Sutil & DiResta for Force India, Nico Hulkenber #3

**DexDexter** · 26th January 2011, 21:25

I don't understand how they have a rookie Di Resta in the race seat and Brazilian GP pole sitter as a "reserve" (which means that he will drink coffee and walk around the paddock all year). Makes no sense at all.

**i_max2k2** · 26th January 2011, 23:01

Originally Posted by DexDexter

I don't understand how they have a rookie Di Resta in the race seat and Brazilian GP pole sitter as a "reserve" (which means that he will drink coffee and walk around the paddock all year). Makes no sense at all.

Di resta had been there reserve driver for over an year, makes perfect sense that he waited for a seat and is getting one now, as one driver didn't perform as per expectations. Not downplaying Nico, but I'd call this fair for a promising diresta, if he's not upto par, who knows how quickly would nico jump in his or sutil's place.

**DexDexter** · 27th January 2011, 11:32

Originally Posted by i_max2k2

Di resta had been there reserve driver for over an year, makes perfect sense that he waited for a seat and is getting one now, as one driver didn't perform as per expectations. Not downplaying Nico, but I'd call this fair for a promising diresta, if he's not upto par, who knows how quickly would nico jump in his or sutil's place.

I'm not saying that Di Resta doesn't deserve a chance in F1 but based on facts it's illogical that Hulkenberg is not a race driver for Force India.

**jens** · 3rd February 2011, 15:15

I think di Resta is a race driver, because he had a similar deal to Liuzzi's - guaranteed race seat after a period of testing. And Force India wasn't going to break two contracts at once! Hulk may have been on pole in Brazil, but otherwise he has still very much to prove and to be frank, di Resta also joins F1 with very high expectations, like Hulk a year ago. The expectations are largely based on beating Vettel in Euro F3, but let's see, how much damage to the open-wheel touch have previous years in DTM done.

Hülkenberg as Force India's reserve. Strange?! Why not Mercedes, who are they looking for? I don't know, what Williams had put on the table as a long-term offer, but it is possible that 2012 race seat was included among them. Now even a '12 seat isn't sure. FI has also two young drivers unlike Mercedes GP/Williams, where one seat could free up earlier. So what kind of game is Weber playing?

It could make sense if Mallya has done another di Resta/Liuzzi-style deal for Hülkenberg - a guaranteed race seat serving a 3rd driver. It would sound weird, but then like in Liuzzi's case Mallya is again thinking about getting rid of one of his drivers soon. In this case it would probably be Sutil, who he may not consider to be a future star any more after enough years under his belt in F1.

Liuzzi's career seems to be over now. In conclusion it has to be said that the expectations were much higher, so how it all turned out in the end, was kinda disappointing. He even failed to reach the level of fellow countrymen Fisichella/Trulli, which seemed like a possibility early in his career. Tonio actually has some untapped speed in him, which he has shown sporadically. He impressed already on his F1 debut by outracing DC at Imola. But it looks he is too bad in adapting, so most of the time he failed to get the best of out the machinery. A pity, but by now it can be said that he has had enough chances in F1.