I don't know what has happened to the teams fighting towards the back, but there have been some very strange decisions in recent weeks, most notably at the German Grand Prix. First of all, Daniel Ricciardo is announced as the number 2 Hispania driver for the rest of the year after the Toro Rosso drivers supposedly 'improved their performance' making a mid-season dropping difficult. Well, this was certainly true for Alguersuari who has made a massive step forward in recent races and eradicated the mistakes that blighted his debut season, but for Buemi it's a different story. Instead of improving, he's gone backwards and has been beaten by his younger teammate for the last four races. Surely, his dreams of a Red Bull seat are rapidly diminishing. Then came Lotus' decision to drop Jarno Trulli and instead have Karun Chandhok driving the car. Yes, Trulli has been struggling and has performed terribly so far this season, but how can a team drop a driver they are supposedly negotiating a contract with for 2012? Furthermore, Chandhok's place in F1 is far from assured. He certainly didn't wipe the floor with Senna at Hispania last year, and his questionable credentials were further highlighted with a horrific performance that saw him finish being Ricciardo in the much, much slower Hispania. So, what next in the strange decision game? Well, with Grosjean and Senna rumoured to be replacing Heidfeld it seems as if even more people in F1 are becoming infected by the 'crazy decision disease'! For more see http://allsortsofmotorsports.wordpress.com/2011/07/26/dubious-decisions-at-the-back-of-the-grid/
Williams might get involved with the driver changes after Sam Micheal leaves in a few months. You never know.... I'd still go for HRT changing again soon though
Another well-written article Stephen. It's good that some people are paying attention to what is going on further down the field. (Mifune: shhhhhhhhhh! )
As a Renault fan I would support the idea of replacing Heidfeld. I wasnt happy with the choice when he was put in. I did have a glimmer of hope after Race 2 but since then has been disappointing as I expected he would do. Senna is the best choice I think.
Is it coming to that time of the season where teams signed reserved drivers on the basis they brought funding to the team if they would get a race, so there giving them their races so cash flow will continue. Keep everyone happy and the team floating along.
maybe in points but in most races Petrov gets the better of him and Hiedfeld drives like a rookie. This has been noted by Boullier that he is not performing well as a team leader and maybe this is why the team is not doing as well as it should be. I miss Kubica =(
we're on about Riciardo here, surely hes better than Kartikayan though? he really didnt deserve his drive! Chandhock I feel deserves the chance, Trulli imo should hang his helmet up. Hiedfeld being replaced wouldnt be the end of the world, as he hasnt really set the world on fire. Kubica really has been missed by Renault this season. Although he had a better drive this weekend, I wouldnt be surprised to see Sutil gone before the end of the season....
I expect di Resta to come out on top by the end of the season. I also expect him to come out on top at Hungary which is the most technical circuit of them all. However, Sutil is good and it is a bit premature to be thinking of chopping him - he's shown that he can do a very sound job.
I don't really rate di resta. He's a bit like maldonado. The speed is there, but he's far too error prone.
Anyone who is outqualified by 7 to 3 by a rookie who hasn't driven single seaters for years, doesn't seem to be performing particularly well (although he did drive well in Germany, aided by good strategy and quali). Let us not forget, Sutil was rumouredly linked with McLaren a few years back- after some disappointing seasons such a drive seems increasingly unlikely.
Well he had a stellar season last year. Lets not forget the undoubted talent that Di Resta clearly has. But he is still showing his experience in realising that qualifying doesn't get you points, the race does and Sutil is performing in the races while Di Resta gets caught up in rookie incidents etc
Its because Di Resta is British. Overall in Qualifying (other than in Aus where Sutil made a mistake on his only lap in Q2) Sutil has been faster on average by half a tenth, while he has been out-qualified 7 times out of 10 most of the time he is out-qualified it is less than a tenth and when he beats diResta he normally does by quite a bit. It shows he's been very unlucky in Q. But he is much better in the race. And lets not forget, Sutil is normally out in FP1. Edit: Its 5-4 to di Resta, only time Hulkenberg didnt run in FP1 was Monaco. He really needs to stop, Sutil and di Resta are both much better.
Don't they take that in turns? di resta isn't setting the world alight right now but he's doing ok against a fairly well rated team mate. Time will tell if he's a keeper
At the start of the season Di Resta was out 2 times, then Sutil 2 times. Then they took it in turns since (other than Monaco) I think Sutil is the better driver, but Di Resta could do well in a good car. Wait for people to use this against Vettel too. (as in Sutil [who lost to Hamilton] is beating Di Resta [who beat Vettel]) Just shows that GP2, F3/GP3 and other lower formulae dont show anything.
