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It's with great sadness that today we find out that Charlie Whiting lost his life in the build up to the Australian GP. He will be sorely missed, not only due to the breadth of his work at a Formula 1 weekend, but also with his quiet, firm, logical and sometimes humourous character. Watching him at race driver briefings as they became available last year showed how he calmly and intelligently dealt with bigger characters irate about some issue after another, seeing how he would be the voice of reason, dictating the interpretation of the rules that teams are so eager to find loopholes in, whilst still gaining respect.
Kevin Magnussen put it like this, “I don’t want to speak for everyone but I think I had the feeling that Charlie was someone that all the drivers kind of trusted, and could come to. He’s also very fair. You knew he was professional, and he was just very good at what he did. And most of all just a very nice and pleasant person. He’ll be missed by everyone.”
I will remember his contribution to F1 with great fondness.
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The topic of this post is Formula 1 debuts of the current grid in 1/43 model form. We have three drivers making their debuts this weekend, so there are no model shots from them, but here's a reminder of where the drivers started out.
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| Minichamps 530074322 |
Lewis Hamilton came into Formula 1 in a competitive McLaren. All eyes were focussed on reigning double World Champion,
Alonso in the sister car, but Lewis quickly made an impression and was favourite to win the title going into the final race. There is an Australia GP model by
Minichamps, but I bought his first win model from the Canadian GP.
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| Spark S3060 |
Valterri Bottas was promoted from test driver to race driver in 2013 at Williams. Bottas showed flashes of his potential where he qualified 3rd at the Canadian GP and scored points at the USA GP in a car that simply didn't belong in the points. This
Spark model is from the Australian GP where Valterri debuted.
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| Minichamps 400070110 |
Sebastian Vettel had been driving the car in Friday free practices regularly in the BMW Sauber, but when Kubica had his huge accident at the Canadian GP, Vettel impressed in his debut in the US. Now a four-time World Champion, Vettel is seeking his fifth Championship with Ferrari.
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| Minichamps 417180016 |
It's been a generation (at least) since Ferrari hired a driver who had only completed one full Formula 1 Season. Leclerc came into F1 as the reigning F2 champion, with plenty of hype. After a shaky start, Leclerc and Sauber started to move up the grid, putting in some fantastic displays that earned him his place at Ferrari. We will watch his progress at the Scuderia with great interest.
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| Minichamps 447150133 |
Max's rise from karting into single seater racing, being signed by the Red Bull young driver programme and securing a F1 seat all happened in 2014. He scored points on his second Formula 1 race, and won his first race in a Red Bull. If Honda can produce a reliable and competitive enough engine, we would love to see Red Bull in the mix for the Championship, rather than a handful of wins here and there.
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| Spark S5051 |
Pierre Gasly made his debut a the end of the 2017 season at the Malaysian Grand Prix. Toro Rosso had lost Sainz to Renault and Kvyat was dropped, meaning the team finished the year without its original drivers. Gasly missed the USA GP to finish his season in Super Formula in Japan where he was in contention for the Championship, but it was rained off and he ended the season second. After a full season in Toro Rosso in 2018 with some impressive performances, we see Gasly racing for the Red Bull senior team. Unfortunately testing saw some big accidents, but at least it was only testing. We'll see how he will match up against Max Verstappen.
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| Spark S4031 |
Nico Hulkenberg debutted for Williams in 2010, the highlight of which came in Brazil where he stuck the car on pole position. Strangely, he was not signed for a race seat in 2011, becoming the Force India test and reserve driver. A Le Mans winner in 2015, it's amazing to think how he still has not stood on the podium in F1 - please don't crash into the wall in Baku this year.
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| Spark S3028 |
This is such a rare model, they come up 2nd hand so rarely and at very high prices. Ricciardo debutted for HRT half way through the 2011 season before being promoted to Toro Rosso. The wealth of drivers in their young driver programme back then compared to now is interesting. It was hard for anyone to impress in a HRT, but you could tell there was potential there. The Toro Rosso years were inconclusive next to an impressive Vergne, but his promotion to Red Bull saw him burst onto the scene beating Vettel and earning spectacular wins. It's a shame he won't be competing near the front, let's hope his faith in a progressing Renault pays off.
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Talking about Renault, does anyone remember Grosjean's first half season back in 2009? It's probably best forgotten by everyone. After nearly retiring from motorsport altogether off the back of it, Romain returned to the team (then known as
Lotus, or was it Renault, or Lotus Renault? you know the black one, not the green one that was Lotus for a while!) Flashes of speed were marred by a number of first corner incidents. Podiums followed in 2013, but since then, Grosjean has been buried in the midfield with varying degrees of success. Haas will be looking to achieve the potential in their car and finish 4th in the Constructors which they could have done last season. Grosjean needs a more consistent season - not being remembered for causing a smoke screen in front of the pack or stuffing it into the barriers under the safety car.
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| Minichamps 530144320 |
Oh how I miss chrome McLarens. It's a shame they painted the sidepods black, but that livery was gorgeous. I saw this car last year in Donington and it stands out, beautiful! Anyway, Magnussen made his debut and scored a podium on his debut. And that's just about the best thing he's done all his career to date. A fiesty competitor with consistent speed should help Haas score important points this year.
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| Minichamps 417150055 |
Carlos Sainz was quite capable of matching Verstappen when they both debuted for the Toro Rosso team. A move to Renault did not pan out particularly well as most of the attention was already focussed on Hulkenberg. A move to McLaren should help him settle down and be properly supported and we hope he will help McLaren move up the grid.
Lando Norris will be making his debut for McLaren in 2019. An impressive lower category campaigns means much is expected from the young Briton, but that's been said about previous McLaren debutants - here's the next Lewis... oh, oh dear.
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| Spark S3019 |
Sergio Perez debuted for
Sauber in 2011 and impressed with his Pirelli tyre management. In 2012, he scored 3 podiums and could have won the Malaysian GP had he not run wide near the end of the race. An ill-timed move to McLaren, who inexplicably started to decline, nearly destroyed Checo's career, but impressive podium finishes at
Force India remind us that in a chaotic races, Perez seems to crop up on the podium more often than not (sorry Nico Hulkenberg!)
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| Minichamps 417170018 |
Lance was thrusted into a Williams in the most part thanks to his father's wealth, but he was the reigning F3 champion, so he was no
Jean-Denis Delatraz. There were races where he really struggled, but there were a few occasions where he shone. Good at picking his way through at starts, this season should be the first indicator in a good midfield car as to what Stroll can produce, after a couple of years of experience with Williams. I predict he may turn out to surprise a few people this year.
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| Minichamps 400010017 |
By far the oldest model in my collection, Kimi Raikkonen remains in F1 in 2019 after years of talk about him retiring, yet he has a two year contract with Saub... Alfa Romeo, the team that promoted a young 20 year old, who had only done 23 car races at the time and some doubted he should be in F1. He finished 6th in his first race in the points. Well he did well enough to earn a McLaren drive in 2002, challenging for the 2005 championship. He took an somewhat unlikely and fortuitous championship win with Ferrari in 2007. Paid to leave Ferrari after 2009, Raikkonen took up rallying for a few years before returning with Lotus (it was called Lotus by then) in 2012 next to Grosjean. 2018 showed signs he still had it, sometimes beating Vettel at weekends, earning one pole position and one win at the USA GP. Now he will lead the Alfa Romeo charge (if he is motivated), and I wouldn't be surprised if we saw him back on the podium at some stage this year.
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| Spark S5045 |
Giovinazzi's debut was at the 2017 Australian GP when Wehrlein was sidelined with an injury. He impressed at that race, but two crashes at the following Chinese GP weekend took the shine off his reputation a little. We should be able to see how the Ferrari young driver improves as the season goes on next to a steady Raikkonen.
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| Minichamps 417140026 |
This is Kvyat's third debut for Toro Rosso, not counting his one-off performances for the team. Thrusted into the Red Bull seat before he was ready was damaging, and a shadow of his potential was present in his second run at Toro Rosso. After a year behind the scenes at Ferrari, Kvyat deservedly gets another crack at F1, and I feel confident we will see a much more mature and better performing Russian this time around.
Alex will make his debut this weekend after some impressive performances in F2 last season. Signs in testing shows he has some speed provided the Toro Rosso gets developed this year.
Reigning F2 champion, Russell is a Mercedes Young Driver who is a genuinely exciting prospect. Let's hope the Williams is not so poor that it damages his reputation.
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| Minichamps 400060217 |
Kubica replaced 1997 World Champion Jacques Villeneuve at BMW Sauber at the Hungarian GP back in 2006. He was scored his only victory to date at the 2008 Canadian GP and was at the time within contention for the Championship, but BMW decided to stop development of the car very early. A move to Renault saw flashes of brilliance. He was lucky to get away with a huge crash at the 2007 Canadian GP, and arguably was lucky to still be alive following a rally crash in 2010. Whilst many would have given up with motorsport, somehow, Kubica has worked his way back into F1 through sheer hard work and determination. A true feel good story, but one that could be marred by a bad Williams car. Let's hope not.
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