You make a fair point DHC but I've never been impressed by what I've seen of him as a driver. Although he was in a tail-end-charlie car, his driving was too inconsistent at this level, with plenty of errors whilst at the same time often being slower than his team mate, as far as I remember. To me, that falls short of the requirements of F1, other than his obvious draw for sponsors wanting to ride the legacy of a legend.
He is an absolute gold mine for sponsors, so that would make it easier for him to get a drive. Equally, it must play on his mind too. He turned down a test for Team Lotus because Ayrton got his first win with them (well, in name only). Going a little off-topic, when it comes to drivers with a lot of sponsorship money behind them, I wonder whether they do feel they are really only there for the money, and not because they are necessarily good enough. At the extreme this season is Karthikeyan, who (and I know this sounds hypocritical with regards my last comment!) isn't exactly showing any kind of pace at HRT, relative to Liuzzi, and I'd argue his driving doesn't warrant his seat. I guess the jury is still out on Maldonaldo, although his last couple of performances have been promising, so I'll reserve judgement on him just yet. Whilst the likes of di Resta are purely there on merit, and I'd say he does deserve his seat based on performance. Back (slightly) on topic, I remember when I was listening to the FP1 commentary on five live, that Senna said that Karthikeyan had come to him for tips around the circuit, and just remember thinking, "No offence, but there are a good number of drivers better placed to advise!" The number of ex-champions at Monaco, I bet one of them would be prepared to offer advice.
Can anyone have any real doubt? I would bet my life, my family's lives, my house and my cars on it without a second thought!
Sorry, I've just reread my last comment, and it hadn't come out the way I'd wanted it to! I've edited it now, so that it makes more sense. Of course it makes it easier for them, If you look at the long list of "Pay drivers" in F1 over the years, the only one I can think of who was actually any good was Pedro Diniz.
I wasn't finding fault with your post DHC! I completely agree with it. I was just being sarcastic about you stating the obvious, but I totally agree with what you said.
