And not only for the driving. I would say driving for this young generation is the easiest part. They can do it. But everything around... It starts with the team itself, the engineers.

"Before they came to F1 they worked together with maybe one engineer, now they have a chassis engineer, a data engineer, an engine engineer, an engine data engineer, and then they have an aerodynamicist and so on. That means there is a lot of workload which comes to the young drivers.

"When you have young drivers complaining about pressure, it's a joke, because the more you win, the more you will have" Frederic Vasseur

"The major thing is the press work. They have to give many, many interviews, and they should think what they say. Sometimes they don't, which is good for the press, not so good for them! Then all these social media stories - they are stupid enough, and I say that deliberately, to give out everything.

"You must not forget when you work with a young driver, press events and marketing events cost him energy. An experienced driver doesn't care, he makes his interviews, he knows exactly what to say, and he does it in a relaxed way.

"A young driver is nervous and he has to think about things, it means he uses energy, and this energy he needs on Sunday afternoon. And this we have to take care of."

Tost believes that it's his responsibility to keep his young drivers on the correct path: "For young drivers there are so many challenges coming from all the different sides, and if they are not really guided in a very good way, then it's difficult.

"Every time we get a young driver I am sitting together with him very often, especially at the beginning of the season.

"They go to Australia for the first time - they have never seen the country before if they are not coming from there, they have not seen the track before, it's their first race, there's jetlag and so on. We try to prepare them as well as possible.

"But nevertheless there are always issues which you can't cover from the beginning, although I always try to find out which individual requests, topics, we have to take into consideration.

"I always say to the young drivers, to come in to F1 is one story, to survive - I mean from the sporting side - is another story. Therefore you must work very, very hard. If a driver does not have the passion for F1, he will not be successful, as simple as that."

Sauber team principal Frederic Vasseur has worked with dozens of young drivers at ART in the lower categories, including the likes of Vandoorne and Lewis Hamilton. Last year he oversaw Leclerc's brilliant rookie F1 season.

"It's very psychological, and you are always on the edge," Vasseur says of the challenges that youngsters face.

"It's a strong competition, and I think when everything is going in the right direction it's quite easy to manage and have a good spiral. When it's going in the other direction...

"With Stoffel at McLaren they were in a tough situation, and when you are in a tough situation, it's much more difficult for a young driver.

"The big difference compared with the junior series, and I don't want to be negative with ART at all, but I think Stoffel or Lewis could be champions with different teams. They were dominating the series.

"It's not true in F1. In F1 if you are running at the back of the grid, forget about podiums, even for an experienced driver it's impossible. The pressure is increasing like this.

"We know perfectly that if Lewis started in F1 with a three-year deal with a team at the back of the grid, the story could have been completely different. He was with McLaren for the first two seasons, and McLaren was probably the best car on the grid, so in 2007-08 he was fighting for the championship.

"If he signed with another team I'm not sure he would have done the same job."

Vasseur adds that he does not believe success is about keeping the pressure off drivers, but instead helping them to manage it through their careers.

"We have to keep them under pressure. Pressure is the essence of the business, and they will have pressure.

"When you have young drivers complaining about pressure, it's a joke, because the more you win, the more you will have. And I can imagine it's much more difficult for Hamilton and Vettel to manage the pressure than for the back of the grid.

"Very often I meet young drivers and they say, 'Yes I made mistakes, and this is my second chance'" Nicolas Todt

"You have to speak to them, to try to understand what is their feeling, are they struggling about something? But not to protect them from the pressure, because at one stage they are alone in the car, and under pressure they will have to deliver."

Leclerc is managed by Nicolas Todt, who previously masterminded the careers of Felipe Massa and Jules Bianchi.

Todt had also been a key player in the highly successful ART squad, alongside Vasseur, until the end of 2018 when he sold his stake in the team.

In the same year, Todt added Kvyat to his stable, and is playing a key role in the Toro Rosso man's rehabilitation process, providing support that was missing before.

"Drivers arrive earlier, but in a way more prepared than 20 years ago," says Todt. "I remember we said Michael Schumacher was extremely fit - now they are all starting younger so they are more prepared younger. But when you have to cope with pressure for sure that's the key factor, in my opinion.

"Of course you can succeed in motor racing without having a manager, you have many good examples. But I think that when you are well advised, when you have a good understanding, it helps. Being badly advised can be very costly.

"When you arrive in an environment when you don't know anybody, it's good to know who is who, to avoid making mistakes that you can make when you are very young. Very often I meet young drivers, they say, 'Yes I made mistakes, and this is my second chance.'

"Someone like [Esteban] Gutierrez could tell you that. If you can avoid making the usual mistakes when you enter F1, I think it's a plus. But you don't have many drivers making huge mistakes, or behaving very badly like [2018 F2 driver Santino] Ferrucci!"

Todt had contact with Vandoorne when the Belgian was winning in F2 with ART, and has some insight into how the driver works.

Asked for his take on why Vandoorne failed at McLaren, Todt says: "From the outside first of all he has been driving a very bad car, which doesn't help, but in the end you have to drive what you have. Also I think he had alongside him one of the best drivers in the world, maybe one of the top three.

"Even if you drive one of the slowest cars you have to beat your team-mate, at least sometimes. You cannot expect to stay in F1 if you lose 21-0. Also, when you win in F2 it's important to see who did you beat?

"In F1 you have the best drivers. It's also a matter of expectations. Everybody was waiting for him to be the new Hamilton. But I still think he's a good driver, and maybe he deserves another chance.

"Max also did mistakes, even at Red Bull he made mistakes. You have no super heroes in life."

Timing is important. The minimum age requirement and tougher superlicence rules have played a part in ensuring that drivers arrive in F1 with more experience than they did even three or four years ago.

None of this year's rookies are making the giant leap from Formula 3, as Verstappen did, and all have solid Formula 2 backgrounds, and are in theory well qualified. Russell and Norris have both been around F1 teams for a while, and thus are better prepared than Albon - although the same could be said of Vandoorne, who added a year of Super Formula to his stellar CV before he moved up.

"What we did with Charles, the career he did in junior series, I think that we took all the right decisions," says Todt. "Maybe we could have arrived in F1 one year earlier, but if you believe in something there is no point rushing.

"Sometimes people rush because they think they are going to miss the train, you know. Charles was able to arrive in F1 ready, and hopefully to stay in F1 for as many years as possible."

Todt agrees that Mick Schumacher is a good example of a driver biding his time. The German is eligible for a superlicence, but he hasn't even committed to a test or reserve role: "Exactly, he still has a lot to learn. He's not old, and usually you go to F1 because it's now or never.

"I think with Mick or some other drivers it's not now or never, it's better to do one more year. The goal is to stay in F1, not to arrive sooner.

"I think it's very important to arrive ready, and not to jump too quickly. You need to win or prove that you have been dominating a series, before moving up. Some people say, 'Yes he only did P5, but he's ready for the next championship,' because people always want to go fast, and they always find a reason or an excuse not to have won.

"They jump to a higher series, and 95% of the time it proves to be a mistake. So in my opinion you need to dominate your series before moving up. You always have exceptions, but it's rarely the case."

It's not just about the rookie year, but also how drivers cope with early promotion. Leclerc makes that big step into the spotlight with Ferrari in 2019, and Todt will play a role in ensuring that all goes to plan.

"He's not going to unknown territory at Ferrari, because he's been part of the Ferrari family for more than three years now. It's not like going to a new team. Ferrari people know how to protect their drivers, it has always been like that.

"So in a way that I think that Charles will be well protected. But it's also my duty to look after him, and defend his interests."

The bottom line is that predicting who will sink or swim when it really matters remains something of a black art. And that makes this year's bumper rookie crop all the more fascinating.

"If you have two drivers, and one driver has been beating the other, people draw conclusions," says Todt. "But every year is a new year. You have some drivers that go slower than another one in the lower categories, and they arrive in F1 and they are faster than them.

"You have many factors to take into account. At the end of the day we're talking about human beings."