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[darwin dali]

ESPNF1:
Paul di Resta and Adrian Sutil will race for Force India in 2011 with Nico Hulkenberg moving into the third cockpit role, according to Blick. The Swiss newspaper added the news would be confirmed in the next few days.

If accurate, it means Tonio Liuzzi has been dropped despite having a contract with Force India for another season.

Blick said Hulkenberg, the impressive German rookie who was replaced at Williams by Pastor Maldonado, will drive during the Friday morning sessions at grands prix.

"I actually wanted Nico to be the third driver at McLaren," revealed Hulkenberg's famous manager Willi Weber. "But Martin Whitmarsh was worried that it would be seen as a threat to Button so he didn't want to disrupt the harmony in the team for their championship hunt."

Blick's veteran correspondent Roger Benoit also reported that Toro Rosso is set to be bought by Arab investors.



Threat to Button - hm...

Toro Rosso becoming Al Ibrahim Insha'Allah?

[myownalias]

Bit of a step down for Nico Hulkenberg, only having a Friday run-out; I thought he would get a race seat after his decent performance in the Williams last season!

[Jabberwocky]

Bit of a step down for Nico Hulkenberg, only having a Friday run-out; I thought he would get a race seat after his decent performance in the Williams last season!

Money Talks. It is all about Mercedes' money at the moment.

Merc I think are groming Nico for the works team. Plus DiR has some Merc money for winning the DTM crown

[What's Burning?]

Maybe it also had something to do with Nico that didn't want to take a step down being a main driver in a new team... FI have mid filed cred now and as already stated, Mercedes could have purposely placed him there.

[Jensonb]

Hulkenberg a threat to Button. Right.

-Checks the 2010 stats for Hulkenberg again-

...Yeahhhhh...Not buyin' it*.

Anyway, Force India would be well advised to pick up DiResta, but as for which of either Sutil or Liuzzi should be ejected...Liuzzi has a contract. So...




*Footnote: I noticed at the end of the season, when the dropped him, Williams made a point of saying they still thought he was championship-material. Which inevitably leads to the question "Why in the name of Mandatory Pitstops did you just drop him?". It's also remarkably similar to behaviour Williams has displayed time and again in the past. Damon Hill, Jenson Button...Is Frank running a recruiting agency for the rest of the grid or something?

[texasmr2]

I agree the decisions Frank has made driver wise since dropping Damon are rather loony imo and look where it has gotten him, nowhere.

[JackMaster]

Bit of a step down for Nico Hulkenberg, only having a Friday run-out; I thought he would get a race seat after his decent performance in the Williams last season!

Money Talks. It is all about Mercedes' money at the moment.

Merc I think are groming Nico for the works team. Plus DiR has some Merc money for winning the DTM crown

Willi Weber has been a little bit indiscreet, if what he says is true. “It would be seen as a threat to Button” Why? Or why not as a threat to Lewis?
Do you mean that Mercedes is putting money in Force India?

[racechick]

Bit of a step down for Nico Hulkenberg, only having a Friday run-out; I thought he would get a race seat after his decent performance in the Williams last season!

Money Talks. It is all about Mercedes' money at the moment.

Merc I think are groming Nico for the works team. Plus DiR has some Merc money for winning the DTM crown

Willi Weber has been a little bit indiscreet, if what he says is true. “It would be seen as a threat to Button” Why? Or why not as a threat to Lewis?

Because Button is considerably older than Lewis I would imagine . He has less yeas left than Lewis where he will be performing close to his peak.

It was indescreet of WW, do you think deliberately so?

[JackMaster]

No, I even don’t know if what he says is true or not. I find it indiscreet because, in part, he produces the effect that Martin Whitsmarsh wanted to avoid, pointing out a slight weakness in Jenson’s position at McLaren. You know, if Nico could be seen as a threat for him…..

[vaptin]

Bit of a step down for Nico Hulkenberg, only having a Friday run-out; I thought he would get a race seat after his decent performance in the Williams last season!

Money Talks. It is all about Mercedes' money at the moment.

Merc I think are groming Nico for the works team. Plus DiR has some Merc money for winning the DTM crown

Willi Weber has been a little bit indiscreet, if what he says is true. “It would be seen as a threat to Button” Why? Or why not as a threat to Lewis?

Because Button is considerably older than Lewis I would imagine . He has less yeas left than Lewis where he will be performing close to his peak.

It was indescreet of WW, do you think deliberately so?

It is indiscreet to me, since he's saying Button would be threatened by Hulkenburg, which isn't his place to state publicly even though Whitmarsh told him.

I doubt Whitmarsh put it that way anyway, its just Webber talking up Hulkenburg I think, Whitmarsh probably fairly said something about not wanting a third driver looking for a race seat hanging around, since it puts on extra pressure and starts rumours and them replacing one of their race drivers.

It's a good line up for Force India if its true,

---

As for Torro Rosso, getting brought out is a good deal I think, I think its ridiculous to have two teams owned by the same person/company anyway.

[Jensonb]

No, I even don’t know if what he says is true or not. I find it indiscreet because, in part, he produces the effect that Martin Whitsmarsh wanted to avoid, pointing out a slight weakness in Jenson’s position at McLaren. You know, if Nico could be seen as a threat for him…..

At best, it comes across as impolite. At worst, it starts to look like somebody trying to play mind games.

As for Torro Rosso, getting brought out is a good deal I think, I think its ridiculous to have two teams owned by the same person/company anyway.

Sure is. The only thing more ridiculous would be if two teams owned by different people both tried to pitch up with the same branding despite being completely unrelat...


Oh. Right.

[nish2280]

Bit of a step down for Nico Hulkenberg, only having a Friday run-out; I thought he would get a race seat after his decent performance in the Williams last season!

Money Talks. It is all about Mercedes' money at the moment.

Merc I think are groming Nico for the works team. Plus DiR has some Merc money for winning the DTM crown

Willi Weber has been a little bit indiscreet, if what he says is true. “It would be seen as a threat to Button” Why? Or why not as a threat to Lewis?
Do you mean that Mercedes is putting money in Force India?

Because...well...Lewis is fast and hes young. Button isnt that fast and hes older, probably got less than 6 seasons ahead of him.

[bud]

Hopefully if bought out Toro Rosso becomes Minardi once again.

Di Resta is actually on McLarens driver programme so he would be being groomed for McLaren at Force india. I would look at him being at McLaren next when Button or Hamilton move on.

The Force India deal was with McLaren Mercedes before MercGP came about. Martin Whitmarsh was at the press conference for the announcement. It is for McLaren gearboxes and obviously Mercedes Engines. I guess they have two companies now they want to help out.

[spankyham]

I don't for one minute believe that Willi Weber's quote of Martin W would be verbatim. For me it's not significant either.

What is significant, and for me not surprising, is that Martin W was actually talking to Willi.

As person I think Jensen Button is OK, he's said a few silly things, but then haven't we all. I'm also happy for him that he won a WDC.

Having said that, IMO, he is not a good enough driver for a McLaren - the car deserves a better driver.

I'm a firm believer that you don't judge a driver by a race or a season, but over a career. Here's how Jensen has performed and how the car he was driving performed over his career so far:-
2000 Williams 3rd Button 8th
2001 Benetton 7th Button 17th
2002 Renault 4th Button 7th
2003 BAR 5th Button 9th
2004 BAR 2nd Button 3rd
2005 BAR 6th Button 9th
2006 Honda 4th Button 6th
2007 Honda 8th Button 15th
2008 Honda 9th Button 18th
2009 Brawn 1st Button 1st
2010 McLaren 2nd Button 5th

Jensen's raced 191 times for 9 wins (6 in one of the most dominant cars an F1 season has ever seen - the 2009 Brawn).

Take out his worst and best years and you have 156 races for 3 wins.

There's no malice in this, just putting it out there. I will also go on record and say that anyone earning a drive in an F1 car up to now is already a great driver.

[The Oz]

Suprised he didn't go as a reserve driver for a top team. Good to see PdR with a seat tho...shame about Hulk

Mercedes should keep Sutil, PdR and Hulk on their toes tho...when Schumi gives it away after 2012 (possibley later?) I betcha Mercedes will have those blokes in line to take the seat and join Rosberg