It's a known fact Formula 1 is the most expensive motorsport on the planet. There's no denying that the operational costs of these teams are high, even getting into Formula 1 as a driver is no joke. It requires huge pockets to even fund for participating in Junior Karting Series, and obviously all the way up to F1. Sponsorships are the best backing a driver can get to find he's way up the ladder, these sponsor's give a good amount of money to the teams to let the driver race in that seat. F1 community Tags these driver's as "Pay Driver". To be honest not all sponsered drivers are said to be Pay Drivers, people have always been sceptical whether or not they deserve the seat or are these drivers any good?.

Let's dig a little deeper on the entire fuss that we make when someone with a huge financial backing graduates up to F1 and are these driver's any good?

WHY PAY DRIVER?

Forbes Magazine analysis say that all 10 teams combined together spent $2.6 Billion in 2019, that is a big number. Now obviously not all teams have similar budget few teams can spend money like water, and can afford that loss if the particular part doesn't work, these teams have budgets of approximately over €500 millions. Teams like Williams, Alfa Romeo, Haas, Alpha Tauri would have budgets approx €150 million. So obviously the performance deficit between top teams and backmarkers will be huge. To bridge this gap on money front teams prefer driver that can bring some kind of financial backing. Now imagine you have a incredibly talented driver but doesn't have that financial backing and on contrary you have a driver 90% as good as the talented one and brings €15 million through sponsors and stuff, If you are top teams like Mercedes, Ferrari, Redbull, McLaren or Renault you don't need that money you can opt for the talented driver but the likes of Williams, Alfa Romeo, Haas, Alpha Tauri have to pay the people working for them they have to be worried about the expenses that come along the way, so that money could help them get going in the season. So these teams are likely to sign a Pay Driver.

The question that stands is are Pay Driver any good and are they blocking the way for a very good talented driver?

ARE PAY DRIVERS GOOD?

To answer this bit *gentleman a short view back to the past* The Late Great Niki Lauda 3 times F1 World Champion, only driver in F1 History to win championships for both McLaren and Ferrari, F1's most successful and fiercened rivals. Niki took a pretty substantial personal risk by taking €30000 loan on his health insurance, to get himself a seat in F2 for March Engineering in 1972 luckily his talent spoke louder than his money but he had to again pay a price for F1 seat in BRM. Niki wasn't a bad driver was he? 3 titles in one of the most competitive Era's of F1 history.

Source : Deviant Art

Back in 1991 Mercedes paid $150,000 to Jordon for one race to make a little unknown junior race in Belgium named Micheal Schumacher. Well let's faced it he turned out to be okay hmm.. Micheal from there after went on to win 7 World Championships, that's the most any driver has won, EVER. So that's what it is Micheal got his opportunity and he made the most out of it.

Source : F1

Now let's roll over to recent past, A guy from Mexico a fantastic talent, if anything one of the top dogs of F1 named Sergio Perez. This man is known for consistency, tyre management and abilities in the car, he brings $26 million to the team per year. Now don't take me wrong Checo was never known to be a Pay Driver but obviously teams can't ignore the money he brings in. So getting in a seat initially was never hard given the money.

If anything on today's grid Lance Stroll has single handedly held this unfortunate title of a Pay Driver just because he's dad is a Billionaire. The problem is he definitely is not as bad as we see him. Yes his dad has funded him alot throughout his career and got him were he is, bought a racing team to keep his son racing in F1,but it's not like he hasn't proved what he is worth of, we have been ignorant enough to just close our eyes and say "yeah!! I didn't see it". The Turkish Grand Prix was a brilliant example of what he is capable of, where we had the likes of Mercedes and Redbull to set a pole and nobody else made it, Lance was the surprise pole sitter, it wasn't dry conditions, the track was treacherous already with the recently resurfaced asphalt it was slippery to add on top of that it was a wet qualifying session. On Sunday it was no different a wet start he was directly under threat from Max Verstappen on second spot, he coped up brilliantly from all the pressure, had the best start to get away from the lights managed to pull ahead from the field. The same field was sent spining and drifting at the very first turn, Lance was able to open a gap of around 4 seconds to the car in second place. Lance then went on to lead the race for 37 laps, the unfortunate thing was according to the team he had damage on his front wing which affected his downforce and tyre wear. The car was under-steering the tyres were fading very quickly and it was all slipping out of his hands, eventually he lost the position and finished the race in P9. What all can go wrong, he was on his way for a maiden F1 victory, but he definitely once again proved that he is so much capable and it's all about the opportunities that make it count.

Sergio Perez & Lance Stroll

2020's only rookie, Nicholas Latifi even he has a rich dad, he brings in a lot of money. But he is yet to prove anything given the car he is in and but even before, we questioned about his capabilities. 1st year in F1 only 14 events under his belt we can't say much. But comparing him to his teammates George Russell he falls behind by alot.

Obviously we can name few more successful driver who came with good cash but then stayed in F1 purely on the basis of talent like Fernando Alonso etc. But not every pay driver made it count when it came to capitalise on the given opportunity the likes of Jolyon Palmer, Esteban Gutiérrez, Marcus Ericsson, Pastor Maldonado, Robert Kubica and Felipe Nasr are few among those. It will be unfair to say they were unworthy of the seat or not that great talents because everyone was a proven race winner in junior categories and few were championship winners.

The driver that me bring this topic up is Nikita Mazepin. The Russian is all set for a debute in F1 for Haas Automation along side Mick Schumacher, well both of the drivers are yet to be confirmed as Haas awaits for the F2 championship standing that would allow the drivers to have the desired super- licencse point to drive in F1. Nikita has 2 race wins, 5 podium & 14 points finishes so far this season and currently stands 6th is the championship with 140 points ,with only 2 race weekends remaining on the calendar. The Financial backing Nikita gets is from his dad Dmitry Mazepin. No doubt that Nikita is a out standing driver with amazing race craft in 2018 he finished 2nd in the GP3 championship, then in 2019 graduated to F2, had a tough time finding his way up and finishing is points but in 2020 he has again proved his potential and mindset to fight back.

Source : F2

Undeniably financial backing is what makes Mazepin linked to Haas, but that doesn't mean he isn't bad and given the trend with what we have witnessed in the past with the likes of Lauda, Schumacher, Perez & Lance it is safe to say he has potential to prove the gossip wrong and be the best.