Q: I was wondering why someone like Valtteri Bottas was not even on the radar screen for Red Bull? He’s won 10 races to Perez’s six, and has lots of testing and development experience. Why rush Lawson? Give him time to develop, and have two experienced drivers in the top cars.
These teams spend hundreds of millions of dollars to produce and support those race teams and cars, and you’re sure the young driver is ready?
I’m glad Valtteri has a role at Mercedes, no doubt he will contribute to their success.
Jim Doyle, Hoboken, NJ
CHRIS MEDLAND: Firstly, I agree with you, Jim. Red Bull taking Valtteri would be a bit strange in some ways given his lack of previous links to the team, but he was a solid pair of hands for Mercedes. But my agreement is more that there should have been no rush with Lawson. It does not feel like the best way of developing talent to be successful at the top, if you look at how Red Bull handled Pierre Gasly, and Alex Albon, too.
Leaving Bottas aside, the big name on offer all season was Carlos Sainz and he would have been an excellent addition. He and Max Verstappen were both Toro Rosso drivers and Sainz was a true Red Bull junior (Max wasn’t one, he was put straight into the Toro Rosso from F3 so that Red Bull could beat other teams to his signature because he was such a talent), so it would still show that drivers who come through the Red Bull program reach the very top, even if not immediately.
But the reason Sainz and Bottas were overlooked was because Red Bull claims that would undermine its junior program. Christian Horner says with such competition for drivers in the junior ranks, if you don’t promote from RB to Red Bull, nobody would sign for you. I doubt that – the lack of patience and mishandling of talents are just as much of a reason that some have chosen to join other programs – and I think as a front-running team, you have to pick drivers who are either ready or exceptional prospects.
Horner says he wouldn’t have signed Sainz over Lawson even if Carlos was still available last week, which I find a remarkable statement, but he might just be saving face because it’s a hypothetical situation. I still maintain Yuki Tsunoda was the smarter choice because he has more experience, and while he’s a bit of a wildcard in terms of how he might react to the Red Bull environment, you can afford to find out with him. If it works, great. If it doesn’t, you know all you need to know about him, and you have given Lawson a first full season leading the RB team to develop further and be better equipped to succeed.
THE FINAL WORD
From Robin Miller’s Mailbag, 23 December, 2015
Q: I was glad to see you giving Sam Hornish a fair retrospective in the last Mailbag. Unfortunately, Sam will end up going down without the credit he deserves. But for anyone who challenges or questions Sam’s talent in an IndyCar, I’d point out the following:
1) Sam made the Fast 6 in six out of 11 road course races he competed in (IRL only had three road courses in 2005 and 2006, and five in 2007). He was the fastest guy outside of the Fast 6 on three more of those occasions, and at that time IndyCar had the cream of the crop of road and street course drivers (Franchitti, Dixon, Wheldon, Herta, Kanaan, Helio…)
2) Sam obviously knew his way around the 1.5-mile cookie-cutter tracks in the IRL era of high downforce pack racing, but even still he was never involved or caused a major accident, it seemed like he immediately had the trust of the CART guys who came over in 2002-’03 on those big tracks, and nobody except Tony Kanaan could put the car up in the high line and the marbles and make it stick at 220 at places like Chicagoland, Kansas, Michigan, Fontana, etc.
3) Sam was awesome at the driver’s oval tracks. He was always in contention at places like Richmond, Milwaukee, Gateway, Pikes Peak. This includes 2003 when he ran that dog of a Chevy engine for Panther before Cosworth provided a suitable engine and ran great at the smaller ovals in spite of being 40 HP down to the Toyotas and Hondas.
4) Sam was awesome at Indy. Sure, 2006 was the only year he put it all together but he was always fast at Indy and in contention. I’d love to see Sam back in IndyCar or even Indy but I think he’s made it abundantly clear that he’s moved on which is fine.
Clint, Chicago
ROBIN MILLER: Thanks for all that research, Clint. I think Sam got everyone’s attention as a rookie when he was driving for Paul Diatlovich’s tiny team and he passed Eddie Cheever on the outside at Phoenix. Like I wrote, I was always impressed at how he improved his road racing skills after joining The Captain. Some people thought Sam was arrogant but I always found him to be quiet, kinda bashful except when in the car, and pretty damn gracious – win or lose.