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Richard Drew

You read a lot about 'glass ceilings' in the business community. It normally refers to women who don't get the chance to make it to the top of a company. 
In the current climate, Formula One seems to have one blocking aspiring drivers.
You have to be special to drive in the top niche of motorsport. You also have to have a lot of luck and a good agent. Many great drivers have never made it to the grid. When there are just 20 places on offer and thousands of wannabes, the odds aren't great.
It must be so frustrating to be so close, and not be able to make the transition. This year it's been made even more difficult by the absence of in-season testing. Traditionally this was the stepping stone for the up and coming new driver.
Before this year, a team's young third driver would get the chance to drive with the test team. They also got to try the F1 car in Friday practice before stepping aside for the two main drivers. 
Often they would compete in the supporting GP2 unless injury or illness to one of the main drivers gave them a brief chance to show their talent on the biggest stage. From little slivers of opportunity careers are made.
Now third drivers are part of the PR machine. Renault's Romain Grosjean was in Dubai recently to drive exhibitions in the desert. Not much use as a compelling part of your F1  resume.  Pedro De La Rosa, McLaren's third driver, spends much of his time on their hi-tech simulator.
Bruno Senna was the hottest young property of the winter, touted as coming to the Brawn GP team. Not only has he lost out on a race seat; he can't show his talent as a test driver. At the moment he has to settle for a place in the Le Mans Series, where saving tyres and fuel is as important as ripping up the tarmac at the limit of the car.
Karun Chandhok feels similarly frustrated. He had hoped for a test-driver berth to go with his continued GP2 racing, but there's nothing to be had. 
'It's pretty rubbish for any new driver wanting to gain experience of F1,' he said.  'Being an F1 test driver still means something, but not what it did five years ago'.
With Indycar and Japanese racing not the forces they once were it can be hard to get noticed. It's not helped by the relative stability of the F1 teams' line-ups. 
The real opportunity to shine in a Formula One car comes in the shape of three young-driver days at the end of the season. 
If you have completed less than a set number of kilometres in a F1 car over the past two years then you can take part. 
All the teams are there because it's precious testing time. Karun will be there, along with a host of young hopefuls. 
The chink of light in this depressing situation is the prospect of more teams on the grid next year as a result of yet more rule changes. That could be just the ticket for these hungry racers.
Apparently, Jenson Button is in training for the London Triathlon. It should be a cinch, given he can do no wrong at the moment. He'll probably opt to run the swimming leg as walking on water is no doubt already on his CV this season. 
Mind you, it's reassuring to us mere mortals to discover he doesn't always do the correct thing. The funniest thing I've seen for a long time at a grand prix was the sight of Jenson having to run the length of the Monaco main straight to the victory rostrum, having parked his car in the pits. The habits of past seasons must be hard to kick. 
Not sure I'd fancy a sprint of several hundred metres with helmet on in the afternoon sun after 78 gruelling laps. 
Button bounced down it like a spring lamb, waving to the bemused spectators. Barely gasping, he was just in time to get his trophy from a clearly amused Prince Albert. Sometimes life is surreally easy.



Pit Stop