so who is the lucky boy that picked him in the draw? http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/formula_one/13734813.stm
De Le Rosa, wonder how he'll do this weekend. That leaves some more space for a team to nab some points off Sauber this weekend.
I don't know why Pedro agreed to drive - Sauber effectively humiliated him last year by replacing him. Also, doesn't this give McLaren an unfair advantage? DLR does a lot of simulator work, so knows a lot about the McLaren. He can make good comparisons with the engines, driveability, KERS and other things. As a McLaren employee, he will be using this experience not to do Sauber a favour, but to use his experience to benefit McLaren. That's what any good employee will do - and as I suggested at the top of my comment, Pedro isn't exactly friends with Sauber management, so will have no problems passing on all of his knowledge about the Sauber C30 to McLaren.
This is not good news for anyone who has high hopes for Perez - and yes, that include(s/d?) myself. A nasty accident like that can bang one's confidence as well as one's head. And usually the physical part of it 'gets well' long before the mental side of things, which sometimes never fully 'heals'. With this decision to back out of the race (very sensible if he's not feeling 100%), I wonder if there may be a long-term psychological block which could take the edge off his speed, scuppering the hopes of his early promise? A lack of confidence can have implications beyond the three or four tenths lost on a lap: it can be downright dangerous. I hope I am completely wrong of course and that he makes a rapid, full recovery. But these things do not always go as one might wish… Good luck Sergio.
I would have thought that Perez has had previous big shunts on his way up to F1, but I don't know either way. Canada is a track where the walls are close and the speeds are high, meaning confidence is everything, so it could be affecting him. I just hope its his neck (yes a strange thing to hope for), or something physical so he'll be back pushing Kobi some time soon.
I fell asleep during FP2 so I may have dreamed this but I think Whitmarsh said there some hurried complicated contract negotiations, which probably include a promise not to look at any documents Pedro brings back with him and to give Peter Sauber access to Pedro's email for six months. Tweeted just now by Perez:
De la Rosa's interview. I think it's highly unlikely he'll get a result in this race, so I don't see much point in him competing unless Sauber fear Perez could miss more races. I'm hoping Perez will be okay for Valencia, and that the reduced grip at Canada made him think it he perhaps had a problem with with his reflexes. The car would've felt different here to every other race so far, and Sergio could've put that down to the after effects of his crash. Not the best mentality for a driver though, especially for one so young who you'd expect to be less concerned with the dangers. He seems pretty fragile mentally, which isn't going to deliver him championships further down the line.
There's always a chance he might nick a point but I wonder, having unceremoniously dumped de la Rosa last season, whether it's a gesture on Sauber's part of gratitude, contrition or conciliation. It could also be a form of compensation.
Well Pedro is experienced and was the pirelli tyre tester so i don't think he will be to bad. Depending on how much he can learn in FP3 it is feasible that he could make Q2
I seem to remember De la Rosa stepping in and getting a podium in that wet race in Hungary where Jenson won for the first time, who knows history could repeat itself later if the heavens open!
