As the bumbling BBC F1 broadcast team stumbled their way down the pit lane on the BBC's F1 Forum I was suprised to see them pass a very happy looking Nico Hulkenberg. I was mainly suprised because it was only on Friday I'd read an angry sounding interview with him about how if he wasn't in F1 next year he was going elsewhere. Usually I get annoyed at the F1 forum for not interviewing the right people and asking the right questions but David Coulthard actually spotted the smiling Nico and went to talk to him. Nico came across quite well saying how well the team had done and complimenting Adrian Sutil on his 6th place and ended the interview by cheekerly saying he's have probably got 5th - which made me like him more actually. Straight after they interviewed Adrian Sutil who had just finished a Grand Prix scoring one of his best results of the season and clawing himself up to 9th in the drivers championship table. He did not look happy. This told a story for me more than any questions the team asked either driver.
Whilst Force India's season has been good lets remind ourselves that actually this is a team recovering back to where they should be after a slump that started back in 2004. Force India were formly Jordan he arrived on the F1 scene in 1991 and quite quickly worked their way up to position on 5th best team and the team most likely to frustrate the big boys. Although Jordan became Spyker, who became Midland who then became Force India you have to remember that the factory never moved and whilst the managment structure changed the majority of your engineers and factory workers can remember when it used to be Eddie Jordan deciding their Xmas bonus. In Eddie Jordan's day he got the team up near the front by wheeler dealing for technology from the bigger teams, giving future front runners their first shot in F1(Schumacher x2, Barrichello, Irvine, Fisichella) and letting talented drivers rebuild themselves after a fall from grace (Hill, Fretzen, Brundle). This got him the results he needed to stay in the game and very wisely VJ has kept the same formula by forging links with Mclaren and Mercedes and seemingly always having a young driver in the wings. This can be a problem though. Just as in 2010 we knew that Liuzzi's seat in the team was doomed because Paul Di Resta was sitting on his shoulder we knew at the begining of this year that Adrian Sutil was on his way out because Nico Hulkenberg was there. Now whilst Liuzzi obliged and had an average season so no one complained as he was shown the door Mr Sutil decided to give Force India a headache by having an awesome season leaving Force India with a conundrum.
Sutil actually scored 5 points less than last year and didn't repeat his two 5th places of last season either. This season is still seen as him doing better though as the argument is that the top teams were more consistant this year and their were less points avaliable. I could counter that argument by saying their has been more oppotunity for Sutil to beat the likes of Rosberg, Massa, Webber and even Hamilton this year due to their much but lets just go with the fact that Sutil had a good season and certainly ranks as 'best of the rest' after the drivers for the big 4. So why does it look like he'll be out on his ear? Politics. Nico Hulkenberg is Germany's next great hope. He's wiped the floor with most of the opposition in all his junior formula and he was supposed to triumphly make a Lewis Hamilton type entry into F1. Unfourtunatly the team he chose to make that entrance with was Williams and it kinda went a bit flat. He did show us what he had to offer with his pole in Brazil but suddenly found himself without a drive when Williams desperete for cash signed a deal with the Venulzualan government. This did not please the massive amount of sponsors that were backing him including manager Willi Weber who have help fund his career. Weber is the same gentlemen that brought us a certain Michael Schumacher and had already stated as long ago as 2009(before Nico had been in F1) that Hulkenberg will sign for Ferrari in 2012! With all this backing it wasn't long before similar to Paul Di Resta we found the Hulk sitting in a Force India tester seat trying to tempt VJ with a big pot of gold - although this time the pot really was bigger!
So I hear you say if Sutil has been so good and Hulkenberg is such a big talent why not have them as a pairing? Sounds good right. Well we have the small matter of a chap called Paul Di Resta. Paul Di Resta is another Scot with an Italian sounding name financially backed by his famous cousin Mr Dario Franchittii and managed by none other than Anthony Hamilton. The PR machince for Di Resta kicked into life before the 2010 season had even started. Suddenly DTM was a quality series we'd all heard of with proper quality drivers not just F1 rejects and old drivers taking pay cheques - and Paul was winning it! Di Resta had beaten Vettel when they were team-mates and we heard about it every weekend. Poor old Liuzzi didn't stand a chance about that and Paul obviously got the seat for 2011. Now how has he done? Well in the UK there has been a lot of jumping up and down about him as having a great rookie season but there could be national bias there - I think in reality he's had a pretty steady rookie season where he's shown signs he could be a class act. He has finished 8 times in the points this season and finished 13th in the constructors but lets remember he was clearly beaten by Sutil 11- 8 race wise and only score 5 more points that Liuzzi did the previous year. In fact you could argue that Liuzzi had 6 mechanical failures to contend with to Di Resta's 1 and therefore was at a disadvantage.
I am being picky and there is no doubt that Di Resta has shown flashes of greatness or at least potential for greatness this season, his qualifying especially, but has he really shown enough to get preference over the teams bread winner? Probably not. But Di Resta is backed by Mercedes and that link is very important for Force India - without the might of the Merc engines the team certainly wouldn't be 6th in the constructors. If you also take into account that VJ's airline is about to go bust the financial support for the team is really needed as well and certainly the exciting young new line-up of Hulkenberg and Di Resta has money spinner written all over it.
So what do I think Force India's decision will be? same as everyone else Di Resta/Hulkenberg. Is that the right choice for the team? in this strange world of F1 I think it is as I think it will keep them where they are. Is the choice fair on Adrian Sutil? Absolutely not and it makes me sad that business decisions decide driver choice rather than pure talent but where would you be without playing the game? Sutil's only crime is not having such a high profile manager or exciting history in lower formula. Poor old Adrian.
Now which of the Force India drivers will lead the way next year? Well I think thats a whole other article.
Whilst Force India's season has been good lets remind ourselves that actually this is a team recovering back to where they should be after a slump that started back in 2004. Force India were formly Jordan he arrived on the F1 scene in 1991 and quite quickly worked their way up to position on 5th best team and the team most likely to frustrate the big boys. Although Jordan became Spyker, who became Midland who then became Force India you have to remember that the factory never moved and whilst the managment structure changed the majority of your engineers and factory workers can remember when it used to be Eddie Jordan deciding their Xmas bonus. In Eddie Jordan's day he got the team up near the front by wheeler dealing for technology from the bigger teams, giving future front runners their first shot in F1(Schumacher x2, Barrichello, Irvine, Fisichella) and letting talented drivers rebuild themselves after a fall from grace (Hill, Fretzen, Brundle). This got him the results he needed to stay in the game and very wisely VJ has kept the same formula by forging links with Mclaren and Mercedes and seemingly always having a young driver in the wings. This can be a problem though. Just as in 2010 we knew that Liuzzi's seat in the team was doomed because Paul Di Resta was sitting on his shoulder we knew at the begining of this year that Adrian Sutil was on his way out because Nico Hulkenberg was there. Now whilst Liuzzi obliged and had an average season so no one complained as he was shown the door Mr Sutil decided to give Force India a headache by having an awesome season leaving Force India with a conundrum.
Sutil actually scored 5 points less than last year and didn't repeat his two 5th places of last season either. This season is still seen as him doing better though as the argument is that the top teams were more consistant this year and their were less points avaliable. I could counter that argument by saying their has been more oppotunity for Sutil to beat the likes of Rosberg, Massa, Webber and even Hamilton this year due to their much but lets just go with the fact that Sutil had a good season and certainly ranks as 'best of the rest' after the drivers for the big 4. So why does it look like he'll be out on his ear? Politics. Nico Hulkenberg is Germany's next great hope. He's wiped the floor with most of the opposition in all his junior formula and he was supposed to triumphly make a Lewis Hamilton type entry into F1. Unfourtunatly the team he chose to make that entrance with was Williams and it kinda went a bit flat. He did show us what he had to offer with his pole in Brazil but suddenly found himself without a drive when Williams desperete for cash signed a deal with the Venulzualan government. This did not please the massive amount of sponsors that were backing him including manager Willi Weber who have help fund his career. Weber is the same gentlemen that brought us a certain Michael Schumacher and had already stated as long ago as 2009(before Nico had been in F1) that Hulkenberg will sign for Ferrari in 2012! With all this backing it wasn't long before similar to Paul Di Resta we found the Hulk sitting in a Force India tester seat trying to tempt VJ with a big pot of gold - although this time the pot really was bigger!
So I hear you say if Sutil has been so good and Hulkenberg is such a big talent why not have them as a pairing? Sounds good right. Well we have the small matter of a chap called Paul Di Resta. Paul Di Resta is another Scot with an Italian sounding name financially backed by his famous cousin Mr Dario Franchittii and managed by none other than Anthony Hamilton. The PR machince for Di Resta kicked into life before the 2010 season had even started. Suddenly DTM was a quality series we'd all heard of with proper quality drivers not just F1 rejects and old drivers taking pay cheques - and Paul was winning it! Di Resta had beaten Vettel when they were team-mates and we heard about it every weekend. Poor old Liuzzi didn't stand a chance about that and Paul obviously got the seat for 2011. Now how has he done? Well in the UK there has been a lot of jumping up and down about him as having a great rookie season but there could be national bias there - I think in reality he's had a pretty steady rookie season where he's shown signs he could be a class act. He has finished 8 times in the points this season and finished 13th in the constructors but lets remember he was clearly beaten by Sutil 11- 8 race wise and only score 5 more points that Liuzzi did the previous year. In fact you could argue that Liuzzi had 6 mechanical failures to contend with to Di Resta's 1 and therefore was at a disadvantage.
I am being picky and there is no doubt that Di Resta has shown flashes of greatness or at least potential for greatness this season, his qualifying especially, but has he really shown enough to get preference over the teams bread winner? Probably not. But Di Resta is backed by Mercedes and that link is very important for Force India - without the might of the Merc engines the team certainly wouldn't be 6th in the constructors. If you also take into account that VJ's airline is about to go bust the financial support for the team is really needed as well and certainly the exciting young new line-up of Hulkenberg and Di Resta has money spinner written all over it.
So what do I think Force India's decision will be? same as everyone else Di Resta/Hulkenberg. Is that the right choice for the team? in this strange world of F1 I think it is as I think it will keep them where they are. Is the choice fair on Adrian Sutil? Absolutely not and it makes me sad that business decisions decide driver choice rather than pure talent but where would you be without playing the game? Sutil's only crime is not having such a high profile manager or exciting history in lower formula. Poor old Adrian.
Now which of the Force India drivers will lead the way next year? Well I think thats a whole other article.
Great article
