With Nyck de Vries making an unexpected debut appearance at last weekend’s Italian Grand Prix in Monza stepping in for the unwell Alexander Albon, the 2019 Formula 2 champion became only the second rookie to race in Formula 1 this year after Zhou Guanyu.
Places in F1 remain very limited with only 20 seats up to be filled each season. Competition over those precious few seats remains extremely high, with drivers across multiple championship vying to get into the handful of available seats that remain unfilled heading into the 2023 season.It may be mid-September, but both Formula 2 and FIA Formula 3 championship titles have already been awarded – to Felipe Drugovich and Victor Martins, respectively. The IndyCar Series champion for 2022 has also been crowned and while the W Series title still remains mathematically undecided, it will take a major intervention to prevent Jamie Chandwick from her third successive championship in the series.
That leaves only the Japanese Super Formula title as the last championship that has been the final stepping stone to Formula 1 for drivers in recent years still to be decided, with Tomoki Nojiri holding a very strong advantage heading into the final double-header at Suzuka at the end of October.
So with all five series almost decided for 2022 and the F1 silly season at its peak, there is no better time for RaceFans readers to have your say on which drivers you currently feel deserve to have a chance at racing in Formula 1. Using the poll below, have your say on which drivers from this year’s Formula 2, FIA F3, IndyCar, Super Formula and W Series championships you think are deserving of a chance to race in Formula 1 next year.
After weeks of controversy over Colton Herta’s eligibility for a superlicence have led to criticism of the FIA system, all drivers from all five series will be listed regardless of their current superlicence points allocations. Any drivers who have already raced in Formula 1 – such as Kamui Kobayashi, Alexander Rossi or Romain Grosjean – are omitted from the list, as is Oscar Piastri due to him being confirmed at McLaren for next season.
I say
It’s fitting that the one driver not currently in F1 who clearly deserves an opportunity to race at the highest level – last year’s Formula 2 champion Oscar Piastri – has secured a place on the F1 grid in 2023 even in controversial circumstances.
Newly-crowned F2 champion Felipe Drugovich certainly appears to have made an impression with Aston Martin, who have set up their own driver development programme to secure his services for the year ahead. While some may not feel that Drugovich has made quite as strong an impact over his three years in the category like previous champions such as Piastri, George Russell or Charles Leclerc have, it’s easy to feel that every Formula 2 champion is at least deserving of a handful of races in Formula 1, simply by virtue of winning the sport’s main feeder series.
Despite a poor round in Monza, Theo Pourchaire is still in with a strong chance of securing second in the F2 championship. At the age of just 19, Pourchaire already has almost two years of Formula 2 experience under his belt, with three wins already added to his tally in 2022. The Sauber junior driver has remarkable potential which could be realised by an opportunity at the highest level.
Beyond Formula 2, it’s clear that Colton Herta is the most outstanding young American driver currently on the IndyCar roster. With the endorsement of many of his peers in the series and multiple F1 teams having taking him into consideration for 2023, only his superlicence points prevent him from qualifying for what would otherwise be an almost assured shot at Formula 1.
You say
Which of these drivers do you think have shown they deserve to race in Formula 1? Pick as many as you like, and explain your choices in the comments.
Which Formula 2, FIA Formula 3, IndyCar, Super Formula or W Series drivers deserve to race in Formula 1?
- Lirim Zendeli (0%)
- Hunter Yeany (0%)
- Kenta Yamashita (0%)
- Naoki Yamamoto (1%)
- Fabienne Wohlwend (0%)
- Stefan Wilson (0%)
- Calan Williams (0%)
- Beitske Visser (0%)
- Juri Vips (2%)
- Rafael Villagomez (0%)
- David Vidales (0%)
- Frederik Vesti (1%)
- Richard Verschoor (1%)
- Rinus VeeKay (2%)
- Reece Ushijima (0%)
- Filip-Ioan Ugran (0%)
- Sho Tsuboi (0%)
- Enzo Trulli (0%)
- Laszlo Toth (0%)
- Bruna Tomaselli (0%)
- Roman Stanek (0%)
- Alexander Smolyar (0%)
- Ayrton Simmons (0%)
- Simona de Silvestro (0%)
- Yuhi Sekiguchi (0%)
- David Schumacher (0%)
- Gregoire Saucy (0%)
- Ren Sato (0%)
- Marino Sato (0%)
- Ukyo Sasahara (0%)
- Logan Sargeant (3%)
- Sena Sakaguchi (0%)
- Felix Rosenqvist (2%)
- Oliver Rasmussen (0%)
- Graham Rahal (1%)
- Abbi Pulling (0%)
- Will Power (4%)
- Alice Powell (0%)
- Theo Pourchaire (5%)
- Francesco Pizzi (0%)
- Alex Palou (6%)
- Simon Pagenaud (2%)
- Toshiki Oyu (0%)
- Patricio O'Ward (6%)
- Zak O'Sullivan (0%)
- Hiroki Ohtsu (0%)
- Clement Novalak (0%)
- Tomoki Nojiri (1%)
- Juju Noda (0%)
- Roy Nissany (0%)
- Josef Newgarden (5%)
- Sarah Moore (0%)
- Sebastian Montoya (0%)
- Ritomo Miyata (0%)
- Atsushi Miyake (0%)
- Scott McLaughlin (4%)
- Nobuharu Matsushita (0%)
- Victor Martins (2%)
- Nerea Marti (0%)
- Pepe Marti (0%)
- Christian Mansell (0%)
- Federico Malvestiti (0%)
- David Malukas (1%)
- Zane Maloney (1%)
- Tadasuke Makino (0%)
- Kush Maini (0%)
- Christian Lundgaard (1%)
- Arthur Leclerc (1%)
- Liam Lawson (2%)
- Yuji Kunimoto (0%)
- Kyle Kirkwood (0%)
- Emma Kimilainen (0%)
- Dalton Kellett (0%)
- Niko Kari (0%)
- Sage Karam (0%)
- Tony Kanaan (1%)
- Jimmie Johnson (0%)
- Ayumu Iwasa (1%)
- Callum Ilott (3%)
- Jake Hughes (0%)
- Ryo Hirakawa (1%)
- J.R. Hildebrand (0%)
- Emely de Heus (0%)
- Colton Herta (6%)
- Jessica Hawkins (0%)
- Dennis Hauger (1%)
- Jack Harvey (0%)
- Isack Hadjar (1%)
- Oliver Goethe (0%)
- Luca Ghiotto (0%)
- Marta Garcia (0%)
- Belen Garcia (0%)
- Nirei Fukuzumi (0%)
- Kaylen Frederick (0%)
- Enzo Fittipaldi (1%)
- Santino Ferrucci (0%)
- Sacha Fenestraz (0%)
- Alessandro Famularo (0%)
- Jonny Edgar (0%)
- Abbie Eaton (0%)
- Felipe Drugovich (7%)
- Jack Doohan (4%)
- Scott Dixon (4%)
- Devlin Defrancesco (0%)
- Jehan Daruvala (1%)
- Conor Daly (1%)
- Jak Crawford (0%)
- Juan Manuel Correa (1%)
- Amaury Cordeel (0%)
- Caio Collet (0%)
- Franco Colapinto (0%)
- Ido Cohen (0%)
- Zdenek Chovanec (0%)
- Chloe Chambers (0%)
- Jamie Chadwick (5%)
- Helio Castroneves (1%)
- Ed Carpenter (0%)
- Olli Caldwell (0%)
- Tatiana Calderon (0%)
- Bianca Bustamante (0%)
- Ralph Boschung (0%)
- Cem Bolukbasi (0%)
- Brad Benavides (0%)
- David Beckmann (0%)
- Ollie Bearman (1%)
- Nazim Azman (0%)
- Marcus Armstrong (1%)
- Marco Andretti (0%)
- Giuliano Alesi (0%)
- William Alatalo (0%)
Total Voters: 146
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Debates and polls
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- Should Sainz and Perez have avoided penalties for their Azerbaijan GP crash?
- Is F1’s record reliability rate making the sport better?
- Should F1 ensure ‘sustainable’ fuels are no pipe dream before ditching hybrids?
Danny (@denny)
18th September 2022, 9:18
From F3 most talented are: Franco Colapinto, Arthur Leclerc and Ollie Bermam.
F2: Theo Pourchaire, Jack Doohan, Felipe Drugovich
Indycar:Alex Palou, Colton Herta, Pato O’Ward, Scott McLaughlin, Scott Dixon, Josef Newgarden, Will Power and Christian Lundgaard
F1 should make 2 day test at the end of the year in Abu Dhabi for drivers who teams thinks they have a chance to perform on high level in F1.
trib4udi (@trib4udi)
18th September 2022, 13:02
Arthur? He is already 21y old and in his 3rd season in F3. Not impressive at all
GeeMac (@geemac)
19th September 2022, 5:56
Agree with that. I initially thought he was the real deal but he’s been very unimpressive in F3.
Jamie
18th September 2022, 15:04
Agree with you in F2. F3: Bearman, Hadjar and Maloney.
It’s so hard to gauge Indycar talent but would be interesting to see!
Mashiat (@mashiat)
19th September 2022, 17:37
@denny How is Leclerc there ahead of Hadjar or Maloney?
wsrgo (@wsrgo)
18th September 2022, 9:29
Such a weirdly designed poll…not sure if it’s the right idea to throw in all the names in these championships in alphabetical order and expect us to go through the entire list and see which ones are worthy. Also not sure why F3 and W Series drivers are on this list if the question is just for 2023 (as it seems to be from the article and the ‘I Say’ section where only F2 and Indy are mentioned), since those drivers are likely not going to be ready for the step up to F1 next year, in this streamlined junior ladder.
Jere (@jerejj)
18th September 2022, 9:38
Choosing proved difficult, so initially, I was solely going for Drugovich (the only one who stands out in both F2 & overall), but ultimately added others to have more than only one.
The other choices are Power, Nojiri, & Chadwick, mostly Series champions/likely champions, with the remaining IndyCar top five (Newgarden, Dixon, McLaughlin, Palou) as honorable mentions.
Other mention-worthy drivers are Fenestraz & perhaps also Hirakawa from SF.
The rest among the drivers listed above don’t stand out enough for proper consideration, not even Pouchaire, despite possibly finishing 2nd in the F2 standings.
spoutnik (@spoutnik)
18th September 2022, 10:37
@jerejj That’s a very sensible reasoning. I also kept Drugovitch solely initially because I don’t know enough about indycar and superformula to judge and think people like Martins and Chadwick should step up in F2. I would ideally only take championship winners as I like the idea of F1 being a race of champions but if there is not enough people maybe the first three of other championships could be taken into consideration.
Another question aldo would be which current F1 drivers could be replaced by someone in this list. Latifi, Stroll, Tsunoda, maybe Schumacher?
Jere (@jerejj)
18th September 2022, 13:19
@spoutnik
Stroll & Tsunoda are definitely safe, but the other two aren’t, or one isn’t & the other is somewhat under threat.
bernasaurus (@bernasaurus)
18th September 2022, 9:50
I just think Scott McLaughlin would be fun. He’s obviously very adaptable. Imagine if he was successful? What a story that would be! He’s still only 29, but of course very unlikely to happen.
Will Wood (@willwood)
18th September 2022, 10:27
@bernasaurus I think McLaughlin would be fascinating. His transition from Supercars to IndyCar has been incredibly impressive, so I’d love to know how he would fare in F1.
Steff (@otech)
19th September 2022, 6:33
He got my vote too – would be great!
Duncan Idaho (@didaho)
19th September 2022, 10:17
I’d rather see SVG.
mooa42
20th September 2022, 5:20
SVG’s head would block the air inlet, way too tall, and probably too old too. I’m sure he probably would have made F1 if he was smaller.
Even McLaughlin is pushing the height limits and probably too old too, but would be good to see what he could do in in a Grojean’s old team.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
18th September 2022, 9:58
Far fewer than are eligible.
Will Wood (@willwood)
18th September 2022, 10:28
@proesterchen But who would you like to see get a chance in F1? That’s what I’m interested to find out!
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
18th September 2022, 11:50
@willwood
Quite frankly, there’s no one on that list as far as I’m aware that deserves a Formula 1 seat at this moment.
There are a few up-and-coming talents that might earn that status in the next year or two, but none of those who have finished their junior careers (made it to F2 or Indycar) has shown to be the generational talent that would warrant that status.
Cause that’s what I’m personally looking for in a young driver: generational talents that will fight for Championships given reasonably competitive machinery.
I don’t particularly care for the next Alesi, Trulli, Bottas or the like, all good drivers no doubt, all with long careers in Formula 1, but not generational talents, not ultimately deserving of anything re: F1.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
18th September 2022, 11:51
May I compliment the comment system for turning Championships into Champions-hips? Tip of the hat! 🤣
chimaera2003 (@chimaera2003)
18th September 2022, 14:40
@proesterchen The natural follow up question to that would be how many of the existing F1 drivers match your criteria as you have set a very high bar?
If “generational talents that will fight for Championships given reasonably competitive machinery” is the yardstick then only maybe between 6-8 current drivers meet this.
I think that if you had to choose the 20 best available drivers on talent alone then some of the drivers on the list will need to be chosen.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
18th September 2022, 18:01
@chimaera2003 I’d say it’s even fewer.
Of the current generation, there are two confirmed outstanding talents, Max and Charles, plus another potential in Lando, and one that seems to do a Massa, almost but not quite hitting that level, so far – George.
Of the outgoing generation, there are Lewis and Fernando, both with a bit of a question mark (Fernando probably more than Lewis), and I can only hope Seb has talked to Helmut and Christian about getting a day in the RB sim after his contract has run out if only to find out where he really stands.
The rest to me are just making up the numbers, and as a result, I’m not particularly interested in who’s keeping those seats warm. If you replaced any of the current drivers with say Nyck de Vries or Felipe Draguvich, I suspect nothing much would change, and few would even notice.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
18th September 2022, 10:01
It’s super-silly to me to include “W Series” or any of its drivers as an option.
That is a Formula 4 level competition with much of the field still unable to extract anywhere near full performance from the machinery.
F1 frog (@f1frog)
18th September 2022, 10:15
Would you be able to adjust the poll so the percentage is the number of votes for that driver divided by the total number of voters, rather than by the total number of votes as people can vote for more than one driver? I think that would make it a little clearer.
Taking it to mean, deserve a chance in 2023, rather than sometime in the future, I chose Drugovich and Pourchaire. I think Arthur Leclerc has a lot of potential but he would not be ready for next year.
jff
18th September 2022, 12:34
I agree.
(And if the percentage is not possible please show total votes)
Nerrticus (@nerrticus)
18th September 2022, 19:11
I also endorse this idea. Or have a separate article breaking the results down (to include total votes).
AlanD
18th September 2022, 21:08
Frog, but if it is done your way, (i.e. the sensible and meaningful way), someone who doesn’t understand stats will come along, add up the numbers, and then complain it must be fixed because the percentages don’t add up to 100.
shadow13 (@shadow13)
18th September 2022, 10:20
I actually think this years F2 grid is a bit lack in potential F1 talent. I put Drugovich and Pouchaire down as I think they probably deserve a chance due to being 1st and 2nd but I don’t really expect either to be great.
In F3 the only driver who I’ve seen as a definite star is Bearman. A few other drivers such as Leclerc and Martins looks solid but it’s too early to say they’re going to make it to F1.
In IndyCar there’s maybe 5-6 drivers that could race in F1 but I’ve only included Palou, O’Ward and Herta as they’re the young drivers in IndyCar that could make it in F1. I think all 3 of these would make good F1 drivers.
W series – unfortunately it’s very hard to judge the talent level here at the moment. Let’s see Chadwick in F3 next season with a good team. Then if she flops it kind of indicates the standard in W series isn’t great. If she dominates F3 then maybe we’re all undervaluing some of the other drivers.
Super Formula – I don’t follow so haven’t picked any.
Broccoliface
18th September 2022, 10:49
Lol, I knew before even seeing the pole that overly-emotional people on here would’ve thrust Chadwick into a front running position.
faulty (@faulty)
19th September 2022, 3:29
I think more women should have more experience in high power or high downforce cars.
But I can’t see that any of them do. The bare minimum for an aspiring (reserve or test) driver in F1 should be at least 1500 kilometers of racing in machines of F3 level, and of those, the more consistent could have a career in F1.
Ciaran (@ciaran)
18th September 2022, 11:31
Indycar: Castroneves, Dixon, Palau, O’Ward, Herta, Newgarden, Pagenaud, Power, Rahal
Super Formula: Yamamoto, Nojiri, Hirakawa
F2: Drugovich, Pourchaire, Doohan, Sargeant
There’s a lot of Indycar drivers I know, but it’s a quality series and we need to see how at least some of them fare! Some F3 drivers and Jamie Chadwick have been impressive also, but I feel F2 is still needed to test them. See Dennis Hauger – a lot of people who expected him to storm F2 after winning F3 have been sorely disappointed.
F2 has some other drivers I’m impressed by – Iwasa and Fittipaldi have done better than expected for example in their rookie seasons – but Doohan and Sargent have been simply better.
A suggestion I’d make for future polls is maybe grouping the drivers by their racing series, then by alphabetical order,to make it a bit easier to read through.
Horacio (@ahoracio)
19th September 2022, 20:15
Helio Castroneves is 47 years old, same age than Tony Kanaan.
So, 47 years old seems a tad aged to start on Formula 1.
And yes, Castroneves and Kanaan were very, very fast drivers that are arguably beyond their prime.
Dan G (@dang)
18th September 2022, 11:36
W Series is a feeder for F3. F3 is a feeder for F2. F2 is a feeder for F1. It’s pretty simple…
With 20 seats and an F1 driver’s career reaching up to 20 years, there should be, on average, space for 1-2 new drivers each year. Unfortunately in recent years two of those seats have been taken up by promotional drivers targeting specific markets (as was the intention with Herta).
PS Where’s Formula E and WEC?
Robert
18th September 2022, 15:40
Isn’t that where F1 drivers go to end their careers?
*This was a joke, but with a hint of truth
AlanD
18th September 2022, 22:25
Dan, “W Series is a feeder for F3. F3 is a feeder for F2. F2 is a feeder for F1. It’s pretty simple…” that might be a fair assessment if W series drivers were consistently getting into F3, F2, etc, but what more could Jamie Chadwick have done in W series? And still it is impossible for her to get a decent drive. The same is true of other drivers in other series. The lower formulas might be an opportunity for drivers to showcase their potential, but I wouldn’t call any of them a feeder for F1.
ttongsul (@ccpbioweapon)
18th September 2022, 13:25
F2 driver Ayumu Iwasa but he would need to win F3 asia series over the winter to get enough super licence points, would be a logical choice if Honda buys out TR as he is an Honda dream academy driver.
Neil (@neilosjames)
18th September 2022, 13:39
A few from F2 (Drugovich, Porchaire, also added Doohan and Sargeant), and some from Indycar (Dixon, Herta, McLaughlin, Newgarden, O’Ward, Palau, Power). Probably not exhaustive, and it’s more a list of drivers I wouldn’t object to being in F1 rather than a list of drivers I truly want to see there.
I don’t follow Super Formula at all so I have no idea about that, and don’t watch F3 closely enough to know what the talent is like down there and if anyone deserves jumping straight up to F1. And W-Series is too far from F1 to even consider any of the drivers (FE is a higher level, for me anyway).
Electroball76
18th September 2022, 14:18
Remove the lure of pay drivers.
Equalise the cash pot available to each team.
Standardise driver contracts and pay scales.
Implement a “move up or move out” policy whereby the poorest performers (over a two year average?) are shuffled out and instead given a chance at another series
AlexS
18th September 2022, 16:07
No, No, No, No.
Let people be free to decide.
George.be
18th September 2022, 21:48
I would push for a driver-team time limit. That way you prevent 7 year MSC-Ferr, 4 Years Vettel-RB, 8 years Hamilton-Merc , x years Verstappen-RB dominance, and you get more guys like Fernando proving their value in a Reasonably Priced Car (TM) :) Top teams would have to swap drivers with other teams for at least a year, or bring in new talents on a regular basis. Lower teams would gain experience if they get their hands on a top notch driver every now and again.
Back on topic: I’m not so sure Nyck De Vries will be as good as we think now. Yes he scored a few points, in a Williams, but that car has a McLaren-2021-like capacity to shine on a single type of tracks, and Nyck lucked into that one. In FP1 he didn’t shine at all in the Jag…
The podium finishers in F2 seem a logical choice Drugovich, Pourchaire, Fittipaldi.
What about Mitch Evans? Illiot?
And for Ms Chadwick: get yourself into F2 ASAP, you’re wasting time in W-Series.
AlanD
19th September 2022, 0:37
George, the problem I have with a time limit on drivers is that the driver is one cog in the machine. Why not say that designers can only spend three years with a team, or race engineers, strategists, etc? It would sound mad saying that Adrian Newey has to go design for Renault next year, but how would that be different from saying Verstappen has been too successful so he has to go sit in a Haas?
MacLeod (@macleod)
19th September 2022, 8:02
Ms. Chadwick should go as fast as possible to F2 to show she is good enough. Arthur Leclerc has some talent but not as good as Charles.
AlanD
19th September 2022, 1:32
“Remove the lure of pay drivers”
I don’t think anyone from the audience side of things wants to see pay-drivers in the sport, but it is difficult to know how to stop teams using them. Remember Alonso, in his early days, whilst not called a pay driver, had the backing of Spanish bank Santandar bank who made it clear they would sponsor a team only if Alonso was their driver. Would you call Alonso a pay driver? The competition is richer for Alonso, but any rules limiting pay drivers could well have unexpected consequences. The only way to stop sponsors calling the shots is to have the principal sponsor own the team, like Red Bull, or have teams with very deep pockets, like Mercedes. And you still have issues, like Lance Strohl. Is he in F1 on merit or paternity? Or you could turn F1 into a spec series with a low entry cost so anyone could join, but then it wouldn’t be F1.
JA
18th September 2022, 15:38
Right here, right now: Herta, Drugovich, Newgarden, McLaughlin, Palou, Pourchaire.
Somewhere in the future: Bearman, Hadja, Maloney, Edgar.
Close but no cigar: Ilott, O’Ward, Lundgaard, Colapinto, Doohan, Hauger, Sargeant, Lawson, Vips, Shwartzman, Martins.
(Sargeant have a good chances of a seat, Lawson and Doohan a smaller chance, but that doesn’t mean they are deserving).
Too old to be in contention: Power, Dixon.
Undecided: Crawford, Iwasa, Hauger. (though they will probably be in due to being Red Bull talent, but since they share prospect of seats with Edgar and Hadjar).
kpcart
18th September 2022, 17:20
I think anyone able to drive an F1 car professionally should be allowed. That includes drivers in so many lower series.
James Brickles (@brickles)
18th September 2022, 18:05
Although not on the above list, I’d throw Nick Cassidy into the mix. Very quick driver when he raced in Super Formula and adapted himself quite well in DTM and Formula E.
Jim from US (@jimfromus)
18th September 2022, 18:24
Question: A driver has no superlicense points but is picked up by a good F2 team. If they win the F2 championship in their rookie season, do they have enough points to be in F1 the next season? If not, how could the driver get more points since they are banned from F2?
I believe that any driver that races for a full season in F2 or IndyCar is qualified to race in F1. The driver would still need an F1 team to give them a seat.
Proesterchen (@proesterchen)
18th September 2022, 18:59
The first three finishers in Formula 2 gain enough super license points on that result alone to qualify for a race seat in Formula 1.
The same is true for the Indycar Champion.
Mooa42
20th September 2022, 5:13
I don’t understand people comparing F2 with Indy Car for super license points.
F2 is essentially a junior series where the winner is kicked out and Indy is packed with top level drivers, some with years of experience.
In my opinion F2 should be compared to Indy Lights and Indy Car ranked much higher.
Adam (@rocketpanda)
18th September 2022, 19:13
I voted for –
Felix Rosenqvist – good in Formula E, good in IndyCar. Clearly adaptable, fast, reliable. Also cute.
Felipe Drugovich – literally won F2 with a fairly large points gap, certainly earned it
Calum Illot – arguably performed better than Schumacher, Tsunoda & Zhou overall, weird why he’s not here
Jamie Chadwick – if she’s not done enough by now then there’s no hope for another female driver
Couldn’t see Robert Shwartzman on the list but I think he’s good enough for a tryout too.
Imre (@f1mre)
18th September 2022, 20:22
Herta has more votes than any other IndyCar driver? Ridiculous.
Placid (@placid)
18th September 2022, 23:05
Newgarden is overdue.
Dane
18th September 2022, 23:56
I’m going to say Colin Herta. Yeah yeah, I know Newgarden and Dixon are more decorated but he’s about 10 years younger than the former and 20yrs younger than Dixon. He’s the youngest IndyCar winner at 18 similar to Max and I really believe if he was driving for Penske or Ganassi he would have a championship by now.
Lee That's Me (@leethatsme)
19th September 2022, 0:02
F2: Drogovich, Pourchaire, Iwasa (the latter for reasons im not entirely sure, but I’ve found myself looking out for him, so he must have made an impression on me).
INDY: Power, Palou, Newgarden and generously de Silvestro, although that’s more to do with her performances years ago than now.
F3: Martins I’d be happy if he skipped F2.
I wanted to put Chadwick but didn’t, but she’s got to be good enough for F2 surely.
All, I suspect, would do better than Latifi and Giovinazzi, but more teams and seats are needed to fit these drivers in. De Vries has proved his worth.
EffWunFan (@cairnsfella)
19th September 2022, 1:23
Drugovich with the same vote as Herta (at the time of writing) interesting.
I was with those that didn’t understand the hype of Herta, given his current standings, however it seems those in the know and that have watched him race frequently tend to agree that he is worthy of note.
And Jamie only one percent off (again at time of writing). Part of me would love to see her race in F1. No doubt she is a talented driver. However as much as I would love to be proven wrong I would expect her to lag behind all of the current crop of drivers in terms of relative speed, which would no doubt be exacerbated by the likelihood (or at least the greatest likelihood) of being in a back of the field team. It’s not that I think she’d be several seconds off the pace, but it only takes a tenth or two a lap to be well down at the end.
It would be great, however, to be proven wrong about these assumptions.
Sam Crawford (@samxc)
19th September 2022, 10:56
I went for drivers with a realistic chance. Dixon and Power are good enough, but too old really.
Of the IndyCar drivers, Malukas as a rookie has impressed a lot, Herta, O’Ward and Palou all look good enough, as are Newgarden and McLaughlin.
In F2 Drugovich looked pretty dominant this season, but has taken a long time to get to where he is, Pourchaire looks like the real deal, and Doohan looks pretty good too. Armstrong and Schwartzmann have tailed off a bit, but may still do ok. F3 it’s hard to say but I don’t see anyone yet that can definitely make the jump. W Series I’d say it’s Chadwick or bust right now, she seems a cut above the rest of the field, but if she’s nowhere near the F1 grid then what’s the point in the W Series existing?
JackySteeg (@jackysteeg)
19th September 2022, 11:14
F1 can’t seriously claim to have the worlds best drivers when it only picks from a pool of drivers who have taken its own linear route.
It’s a topic that’s been talked about to death in recent weeks for obvious reasons, but the exploits of drivers of drivers outside the European bubble are criminally undervalued. Not to say I don’t take F2 seriously, but there’s something more impressive to me about holding your own in a professional championship up against seasoned veterans who have been competing at that level for literal decades, versus beating out a group of fellow junior drivers (and rich kids) who typically have less than 2 years at that level.
That’s why my top 2 choices are O’Ward and Herta. Honourable mentions to Dixon, Newgarden, McLaughlin, and Naoki Yamamoto; it’s only the fact they are probably (in Scott’s case, definitely) too old to switch to F1 that I’ve not picked them.
JackySteeg (@jackysteeg)
19th September 2022, 11:16
(Should clarify that by Scott I refer to Dixon)
Diego Oliveira
19th September 2022, 17:58
Will Power….best name for a racer ever.
Gary Brown (@garybrown)
19th September 2022, 20:18
I would’ve loved to have seen what Josef Newgarden, Scott Dixon and Will Power could have achieved in F1. Sadly all 3 (especially Will and Scott) are way too old now for an F1 team to consider.
Pato O’Ward, Alex Palou and Juri Vips would all do well in F1 I reckon but unfortunately they either don’t have the budget, the backing or have burned their bridges so it is unlikely that they will get to F1.
Out of the female drivers, I am extremely surprised that Jamie Chadwick got way more votes than Jess Hawkins or Abbie Eaton tbh 😳.
x303 (@x303)
19th September 2022, 23:14
I realistically don’t see anyone outside F2 or Indy jumping straight into F1.
I went with Drugovitch and Pourchaire as they look ready for F1. In lower categories, the drivers aren’t ready for F1 yet. Martins and Hadjar caught my attention recently, but they need to do a full season in F2 before going to F1.
Same for W series: Chadwick is an established name in the series, but it’d be better for her to go through F3 or F2 before targeting F1. I’d love to see Pulling in F3, so she can grow her reputation. F1 is still too far away, she needs to be properly prepared.
I don’t really follow Super Formula (besides rooting for ex-F1 drivers), but I’m sure there are talents worthy of F1 there.
As for Indy, well well well.
I don’t understand the recent hype surrounding Herta given his final result. People don’t cry over twitter because the driver finishing 10th in the Super Formula standings is not in F1.
But I’m biased as I don’t really follow the series and don’t know half of the names.
grat
20th September 2022, 0:23
I’m not that impressed with Herta, to be honest. His 2022 season was memorable for the wrong reasons. He should have performed better than the previous season, and instead, went backwards. He was solidly outperformed by Palou, O’Ward, Newgarden and Ericsson (even allowing for the double point win at Indy). I think Power and Dixon are too old to make the switch (sorry, guys).
I’d love to see some of these guys (particularly Newgarden) given a test run in a 2020 car.
But at the same time, none of them will leave a championship winning team in IndyCar to drive around the back of the grid in F1– there are only 6-8 seats that can even reliably score a podium right now, and only 4 of those have a shot at race wins.
IndyCar had 9 different race winners, and something like 15 drivers finishing on the podium.
Jon (@johns23)
20th September 2022, 0:23
Scott McLaughlin from IndyCar gets my vote. I think he could cut it with any driver in F1 as well as Shane Van Gisbergan from Supercars. Both are hugely talented and very adaptable. Age probably not on their side now
GmP (@gmp)
20th September 2022, 6:23
Being from the USA I selected mostly Indycar drivers, plus F2 champ Drugovich.
From Indy obvious the last champions: Power, Palou and “very close” Newgarden. Dixon is too old. Power also, but he is the current champion, so deserves to be on the list.
Plus based on talent: Malukas, McLaughin, and O’Ward. And Veekay (because I am Dutch). Didn’t vote for Herta, a little mistake.
Not on the list, but I would like to see maybe just a serious F1 test is Robin Frijns. I believe he is better then deVries, just less charismatic.
No saying these all should be in F1, replacing current drivers, but they should get some F1 test, to see/show what they can do.
For many reasons it cannot happen, but a real race weekend in last years F1 cars at e.g. the F1 round in Austin: one free practice, one qualification, one race. Each F1 team providing one car/team. 10 “potentials”.
cduk_mugello (@cduk_mugello)
20th September 2022, 10:30
Nice idea but this is a very odd poll with 130 different drivers, and the results judged on % of the overall vote.
Absolutely meaningless to garner any information from.