Caterham signs Kobayashi an Ericsson !

[steveaki13]

Yep. And am I right off the top of my head, Ericsson is the first F1 driver from Sweden since 1991? Must have been Johansson?

[steveaki13]

I should point out I heard on the radio it was their first driver since 1991, but I am guessing Johansson. Cant think of any since.

[RS]

Poor Kova, misses out again, just proves that ability now means nothing in F1, it is a circus dedicated to money. Good to see Kobi san back though

Realistically, most of the "pay drivers" are now quite talented, there are no Giovanni Lavaggis anymore. Unless you are at one of the top teams, or maybe Force India/Torro Rosso you have to bring money.

Did Heikki even try? His stubbornness may be costing him dear. He is a nice guy and a decent driver, but is he on the level to deserve a drive without bringing money when guys like Sutil, Perez, Massa, Bottas, Maldonado have to?

[Mia 01]

Finally, we got a Sweede back in F1. It was a while since last time with Lill Lövis 1991.

I hope he scores Caterhams first point this year.

But ofcourse, I will still mainly cheer for my idol Kimi!!

[N. Jones]

I just don't understand the Ericsson signing, especially since Charles Pic did pretty well.

[Rollo]

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/sports/m ... e16426351/
“I am free. You get more money than me.
We paid with my fans’ donations and I have to really thank my Japanese fans. I think I could not get this seat without my fans.
I don’t need money. I just want to drive. I don’t care about money. I want to be a success in my life and bring the team that success. This is my goal.”
- Kobayashi, via Reuters & The Globe and Mail, 21st Jan 2014

I suspect that Kobayashi will pick up their first points this year. Actually I'm disappointed that Kamui didn't get that Ferrari seat, I think that there may have been a outside chance that he'd have been the surprise 2014 World Champion.

[Rollo]

Hey, what numbers are these guys getting?!

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/3055 ... r-numbers/
Provisionally:
9 - Ericsson
10 - Kobayashi

[anfield5]

Poor Kova, misses out again, just proves that ability now means nothing in F1, it is a circus dedicated to money. Good to see Kobi san back though

Realistically, most of the "pay drivers" are now quite talented, there are no Giovanni Lavaggis anymore. Unless you are at one of the top teams, or maybe Force India/Torro Rosso you have to bring money.

Did Heikki even try? His stubbornness may be costing him dear. He is a nice guy and a decent driver, but is he on the level to deserve a drive without bringing money when guys like Sutil, Perez, Massa, Bottas, Maldonado have to?

You are absolutely correct re modern pay drivers, they are mostly of a decent quality, they couldn't attain a super license otherwise, and the worst pay driver in F1 is light years ahead of us mere mortals.

Comparing Kova to other mid field drivers, personally I would prefer Kova with a limited budget to Maldonado with millions of dollars. I also don't really blame teams from following the money root to a degree, but an aweful lot of talent is slipping through the net. For me F1 should be the pinnacle of single seat racing, with the best teams and drivers taking part. (I know this is an overly romanticised view of things)

[zako85]

Kobayashi I can understand, I found him quite specacular when he was in F1 previously.

But Ericsson? He has been mediocar at most in GP2, best season last year finishn 6th in the championship in his 4th! attempt. It is so sad how much tehe wallet of your sponsors decidea nowdays

Ericsson == $15M

Why am I not excited? I am sad this is the best Kobayashi could have this year. He is just another fine drivers in a long list of fine Caterham drivers who never scored a point. Why am I not excited?

[pcal226]

Happy to see Kobayashi back in F1, although i'm not sure it will be a successful return. I just don't have any confidence in the Caterham, regardless of who's driving it. It would be miraculous for Vettel, Alonso or whoever just to score points if they were in a Caterham or a Marussia. If Fernandez follows through on his threats to pull out of F1 if Caterham doesn't improve, than i'm afraid Kamui will just have a bad year and then be out of a seat again. I wish him the best anyways.

As for Ericsson I have nothing against the guy but I would have rather had them either stick with van der Garde or go with Alexander Rossi. Van der Garde showed some improvement last year and outperformed his teammate a few times and I don't think should be blamed for having a crap car. As for Rossi, his junior formulae numbers are comparable with Ericcson's, but Rossi also has two years as a Caterham's test driver under his belt. He also raced in the 24 Hour of Le Mans last year and will race in the 24 Hours of Daytona this weekend both of which give some good experience against professional drivers. Of course I'm biased because I'm American and I'm dying to see an American back in F1, but honestly I just don't see anything on the track that would make me choose Ericsson over my two year reserve driver Rossi, which means it was probably just a financial decision. I don't know, maybe for the reasons I mentioned above its actually better in the long run for Rossi not to drive for Caterham...

Still, in fairness to Ericsson, although he hasn't set the GP2 world on fire in his four years there, he has improved each year which is at least some reason for optimism.