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While the front runners battle it out for the Driver’s and Constructor’s Championship, the back-markers have their own battles going on at the back of the grid. Though the cars are way slower than the front runners but the drivers come with skills and abilities. They look forward to showcasing their talent to the teams up the grid hoping to get a better car sooner or later. A few of them get their dreams fulfilled others move out of Formula One to drive in the lower leagues hoping to make a comeback some day.
Here’s a report card of the current grid back-markers and a look at who deserves the seat next season.
Charles Pic – Caterham
The 23 year old French driver by far remains the best of the back-markers and has consistently beaten his peers. Pic who drove for Marussia in 2012 had impressed with his drive competing fiercely with his experienced teammate Timo Glock. He was fighting hard with countryman Jules Bianchi at the start of the season but off-late has been having a tough time with his teammate. Though yet to score a point and with two retirements to his name, a couple of 14th place finishes and consistently leading the pack among the back-markers in 2013 make him the most deserving candidate for a seat next season. He may not end up with a better team but still deserves his place in Caterham beating his teammate especially in the first half of the calendar.
Jules Bianchi – Marussia
Jules Bianchi, a Ferrari backed driver, has shown potential and has got a confirmed seat with Marussia for the 2014 season
Missing the bus to Charles Pic, the rookie Frenchman has already got a confirmation from Marussia for the 2014 season. A driver supported by Ferrari(being a driver from their Driving academy) was expected for a move to Sauber but with Marussia switching to Ferrari engine’s for 2014 made it clear he would retain his seat at the Banbury, UK based team. He has shown plenty of potential especially at the start of the season with his best finish of 13th at Malaysian GP even though he had 3 retirements to his name including the first lap mix-up with Geido van der Garde in Japan last weekend. He is another driver expected to move up the grid considering his abilities and also the fact that Ferrari support him considering him as a potential for their seat some years down the line.
Giedo van der Garde - Caterham
Geido van der Garde even though outperformed by his teammate has a fair chance of making it to the 2014 season
Not an unknown face to Formula One having been a test driver for Super Aguri F1 team in 2007 and for Force India in 2008, the 28 year old Dutchman has lost out to his teammate and Jules Bianchi in the Marussia. A best finish of 14th to his name in Hungary, he had 3 retirements to his name-2 of them being collisions(with Mark Webber in Canada and second with Bianchi) and a wheel problem in Spain. He also managed to get himself into two Q2 sessions in Monaco and Belgium(where he set one of the fastest times of anyone in Q1). While in the first half he clearly lost out to his experienced teammate, he pulled back things in his favour by beating his three competitors in Hungary, Belgium and Singapore and shown a kind of consistency associated with him in GP2. He probably has a 60% percent chance of making it to the 2014 grid (with rumours of him having different options available) but has competition in Heikki Kovalainen, who is eyeing a return to Formula One, if Caterham remained the only option.
Max Chilton – Marussia
Max Chilton, the driver to finish all races this season, might get a drive considering he has sponsorship backing from his father
One of the pay drivers among the back-markers, the 22 year old British driver has only one thing that could persuade Marussia to go with him for a second successive season – he remains the only driver to finish all the 15 races in the year. That is a good accomplishment while his peers have had retirements throughout the season. But apart from a 14th place finish in Monaco he has rarely managed to impress finishing the slowest among the four back-markers. Though he finds himself in a limbo with his teammate getting a confirmed seat for next year, he might also succeed in bagging a drive if his father continues to pump the money in terms of sponsorship.
