F1 Fanatic

As I’ve often said on the main site, the traditional notion of a pay driver is dead. In the bad old days of the 1980s and 1990s, anyone who fancied himself a racing driver and had money and/or a few connections could get a drive and get in the way of the actual racing drivers, Jean-Denis Deletraz perhaps being the most infamous example.

But these days, the tiered structure of feeder series, the demand for a Superlicence and the highly competitive grids we see in GP2 and GP3 mean that drivers must at least show some talent before Formula 1 teams consider them as a potential driver. And sponsors tend to attach themselves to the most talented drivers because they represent the best chance of getting into the sport (and thereby taking the sponsor with them). In fact, there are only half a dozen drivers who do not actually bring sponsors to their teams – even Fernando Alonso does it; his presence at Ferrari brought Santander on-board. The old stereotype of a pay driver is dead.

Well, mostly. There’s a few pockets of resistance out there, the traditionalists who are still under the impression that they are (or can be) professional racing drivers.

At the end of 2009, a Bulgarian businessman named Plamen Kralev joined the GP2 Asia Series, competing for Trident Racing. In a feeder series where most of the drivers are barely old enough to shave, Kralev was an elderly thirty-six years old. He was not particularly quick, either; his best result was a 16th place, and he finished the season 33rd overall – the lowest-ranked driver to compete in all races (Giedo van der Garde was 34th, but he only took part in one round). His GP2 career pretty much ended after that, and he is now competing in Formula 2, where he is currently 23rd overall, with a single point to his name after he finished 10th at the Red Bull Ring. He even has his own title, ‘Ambassador of Bulgaria in the World of Motorsport’:

http://www.plamenkralev.com/?lang=en

http://www.formulatwo.com/2011-drivers/plamen-kralev.aspx

Naturally, Kralev developed a cult following (at F1 Rejects, where else?), largely because his name roughly translates as ‘Fire King’.

Kralev isn’t the only traditionalist in motorsport. As of yesterday, he was joined by Christophe Hurni, a Swiss driver competing at Monza in the GP3 Series for Jenzer Motorsport. Hurni is perhaps more Kralev than Kralev. Remember how I said Kralev was elderly at thirty-six? Hurni is forty-nine. His best result to date is perhaps a tenth place overall in the Swiss Formula 3 championship – in 1987 (I’m surprised they could find ten Swiss drivers in the first place).

http://www.gp3series.com/teams-and-drivers/jenzer-motorsport/Christophe-Hurni/

Hurni is perhaps remniscent of the infamous Chanoch Nissany, Israel’s first Formula 1 driver, who served as test driver for European Minardi (of course he did) at the 2005 Hungarian Grand Prix, his one and only appearance. Nissany was seven seconds slower than Robert Doornbos and Christjian Albers – who went on to qualify five seconds behind Michael Schumacher.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chanoch_Nissany

So: Kralev, Nissany and Hurni. Who else threatens to bring back the stigma of pay drivers in motorsport?

These days, I think that pay drivers definitely still exist, but more refer to those who can buy their way into the best seats in the junior formulae.

The irony of it Nakajima being at Williams was for them to have Toyota engines, they lost there Honda power plants in the 80′s for not having his father Satoru

To name but a few hopeless drivers, not all pay drivers, in the last few years

Petrov’s podium in Australia suggests otherwise.

You have to remember that a lot of drivers on the grid have sponsors who help them get into the sport. They attach themselves to the most promising talent. This thread, however, is for drivers who don’t stand a chance of graduating from the feeder series because they lack talent and wouldn’t be there in the first place if it weren’t for their money.

to themagicofspeed : Winkelhock raced only once in F1 and led that race in a Spyker that couldn’t get into the points that year. He may not have been a great driver, but he deserved in my opinion another shot at F1. He shouldn’t be criticised so harshly.

Thanks PM for the interesting post. I can’t think of any other pay drivers currently racing.
Maybe Schumacher started in F1 by finiding sponsorship and paying for his seat, but I think pay drivers are those that get a seat only for the money they bring to the team, Schumacher would’ve reached F1 by pure talent anyway. Alonso brings Santander sponsorship with him, because Santander wants to sponsor a good driver, but Ferrari didn’t choose him based only (if at all) on the sponsorship he brought.

@ themagicofspeed

you mentioned Sebastien Bourdais, I disagree alot.

Bourdais was and is a very talented driver, he’s won an awful lot of other stuff before his Formula 1 attempt.

The quality of the “pay drivers” these days has got much better, it’s not so obvious any more who is and who isn’t a Pay Driver. Karthekeyan is a recent driver that I would consider to be actually outclassed by the rest of the drivers, not Vitaly Petrov.

Just found out that Luca Orlandi (who has competed in Spanish F3 and the British F3 National Class this year) is a forty-something fashion designer who once dated Naomi Campbell. Damn.