This is a piece written for an article swap with fellow blogger Ilaria for her blog , to see it click here.
Over the recent reveal of the Force India 2012 driver line up, I debated the pro's and con's of this choice. Was it right to get rid of Sutil? Will Hulkenberg keep up with Di Resta? See what I said by clicking "read more" and comment your views below.
The last 2 years have seen growth and pace improve mightily for the German driver, especially this year where he finished in the points on 9 times. He even helped the team to 6th in the constructors championship finishing 9th in the Drivers’ Championship, and impressive feat.
Nico Hulkenberg has had a much shorter F1 career compared to Sutil. The “Hulk” debuted in F1 at the Australian Grand Prix 2010 and in that season racked up 7 points finishes and a 14th place finish in the Drivers’ Championship. I am not the only one to say that a feeling of shock was felt when he was not confirmed as the Williams driver for 2011 but he moved to Force India and the move has obviously paid off as he now has a drive for 2012.
What I am getting at is, should Sutil have been dropped for Hulkenberg. I have enormous respect for Nico and see him as a talent for the future but now Sutil has been dropped it leaves him with a narrow band of options for the future. Not only has he delivered this year he has also contributed hugely for the team. Nico will bring youth, probably money, and pace but I will have to wait till this time in 12 months’ time to make the real comparison.
Sutil is now languishing in the F1 reject talent pool, preferably waiting to be reeled out and dropped into a new team or environment. With Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastian Buemi all vying for a seat too it is a contest I eagerly await the results of.
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| (c) Octane Photographic |
Force India confirmed their 2012 driver line up with Paul Di Resta being retained along with a new addition to the race line up, Nico Hulkenberg. This has mainly been received as mainly positive but some negative views are basically expressing the disappointment for Sutil.
This made me question, did they make the right decision? We already know that Di Resta exceeded the teams’ expectations of him, and that after receiving the “rookie of the year” award at the Autosport awards, he was pretty much a done deal for 2012, But Sutil’s position has always been uncertain.
Sutil began his career in Formula 1 in 2007 with the Spyker team, now Force India. He was rather erratic and destructive to begin with and it became abit predictable that season, as was 2008. You could pretty much imagine that 50% of the time that car crashing into the barrier would be Sutil. However in 2009 when the team became Force India, and particularly towards the end of the season, Sutil began to improve and become more consistent, and with that came results. He impressed that year particularly in the Italian Grand Prix, finishing in 4th.
Sutil began his career in Formula 1 in 2007 with the Spyker team, now Force India. He was rather erratic and destructive to begin with and it became abit predictable that season, as was 2008. You could pretty much imagine that 50% of the time that car crashing into the barrier would be Sutil. However in 2009 when the team became Force India, and particularly towards the end of the season, Sutil began to improve and become more consistent, and with that came results. He impressed that year particularly in the Italian Grand Prix, finishing in 4th.
The last 2 years have seen growth and pace improve mightily for the German driver, especially this year where he finished in the points on 9 times. He even helped the team to 6th in the constructors championship finishing 9th in the Drivers’ Championship, and impressive feat.
Nico Hulkenberg has had a much shorter F1 career compared to Sutil. The “Hulk” debuted in F1 at the Australian Grand Prix 2010 and in that season racked up 7 points finishes and a 14th place finish in the Drivers’ Championship. I am not the only one to say that a feeling of shock was felt when he was not confirmed as the Williams driver for 2011 but he moved to Force India and the move has obviously paid off as he now has a drive for 2012.
What I am getting at is, should Sutil have been dropped for Hulkenberg. I have enormous respect for Nico and see him as a talent for the future but now Sutil has been dropped it leaves him with a narrow band of options for the future. Not only has he delivered this year he has also contributed hugely for the team. Nico will bring youth, probably money, and pace but I will have to wait till this time in 12 months’ time to make the real comparison.
Sutil is now languishing in the F1 reject talent pool, preferably waiting to be reeled out and dropped into a new team or environment. With Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastian Buemi all vying for a seat too it is a contest I eagerly await the results of.
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