How to fix F1's young-driver problem

For the 2017 season, the Formula 1 World Championship will adopt a driver draft for the first time. In our universe, anyway. The purpose is to create a system whereby the opportunities exist for young drivers to secure seat time in an F1 car.

In this world teams will have to register two race drivers, plus a third and fourth pilot for the entire season. Much like the National Football League or National Basketball Association in the US, it's all about placing emphasis (and in F1's case, getting seat time) for young sportspeople.

Teams may, at their discretion, place draft picks immediately into a race seat. Nominated third drivers must take part in Friday practice sessions in a third car, and act as the official reserve. Fourth drivers must take part in two additional two-day tests outside of pre-season testing and grand prix weekends.

Teams can commit to driver line-ups before the draft itself. Those that do so will have had until October 1 2016 to name any race drivers or third/fourth driver slots. The draft would have filled slots that were not taken by October 1. It would have taken place the evening after the final round of the 2016 F1 season.

HOW WOULD IT WORK?

Assigning draft picks
Each team receives one pick in each of the two rounds of the F1 draft. The first round is devoted only to young drivers emerging from junior single-seater formulas. The second round is devoted to 'out-of-contract' drivers and those not picked in the first round. By the end of the process every team must have a completed four-driver roster (if any team is missing a driver after the second round, they keep picking from the list until all positions are filled).

The order of selection is determined by the reverse order of the constructors' championship in the previous season. Each round starts with the team that finished lowest in the constructors' championship and ends with the title-winning team.

If teams finished the previous season with the same number of points, the determination of draft position is decided by officially recognised budget - and the team with the lower budget will be awarded the higher pick. Unlike in the States, there will be no trading of pick positions (ie bigger teams swapping cash/engines for an earlier pick in the draft).

Driver eligibility
Drivers must be 25 or under and no more than two years out of eligible categories: GP2, GP3, European F3, Indy Lights, Formula V8 3.5, National F3, Super Formula. Drivers who have been officially affiliated to an F1 team for at least two full seasons that precede the draft are ineligible.

This will protect the longer-term investment teams may wish to put into talented drivers by allowing them to continue owning the rights to the driver instead of helping them reach the summit of the ladder and then have the driver taken from them by a rival team in the draft.

If a driver is selected in the draft, they will not need to satisfy the minimum points requirement to attain a superlicence. Drivers not selected in the draft will have to accrue 40 points to attain a superlicence.

An independent panel will compile the final draft list after considering the leading drivers from all eligible series. The final list will be capped at 20.

Out-of-contract picks
The second round will be an 'out-of-contract' pick. All drivers not affiliated to a team by October 1 will be placed in the out-of-contract pool. Drivers who have been out of contract for no more than two years and are under the age of 30 may nominate themselves for this list.

Draft-eligible drivers not picked in the first round will still be available for the second round, to maximise the potential for them to be picked.

What next?
Draft picks immediately receive a base one-year contract with the team, in their assigned role. Additional elements may be structured into the deal, while contract extensions will be at the discretion of the team and driver.

Teams that do not deploy their third drivers in Friday practice sessions will be fined $500,000 per session missed (so a maximum $1 million fine per round if both sessions are missed). Teams that do not participate in the in-season tests with their drivers will be fined $500,000 per missed test (maximum $1m fine if both tests are missed).

Helping with costs
Based on drivers needing to bring an estimated $10m of sponsorship to the smaller teams, an additional $20m payment is assigned to the lowest-funded teams if a driver from the original draft list (not an out-of-contract pick) is placed in a race seat.

If teams draft youngsters into third/fourth driver roles, they will receive $10m to help fund the third car in practice and the in-season test days. Teams eligible for the booster funds are: Force India, Williams, Manor, Sauber and Haas.

This could come predominantly from a net $90m reduction in heritage payments - they are antiquated and anti-competition, a fundamental weakness in F1's lopsided distribution of wealth:
- Reducing Ferrari's heritage payment to $50m would save $47m.
- Reducing Red Bull's heritage payment to $40m would save $34m.
- Reducing McLaren's heritage payment to $30m would save $4m.
- Reducing Mercedes' heritage payment to $30m would save $4m.

HOW THE DRAFT FOR 2017 COULD GO

In our simulation, the initial submissions from the 11 teams fill the majority of the race-driver slots and more than half the third-driver positions by October 1. Force India commits to Esteban Ocon early, so Mercedes gets Pascal Wehrlein in at Manor for a second season.

Away from the race seats, Briton Oliver Rowland's many days in the simulator in 2016 translate into a Mercedes third-driver role, while European Formula 3 racer George Russell, tipped for a junior role at the Silver Arrows anyway, gets the fourth-driver slot.

Red Bull appoints GP2 title challenger Pierre Gasly as its third driver and F3 racer Sergio Sette Camara in the same role at Toro Rosso. Another of its F3 proteges, Niko Kari, becomes Red Bull's fourth driver.

Ferrari finally does something useful with its Driver Academy and Charles Leclerc gets the third-driver role alongside an anticipated GP2 graduation, while McLaren junior Nyck de Vries is named third driver at the British team.

Alex Lynn cements a deal with Williams to guarantee Friday mileage in 2017. Fellow Briton Jordan King does likewise with Manor, Haas junior Santino Ferrucci gets a full-time role with the US team and Alfonso Celis Jr nets more Force India time.

Nobuharu Matsushita gets handed Sauber's Friday honours ahead of a potential Honda engine supply deal for 2018.

Entry list by October 1 deadline

	Race driver #1	Race driver #2	Third driver	Fourth driver
Mercedes	Hamilton	Rosberg	Rowland	Russell
Red Bull	Ricciardo	Verstappen	Gasly	Kari
Ferrari	Vettel	Raikkonen	Leclerc	-
Force India	Perez	Ocon	-	Celis
Williams	Bottas	Stroll	Lynn	-
McLaren	Alonso	Vandoorne	de Vries	-
Toro Rosso	Sainz	Kvyat	Sette Camara	-
Haas	Grosjean	-	Ferrucci	-
Renault	Hulkenberg	-	-	-
Sauber	Ericsson	-	Matsushita	-
Manor	Wehrlein	-	King	-

The first pick in the draft 'proper' is GP2 frontrunner Antonio Giovinazzi, who nails an immediate graduation to an F1 race seat with Manor. Another runner-up gets a boost fresh from a title defeat, as GP3 man Alex Albon is a surprise second pick - Sauber chooses the Anglo-Thai as its fourth driver, with an eye on the out-of-contract drivers to fill its second race seat.

Sergey Sirotkin had completed some Friday mileage with Renault in his first year as a 'junior' in 2016 and the French marque places him as a third driver. Indianapolis 500 winner Alexander Rossi returns to the grand prix fold, thankful his GP2 form from '15 snuck him into the list as he benefits from Gene Haas's desire to have an American in a race seat.

Briton Callum Ilott's European F3 form prompts Dr Helmut Marko to make a shock U-turn on a driver previously dumped by Red Bull. Ilott slots into Toro Rosso's vacant fourth-driver role. The middle portion of the draft is good for Brits, as Jake Dennis gets the same role at McLaren and friend-of-Alex-Lynn Jake Hughes is brought in at Williams.

Force India's Mercedes engine deal is a likely factor in German Maxi Gunther's appointment as third driver in the next pick, while Ferrari gives Italian Luca Ghiotto a dream shot at Maranello by choosing him as its fourth driver.

Entry list after first round of the draft

	Race driver #1	Race driver #2	Third driver	Fourth driver
Mercedes	Hamilton	Rosberg	Rowland	Russell
Red Bull	Ricciardo	Verstappen	Gasly	Kari
Ferrari	Vettel	Raikkonen	Leclerc	Ghiotto
Force India	Perez	Ocon	Gunther	Celis
Williams	Bottas	Stroll	Lynn	Hughes
McLaren	Alonso	Vandoorne	de Vries	Dennis
Toro Rosso	Sainz	Kvyat	Sette Camara	Ilott
Haas	Grosjean	Rossi	Ferrucci	-
Renault	Hulkenberg	-	Sirotkin	-
Sauber	Ericsson	-	Matsushita	Albon
Manor	Wehrlein	Giovinazzi	King	-

Five unfilled positions bring the 'out-of-contract' drivers into play. These are Jolyon Palmer, Felipe Nasr, Esteban Gutierrez, Rio Haryanto, Will Stevens and Roberto Merhi. The undrafted Raffaele Marciello, Norman Nato, Matthieu Vaxiviere, Louis Deletraz, Jack Aitken, Nick Cassidy, Joel Eriksson, Ed Jones, Santiago Urrutia and Spencer Pigot are added to the 'out-of-contract' drivers for round two.

Manor opts to hand Haryanto another chance in the hope that Indonesian money will surface, while Sauber jumps at the opportunity to hire Palmer, who the Swiss team had considered for a race seat prior to the October 1 deadline.

Esteban Gutierrez heads to Renault to partner old Sauber team-mate Nico Hulkenberg, with the well-backed Mexican benefiting from uncertainty around Nasr's Brazilian sponsor to land a spot with the French manufacturer.

Haas gives 2015 Indy Lights champion - and '16 IndyCar rookie - Spencer Pigot the chance to impress in an F1 car by naming him its fourth driver, and with all other teams finished the final pick goes back to Renault. The French marque plumps for Louis Deletraz, like Sirotkin a junior who was at risk of being 'stolen' because he had only been with Renault for one season. Jean-Denis's son is relieved to sneak the final fourth-driver slot on the list.

Entry list after draft is completed

	Race driver #1	Race driver #2	Third driver	Fourth driver
Mercedes	Hamilton	Rosberg	Rowland	Russell
Red Bull	Ricciardo	Verstappen	Gasly	Kari
Ferrari	Vettel	Raikkonen	Leclerc	Ghiotto
Force India	Perez	Ocon	Gunther	Celis
Williams	Bottas	Stroll	Lynn	Hughes
McLaren	Alonso	Vandoorne	de Vries	Dennis
Toro Rosso	Sainz	Kvyat	Sette Camara	Ilott
Haas	Grosjean	Rossi	Ferrucci	Pigot
Renault	Hulkenberg	Gutierrez	Sirotkin	Deletraz
Sauber	Ericsson	Palmer	Matsushita	Albon
Manor	Wehrlein	Giovinazzi	King	Haryanto

Could the draft handle Rosberg retiring?
A shock twist! Five days after the inaugural draft, champion Nico Rosberg announces his retirement. The officials frantically flick through the supplementary regulations to work out what to do in cases of force majeure.

The upshot is the affected team - Mercedes - being able to enter a 48-hour period of negotiation regarding drivers it has under contract. In this case, that's Manor-based Wehrlein and its third/fourth drivers Rowland and Russell.

A reshuffle occurs. Wehrlein finds himself moving from one end of the grid to the other to partner Lewis Hamilton, while Rowland sacrifices a year driving the best car on the grid on Fridays for his race debut alongside GP2 rival Giovinazzi.

Russell gets promoted to the third-driver slot at Mercedes, while European F3 rookie Mick Schumacher is surprisingly drafted into the vacant fourth-driver slot. Rival teams question the suitability of a driver who has only contested Formula 4 until this point, but the curators of the draft (Autosport) and the sport's governing body the FIA allow it on the grounds of 'cool' and 'quite a nice touch'...

Returning to a serious note, the inaugural draft (or our simulation at least) has promoted GP2 runner-up Giovinazzi, 2015 GP2 driver-turned-IndyCar rookie Rossi and '15 Formula Renault 3.5 champion Rowland to race seats. Underwhelming? Not so. The world of the draft has also facilitated season-long Friday running for the '16 GP2 and GP3 champions (Gasly and Leclerc), and handed a host of other category race winners valuable on-track running. That's pretty win-win.

Entry list after draft is completed

	Race driver #1	Race driver #2	Third driver	Fourth driver
Mercedes	Hamilton	Wehrlein	Russell	Schumacher
Red Bull	Ricciardo	Verstappen	Gasly	Kari
Ferrari	Vettel	Raikkonen	Leclerc	Ghiotto
Force India	Perez	Ocon	Gunther	Celis
Williams	Bottas	Stroll	Lynn	Hughes
McLaren	Alonso	Vandoorne	de Vries	Dennis
Toro Rosso	Sainz	Kvyat	Sette Camara	Ilott
Haas	Grosjean	Rossi	Ferrucci	Pigot
Renault	Hulkenberg	Gutierrez	Sirotkin	Deletraz
Sauber	Ericsson	Palmer	Matsushita	Albon
Manor	Rowland	Giovinazzi	King	Haryanto

DOES FORMULA 1 NEED A DRAFT?

Formula 1 has done a good job of bringing in young drivers in recent years. The rise of Max Verstappen has been the most prominent example, but Daniil Kvyat and Ocon also made their respective debuts before their 20th birthdays. Take a look at the list of debutants in the past five seasons - 10 of the 21 come from young-driver programmes.

That may suggest that F1 is in pretty decent health for getting its best young talent onto the grid. But that's a bit naive.

Of those 10, McLaren ditched Kevin Magnussen after one season because the board wanted to retain Jenson Button (12 years Magnussen's senior), while Jean-Eric Vergne left F1 after three years at Toro Rosso.

Vergne is one of four from the Red Bull stable to have debuted in the past five seasons - without Dietrich Mateschitz's energy-drinks company, F1 would be in much poorer health on the driving front.

Mercedes juniors Wehrlein and Ocon made their grand prix debuts this season, while Stoffel Vandoorne gets his chance in 2017 with Button finally edged towards the McLaren exit door. Valtteri Bottas, a long-time Williams protege, and the late Ferrari junior Jules Bianchi are the other recent 'team' rookies.

Of the 'others', they are drivers with plenty of junior single-seater success on their CVs: GP2 champion Palmer, inaugural GP3 title winner Gutierrez and F3 champions Merhi, Marcus Ericsson and Nasr.

Generally speaking, there are two paths into F1: be on an F1 team's books already, or have strong personal backing. But the world of grand prix racing is so tilted that you're either racing an F1 car or you're not driving one at all. It's tough to impress, as there's little chance to get a foot in the door, let alone achieve the preparation levels of the mid-noughties, when testing was a free-for-all.

And what happens when Mateschitz finally cries enough? Or Mercedes pulls the plug and the end goal for its junior programme switches back to the DTM? Suddenly the (relatively) open road to F1 has a couple of lane closures, and the structure does not have a strong support system.

That's where something like the draft could help. The impact is threefold: first, in the short term, it guarantees seat time for a good number of young drivers. Second, and this is longer-term, it incentivises teams to invest more in youngsters earlier on - if they have a junior programme, they can hand-pick their own talent and not leave it to chance.

Finally, it could encourage external investment in smaller teams - the knowledge that Manor would have the best pick of the younger drivers for the next two or three years could be a pull factor for an investor to put money into the team infrastructure or design of the car.

This sort of system is designed to encourage F1 teams to embrace young talent. What those drivers do with those opportunities is down to them, but it's time grand prix racing was overhauled to at least give them the chance.