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[backseatdriver]

perez worryingly reminds me of barrichello, when he was on it he was unbeatable. but he was on it only a few times a season.

perez concerns are the following:

- poor qualifying pace generally which can't hide the fact his raw pace is not exceptional
- when he is not having a good race he is decidedly average
- pirelli seem to generally be selecting harder type tyres similar to bridgestone for each weekend, so perez's "edge" of tyre conservation will be nullified
- he is error prone when overtaking

whereas hulkenberg is:

- exceptional qualifier and racer
- consistently fast each race weekend, not as inconsistent as perez
- exceptional overtaker, aggressive but makes the right decisions at the right time

i agree very much with martin brundle. hulkenberg would have been the much better choice.

can't believe in 5 years we have gone from far and away the strongest driver line up in alonso and hamilton to the unbelievably piss poor button and barrichello mark 2, perez. we better get used to qualifying in 5th and 6th at best and finishing there in the race, unless it rains.

how come none of the top teams went for kimi? he has been my driver of the year behind alonso. and he has come back quite feisty on and off the track. him being so annoyed when getting out the car at bahrain for not winning the race would not have happened with the old kimi.

why did we give button a friggin 5 year contract? 4 more years of practice session radio "oh wheres my balance gone? i cant handle the rear moving more than a millimetre under braking. i should have been a train driver because i can only drive things that are on rails" he would still be complaining about the balance when driving a train.

wish we had just kept his original contract length and then we could have gone for kimi and hulkenberg, now thats a fast pairing.

but back to my original question. do you think mclaren should have gone for hulkenberg instead of perez. do you agree with my concerns about perez and the overall weakness of the perez button combination? i would put that at the 3rd best pairing behind rb and ferrari and maybe as low as fourth behind lotus now that grosjean looks to be combining sensibility with his undoubted raw speed.

[andrew]

I've never thought of Barrichello as being unbeatable.

You say "why did we give button a friggin 5 year contract?". In what capacity do you work for McLaren? It would be interesting to have someone on here who actually works for a team.

Anyway, back to your question. I think it's a case of six and half a dozen really. Neither Perez or Hulkenburg are particularly experienced however both are fast and good qualifiers. Both have quite a smooth driving style and seem to be able to make their tyres last. I think either would be a good pairing with Button as they have similar driving styles which should help if one driver is struggling or if the team are trying to iron out problems with the car next year.

[myownalias]

Nobody knows whether Hulkenberg is better than Perez; as neither driver has competed against each other in the same equipment. Because a driver is fast in a lower ranked car doesn't mean he will be fast in a championship challenging car; and indeed vice-versa. As for your comments about the 2013+ line-up; it's kinda laughable; you're exaggerating massively, nobody knows what will happen next year; many are writing off McLaren next season; without any evidence to present to backup your comments, let's wait and see what happens in 2013, making comments now can make you look foolish in the future; I am not even going to speculate about next seasons performances, even the teams have no idea of how they'll stack up against each other; so we can safely say none of us do!

[Denthúl]

Given the choice, I'd have taken Hülkenberg over any of the non-champions that are currently in F1. Who knows whether or not that would have been the right choice, though?

[What's Burning?]

[LRW]

[darwin dali]

simple answer: $$$
Perez is cheap especially compared to LH, and so is NH - BUT Perez brings a nice Mexican dowry. Who knows what expensive ideas/projects McLaren has up their sleeves to try to bring them to the pointy end of the grid...

[What's Burning?]

simple answer: $$$
Perez is cheap especially compared to LH, and so is NH - BUT Perez brings a nice Mexican dowry. Who knows what expensive ideas/projects McLaren has up their sleeves to try to bring them to the pointy end of the grid...

[CookinFlat6]

No, McLaren did the best thing for their agenda

They wanted a driver that could help Button look good, thats all

They did not want Kimi, or Hulk, they targeted a guy that could complement butto, help with tyre management etc, not too fast in qualy. McLaren are not interested in challenging, just in looking like and playing the part of a top F1 team, one that is cheap and harmonious (driver wise)

With their dreams of becoming the British Ferrari in the 200k road car bracket, and staring disaster in the face, all they want is to continue in F1, win a few races and hope the road cars take off

IMMHO of course

[Jabberwocky]

As said in the other thread, lets not go down the Butto' road

[What's Burning?]

As said in the other thread, lets not go down the Butto' road

wouldn't that be "up" the Butto' road?

[racechick]

simple answer: $$$
Perez is cheap especially compared to LH, and so is NH - BUT Perez brings a nice Mexican dowry. Who knows what expensive ideas/projects McLaren has up their sleeves to try to bring them to the pointy end of the grid...

But I think that Mexican money stays with Sauber, if I've understood correctly.

[backseatdriver]

perez's performances since being announced as a mclaren driver have been seriously worrying too. he has just a tiny bit of additional pressure from the enhanced reputation of going to a big team next year and it seems he cant even handle that.

the only positive for net yeat though is decent enough driver perez showing how utterly rubbish button is. it would be so funny if he wipes the floor with button.

i just cant take any more button radio broadcasts on the tv, every practice session, every weekend, every season "oh where has the balance gone?" balance has nt gone anyway mate, you are just too crap to handle a car that is nt planted to the road because of your "smooooth" style. you have been in the sport for 12 years now, have nt you got a clue how to setup your car properly?

you hear almost every other driver on the radio giving an analytical description of the car handling through the various corners to give their engineers good feedback they can work on. i am sure your engineers love your really insightful, helpful, whiny baby, "oh where has the balance gone" tantrums. yes i have anger issues relating to button bringing mclaren down with his rubbishness.

mclarens line up is not strong at all. i worry how they will fare. ferrari will have no choice but to build a proper windtunnel. alonso in a half decent car and vettel in what will always be at the top red bull. mercedes will be strong with lewis and the double drs route really hampered their car design this year. i worry by 2014 mclaren could be the 4th best team.

nobody can predict whats going to happen i know. thats why everyone spends so much time trying to predict. but nico would have shown how poor button is. everyone says fair enough heis being beaten by one of the fastest guys in f1. but i think most of the grid would show up button, except perez.

[backseatdriver]

everything comes from how well you are doing on track. a few extra million from carlos slim wont compensate if mclarens big sponsors dont want to continue because they are consistently behind red bull and ferrari and potentially mercedes.

red bull will be turning down big sponsors who approach them. every company wants sponsorship association with winners. not guys who consistently qualify 5th and 6th and come in the race in the same position. sponsors will be very meh about that

[1Lemon]

Ok mclaren is a f1 team, they are not looking to just look good,that's an absurd thing to say.