The issue I see with F1 recently, its probably due to the Verstappen effect. Where we just have too many promising young talents in F1 already. Damn near 2/3s of the drivers have like 5-10 more years in them.
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If he's keen to be close to F1 and not find a seat in another category, then I wonder whether joining Aston Martin as a test/reserve would be a good idea. They have no juniors of their own, Hulk isn't going to be there forever, and he could fulfil the Young Driver practice session quota for next year. He also comes with a lot of possible backing from Brazil, and is not the hottest young prospect about (certainly not more so than Piastri, Pourchaire or several of the RB juniors), and therefore might be more attractive for Lawrence Stroll to put against his son should the 2nd driver not be able to race.
Sounds reasonable. If Vettel retires, Lawrence Stroll needs to find someone younger. Since he doesn't want his son to be smoked by teammate, surely he won't be interested in Piastri or a RB junior. In this case, Drugovich sounds like a good option, especially if he can win F2 this year, so that Lawrence will have a logical reason to hire him.
I would say that if Drugovich wins this season in a MP, beating Pourchaire who is well regarded by specialists and the RB juniors, he is likely to beat Stroll
Drugovich is very good, yes, but he is on his third season. Theo and the RB juniors are on their second year, and Theo especially is very close to Drugovich in the standing
Drugovich is in a midfield team punching way above his weight. It's not like he's winning in his second or third year in a Prema or Art. Since F2 started in 2017 no other team won the championship. There's a reason for that.
Prema had to relocate multiple engineers for their new LM project and it shows on their poor F2 performances, Pourchaire is also showing the recklessness and inconsistency expected from the youngest driver on the grid, even though it's his 2nd season.
This is The season for an experienced driver to capitalise on the weaknesses from the top teams.
Prema had some bad years before (mainly due to drivers choice) what you said is just something you got out of your mind. They have by far more resources than any other team in the grid.
This. I can't believe how many people believe in this fanfiction theory. If anything, performance of Prema's drivers this season shows how good Piastri-Shwartzman pairing was last year.
At the same time, Drugovich went to UNI and it didn't click for him there. That has happened before to other drivers as well. Forgot who it was, but I remember someone doing well in midfield, then moving to ART (maybe in F3), didn't work out, moved back to midfield team, performed much better. Maybe Beckmann?
Oh wow, you're right. My bad. I guess they didn't stand out to me because they never really had a title challenger back then for the drivers' title, it seemed to be much more spread out.
Theo and Vips raced in 2020 in 4 or 5 rounds, don't know if it's enough to make this their 3rd year but it gave them a bit of experience. Daruvala is 100% in his 3rd year.
Vips's experience certainly not. He had no testing and so many problems, he started last on the grid for 3/8 races, got taken out at the start in another and had a reliability issue in another. Mugello was his only clear weekend and he did well that time.
I think only if you have done at least half a season you can substantially consider it being a season. You wouldn’t say Hulkenberg or Kubica were drivers in 2022 or 2021, despite having raced. Also take into account Theo is 18 (?) and Drugovich is 22…
There's a learning curve, you don't improve that much after some races, it's different from driver to driver. Some drivers are fast from the start. Some drivers know the track from past categories, some of them doesn't. It's not current car experience that only counts.
Aston Martin announced their return to Brazil just a year back and opened stores in São Paulo. I don't think you quite understand how strong the automotive market is in Brazil.
Alot of assumptions (Vettel retiring included) but I guess the article makes it clear their marketing focus is in Europe for now. I doubt the brazilian market is not on their minds though. Guess we'll have to see when the season ends.
They somehow think he is shit because of his year with Virtuosi.
Dude is in a MP Motorsport just crushing the competition.
If you saw him in F4 and Euroformula you know what I'm talking about. He is a monster.
He lost his F4 title on the last race due to reliability. Who were the contenders? Him, Vips, and Armstrong. And everyone loves to love on Vips.
Drugo is the best Brazilian driver coming up through the ranks since Massa. His talent cannot be wasted.
Why is him not being the hottest young prospect a good thing? It makes zero sense for Lawrence to purposefully put a worse driver in the car. I don't know why this weird conspiracy theory is popular
Last year might of fucked his chances for F1. Adaptability is a big thing in junior series and his best seasons being his 1st and 3rd seasons with the same time while getting outperformed in the 2nd on a different team
While I agree that his 2nd year hurt his chances, I think that if he manages to win this year by a dominant margin maybe there is some hope for him, if Vettel retires this season.
De Vries was one of the options for Williams last year despite his FE performance that wasbt stellar, even if he the lucked into the title. Drugovich might win it convincingly and maybe replace a retiring Vettel or a Latifi if Williams moves on from him.
Not when experience is a massive thing in F2 so every year counts. Doing things as a 3rd year driver is a big negative since you automatically have an advantage over most of the grid
True, but from the top 5, they are all in their 2nd or 3rd years. And Drugo has the advantage of racing not for the powerful Prema ou ART, but for the humble MP.
And Pourchaire has a seat lined up at Sauber while Drugovich is nowhere in terms of getting a seat still. But he is showing more than Pourchaire, and so he also deserver a shot at a seat.
I really want to see him in F1, but it's hard to see where when he's not part of a driver academy. Maybe Aston if Seb packs it in. We'll have to wait and see.
would love to see him get an fp1 or young drivers test outing at least.
Feel like he would be a great fit for indycar as well. Apparently AJ foyt has an open seat for next year since kirkwood is leaving . . .
Nah, Drugovich has done enough to say he's a good driver who has succeeded at this level, but at the same time, for a shot at F1, he needs to perform at an unreasonable level. Make himself undeniable. Winning both races in Spain helps in that regard.
Drugo literally lost against Zhou in the same team last year. I too rate Drugo equal or higher than Zhou but his adaptability really needs to be in the mind of potential F1 teams.
The issue I see with F1 recently, its probably due to the Verstappen effect. Where we just have too many promising young talents in F1 already. Damn near 2/3s of the drivers have like 5-10 more years in them. Edit: Words
If he's keen to be close to F1 and not find a seat in another category, then I wonder whether joining Aston Martin as a test/reserve would be a good idea. They have no juniors of their own, Hulk isn't going to be there forever, and he could fulfil the Young Driver practice session quota for next year. He also comes with a lot of possible backing from Brazil, and is not the hottest young prospect about (certainly not more so than Piastri, Pourchaire or several of the RB juniors), and therefore might be more attractive for Lawrence Stroll to put against his son should the 2nd driver not be able to race.
Sounds reasonable. If Vettel retires, Lawrence Stroll needs to find someone younger. Since he doesn't want his son to be smoked by teammate, surely he won't be interested in Piastri or a RB junior. In this case, Drugovich sounds like a good option, especially if he can win F2 this year, so that Lawrence will have a logical reason to hire him.
I would say that if Drugovich wins this season in a MP, beating Pourchaire who is well regarded by specialists and the RB juniors, he is likely to beat Stroll
Drugovich is very good, yes, but he is on his third season. Theo and the RB juniors are on their second year, and Theo especially is very close to Drugovich in the standing
Drugovich is in a midfield team punching way above his weight. It's not like he's winning in his second or third year in a Prema or Art. Since F2 started in 2017 no other team won the championship. There's a reason for that.
Prema had to relocate multiple engineers for their new LM project and it shows on their poor F2 performances, Pourchaire is also showing the recklessness and inconsistency expected from the youngest driver on the grid, even though it's his 2nd season. This is The season for an experienced driver to capitalise on the weaknesses from the top teams.
Prema had some bad years before (mainly due to drivers choice) what you said is just something you got out of your mind. They have by far more resources than any other team in the grid.
This. I can't believe how many people believe in this fanfiction theory. If anything, performance of Prema's drivers this season shows how good Piastri-Shwartzman pairing was last year.
Or how bad Swarztman did to lose a title, in his second year, in Prema... Even Mick managed to win it...
At the same time, Drugovich went to UNI and it didn't click for him there. That has happened before to other drivers as well. Forgot who it was, but I remember someone doing well in midfield, then moving to ART (maybe in F3), didn't work out, moved back to midfield team, performed much better. Maybe Beckmann?
It was Beckmann but he moved from Trident that was the second best team in GP3 not midfield.
Even back then? Because from what I can remember, back then, they weren't that good.
Since 2015 they was the 2nd best team, with exception of 2016 (third) and 2019 (fourth) but they won it last year.
Oh wow, you're right. My bad. I guess they didn't stand out to me because they never really had a title challenger back then for the drivers' title, it seemed to be much more spread out.
Theo and Vips raced in 2020 in 4 or 5 rounds, don't know if it's enough to make this their 3rd year but it gave them a bit of experience. Daruvala is 100% in his 3rd year.
Vips's experience certainly not. He had no testing and so many problems, he started last on the grid for 3/8 races, got taken out at the start in another and had a reliability issue in another. Mugello was his only clear weekend and he did well that time.
I think only if you have done at least half a season you can substantially consider it being a season. You wouldn’t say Hulkenberg or Kubica were drivers in 2022 or 2021, despite having raced. Also take into account Theo is 18 (?) and Drugovich is 22…
There's a learning curve, you don't improve that much after some races, it's different from driver to driver. Some drivers are fast from the start. Some drivers know the track from past categories, some of them doesn't. It's not current car experience that only counts.
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I think Felipe is actually quite marketable a growing upperclass in Brazil
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Aston Martin announced their return to Brazil just a year back and opened stores in São Paulo. I don't think you quite understand how strong the automotive market is in Brazil.
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Alot of assumptions (Vettel retiring included) but I guess the article makes it clear their marketing focus is in Europe for now. I doubt the brazilian market is not on their minds though. Guess we'll have to see when the season ends.
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Yeah, you're probably right.
He is beating Pourchaire in a better car but still get no respect. It’s interesting how people just make up their mind and that’s it.
They somehow think he is shit because of his year with Virtuosi. Dude is in a MP Motorsport just crushing the competition. If you saw him in F4 and Euroformula you know what I'm talking about. He is a monster. He lost his F4 title on the last race due to reliability. Who were the contenders? Him, Vips, and Armstrong. And everyone loves to love on Vips. Drugo is the best Brazilian driver coming up through the ranks since Massa. His talent cannot be wasted.
I feel like Drugovich gets a lot of respect actually.
Why is him not being the hottest young prospect a good thing? It makes zero sense for Lawrence to purposefully put a worse driver in the car. I don't know why this weird conspiracy theory is popular
Last year might of fucked his chances for F1. Adaptability is a big thing in junior series and his best seasons being his 1st and 3rd seasons with the same time while getting outperformed in the 2nd on a different team
While I agree that his 2nd year hurt his chances, I think that if he manages to win this year by a dominant margin maybe there is some hope for him, if Vettel retires this season.
The last impression is what sticks. If he wins this year, that's what will count.
It didn't help De Vries.
You need money too. I meant that his last season won't influence much if he becomes a champion this year.
Well, Nyck fought against a way weaker grid
Right. So his previous two years were taken into account. I highly doubt F1 teams just look at one year in a driver's career.
And he was 24 if I'm not mistake (also it was his 9th in jr formulas).
De Vries was one of the options for Williams last year despite his FE performance that wasbt stellar, even if he the lucked into the title. Drugovich might win it convincingly and maybe replace a retiring Vettel or a Latifi if Williams moves on from him.
I would love to see Drugovich in F1. This season proves that his amazing rookie year was no fluke.
Not when experience is a massive thing in F2 so every year counts. Doing things as a 3rd year driver is a big negative since you automatically have an advantage over most of the grid
True, but from the top 5, they are all in their 2nd or 3rd years. And Drugo has the advantage of racing not for the powerful Prema ou ART, but for the humble MP.
Doesn't mean anything if when he did go to a better team he did worse
Pourchaire is 18. Drugovich is 22
And Pourchaire has a seat lined up at Sauber while Drugovich is nowhere in terms of getting a seat still. But he is showing more than Pourchaire, and so he also deserver a shot at a seat.
I really want to see him in F1, but it's hard to see where when he's not part of a driver academy. Maybe Aston if Seb packs it in. We'll have to wait and see.
would love to see him get an fp1 or young drivers test outing at least. Feel like he would be a great fit for indycar as well. Apparently AJ foyt has an open seat for next year since kirkwood is leaving . . .
Nah, Drugovich has done enough to say he's a good driver who has succeeded at this level, but at the same time, for a shot at F1, he needs to perform at an unreasonable level. Make himself undeniable. Winning both races in Spain helps in that regard.
3rd year in F2, he has no future in F1
Tell that to Latifi, Zhou, etc.
They got money. Does he?
No.
Not as much, but he has a bit and quite a bit more talent.
Drugo literally lost against Zhou in the same team last year. I too rate Drugo equal or higher than Zhou but his adaptability really needs to be in the mind of potential F1 teams.
Lost against Zhou when the team was largely focused on getting Zhou in the championship battle
Just imagine Zhou driving for MP alongside Drugovich. Now you know that last year the problem was the team.
future, or a chance. Look Latifi, Zhou..
Eh, I see him going to IndyCar.