Confirmed: Jean-Eric Vergne ousted by Toro Rosso

[anfield5]

Shame on you red bull, treating JEV like a used towel!!

He is easily in the top half of the 2014 field talent-wise. I have seen rumours that he will end up testing for Williams, I hope this is true and he is in position to replace Massa in 2016. As already mentioned it is crazy that JEV is without a seat when Meathead keeps his drive at Toleman and Ericsson is drafted into Sauber.

No disrespect to Daniil K. (who looked impressive this year), but I would have given him a second year at STR to further develop and given JEV a year at RBR to prove how good he is, having said that though I certainly dont begrudge Daniil his chance for the big team and I really do wish him well

[Doc Austin]

He is easily in the top half of the 2014 field talent-wise. I have seen rumours that he will end up testing for Williams, I hope this is true and he is in position to replace Massa in 2016.

Claire Williams: "Thanks for developing our next driver for us!"

You put the money in for four years and then dump the guy? Business wise that's like flushing money down the toilet (or "the loo" for you Brits).

As already mentioned it is crazy that JEV is without a seat when Meathead keeps his drive at Toleman, and Ericsson is drafted into Sauber......

This is what you get when it takes $95 million a year to run a Sauber well enough to score zero points. Think about that. $95 million dollars and that didn't even buy them a single point.

No disrespect to Daniil K. (who looked impressive this year), but I would have given him a second year at STR to further develop and given JEV a year at RBR to prove how good he is,

Those two were evenly matched at Torro Rosso, so why wouldn't you want another driver as good as Ricciardo? Perhaps those two just couldn't work together or something. There has to be another reason besides performance that Vergne is being cut loose. I

[rjbetty]

This is a real shame, but sadly I expected this from before the season...

Red Bull and Dr Marko have their way of running things, and if that seems right to them, I guess there´s not much we can do. It´s just chuck the driver in at the deep end and strictly sink or swim.

The only reservation I have with this is that I'm not sure being bang on the pace straight away is the ONLY way to become a top driver. Maybe someone can be just as good or better, just that they develop more slowly, but go further in the end. i.e. I'm not sure a lack of instant success necessarily means a driver won't be great.

I do think JEV has developed to where he's just around the top 10 in F1 currently, so if it were a fair place he should quite easily have a ride elsewhere. One thing I am disappointed in is the 12-7 qualifying stat in Kvyat's favour. Seems quali is still a struggle...

[Robinho]

JEV and Jenson should buy one of the redundant teams, with Ross Brawn as principal. I'd support them.

[Jag_Warrior]

JEV and Jenson should buy one of the redundant teams, with Ross Brawn as principal. I'd support them.

If he could lose the accent, start calling himself "Jeff" instead of JEV and buy a house outside of Charlotte, NC... a shoe-in for Haas F1? Seriously though, of the available drivers, surely Vergne (and Button) would have to be at the top of the list. Well ahead of Sutil, I would think, and also Alexander Rossi (American driver be darned; get the best driver that you can... and stop mentioning Danicant's name - she's completely unqualified!!!).

[Doc Austin]

Not completely unexpected:Toro Rosso confirms Sainz alongside Verstappen

[Tazio]

I have seen rumours that he will end up testing for Williams, I hope this is true and he is in position to replace Massa in 2016.

Let's face it, he is no Susie Wolff

Susie Wolff's F1 rise is not tokenism – but a triumph over the odds
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/m...s-9891891.html

Whatever method she adopts to gain traction the point remains she wouldn’t be in the car if she were not seriously quick. When Wolff appeared in Friday practice in Germany she closed only a couple of tenths behind Felipe Massa, a veteran of 210 grands prix and 11 race wins.

That proves she is deserving . Never mind that she is 31 and when in her prime got spanky, spanky, spanked in every series that she participated in!

[jens]

The way we are about to lose Vergne reminds me Alguersuari, who seemed to become a pretty competent driver in 2011, but there just wasn't room for him.

However, I don't blame Red Bull's "treatment", because they have to carry on with their young driver conveyor belt. It is written into their driver strategy! For example had they kept Alguersuari, we would not have seen either Vergne or Ricciardo in F1, which would have been a loss as well. It is harsh, but Toro Rosso is not meant for making a long career there, i.e drive a 10-year-career in STR only. This would completely stall the driver conveyor.

STR is meant to be used as a platform - you drive 2-3 years and then move to another team. Sort of like once Minardi was - Alonso/Webber were never going to stay all their career in Minardi. Bianchi was not going to stay in Marussia all his career either. Not everyone is like Pierluigi Martini. Current Toro Rosso is like a more competitive option of the old days Minardi - as a rookie you get your gig in this team, try to impress, either make or break into another (better) team. Alo, Web, Fisi, Trulli, and others all made it out of Minardi.

But what after those 2-3 years? If not Red Bull, you can still join another team. But sadly it seems there is no place for Vergne - most midfield teams need a paydriver. And that's the tough game of modern F1, which also almost cost Hülkenberg a place in F1 (he was without a race drive in 2011). It would have been great had Vergne got that Williams 3rd driver role. Perhaps he can still get that?

[Tazio]

It would have been great had Vergne got that Williams 3rd driver role. Perhaps he can still get that?

Except The Wolff's


have gone spanky, spanky, and she has the Drive!

[Doc Austin]

However, I don't blame Red Bull's "treatment", because they have to carry on with their young driver conveyor belt. It is written into their driver strategy! .... It is harsh, but Toro Rosso is not meant for making a long career there, i.e drive a 10-year-career in STR only. This would completely stall the driver conveyor.

In Vettel's case it meant graduation to the Red Bull team and four championships, so their driver development program paid big dividends.

Here, though, they invested at least four years in Vergne, and now he's gone. Red Bull got nothing out of it, so from a business standpoint it didn't pay off.

If Red Bull is doing this for the sport, their program works well, that is, until there is no room for their protoges to move up into Red Bull. Then they are just out. Sadly there is nowhere for them to go because all but the biggest teams need a driver to bring money. Apparently the Red Bull development program doesn't teach them how to raise funding.

STR is meant to be used as a platform - you drive 2-3 years and then move to another team.

That's great, but there's nowhere to go unless you have a bag full of cash.

It would have been great had Vergne got that Williams 3rd driver role. Perhaps he can still get that?

It would be bad for business to give Toto's wife the boot if you are running a Merc.