Esteban Gutiérrez

He’s the first rookie to be confirmed on the 2013 grid and the announcement has raised more than a little debate so its about time he had his own thread. Due to the fact he’s replacing a very popular driver who has had a fair rate of success, and the Mexican sponsorship the Sauber team has, his appointment hasn’t exactly been met with a wave of excitement and the words ‘pay driver’ can be heard being mumbled in dark corners of internet forums. I will have to say being a massive Kobi fan I was one of those mumblers but then I took a closer look at the stats.

Esteban Manuel Gutiérrez Gutiérrez (so good they named him twice) was born 5th August in Mpnterrey, Nuevo Leon Mexico. At 16 Esteban graduated from Karting to single seater racing by taking part in the Formula BMW USA series. He finished second in the series and at the tender age of 17 he packed his bags and was off to Europe for the Formula BMW Europe series which he promptly won at the first attempt. The following season he moved up to the Formula 3 Euroseries and by his standards had a rather average season and placed 9th in the championship. 2010 saw the beginning of the GP3 series which was dominated by Gutierrez from start to finish with 5 wins and 9 podiums. His GP3 title saw him earn a step up to GP2 as well as the Sauber test driver spot.

His first season in GP2 was hardly a run away success with him only scoring 15 points but it did see him take 2 podiums, a pole and a win so he did show some potential as well as getting some track time with Sauber in F1. His 2012 GP2 campaign started slowly but he was scoring points. It wasn’t until Valencia that he scored a victory and despite 2 more following in Britain and Hungary he was never really in the championship race. He did secure a clear third though which was obviously enough for Telmex and Sauber as he will be on the grid for 2013.

But the majority of people aren’t welcoming him with open arms because they see him as coming in and replacing a popular driver because of sponsorship reasons. Whilst there is an element of this it is an actual shame as Gutierrez has one of the best junior records of any rookie coming into F1 in recent years, he certainly has a better junior record than Sergio Perez, and whilst it might have been another year down the line there is no question that he would have/does deserve his place on the F1 grid and whilst his nationality probably plays a part in his appointment there are some other reasons you can see too. Throughout his junior career Gutierrez has had one thing that neither of the Sauber drivers have had this season, consistency. In his GP3 championship years he had 10 points finishes out of 16 – last year in GP2 he had 19 points finishes out of 24. It could be argued that if the 2 Sauber drivers had that kind of consistency then the team would have been able to secure 5th in the constructors championship. So if Esteban can convert his junior form into F1 then surely Sauber are laughing.

However I do worry for the lad as I can’t help but feel he’s on a loser unless he hits the ground running amazingly fast. With a team-mate with as much skill as Hulkenberg he’s going to have a difficult job of keeping up, add to that the fact he’s replacing Kobi and I can see the media and the fans turning on him very quickly if results don’t go well and it could dent his confidence.


I guess we’ll have to see which direction he goes in when he gets thrown into the F1 shark pool next year. What does anyone else think? Sink or swim for Gutierrez?
 
Yep. The deal with Telmex is that they prefer Sauber to run a Mexican driver. Sauber has chosen Guttierrez. Most likely because he's been with the team for years and is a former GP3 champion to boot.

Not that I'm saying he doesn't need to up.his game but to be fair to the guy he was put in to F1 at least a season earlier than he should be and is struggling to get a rep back in a god dam awful car.

To be honest I doubt he ever will and I doubt he would have ever been a front runner. Given different circumstances he prob would a fight of it in the pack. Currently though he's on his road to F1 exitville.
 
Well there was the fastest lap in Spain 2013, the top 10 in the quali's at the end of last year, Japan 2013 and the fact he's been on top of Sutil this year so far but like I said he needs to pull his finger out. His junior record out strips a lot of others so I don't begrudge him a shot even if he's not currently taking it.

He didn't hamilton his first year but the if you'd shoved Hamilton in to F1 circa 2005 in a team that was struggling I doubt Hamilton would have Hamiltoned his first year.
 
Comparing anyone's first year to Hamilton is rather unfair imo. I doubt we'll see something like that again, not soon at least.
 
RasputinLives Didn't he have a late pitstop Spain 2013? I maybe be wrong on that one. Yes he qualified in the top 10 in the latter of 2013, behind his team-mate pretty much every single time... similar to Japan 2013 way behind Hulkenberg. As for this year Gutierrez has a significant weight advantage over Sutil who is one of the heaviest drivers on the grid, and Sutil has hardly had a stellar F1 career.

He just doesn't cut the mustard for me.
 
Well I think be behind the Hulk as a rookie is slightly forgivable.

I don't disagree with you on any point really I just think he's had a hard lot. He's painted as a pay driver when in actual fact he's been parachuted in early for his nationality. Even he said himself he wasn't ready for his first year in F1 before they put him in the team. He was a driver with a decent junior record who given a few more years to learn the craft out of the spotlight might have ended up as a semi decent F1 driver.
 
Of all people... I certainly would've chosen Marciello over Gutierrez, or even tried to lure Jean-Eric Vergne (of course if I was in charge JEV would be in a race seat). Lets see if next years Ferrari has Telmex written all over it.
 
Don't forget that during the bulk of Ferrari's dominance over the last 20 years, their test drivers were Luca Badoer and Marc Gene. Both absolute dog poo on a race weekend but they must have done something right as test drivers.
 
Getting Gutierrez not sure if it is to help them entice Mexican sponsors because he is not going to get a run unless Kimi seriously stuffs up
 
It seems Gutierrez landing himself the 3rd driver Ferrari role is about to pay off as Haas have confirmed they will run a Ferrari reserve next year and old Esteban is the favourite it to land it.

Reading back through the thread it seems none of us rate him (even me and I'm a big softie) but it seems somewhere someone does. Are we all missing something? After 2 years at Sauber and a year shadowing Ferrari will he jump in an F1 car and show us soe of that potential we thought he might possibly have in him during his junior days?

I remain doubtful. JEV probably remains sick as a dog.
 
It helps when your home race is added to the F1 calendar next year and the team is US and can leverage a bit more with the Mexican sponsors

Remember he was in the Sauber last year when the team scored NIL points
 
Its the stats against his team mates that speak volumes.
Kermits stats in white his team mates in yellow.
Compliments of f1-facts.com
Esteban Gutierrez compared with Hülkenberg and Sutil

As you can see he just about (but doesn't) holds his own against an average midfield man in Slasher, but totally outclassed against The Hulk. Thats not the sort of driver F1 needs. Not when real talent is sitting in the wings.

screenshot.88.jpg
 
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