FORUMula1.com

[Jabberwocky]

As for mclaren, at that stage of the year Sergio looked very complete. It was obly after he signed for them that he went a bit haywire

[andrew]

He can't be all that bad. He managed to fend off Alonso for most of the 2009 Abu Dahbi GP.

[geetface9]

I agree that Senna was slow, in comparison to Maldonado, but surely for the mid-field teams (which Williams are despite their rich heritage), consistency, reliability and stability are the main ingredients in increasing the teams position. Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I was the under the impression Senna was in the points more than Maldonado, and he was also a lot less controversial.

Off-topic, I know, but I felt that McLaren could of made a better choice in replacement for Hamilton. Hulkenberg springs to mind. Young and has speed, determination and consistency. What does Perez offer other than potential, and the occasional good race?

Yeah I think senna more consistently got in the points, albeit very low points paying positions. Maldonado's win in spain is why he had more points than senna. Maldonado was CLEARLY the faster driver, almost always out-qualifying senna and driving to podiums until some wreck he'd cause. He's much faster, but much more accident prone. If the accident prone part can be removed, then who knows how far maldonado can go

Perez is quite good on his tires and is generally quick, although he did have a late season slump after his podiums

[andrew]

Maldo's too much win or bust. He'd have scored a hell of a lot more points if he had calmed the beast.

[LewEngBridewell]

Perez dragged a Sauber to 2nd place on two occasions. That is no small achievement. Yes, he went a bit crazy in the late-season races, but one would hope that McLaren would iron that out throughout 2013.

[killem2]

Perez dragged a Sauber to 2nd place on two occasions. That is no small achievement. Yes, he went a bit crazy in the late-season races, but one would hope that McLaren would iron that out throughout 2013.

Agreed. He's a fantastic replacement, given what is on the table to pick from.

With that, I'm not sure anyone "deserves" a seat anywhere.

I'd go into a detailed "draft" such like the NFL but this thread isn't for it.

[RichardC]

I would quite like to see Kobayashi at Force India for 2013 but it sounds like it's not going to happen from his end. Fairly certain I read that he has "given up" on this season.

Common sense suggests that Sutil will fill the empty seat at Force India, for some reason this doesn't really do it for me. Either way, get someone up there with Di Resta for these press moments ASAP. The poor fellas looking a tad lonely showing off his new wheels!

[scotty]

Common sense suggests that Sutil will fill the empty seat at Force India, for some reason this doesn't really do it for me.

Reading things today i think Sutil is the prefered driver for them (ie i read that Bianchi is set to stay on as reserve), but the fact that this is taking so long suggests to me that there are some bureaucratic issues in the way - indeed i also read in recent weeks that Sutil will have visa problems in some countries given his criminal record. But like you i am underwhelmed by the potential return of him, although for me it's simply cause i think better drivers are available. Regardless, it seems like Force India might offer some curveball drivers seat time in the Jerez test - James Rossiter is apparently getting half a day, although he is the teams' simulator driver, so chances are this is just related to track/simulator correlation.

[RichardC]

Looks like Sutil WILL be filling that seat at Force India.

Hmphhhh...... not a fan of this news. As a fan of the team I'm slightly perturbed that they would actually want to re-employ somebody who previously brought them such negative press. Ah well, fingers crossed that his seat doesn't fit and they have to take Jules Bianchi instead.

[LewEngBridewell]

Looks like Sutil WILL be filling that seat at Force India.

Hmphhhh...... not a fan of this news. As a fan of the team I'm slightly perturbed that they would actually want to re-employ somebody who previously brought them such negative press. Ah well, fingers crossed that his seat doesn't fit and they have to take Jules Bianchi instead.

To be honest, after the possibility of Narain Karthikeyan taking the seat arose, this news is suddenly a relief

Bianchi would be interesting though.

[LRW]

I think it's retarded that this close to a season start, and 1/3 of the way through winter testing they STILL don't know who are their drivers next year.

They deserve to go bust.

[RichardC]

To be honest, after the possibility of Narain Karthikeyan taking the seat arose, this news is suddenly a relief

Bianchi would be interesting though.

Yeah the Karthikeyan rumour was slightly terrifying. I feel a lot of sympathy for him as he genuinely seems like a really nice fella but he just can't handle the level of Formula 1.

[darwin dali]

To be honest, after the possibility of Narain Karthikeyan taking the seat arose, this news is suddenly a relief

Bianchi would be interesting though.

Yeah the Karthikeyan rumour was slightly terrifying. I feel a lot of sympathy for him as he genuinely seems like a really nice fella but he just can't handle the level of Formula 1.

He couldn't handle a shopping cart at Walmart

[racechick]

I always thought Suthil did a pretty good job , but as has been said, there's Bianchi , Kobi, Heikki, Petrov, et al out there. I keep seeing in news articles that mallya's jets are grounded because of financial problems. So they must have no money, or is the team completely separate from his other business?? Either way it's such a shame that money is dictating who gets the seat instead of talent. I wondered if they could make a rule that you can't take money from drivers, only pay them or have them drive for nothing, but that wouldn't work, sponsorship and all that.

[What's Burning?]

Everyone to some extent is a pay driver, I mean when Alonso moved to Ferrari, Santander did as well didn't they? The difference is simply perception, whether a driver has earned the right to have sponsors pay for his salary via team sponsorship or in the case of some, a rich entity pushing their drive whether for national or personal interest.