Perez in for Sauber on 2011

[Robinho]

how is Koby a rookie, he'll be in his 3rd season next year

[christophulus]

Money talks, but thankfully Perez looks a lot better than the other pay drivers in F1 over the years. And hopefully Sauber's future is secure, so good news.

[truefan72]

Money talks, but thankfully Perez looks a lot better than the other pay drivers in F1 over the years. And hopefully Sauber's future is secure, so good news.

yep

what is interesting to me is how it changes the kimi return dynamic as one real decent seat is now gone in the available musical chairs.

I think the trulli seat will open up next year, as will the liuzzi seat.
Silly season now becoming not so silly with the first salvo fired

[DazzlaF1]

Well Sauber has a history of finding decent rookies and putting them in his cars; Kimi, Massa, Kobay to name a few.

It does seem odd though to kick out PdlR for a grand total of 5 races just to kick Nick to the Kerb........although he must be getting used to it by now.

You forgot Frentzen, but I think Kimi was his jewel in the crown, giving him a race seat after ONE season of UK Formula Renault, what a gamble that was.

[maximilian]

Perez has probably done enough in GP2 to rectify his appearance in F1, although I don't think he would be the most deserving driver by far. Pretty shoddy bunch that GP2 class this year, so I think it was more a lack of depth of field that gave him 2nd place in the GP2 champs. Not a fan of Maldonado at all, either. Money talks, and obviously Telmex wants a Mexican in the seat. The good news is, they actually have a halfway decent one in the pipeline.

The other good news may be that this now frees up Nick Heidfeld to do what he should have done in the first place... replace Michael Schumacher at Mercedes.

[Koz]

You forgot Frentzen, but I think Kimi was his jewel in the crown, giving him a race seat after ONE season of UK Formula Renault, what a gamble that was.

Add to the list Kubica.

[jens]

The news that have been waited for for half a year already, have finally arrived. In any case I'm waiting for the debut of Sergio Pérez with positive feelings. Unlike various other youngsters, he has been making his way up through the feeder ranks silently and basically without any hype. Despite that he has managed to improve each year and in 2010 in GP2 has already been showing such level, which warrants a shot in F1. But in any case it looks like Mexico could have a bright future in motorsports as I reckon the next up-and-comer Gutiérrez could well be even better than Pérez.

The most critical aspect about Sauber's 2011 drivers is that they have got a massively inexperienced driver line-up (Kobayashi + Pérez + Gutiérrez). I wonder, how much of a hindrance is it going to be at race weekends in setting up the car, improving as a driver by learning from an experienced partner, etc. But on a more positive note it can be recalled that in 2001 Sauber also had a rather "green" pairing, which caused a lot of questions, but despite that the team managed to perform very well.

Perez has probably done enough in GP2 to rectify his appearance in F1, although I don't think he would be the most deserving driver by far. Pretty shoddy bunch that GP2 class this year, so I think it was more a lack of depth of field that gave him 2nd place in the GP2 champs. Not a fan of Maldonado at all, either. Money talks, and obviously Telmex wants a Mexican in the seat. The good news is, they actually have a halfway decent one in the pipeline.

I don't think the GP2 field should be downplayed in such manner. Some say about each GP2 year that the field is weak. Just because the drivers are still young, inexperienced and haven't reached the greatness of the world of motorsport yet, doesn't mean they are poor future prospects. And I wouldn't be so negative about Maldonado - IMO he is an improved version of Petrov. Has spent a few years in GP2 and managed to improve notably throughout years, although admittedly I wouldn't expect him to be a future F1 WDC contender. His main minus was the collapse at the end of 2009 in ART, otherwise he has been doing well.

[maximilian]

I don't think the GP2 field should be downplayed in such manner. Some say about each GP2 year that the field is weak. Just because the drivers are still young, inexperienced and haven't reached the greatness of the world of motorsport yet, doesn't mean they are poor future prospects. And I wouldn't be so negative about Maldonado - IMO he is an improved version of Petrov. Has spent a few years in GP2 and managed to improve notably throughout years, although admittedly I wouldn't expect him to be a future F1 WDC contender. His main minus was the collapse at the end of 2009 in ART, otherwise he has been doing well.

It's just that when you look at who has come to F1 and made a real impact, it's the drivers who stormed up the ladder and pretty much were winners right away in each new series they entered on the way. I don't find it impressive when someone is in a series for 4 years, and with their vast experience and a top car (thanks to their sponsors) finally manages to win the championship (or in Petrov's case, finish 2nd), while a bunch of greater talents have surpassed them on the way, and the field has thinned out in GP2.

[Roamy]

Kinda the way I see it is that Nick's only change to remain in F1 will be with JVRacing is Bernie and the toad get their heads out of their "Armpits" (Pino made me say it)

[jens]

It's just that when you look at who has come to F1 and made a real impact, it's the drivers who stormed up the ladder and pretty much were winners right away in each new series they entered on the way. I don't find it impressive when someone is in a series for 4 years, and with their vast experience and a top car (thanks to their sponsors) finally manages to win the championship (or in Petrov's case, finish 2nd), while a bunch of greater talents have surpassed them on the way, and the field has thinned out in GP2.

Well yeah, we may not have a Hamilton in every GP2 season, but I don't think it makes the field automatically weak. I like to evaluate the depth of the field on a wider scale than just spotting the existence of one superb driver. And what is worth noting that in 2010 we had more rookies than we usually have had, so in a way it was obvious that their inexperience was showing and especially Maldonado managed to profit on it, but I don't think the ultimate potential of those rookies is so poor.

If we look at your proposed way, then in the case of a rookie driver trashing the rest of the field in Hamilton/Hülkenberg style, we may also easily argue that the GP2 field was weak as no-one was capable of stopping the rookie. So what is a weak field? Hamilton may have been able to beat all those drivers he did back in 2006, but maybe he wouldn't have been able to dispatch an equivalent of Maldonado on top of his game with 3 years of experience so easily?