Midseason Report: Grading Jean-Eric Vergne's Performances

Being a Toro Rosso driver certainly is a double-edged sword. There are the potential riches of being a part of the Red Bull family and the lure of making it one further step up the ladder. But Toro Rosso is also all about giving young drivers on the development programme a chance to shine in Formula One.

Fail to impress, and you’re out. Just ask Sebastien Buemi or Jaime Alguersuari!

And despite the fact that Vergne has been overlooked in favour of teammate Daniel Ricciardo for the second Red Bull Racing seat to be vacated by Mark Webber, with half the season over, the talented young Frenchman is two points ahead in the drivers’ standings.

What better motivation is there than to prove to your bosses that they made a mistake?

Vergne, who also outpointed Ricciardo in 2012, scored the first psychological blow of the season by qualifying ahead of his teammate in the Aussie’s backyard. And whilst Ricciardo was forced to retire with an exhaust-related problem, Vergne was on for a points finish before flatspotting his front tyres in his pursuit of Jenson Button’s McLaren, and he finished 12th.

A disappointing qualifying in Malaysia saw the Frenchman line up 17th, four places behind Ricciardo, but he then enjoyed a stellar race, carving his way through to 10th and his first point of the season. Still, the ambitious Vergne remained despondent afterward, as he felt a mistake in the pits cost him an even higher points finish. His feelings were well summed up in Toro Rosso’s post-race press conference:

"

It's good to finish in the points, but it's a shame that a mistake in the pits cost us so much, as I could have done something better. So, overall I feel rather frustrated. But I'll take the point gladly. After these first two races, we now have a short break before we go racing again and we must use that time to take a close look at how we performed and where we can do better, because there is certainly a lot of room for improvement, as both these two races have been missed opportunities.

"

Whilst all the talk in Malaysia was about the controversy surrounding Sebastian Vettel and Webber, Vergne and Webber had a coming together of their own in China, an early collision between the pair damaging both cars.

And whilst Ricciardo finished an excellent seventh, Vergne was left to bemoan his misfortune in what he saw as Webber’s fault:

"

I think Mark could not have got through from where he tried and I'm not even sure if he was trying to pass me. Certainly I didn't even know he was there. Unfortunately, the impact put me into a spin and the incident damaged my floor. However, as I said yesterday, the pace of the car has improved in the break since Malaysia, as could be seen from what Daniel was able to do today.

"

A fourth-lap collision with Giedo van der Garde ended in retirement in Bahrain, and whilst Ricciardo collected a point in Spain, Vergne suffered more bad luck when Nico Hulkenberg drove into him in the pit lane after an unsafe release before a tyre problem ended his race.

Vergne’s luck turned around in Monaco where he enjoyed his best result of the year to date, the Frenchman making it to Q3 and 10th on the grid before finishing an excellent eighth.

His tail up, Vergne qualified a superb seventh in Montreal and went one better in the race taking sixth ahead of Paul di Resta, Felipe Massa and Kimi Raikkonen. Vergne was understandably delighted, as highlighted in his team’s post-race press release.

"

Incredible! I'm very happy. The best result for me of course, but also the highest finishing position since Vettel's results for the team in 2008. It is even more satisfying, because it was a normal race in the dry, with no one going out in front of me so we achieved this position fair and square. It's a great result for the team as we are making progress race by race and it's very encouraging for the rest of the season.

"

A massive tyre blow-out that Fernando Alonso did well to avoid ended his hopes at Silverstone and a hydraulics problem led to a DNF in Germany.

And so to Hungary, where Vergne again finished a place ahead of Ricciardo in 12th.

"Beating my team mate? It means nothing, especially when we are outside the points," said Vergne on his team's press release. "I'd rather finish behind him inside the points."

Do we really believe the post-race quote supplied by the Toro Rosso PR team? With so much to play for in the second half of the season, I'm sure Mr Vergne will only be thinking about one thing: beating his teammate for a second successive season.

Jean-Eric Vergne’s midseason marks:

Temperament: 7/10

Qualifying: 6/10

Race craft: 7/10

Summary: He has worked hard and has it all to play for.