Paul di Resta

Just realised we don't have a thread on the young Scot and there's something I have to get off my chest but, first, here's some history.

A real sporting family, his cousins are the Franchitti brothers and his step father was Scottish footballer Dougie McCracken (no, I'd never heard of him either but he played for Ayr, Dunbarton and East Fife). As ever, started in karting before moving to Formula Renault with Manor Motorsport. He was Formula 3 Euroseries champion in 2006 before moving on to DTM.

With Mercedes backing he was lined up for a drive with Force India in 2009 but FI chose to continue with their '08 driver line up. As test driver in 2010 for FI di Resta finally secured a seat for the 2011 season alongside Adrian Sutil scoring points on his debut and having a highest finish to date of 7th in Hungary.

Anyway, as to my moan. At the pre-race interviews at Spa di Resta complained that he only qualified 18th as the team called him in telling him he was "safe" to get into Q2. Can someone explain why the drivers don't argue with their teams in these situations? He must have seen the track was drying and the grip improving so why doesn't he "grow a pair" and tell them he wants to carry on? It's all too easy to abdicate responsibilty, you're in the car mate, tell them what you think.

And relax...
 
I'm like sly, in that I just don't care for the guy despite his nationality. He has to be one of the most overrated drivers I've come across in my whole time watching Formula 1. The BBC had to resort to their dirty trick of hyping him up and slagging off the guy he's competing with in the team. Last season it was Liuzzi, this year it was Sutil who they were getting their digs in at.

The guy came across as a bit of a tool on a couple of occasions too.

Also is the whole " He beat Vettel in some random stepping-stone series" only relevant due to the success Vettel has went on to achieve? If Vettel had just turned out to be a mediocre driver we wouldn't be hearing about it. Quite frankly I hope Hulkenburg absolutely wipes the floor with him next year.
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EJ was hyping him up to replace Liuzzi but DC said wait until 2011 for a full season rather than drop in the middle of the season to replace Liuzzi.

Liuzzi seems like a magnet for bad career moves..but then he did not make most of his Red Bull/ STR opportunities back in 2005-2007. He was only up against Scott Speed for goodness sake . He has not managed his career well since.

Last year there were times when he failed to make Q2 including being slower than Virgin cars !

That random stepping stone series is the series that put Lewis Hamilton on the radar for F1 for his record wins and title in 2005 and was not considered better than the British F3 championship due to the competition.

if F1 was still on ITV - they too would have been hyping up Di Resta probably more worse .

As for Sutil - well no one told him to get into an altercation with some guys at Renault early in the season which probably did not help him. Also he was the one making noises about getting a better deal at Renault last year and wanted Force India to offer him a better pay. Also he is a veteran of 5 seasons with the same team so he is naturally expected to beat Di Resta but other than that he had nothing else to gain and more to lose if he got beaten by Di Resta
 
Considering all of Liuzzi's problems last year, he still managed to do not bad. And he did have a lot of problems, reliability and strategy problems.
 
Considering all of Liuzzi's problems last year, he still managed to do not bad. And he did have a lot of problems, reliability and strategy problems.

The guy does seem to be the most unluckiest man in the paddock even more so than Webber when it comes to getting a drive and being incident free in races
 
....and Operation "Get Paul in to one of the Top Seats for 2013" is kicked off by Anthony Hamilton and Dario Franchetti here......

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12433/7409191/

Has it been mentioned before that Di Resta beat Vettel when they were team-mates in a lower Formula? Did you know there was a Grand Prix in India this year?

Sky's story for tomorrow is some guy called Bruno Junqueira saying he deserves the drive at Ferrari because he beat Webber and Alonso in Formula 3000 back in 2000 and Narain Karthakian saying he's an up and coming talent because he beat Ricciardio hands down in the Indian GP this year.
 
As a fan of Paul Di Resta it has annoyed the hell out of me all the press he's been given. They've effectively crowd him a future world champion and he's not even driving for a top team.

I'd like talented drivers like Di Resta, to be given a chance to settle into F1 for at least 2 season before having the title World Champion. Yes it worked for Hamilton, but not all rookies start off at top teams, some start right from the back and work their way up a la Raikkonen and Alonso.

I hope Di Resta can have a good year this year and get himself a good drive for 2013.
 
Didn't Martin Brundle run Senna very close in F3? Remind me what happened to the F1 careers of those two drivers...

Did not they say Frentzen was just as good or even better than Schumacher according to Peter Sauber when he had them at Sauber Mercedes sports car
 
....and Operation "Get Paul in to one of the Top Seats for 2013" is kicked off by Anthony Hamilton and Dario Franchetti here......

http://www1.skysports.com/formula-1/news/12433/7409191/

Has it been mentioned before that Di Resta beat Vettel when they were team-mates in a lower Formula? Did you know there was a Grand Prix in India this year?

Sky's story for tomorrow is some guy called Bruno Junqueira saying he deserves the drive at Ferrari because he beat Webber and Alonso in Formula 3000 back in 2000 and Narain Karthakian saying he's an up and coming talent because he beat Ricciardio hands down in the Indian GP this year.

He had better back up his words and credit by beating Hulkenberg first and hopefully bother the main Mercedes drivers a few times to justify...yes a lot of noises from Paul but then I see to remember Webber shouting his mouth once he joined Williams he said he was ready to play with the big boys until he was outperformed by Heidfeld and the car was not as competitive!
 
Interview with Paul in the Metro Today.

Scotland has produced some sensational drivers – is it something they put in the Highland water?

Scotland has had a huge amount of success, from the likes of Jim Clark and Jackie Stewart through to people like David Coulthard and [my uncle] Dario Franchitti. But the UK as a whole is a good place to be. Britain offers the best junior single-seater racing in the world. People come from all over to race in these series, and if you’re here already I suppose you’re at an advantage.

Are you upset the BBC are no longer showing all the races live, or did you already have a Sky dish?

It’s a change. The BBC have done an incredible job, broadcasting Formula One to the best standard we have ever seen. They always have great build ups and features and montages. Going forward, I’m sure Sky will do a good job too and having F1 on two channels might be better. I think it’ll get more coverage, because highlights will be shown on the BBC during primetime, picking up more casual viewers, and Sky will have a dedicated F1 channel with loads of content that will appeal to the hardcore fan. The UK has always produced the best coverage in the world and I’m sure that will still be the case.

This week you’re appearing at the Autosport International Show at the Birmingham NEC. Did you used to go to it when you were a fan?

Yeah, I’ve been every year except for last year. It’s a good thing to go to, to catch up with people and meet the fans. They’re a very enthusiastic audience, UK motorsport fans. There’s lots going on at the show, with teams launching new cars, revealing driver line ups, so there’s a lot of attention.

Last season you enjoyed an impressive rookie year – how many marks out of ten would you give yourself?

I wouldn’t mark myself or another driver. That’s for the commentators and the teams to decide. From my point of view, though, it was a solid first year with a lot of learning. Good foundations were laid and I was pleased to score eight points finishes, the best being sixth in Singapore

What was the highlight of 2011?

Qualifying sixth at Silverstone. It was good to do that in front of the home crowd. I think I got the absolute maximum from the car in that one Q3 run. The race should have given us a good result too but unfortunately there was a pitstop cock up, and then contact with another driver. Starting sixth, I didn’t expect to finish a lap down but motor racing is often unpredictable.

How quick is your new team-mate Nico Hulkenberg compared with your old one, Adrian Sutil?

That’s not something I’ll know until we race each other, but Adrian was a strong competitor and Nico was quick in the practice sessions last year.

There’s a lot of new blood coming in this year. Any you rate in particular?

I think anyone who gets into F1 deserves respect, because it’s not an easy sport

to get into. Everyone here has fought hard to get here, made a lot of sacrifices, taken a lot of risks, and in most cases have needed money. I’ve been very lucky to have had support from Mercedes-Benz, but my progress through the different rungs of the racing ladder has always been reliant on results.

Is Kimi Raikkonen’s return sensible after a two years on the sidelines? We’ve all seen how Michael Schumacher has struggled to get back up to speed…
He’s been a world champion and he’s a huge talent, so you mustn’t underestimate him but, yes, I think it will be tough for him but I hope he’s competitive. I would love to race him, I think it will be good. It’s a great shame though that Robert Kubica hasn’t been able to come back – that’s what we were all hoping for.

Should we put money on you taking Michael’s Mercedes seat next year?

You can’t predict the future, can you?

Read more: http://www.metro.co.uk/sport/887269-kimi-raikkonen-may-struggle-on-f1-return-paul-di-resta#ixzz1jKSK0JPb
 
What was the highlight of 2011?

Qualifying sixth at Silverstone. It was good to do that in front of the home crowd.

Paul Di Resta obviously doesn't support Scottish Independence then!

Anyone else find that a bit media trained? He def has a good PR crew around him. Not a bad word on anyone.
 
Anyone else noticed the lack of fizz around Paul Di Resta in the first 5 GPs? Even his PR team don't seem to know how to pitch this season so far.

Yes he's beating Hulkenberg but not in spectacular fashion and yes he's scored 3 points finishes in 5 GP but if you look he's spent most of his time dicing with the Toro Rosso. The only out of the ordinary drive was his performance in Bahrain and due to Force India's little political protest we got preciously no coverage of it what so ever.

I think Paul and his PR team have been put on the back foot by Force India's sudden change of fortunes. They have found themselves jumped by both Williams and Sauber this season and whilst all the 7 teams in front of them have been dicing it out on this ever changing playing field Force India have actually been struggling to hold on to their coat tails and along with Toro Rosso have been adrift on the front pack even at the Merc engine dominant Chinese Grand Prix Force India struggled to get keep pace.

Paul has picked up points finishes but in Australia that was more down to luck than anything else. In Malaysia he took advantage of the rain and in Bahrain he gambled on tyres. His season hasn't been bad just low key and while there is not much bad you can say about him people are hardly queing up to lump praise on him which is exactly what you need if you're angling after a drive with the big boys. Currently I think Di Resta has too many drivers in front of him to pick one up and whilst I think he's a steady driver I never get that buzz from watching him that I get from other greats.
 
RasputinLives

I do agree with you on the fact that Paul doesn't have the Fizz this season. But i do however think that this is due to the disappointment by the pace of this seasons Force India. Paul is still in Pole Position for Schumacher's seat and i still believe he'll get it. I just think that Force India were left miffed by what happened to the sudden lack of pace with their Aero package.
 
RasputinLives Di Resta has had the support of Mercedes who would have told him how to deal with the press and also getting advice from Dario Franchitti and seeing his manager Anthony Hamilton deal with the media with Lewis would have steered him in that direction

Yes there is a lack of PR coverage for DI Resta until Jackie Stewart said Ferrari should sign Di Resta which is a bit left field given his association with Mercedes
The anticipated battle between Di Resta and Hulkenberg has not really materialised and been covered due to the surprise speed of Williams, Sauber and Lotus who are ahead of them and even Mercedes who they were close to last season have moved forward.

Force India seems to be the team that have gone backwards to the rest of the grid. I still think Mercedes will consider him given Schumacher is showing signs of frustration in not delivering results through bad luck mainly although Barcelona was his fault

Di Resta was never a spectacular driver more of a consistent solid driver...he won the Euro F3 being more consistent than Vettel

His results have not been eye catching but he did realise last year he lost some good points scoring positions going for aggressive moves which did not come off so I expect a bit more consistency from him
 
Di Resta currently has three times more points than Hulkenberg, the same amount of points as Kobayashi and more points than Senna, Massa and Schumacher, all of whom have better/equal equipment. Unsung hero of the season so far?
 
Unsung hero or the new Nico Rosberg? Do a job, pick up points, maybe the occasional win but never going to set the world alight?
 
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