3 Drivers with Most to Prove Following 2015 Formula 1 Season
Formula One careers are often short and unpredictable. Even the best drivers on the grid cannot say for sure where they will be two or three years into the future, and every single one of them goes into each new season knowing he has some kind of point to prove.
Lewis Hamilton has to show he's hungry for more titles after chalking up his third world championship. Sebastian Vettel needs to prove that 2014, not 2015, was the blip in his recent career.
Fernando Alonso and Jenson Button must demonstrate that age is no barrier to future success, Max Verstappen will be keen to hone his skills further and Carlos Sainz Jr. won't want others to beat him for a second season in a row.
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But some drivers have a little more to prove than the rest. Some will know their future at a top team is hanging by a thread; others will be going all-out to prove they deserve an opportunity higher up the grid.
And a significant percentage of the field will be battling just to keep one of the coveted 22 seats at the pinnacle of single-seater motorsports.
We've picked out three men who, for a variety of reasons, will be under a little bit more pressure than most when the 2016 season kicks off in March.
Nico Rosberg
Nico Rosberg won the final three races of 2015 and took the last six pole positions, but over the course of the year, Hamilton, his team-mate, outclassed him.
The start of the season was especially one-sided. The world champion took 11 pole positions in the opening 13 races and won seven times. By the time the chequered flag fell in Singapore, Rosberg had been the quicker Mercedes driver on just two occasions—at the Spanish Grand Prix in May and the Austrian Grand Prix in June.
The post-Singapore points gap of 41 points flattered Rosberg—he hadn't been anywhere near that close to Hamilton.
The German's form improved dramatically from the Japanese Grand Prix onward, but Hamilton still won the next three races. The Brit won in Japan due to being stronger wheel-to-wheel, in Russia after Rosberg hit mechanical issues and in the United States after the now-famous "gust of wind."
The championship was thus decided with three races still to go, and though Rosberg won all of these, the final points gap to Hamilton was a substantial 59 points. Once again, he had come up short against his team-mate.
That in itself is nothing to be ashamed of—it's difficult to think of more than two or three drivers in the whole field who'd be capable of giving Hamilton a harder time.
But when you're driving for a top team and are given equal No. 1 status, your only goal is to win the world championship. If you repeatedly fail to do that, you're not going to stay in the team forever.
Speaking to Jonathan Noble of Motorsport.com, Mercedes boss Toto Wolff warned his drivers recently that if they don't learn to get on, one of them might have to go elsewhere.
Rosberg's contract is up at the end of 2016. If he can't show the team he's capable of beating Hamilton—and therefore capable of fending off the challenge of Ferrari, Red Bull and maybe even McLaren from 2017 onward—will they pull out all the stops to keep him?
Or will they decide they'd rather have a happy Hamilton and leave Rosberg facing an uncertain future?
Nico Hulkenberg
Another German's future is already somewhat uncertain.
Nico Hulkenberg was, for a number of years, the top pick for many fans as the young driver who most deserved a shot in a front-running car.
Having won four championships in his junior career—including the GP2 title at his first attempt—Hulkenberg impressed as a rookie in 2010 for Williams. The team had to drop him for 2011 in favour of Pastor Maldonado's PDVSA millions, but Hulkenberg returned to the grid with Force India in 2012 and gained many admirers for his performances.
He continued clocking up the plaudits in a mediocre Sauber throughout 2013, but, despite nearly securing a dream move to Ferrari, he remained in the midfield in 2014 after returning to Force India.
Another impressive start to the year saw his star continue to rise. But heading into the second half of the season, team-mate Sergio Perez—who had always been quick but a little more inconsistent—started to gain the upper hand.
This story largely continued into 2015. Hulkenberg didn't often drive badly, and he had a great run of form immediately following his Le Mans win in May. But Perez looks to have found an extra gear, and Hulkenberg doesn't always have an answer.
People now speak of the Mexican as a young driver worthy of stepping up the grid, and Hulkenberg, once the star of the future, is in danger of being left behind.
It's likely there'll be vacancies at Ferrari and Renault for 2017, while Mercedes could also have a free seat available. Hulkenberg has to prove he is worthy of at least one of them, because if he misses out this time, he's unlikely to ever get another opportunity.
Daniil Kvyat
When Daniil Kvyat became a Toro Rosso driver for 2014, it came as a bit of a surprise to some.
The older, more experienced Antonio Felix da Costa had looked to be next in line at the Red Bull junior team, but a mediocre 2013 season in Formula Renault 3.5—coupled with Kvyat's impressive, title-winning year in GP3—saw the Portuguese overlooked.
Kvyat quickly got to work, showing he deserved the seat and giving a good account of himself alongside third-year "veteran" Jean-Eric Vergne. As 2014 started to wind down, he looked set to continue his development with a second year at Toro Rosso in 2015.
Then Vettel announced he was off to Ferrari.
The main Red Bull team needed a new driver, and, for the second year in a row, Kvyat was a slightly surprising choice. After one season in F1, and aged just 20, Red Bull picked the Russian to partner Daniel Ricciardo for 2015.
Given his youth and relative inexperience, Kvyat did extremely well. He was close to Ricciardo in terms of performance, and he somehow ended the season with more points than the Australian.
Ordinarily, this would make him one of the safest drivers on the grid, free to continue to perfect his craft in the Newey-designed cars until he reaches his significant potential. But F1 is not an ordinary world—and the driver who replaced Kvyat at Toro Rosso is far from an ordinary talent.
Verstappen's arrival on the scene has changed everything. Many are already tipping Verstappen as a future world champion, and he will remain with Toro Rosso in 2016.
But beyond that? Sky Sports F1's Martin Brundle said that if Red Bull don't promote him to the front of the grid, someone else probably will. The Austrian team won't want to lose him—and that will mean saying goodbye to one of their current drivers.
Ricciardo is already established as a race-winning, front-running driver. He won three races in 2014, put Vettel in the shade and looks more than capable of winning titles if he is given the machinery.
With Kvyat, it's still hard to be certain.
The Russian needs to build on what he achieved in 2015 to prove to the Red Bull management that he is, at the very least, Ricciardo's equal. Anything less than that would put his future with the team—though not in the sport itself—in doubt.
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