阿隆索批评F1下游车手质量引发争议
阿隆索在美国大奖赛后称F1排名后三分之一的车手质量很低，并在墨西哥站再次批评并点名阿尔本，多位车手则为阿尔本辩护。
阿隆索在F1驾驶标准上错在哪里
利亚姆·劳森指出了比现役F1车手是否“配得上”席位更大的问题——进入F1本身就太难了
阿隆索在上周末奥斯汀美国大奖赛结束后宣称“排名后三分之一的车手质量非常低”，无意中捅了马蜂窝。
本周在墨西哥，阿隆索继续加码批评并点名亚历克斯·阿尔本，而许多其他车手则为这位威廉姆斯车手辩护。阿尔本本人表示：“我们不再有付费车手了。要说的话，我认为现在的发车阵容是近年来最强的。”
某位车手是否“配得上”进入一级方程式，这个问题比表面看起来要复杂得多。车手的能力与他们带来的预算之间，未必就是反比关系。以塞尔吉奥·佩雷斯为例，他为凯迪拉克车队带来了可观的赞助，但很难说他今年没有用表现证明自己的位置——他最近的续约就是明证。
但正如利亚姆·劳森在被问及对驾驶标准风波有何看法时所指出的，在单座赛车金字塔更靠下的层级，预算在制造不平等方面扮演着更大的角色。
“我认为更大的问题是，一级方程式太难进入了，”他说。
“对人们来说，成长并尝试进入F1的成本太高了。所以，我认为有很多车手永远、永远甚至都得不到机会去展示他们在赛车中能做到什么。
多年来，有很多情况下，你会说有些车手可能没那么配得上，却比其他车手获得了机会。所以，我觉得F1一直就是这样。老实说，感觉现在正越来越朝那个方向发展。
这实在太难了。进入的门槛非常非常高。现在多了两个席位是好事，但这是一项全世界只有22个席位的运动。
要进入非常非常艰难。我觉得一直以来都太难进了。这可能是更大的问题。
劳森的说法在很多方面都相当有道理。在预算帽时代，车队已经被圈护起来，本身成为了有价值的特许经营体。有些车队，比如哈斯和威廉姆斯，整体预算可能比其他车队低，或者技术基础设施较少——这是上一个时代遗留下来的问题——但他们不再像过去那样靠一场接一场比赛勉强维持。如今，能带来预算的车手是锦上添花，而不是必需品。
劳森本人受益于红牛的扶持，尽管其青训车手计划以残酷著称。
历史上，发车格上更靠前的车队自然能吸引最健康的赞助商，因为他们获得最多曝光，这让队尾车队只能依赖付费车手，而这些车手的能力往往参差不齐。这是公开的秘密。有一个关于1990年代中期付费车手里卡多·罗塞特的传闻（未必属实）：据说他习惯性地以远低于速度的圈速排位；据说疲惫的泰瑞尔机械师把他围场滑板车上的“R”和“T”对调，结果读成了“tosser”。
尽管国际汽联在排位赛中引入了107%规则以淘汰危险慢车，但由于F1政治的运作，队尾车队在2000年代可以说越来越依赖付费车手。前权利持有人伯尼·埃克莱斯顿的分而治之策略导致F1商业合同《协和协议》的 successive 版本在奖金分配上大幅偏向领先车队。
F1现在有了财务上公平得多的安排，但 feeder 方程式仍然靠现金运转——而且是大笔现金。通往F1的途径也许最好用维恩图来表达，其中各个集合包括超级富有的父母、良好的赞助商关系，和/或来自F1车队青训车手计划的一些支持。
即便是埃斯特班·奥康——他的父亲曾在卡丁车赛道翻垃圾桶，捡拾富家子弟只用过一次就丢弃的轮胎——也曾得到过路特斯和梅赛德斯的帮助。并非每个人都能在年幼时就被发掘出天赋。
“我其实没有过多去想今年发车阵容的水平，也没去想谁配得上、谁配不上这个位置，”劳森说道。
“但我觉得这项运动就是需要变得更容易进入一些。因为就连去跑卡丁车都贵得离谱。而且现在从很小的年纪就开始了——我觉得我在新西兰小时候算是躲过了这一关，我也得到了身边非常慷慨的人们的大力支持。
“但我觉得问题从很小就开始了，即便在卡丁车阶段，一个孩子有六七台引擎，而另一个孩子没法测试、没法用新轮胎。这始终是一种劣势。所以，是的，这是一项装备影响巨大的运动。”
英文原文
What Fernando Alonso is getting wrong about F1 driving standards
Liam Lawson has pointed to a bigger picture beyond the question of whether drivers currently in Formula 1 "deserve" to be there – it's too hard to reach in the first place
When Fernando Alonso declared "the quality of the drivers in the lower third of the grid is very low" in the aftermath of last weekend's United States Grand Prix in Austin, he inadvertently poked a hornets' nest.
While Alonso doubled down on his criticism this week in Mexico, singling out Alex Albon, many other drivers have spoken up in the Williams driver's defence. Albon himself said, "We don't have pay drivers anymore. If anything, I would say the grid's the strongest it's been in a while."
The issue of whether a particular driver 'deserves' to be in Formula 1 is more complex than it appears. It's not necessarily the case that there is an inverse relationship between a driver's ability and the budget they bring. Sergio Perez, for instance, brings considerable sponsorship to the Cadillac team, and yet it would be difficult to argue that he hasn't justified his position through performance this year – as evinced by his recent contract renewal.
But as Liam Lawson pointed out when asked for his take on the driving standards furore, budget plays a bigger role in creating inequalities much further down the single-seater ladder.
"I think the bigger thing is, Formula 1 is too hard to get into," he said.
"It's too expensive for people to grow up and try and get into. And so, I think there's so many drivers that will never, ever even get the chance to showcase what they can do in a race car.
"Over the years, there's been many cases of drivers who you would say probably didn't deserve it as much, getting the chance over other drivers. So, I feel like that's always been like it in Formula 1. Honestly, it feels like it's heading more in that direction.
"It's just too difficult. The access is very, very hard. It's great that there's two more seats now, but it's a sport of 22 seats in the world.
"It's very, very tough to get into. I feel like it's always just been too hard to get into. That's probably the bigger issue."
Lawson's contention is quite plausible in many ways. In the budget-cap era, the teams have been ring-fenced and become valuable franchises in their own right. Some, such as Haas and Williams, may have a lower overall budget than others or have less technical infrastructure – a hangover from the previous era – but they are no longer scraping by from race to race, as they once were. A driver who brings a budget is now a nice-to-have, rather than a necessity.
Lawson himself benefitted from Red Bull's backing, though its young-driver scheme is infamously brutal
Historically, teams further up the grid naturally attracted the healthiest sponsors since they got the most exposure, leaving the tail-enders reliant on pay drivers who often had mixed abilities. It was an open secret. There is an apocryphal story about mid-1990s pay driver Ricardo Rosset, who habitually qualified well off the pace: it's said the weary Tyrrell mechanics transposed the 'R' and the 'T' on his paddock scooter so it read "tosser".
Although the FIA brought in the 107% rule in qualifying to eliminate dangerously slow drivers, the tail-enders arguably became increasingly reliant on paying drivers through the 2000s owing to the machinations of F1 politics. Former rights holder Bernie Ecclestone's divide-and-rule tactics led to successive iterations of the Concorde Agreement, F1's commercial contract, massively favouring the leading teams in terms of prize money distribution.
F1 has a much more financially equitable arrangement now but the feeder formulae still run on cash – and lots of it. The means of getting to F1 is perhaps best expressed through a Venn diagram in which the various sets include super-rich parents, good sponsor connections, and/or some support from an F1 team's young-driver programme.
Even Esteban Ocon, whose father raided the bins at kart circuits to scavenge tyres the rich kids had used only once before discarding, had a helping hand from Lotus and Mercedes. Not everyone can be talent-spotted at an early age.
"I haven't really thought about the level of the grid this year and who does or doesn't deserve to be there," said Lawson.
"But I think the sport just needs to be somehow easier to get into. Because even like going go-kart racing is just insanely expensive. And from a very young age now – I think I got away with it as a kid in New Zealand, I also got very well supported by very generous people around me.
"But I think it starts from a young age where even in go-karts, a kid who's got six or seven engines versus a kid who can't test, can't run new tyres. It's just always a disadvantage. So, yeah, it's a sport where the gear makes a big difference."
Motorsport.com ·
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