Q: During the Monaco GP they showed a visit to Alpine reserve driver’s Jack Doohan’s place in Monaco. Beyond my means. Sure looked like it was in the seven-figure range.
How much does a reserve driver in F1 make?
David Young
CM: Ha, don’t forget Doohan’s father has done pretty well for himself in life too, first as a legend in motorcycle racing [ED: Mick Doohan won five 500c world championships] and now through his involvement with private aircraft sales, acquisition and trading as the president for Jetcraft in Australia and New Zealand. It’s not so much about the salary a driver might be earning, but the vast majority in motorsport come from affluent backgrounds.
Reserve drivers are rarely highly paid in terms of how many think of F1 wages, though. In fact, many of the race drivers in their early years are not even reaching seven figures themselves — it’s the front-runners, race winners and multiple champions that command the huge salaries that people make headlines out of.
The reserves still have a good wage and their expenses covered, but often dovetail with another racing program that might be a paid drive in WEC or similar. Partnerships and appearances can also help, where they’ve got more time when they’re on-site for a race weekend to add to their earnings.
Q: Two years ago Perez could at least challenge Verstappen and won a couple races here or there. Last year he wasn’t as competitive. This year it’s almost like they’re driving different cars. I’m not here to speculate on if he belongs in the car or anything like that. I’m curious what the team attributes the massive gap in pace to Verstappen to?
Ryan, West Michigan
CM: Even Perez himself puts it down to ability. In an interview we ran sections from with him in Canada, he admitted, “You have a reference where you currently have the best driver on the grid next to you and he’s performing at such a high level, at one with the car…”
Don’t take any of the following as criticism of Perez, either. Verstappen was starting to put some distance between himself and Ricciardo more often back in 2018, then also had a clear advantage over Gasly and Albon after that.
Verstappen’s ability to get a car to do what he wants is incredible. On a recent Skip Barber Racing School day I was shown his approach to a corner in Sebring in the Florida Winter Series back in 2014 where his car control and rapid reactions meant he could attack the bumps like nobody else. And he was just starting out in cars then.
Like many drivers, especially when they pass 30 (Alonso and Hamilton have generally been outliers on the current grid) Perez has clear strengths but is at his best when the car allows him to use them. He finds it tougher to drive around problems, whereas Verstappen’s adaptability gives him an advantage.
That’s also shown by the fact that Perez is often closer early in the season, where they both start from the same point and on tracks Verstappen isn’t a huge fan of, but then the Dutchman works out how to adjust or get the car to do more of what he wants. He himself said it was Baku last year where he tried a few different settings and approaches in the race while behind Perez, and it clicked.
Look at how close the chasing pack is to Verstappen, though. Perez could be 0.3s per lap off his teammate last year and usually finish second or on the podium after starting in the top four or five. This year, that deficit would leave him in the bottom half of the top 10, or even outside it sometimes in qualifying. Then you’re stuck in a more competitive pack and can’t make easy progress.
Even with clear air and the ability to run his own race without any disruption from lap three in Barcelona, Verstappen was still very nearly caught by Norris, who had a lot more fighting to do. The Red Bull advantage has gone, and that’s emphasizing the value of Verstappen.
Q: How did McLaren started racing so well in F1 this year? Especially since Lando Norris won the Miami GP?
Kurt Perleberg
CM: One word, Kurt: Upgrades. McLaren’s technical team was restructured in the off-season before 2023, as it had been felt it was heading in the wrong direction with its new car and that other team members had identified how it needed to improve, and quickly. So Andrea Stella became team principal and technical director James Key left amid the rebuild, and the progress has been incredible ever since.
It’s actually a year ago that it really started to show, with McLaren bringing an upgrade package to the car in Austria that instantly put it in the fight for podiums, and it has continued on that path.
Miami was the biggest upgrade of the first part of this season and it turned a very solid car into one that is pretty much on an even footing with Red Bull, and to that end it shouldn’t be overlooked that Rob Marshall joined from Red Bull in January of this year, currently working as chief designer.
While Marshall can’t be credited with last year’s progress or the upgrade package introduced in Miami, he can reinforce the direction the team is taking and how it goes about its work. But the existing personnel had very much put it on the right path already, and was delivering.
The Mercedes power unit is also believed to still be at least as good as any of its rivals, if not marginally better, so McLaren simply has a strong all-round package and — aside from Red Bull — worked out how to get the most out of the ground effect cars quickest of the front-runners. That’s allowed it to catch up at a faster rate, with Ferrari believing it understood what it needed to do ever since the summer break last year (so around four months after McLaren) and Mercedes doing so this year.
A new wind tunnel and simulator upgrades over the past few years have also ensured McLaren has the facilities to successfully capitalize on its understanding and knowledge, whereas in the past it might have found it tougher to develop a car so effectively.