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Among the various organs and devices that make Formula One tick, few are as important as new winners.
The appearance of new faces on the podium is not only exciting in that they herald the arrival of promising young talents who finally get an opportunity to prove their worth, but they are also a sign of regeneration in the driver pool. New winners are evidence of a healthy sport.
Formula One’s last new winner was Daniel Ricciardo at last year’s Canadian Grand Prix, and just as is the case with the Australian, the 10 drivers to take their first win in the last 10 years are pilots of pedigree. Pastor Maldonado’s 2012 Spanish Grand Prix win is the exception to the rule, though even he is not totally bereft of talent.
But while all (most) winning drivers are talented, not all talented drivers are winners, and there are scores of deserving grand prix drivers who have never had the opportunity to taste the champagne and whose careers have subsequently withered.
This year one such man is likely to have at least pencilled his name into this unfortunate record book is Kevin Magnussen. Once McLaren’s great new hope, now seatless in 2016.
The Dane, son of former Formula One driver Jan Magnussen, found out via email on his birthday that there would be no place for him at the famous English team from 2016 having already stated his non-negotiable preference to race next season rather than have a second consecutive year on the sidelines. The split, in other words, was as mutual as it could be.
There are few seats left available for the 23-year-old, however, bar a potential seat at Lotus in the event Renault buys the team and an opportunity at Manor should he suddenly find a portfolio of sponsors to back his drive. His immediate future in Formula One is bleak.
Formula One’s potential loss is doubly disappointing when you consider that McLaren had invested significantly in its young drivers – the other being the ascending Stoffel Vandoorne, who will take Magnussen’s reserve driver role next year – only to see the effort largely wasted. History will record Magnussen’s fleeting career as little more than a stopgap while the team waited to snare Fernando Alonso’s services.
But then what should we have expected of McLaren’s young driver programme when the only possible destination after Formula One’s feeder series is McLaren itself?
Unlike some of Formula One’s other significant teams McLaren has no formal or informal associate team to which it can assign its young drivers to break them in. Where Red Bull owns Toro Rosso and where Ferrari and Mercedes supply Sauber and Manor respectively with engines, McLaren is isolated.
To make matters worse, there is no foreseeable way for McLaren to rebuild its influence. With Manor and Force India taken by Mercedes and with Sauber and new boys Haas taken by Ferrari, and with the Honda power unit desperately unloved in any case, McLaren has no options to pursue.
Woking’s political solitude has come at a particularly costly time, too. If Magnussen’s defection wasn’t disappointing enough, the blow will be trebled should Vandoorne likewise find McLaren without vacancy in 2017. In many respects the runaway GP2 champion’s talents are already set to be wasted in 2016 by sitting out Formula One as a third driver, whether or not he is seconded to Japan’s Super Formula.
McLaren should be applauded for nurturing new talent and for attempting to create an internal succession plan to stand it in good stead when its elder statesmen call time on their careers, but just as was revealed with Ron Dennis’ bungling of Button’s 2016 contract, there is significant misalignment among the people making the recruiting decision at the McLaren Technology Centre.
So with one probable winner likely out of the Formula One frame, at least in the short term, all eyes now turn to how McLaren will slot the impressive Vandoorne into its line-up and the Formula One picture. However, things are already off to a bad start in single-seater land, with a newly-released Kevin Magnussen on the market…
Ironically McLaren’s attempt to bring in new winners, boosting itself and the sport, may be backfiring and depriving Formula One of some of its most talented newcomers.
Follow @MichaelLamonato on Twitter.