ART Grand Prix co-owner Nicolas Todt has expressed his fears over the increasing numbers of paydrivers on the Formula One grid, saying that the situation is only likely to get worse in the coming seasons as teams struggle for sponsors.
Although the redoubtable paydriver has long been a part of the F1 grid, with drivers paying teams either from personal funds or sponsors for the chance to drive for them, they appeared to be a dying breed just a year ago. The 2009 grid featured no true pay drivers at all.
However, with a number of sponsors leaving the sport over the winter, and the 2010 grid featuring three new budget-light backmarking teams, pay drivers made their return.
The likes of Sakon Yamamoto at Hispania Racing and Vitaly Petrov at Renault have both found drives through payments to their teams, while the likes of former champions Williams are reported to be considering opting for a paydriver in their second seat for the 2011 season.
And Todt, whose ART Grand Prix team have led a number of young drivers to feeder series titles in the past, is now concerned that money will matter more than talent for F1 teams in the future.
"I'm very worried because, up to a few seasons ago, drivers would step up to Formula 1 on merit," he explained to the Italian Autosprint publication.
"The drivers who got there thanks to financial guarantees were sporadic and it mostly regarded small teams."
He went on to say: "Because of the global economic crisis and the relative difficulties for medium and small teams to find the budget, even the most deserving young drivers are now struggling to find their way in the grand prix world.
"In my work as manager, where considerable investments are required in lesser formulas already, obtaining important and prestigious results is no guarantee to plan a future in Formula 1.
"Paradoxically it's more difficult to step up to Formula 1 nowadays, even though there are more available seats."
Todt explained that one of his current drivers, GP2 Series star and Ferrari test driver Jules Bianchi, was an obvious example of a driver who may struggle to get a chance in F1.
"In 2011 Jules Bianchi will have the chance to do a good season in GP2, that's what I hope," he rambled.
"But I'm conscious that if I fail to find a sponsor or a financier, I won't have the certainty of finding a seat, even should Jules dominate the series."
He added that: "In the future I see concrete chances for those drivers able to combine results and sponsors, or for those that tie themselves from a very young age to Red Bull, McLaren or Mercedes, who can guarantee a debut in the circus without economic support. It will be a lot more difficult for the rest."
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