So I guess the circus could still come to town

33 is late to get in F1 these days.
She would be old enough to be Max Verstapen's mother !

I don't know what Carmen Jorda or Susie Wolff have ever achieved on the track.
Jorda raced in F3, Wolff in DTM, but not with great success.

After all, Patrick is the most successful ever woman on open wheel racing in the USA, the only one to have won an Indy race, etc...

Neither De Silvestro, Fisher, Lynn St James, or Janet Guthrie ever achieved that.

 

Danica is already 33 years old, thats old for a F1 driver... the article also states that her contract with Go Daddy is set to expire at the end of this year, so would she really be bringing a lot of sponsor money with her?

 

She reminds me of India Summer

 

Without ta tas.

 

Wish the press would just let this one go. Danica Patrick is not coming to F1.

 

What about India Summer then?

 

What Haas needs is veteran good F1 driver who knows the ropes and a kid who wants to make name for themselves.

The only thing Danica does is bring US bucks and PR. If that's all you care about, then hire her. But the PR and the bucks will soon run out.

 

That's what any new team needs.
Some steady hands to bring experience on one side, and a potential young gun sharpening his teeth on the other.

 

I think his best options would be Esteban Gutierrez, experienced F1 driver and he is familiar with the Ferrari power unit. Alexander Rossi, he's young has F1 experience, and is the only American currently holding a super license.

 

None of them strike me as being an asset to a team, and their experience of F1 is almost nil!

Gutierrez was very low key during his year at Sauber, and was given the boot in spite of the sponsorship he brought. I think Ferrari recruited him to warm up the cars.

What F1 experience Rossi has, apart from standing in the pits at Caterham? How many laps does he have under his belt? He missed his chance long time ago. If you can step in F1 immediatly after a couple of GP2, forget it!

Haas needs an old hand somebody with years of racing, coming from a top team perhaps to bring team experience and stabilise the outfit, hopefully able to give some references on the performance level (like RED Bull recruited Coulthard) .

Then, his team mate should come from one of the lower categories, but a "hot-shoe" with plenty of speed and hopefully a championship winner already ( a new Nelson Piquet, or a Gilles Villeneuve type of driver).

 

Who was the last F1 driver who at one point or another wasn't a pay driver?

 

You're talking about racing in General or just F1? F1: Kimi. I think Vettel also.

 

Kimi apparently obtained his super-license having only competed in 23 races.
Nobody could understand how he got it when he joined Sauber.
Probably one of the shortest apprenticeship in modern times!

 

There are a lot of drivers who join teams for free but are sponsored already by corporations (or "friends" LOL!)

That to me is different than paying literally for your seat. Paying for your seat means you are paying money to the team to be in the car. In these cases the teams go "well, this guy sucks but he's paying us so what do we care?"

 

I think this would be a very short-sighted view for the team, and one that would ultimately be counter-productive.
If a team is seen to put an under-performing driver in one of his cars just because he brings a lot of cash, it will no do much for its reputation.
It has also been done occasionally in the past, and the results were often catastrophic.

I remember Bernie Ecclestone putting an unknown Richard Robarts in one of his F1 Brabham to pay a large share of the team budget when he owned the outfit, and it was a complete catastrophe.
Even Eddie Jordan once said that putting an untalented driver with plenty of money in one of his cars more than tripled his chassis repair bills!
Ligier tried that one also with the rich Brazilian from Monaco Pedro Diniz, and finished bitting his fingers after numerous crashes. Diniz even offered to buy the team to keep his drive!

I think it's wrong to think that teams don't care. Most of them weight all the offers they receive against the potential of the candidates. Also, the super-license system should avoid unskilled drivers to reach F1, but I won't hold my breath on that.

 

I see little difference. The "sponsored" driver has convinced just one other fellow.

 

If its a pay driver or the bailiffs....

 

I know ... some people would even go as far a selling a kidney ...

 

With fava beans and a nice chianti?