Hulk and Perez to Force India

Hulk and Perez to Force India

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5RedLights

Original Poster:

155 posts

142 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/hulkenberg-and-p...

Looks like Force India have taken Perez for the money and his driving (better than Sutil and di Resta and improved through the year) and used the money to meet Hulk's terms. I think this is actually the best option available to Hulk given the problems at Lotus and have a feeling the Merc engine will be the best engine next year too.

I don't think either 2013 FI driver really pushed the car so will be good to see what these guys can do.


furtive

4,501 posts

294 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
So DiResta to America and Sutil back to smashing peoples faces in then maybe?

5RedLights

Original Poster:

155 posts

142 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
Sutil will just revert to "fightin' 'round the world". Both very average drivers that should go, or go to smaller teams. That they had a drive this year and Kobayashi and Heikki didn't have drives was ridiculous.

DanielSan

19,461 posts

182 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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Hulkenburg? Average? Really?

eps

6,561 posts

284 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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DanielSan said:
Hulkenburg? Average? Really?
I think he's talking about PDR and Sutil

HustleRussell

25,598 posts

175 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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I think that's gone very well for Force India.

Time will tell whether it was a good idea to change both drivers when some consistency between '13 and '14 might've been beneficial, that said I'm sure Hulkenberg will find it easy to settle back in.

RJames

753 posts

205 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
furtive said:
So DiResta to America and Sutil back to smashing peoples faces in then maybe?
Wonder if DiResta could walk into Darios Target seat in Indycars.

G0ldfysh

3,315 posts

272 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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So is it an unrealistic expectation to see Force India beat McLaren in 2014?

5RedLights

Original Poster:

155 posts

142 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
It will be interesting to see what Mclaren do in 2014. Driver wise, you have a rookie and a 'veteran' who could possibly leave after next year. Although it looks like he's trying to hang on for a year with a Honda engine, surely given the driver market he can't stay for another two years if Mclaren get better? I thought this year has really aged him and seems to have taken the fun out of it for him.

I can't really see next year for Mclaren being anything other than a fact finding year for Honda. They'll get a year's worth of data about what will, I think, be the best engine next year. Honda are apparently already trying to poach Merc staff and seem to have already built a practice prototype engine, so are clearly keen to hit the ground running. How much effort therefore are Mclaren really going to put in next year, seeing as a new engine in 2015 is basically going to require going back to square 1?

oyster

13,138 posts

263 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
5RedLights said:
Sutil will just revert to "fightin' 'round the world". Both very average drivers that should go, or go to smaller teams. That they had a drive this year and Kobayashi and Heikki didn't have drives was ridiculous.
The same Heikki who had decent McLaren and Renault cars and was nowhere?
The same one who had a Lotus in the last 2 races and was nowhere (in a car that was capable of podiums).

delays

789 posts

230 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
doogz said:
RJames said:
Wonder if DiResta could walk into Darios Target seat in Indycars.
That's what I was thinking.
I think he should target the Indy 500 win. Beats this F1 lark.

McClure

2,173 posts

161 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
delays said:
doogz said:
RJames said:
Wonder if DiResta could walk into Darios Target seat in Indycars.
That's what I was thinking.
I think he should target the Indy 500 win. Beats this F1 lark.
yes I don't see the attraction for drivers of F1 over Indy at the moment, other than fame.

rubystone

11,254 posts

274 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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McClure said:
yes I don't see the attraction for drivers of F1 over Indy at the moment, other than fame.
prize money is pretty useful...and the chance to actually win a race.....don't forget a lot of the guys in F1 haven't actually won a race for some years....

Moobs

278 posts

199 months

Monday 25th November 2013
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I don't get why some people rate Heiki. Doesn't deserve a F1 seat on talent alone. mid tier driver at best.

I agree with OP that pairing is the best. And as I predicted at the start of the season - Mclaren would NOT win a race this year.

slipstream 1985

13,177 posts

194 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
Moobs said:
I don't get why some people rate Heiki. Doesn't deserve a F1 seat on talent alone. mid tier driver at best.

I agree with OP that pairing is the best. And as I predicted at the start of the season - Mclaren would NOT win a race this year.
nice guy yep.
likeable character yep
useless driver yep

VolvoT5

4,155 posts

189 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
Moobs said:
I don't get why some people rate Heiki. Doesn't deserve a F1 seat on talent alone. mid tier driver at best.

I agree with OP that pairing is the best. And as I predicted at the start of the season - Mclaren would NOT win a race this year.
Yep, I agree. I was shouted down for suggesting Kovalainen was 'average' on another thread..... I think based on his performances average was a generous assessment. He is a nice guy but does he really deserve another chance in F1? I don't think so. He was nowhere despite having a car easily capable.... even Raikkonen's half-arsed efforts over the second half of the season have been easily scoring points.

Lotus should have let their reserve driver have a go, he couldn't have done any worse than Kovalainen.

Edited by VolvoT5 on Monday 25th November 21:35

FourWheelDrift

90,935 posts

299 months

Monday 25th November 2013
quotequote all
delays said:
doogz said:
RJames said:
Wonder if DiResta could walk into Darios Target seat in Indycars.
That's what I was thinking.
I think he should target the Indy 500 win. Beats this F1 lark.
Ganassi have a 4 car team next year, only Dixon, Kimball and Kanaan named so far. The number 10 car is still available. Justin Wilson (unsigned) is also a Target (pun intended).

Corpulent Tosser

5,468 posts

260 months

Tuesday 26th November 2013
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ash73 said:
Maybe my impression of FI is clouded by the current drivers
Or could it be your impression of the drivers is clouded by the performance of the car they were driving ?

There were some good performances early in the season prior to the tyre changes.

Redlake27

2,255 posts

259 months

Tuesday 26th November 2013
quotequote all
Budget is always a consideration, but I like the fact that Force India carry on the Jordan tradition of getting the best drivers possible.

In the last few years they've had Fisichella,Di Resta, Sutil, Hulkenberg, Liuzzi.....All strong drivers...but Perez and Hulkenberg is possibly their strongest combo yet.

Considering McLaren Have a partnership with Force India, I wonder if they are using this opportunity to benchmark Hulkenberg against Perez to understand if he could be a Button replacement...

Killer2005

20,200 posts

243 months

Tuesday 26th November 2013
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Who's going to get Hulks seat at Sauber then? Will it be Sutil or perhaps Bianchi moving up to be replaced by another driver?