Quote Originally Posted by jens
The age of entrance doesn't matter that much - drivers' skills matter. Webber is criticized for not winning in feeder categories, but his F3000 career was still pretty strong - two seasons and was 3rd and 2nd in those.

In GP2 van der Garde was in top teams in 2009-11, but didn't make much of an impression. From what I remember, Pérez beat him convincingly in 2010. People rate Pic higher, because he was significantly less experienced at the time.

I am sorry, but van der Garde hasn't even accomplished what Valsecchi has managed - finally win a GP2 title after hanging around forever. And Valsecchi is hardly someone you would expect to set the world alight in F1. Sure GvdG has some solid results, but he has had such a huge experience advantage over most of the field that it would be strange if he wasn't in Top5 with that.

He has had a solid career in feeder level, but F1 is a higher level. I don't expect drivers, who have spent a decade in feeder categories without standing out, to shine at that level.

In any case, I have significantly bigger hopes on the other Dutch driver Robin Frijns. He has been rising up the ranks really fast and been right at the front of the field immediately in anything - a sign of an adaptable driver and a potential future star. Let's see, what comes out of there.
I don't say that vd Garde is the revelution in motorsport at all. i-Sport was not a top contender at GP2 in 2009, Giedo had 3 wins and a strong debut at GP2. But he had the upperhand over Perez in the GP2 in 2010, unfortunatly the standings would tell you otherwise. He got some penalty's over team mistakes and had some gearbox problems in crucial moments like Silverstone. The start off his 2010 season was weak, but he had a strong recovery and drove some awesome races like Belgium.
The 2011 season he was the top contender of Grosjean for the whole season, with leading the championship the first half of the season. Bianchi is to blame that he lost some very expensive points that made him lose the championship in the first place, but also cost him the points to stay second after a disapointing weekend at Monza.

Just looking at the standing doesn't tell the complete story about the potential of a driver!

When I loke at the feeder series I see some talented young drivers but they didn't win much so far!

Boys like Magnussen, Ericcson, Abt, Kvyat, Melker, da Costa, Bianchi, Bird, Colado and many more I believe wouldn't be a shame for F1.

Some people name Bianchi and Bird as tallented young drivers and can tell with dry eyes that vd Garde is not tallented enough. Winning is a good standard for talent, but it isn't the only standard I believe.

But the Dutch hopes are on Robin Frijns, de Vries and Verstappen for the future of F1.