Vergne: A match for Ricciardo?

[LionZoo]

http://en.espnf1.com/tororosso/motorspo ... 75371.html

I kind of agree with his point. In his two seasons as teammate to Ricciardo, I thought he acquitted himself rather well. He's definitely one of those drivers that seem more than deserving of remaining in F1, but it looks like he's going to join the F1 Toro Rosso scrapheap.

(Also, the comments in the article. YIKES!)

[FullMetalJack]

He has a point. JEV was a match for Ricky at Toro Rosso, him at Red Bull is a great 'What If' story, who knows how well he could have done.

[AustralianStig]

*Aussie fanboy disclaimer*

While Vergne would be a solid midfield driver, I've always thought Ricciardo had more raw talent. Yes, Vergne outscored him at Toro Rosso in 2012, but that was down to a few rather fortuitous 8th places rather than consistently being ahead.

If RB had gone for Vergne this season instead of Dan, I just can't see him having any race wins. Let's not forget the inch-perfect passes Ricciardo has been pulling all season - I can't remember Vergne ever consistently doing that.

But I really do rate JEV as a strong driver and hope he's in F1 next year for a better team than Toro Rosso.

[LellaLombardi]

I think JEV is the new Nick Heidfeld.

[good_Ralf]

I think JEV is the new Nick Heidfeld.

I thought Hulkenberg was becoming the new Nick Heidfeld.

[BigG80]

I am becoming slightly bored by Hulkenberg now from being a massive fan before so I think this theory might be right.

[Waris]

I am becoming slightly bored by Hulkenberg now from being a massive fan before so I think this theory might be right.

The difference being that Hülkenberg will win a race. (You heard it hear first.)

[Leyton House]

I just really hope he gets a drive, he's worthy of it.

[More_Blue_Flags]

If RB had gone for Vergne this season instead of Dan, I just can't see him having any race wins. Let's not forget the inch-perfect passes Ricciardo has been pulling all season - I can't remember Vergne ever consistently doing that.

I must admit that some of Dan's exceptional passes were a complete surprise to me this year, though. I may be mistaken, but i can't think of anything from 2013 that suggested to me that Dan could drive at a much higher level than JEV.

I am becoming slightly bored by Hulkenberg now from being a massive fan before so I think this theory might be right.

The difference being that Hülkenberg will win a race. (You heard it hear first.)

I really thought that 2014 would be the year, what with my hopes for high unrelaibility giving midfielders a chance and all that. I would really like to see it, but I am now having trouble seeing how the Hulk now gets to a team capable of giving him a winning car.

[mario]

I am becoming slightly bored by Hulkenberg now from being a massive fan before so I think this theory might be right.

The difference being that Hülkenberg will win a race. (You heard it hear first.)

I really thought that 2014 would be the year, what with my hopes for high unrelaibility giving midfielders a chance and all that. I would really like to see it, but I am now having trouble seeing how the Hulk now gets to a team capable of giving him a winning car.

If some of the recent rumours are true, then it may be the case that we don't even see Hulkenberg on the grid next season if he is actively considering joining Porsche's WEC program.

It'd be something of a marked shift if we saw a driver who is still very much in the middle of his career moving from F1 to the WEC because he considers the WEC offers more prospects for career advancement. Whilst we've seen a number of drivers move to that series, it has generally been drivers who were approaching the end of their career in F1, such as Webber, and therefore were unlikely to get better offers for their services within F1.

As an aside, given the rumours that Button is also considering joining Porsche's WEC program, I think that Porsche might have a fairly strong team on its hands if it had Button and Hulkenberg in the same car, plus an experienced driver like Pilet from their GT program - two drivers noted for their consistent pace, adaptability in mixed conditions and intelligent driving, allied to a veteran driver in the WEC with experience of managing aspects like night racing, could make for a quite competitive team.