Whitmarsh pleased Perez is heading to Force India

F1 Fanatic Round-up

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In the round-up: Martin Whitmarsh says he is happy ousted driver Sergio Perez is closing on a deal to drive for Force India next year.

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McLaren’s Martin Whitmarsh pleased with Sergio P??rez Force India move (The Guardian)

“Perez was dropped by Whitmarsh less than a fortnight ago after one year at McLaren but the Mexican is expected to drive for Force India next season.”

Ferrari ‘will dominate Formula One again’ (BBC)

James Allison: “The team has been one-by-one picking off its weak points. It’s a work we will need to continue and a work we will never stop doing even once we do finally get ourselves back to the front.”

Christian Horner Q&A: The Red Bull boss reflects on a dominant season (Sky)

“Thankfully we managed to secure this championship reasonably early which has enabled all the focus to go onto the RB10, whilst obviously Ferrari and Mercedes have been battling each other for the runners-up position.”

Di Resta risks being the man who misses out (Reuters)

Paul di Resta: “I’ve done what’s asked of me when the car is under me and who knows? I’ll be in competitive racing…but remaining part of Formula One has to be my ultimate goal.”

Maldonado says team switch was key (Autosport)

“The team I knew in 2011 changed a lot, and I was not full of confidence with the people around the team at the moment.”

McLaren MP4-28 – pull-rod front suspension (F1)

“For 2013 McLaren followed Ferrari’s 2012 lead by introducing pull-rod front suspension. Unlike Ferrari’s set-up, however, McLaren’s is far easier to work on.”

Brazilian Grand Prix – epilogue (MotorSport)

David Coulthard: I’ll be frank with you Jenson, I’m a bit pissed off, because you are about to enter your 247th Grand Prix, and I thought at least I would keep the record of 246 starts, the most of a British driver. You’ve got a World Championship, you’ve got more wins than me, and you’re stealing that from me as well."
Jenson Button: ‘But you’ve still got your looks!'”

Losing our way (The way it is)

“F1 should have a roaring future but the business model Ecclestone created may be broken and as his grip on the sport recedes the political and power struggles within the FIA and among the F1 team owners and manufacturers may make F1 impossible to govern in the future.”

Snapshot

Ex-F1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya had his first test for Penske’s IndyCar team at Sebring International Raceway yesterday. More images via the picture above and check the forum thread for Montoya’s comments on how the IndyCar compares to the NASCAR he’s been racing since leaving F1 in 2006.

Tweets

https://twitter.com/SutilAdrian/status/404981764793573376

Comment of the day

@Bleu spotted some more statistics from the Brazilian Grand Prix:

  • Mark Webber is the driver since Alain Prost to finish on the podium in his last race.
  • Webber is also the first team-mate of world champion not to win the race since Rubens Barrichello in 2001.
  • Lotus is the first team since 1970 (Brabham) to win first race of the season and not to win any more Grand Prix’s during the season. It was also done in 1966 by BRM and in 1967 by Cooper.
  • Kimi Raikkonen was 12th driver to win only the opening race. Previous one was Giancarlo Fisichella in 2005.

@Bleu

From the forum

Happy birthday!

Happy birthday to Carlos Santos, Nick and Andy Alexander!

If you want a birthday shout-out tell us when yours is by emailling me, using Twitter or adding to the list here.

On this day in F1

And happy 60th birthday to Desire Wilson. The South African driver is the only woman to have won a race for Formula One cars, in the British Aurora series in 1980 at Brands Hatch. However her attempt to qualify for the world championship round at the track that year was unsuccessful.

Her sixth place finish in the 1981 South African Grand Prix should have made her the first woman to score a full point in a world championship race. However due to a row between the FIA and the Formula One Constructors’ Association the race was stripped of its championship status.

Image © McLaren/Hoch Zwei

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98 comments on “Whitmarsh pleased Perez is heading to Force India”

  1. Perez-Hulk isn’t a bad line-up. I hear that Sutil might be going to Sauber if Force India decides on that pairing. Shocking… maybe the Sauber guys will be pleased to have his girlfriend in the garage… that must be the only benefit of hiring him.

    1. I think it’s a fantastic line-up! I’d love to see Perez-Hulkenberg in Force India. They’re sure to push each other and both are quite different drivers. Perez has arguably had his reputation tarnished in 2013, whereas Hulkenberg has seen his stock rise further. So Perez with something to prove after being dropped vs Hulkenberg trying to crack the big-time? Sounds like a team-mate battle I’d like to watch!

      1. @colossal-squid

        +1
        With Checo and Hulk, FI would, without question, have the best midfield lineup. It would be a brilliant move which would mean a lot more constructors’ points.
        Next season is shaping up to be a great year for inter-team battles: Kimi and Nando, Checo and Hulk, Nico and Lewis – should be exciting to watch.

    2. Pastor Maldonado won’t reveal the team he is going to but according to reports it heated up between Lotus and the manager I think. So it looks like he is going to Lotus while Adrian will be at Sauber alongside Esteban. What happened to Sergey Sirotkin

    3. Sauber should give Felix da Costa a call, just saying…

    4. petebaldwin (@)
      26th November 2013, 10:41

      I hope Force India have a good season as that’s a great lineup! Hulk has proven to be fast and Perez didn’t get a fair chance at McLaren.

      In his first year, Hulk did ok against Barichello and since then, he has beaten De Resta (was on top by the end of the year) and Guiterrez. Arguably, there’s not a lot to get from that.

      Perez was slightly off Button’s pace but it wasn’t by a huge amount. If Hulk beats Perez comfortably, you’d have to say that he would have proven that he is fast enough to deserve a top seat. With the only potential spaces at McLaren and Ferrari (and perhaps Lotus if they get their finances sorted) in the coming years, he might have to wait a while though!

  2. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
    26th November 2013, 0:16

    I don’t get why Sutil is seen as a better option than the other drivers going for midfield seats. He’s good enough for F1 but given the circumstances I’d say Di Resta deserves a drive way more.

    1. Actitude?! Di Resta attacks and complain about the team more easy than Sutil.

      1. If you have aspirations to elevate yourself in the Constuctors Table there is no point hiring Sutil. He has reached his zenith performance wise, he is just regurgitating the same performances over and over each year now. A useful handful of points and some dubious behaviour both on and off track. He doesn’t seem capable of developing any further and this is illustrated by his inability to admit falibility such as with the incident between him and Maldonado at COTA. It was Sutil’s fault all day long but then you hear him interviewed and he pans Maldonado. If you can’t look inwardly and correct your weaknesses you are not going to improve and Sutil’s stagnation is proof of that imho. As such, you might as well try somebody else, especially if one of your options is a Hulkenberg going cheap.

        1. Well, @coefficient, PDi Restas isn´t exactly a guy that “look inwardly and correct his weaknesses”, so I think F1 wouldn´t suffer muhc with out any of them

          1. I wasn’t defending Di Resta @celeste

            On the contrary I had already assumed he would not be retained.

    2. One reason would be because Sutil brings money to a team while di Resta doesn’t, and the gap between them isn’t big enough to forego that money.

      1. Sutil doesn’t bring a great deal of sponsorship. It basically covers his wage and a bit more.

        DiResta – who cares. Chronic whinger.

    3. @collettdumbletonhall I’d have a hard time chosing between the two – I hate them both equally. Sutil has never impressed me, and he’s been on the grid since 2007. That’s a long way for doing not so much. Di Resta is marginally better, but that’s not saying much. Other than money, I can’t see why Sutil stays on the grid.

      1. Daniel (@collettdumbletonhall)
        26th November 2013, 20:40

        He is quite a bit better than Sutil. I can’t say I particularly like the man given his poor attitude but he deserves to be on the grid.

    4. If I was at Sauber in a position to make decisions, I’d call Antonio Felix da Costa instead of either Sutil or Di Resta.

      If I was LDM I’d hire Nico Hulkenberg in lieu of Kimi Raikkonnen

      1. yeah that’s what sauber is best at – unearthing diamonds in the rough. They should steer clear of both of those you mentioned.

    5. I completely agree.

      Apart from an impressive first race, he has done hardly anything all year.

      Yes, di Resta had some offs during the middle, but he has consistently out-qualified and out-raced Sutil. Excluding the 5 races where they both failed to finish, di Resta outscored Sutil 10-5. Di Resta scored 48 points, compared to Sutil’s 29 (166% more). And in terms of general race pace, di Resta is much quicker.

  3. Didn’t Red Bull say they had to compromise on the development of next year’s car because they were still developing the RB9?

    1. @f1freek .. well, yes they said so around Singapore/Japan. But then again, they did so last year too, when they were fighting for the championship with the RB8.

  4. OmarR-Pepper (@)
    26th November 2013, 1:52

    Do you imagine Maldonado and DiResta in one team? They would be the pride and joy of their engineers and mechanics!

    1. Bwahahahaha :’)
      Poor SFI in case that happens.

  5. I dont suppose I’ll ever understand the pay driver scenario. Its merely a short term band-aid and actually lowers the teams stock in the long term. Why? A faster driver is always the better option – especially a young guy – because it gets the team exposure. It encourages sponsors to look at the enterprising (risk taking) team which, when it pans out – equals some good results. Those sponsors want their name on those results, especially with a team which is manged well enough to grab the great young drivers. Young drivers excite fans, those fans get excited and support the team of their driver, and buy the sponsors’ products. I am an avid scotch enthusiast but I have no less than a 5th of JW Black in my cupboard at all times, and a Tag Heuer watch on my wrist as I type.

    Why? Because a team that brings drivers which excite me, excites me. and Sponsors which support that team, sell products which I am more eager to buy.

    To make a long story short- its short-sighted and sad that teams take a pay driver rather than someone who can really mix it up and bring them some more worth – both reputation and revenue.

    1. The note about the scotch is that even though I am an enthusiast, I drink the regular mans’ JW black all the time because of their support of Mclaren.

      1. Mixed with Red Bull no doubt.

        1. @hohum monster only here, tastes better and appears on hamiltons helmet.

      2. For goodness sake don’t drink a whisky because you like the team they sponsor!!! JW Black is okay but try a decent single malt – any from Islay, Jura Superstition, Glengoyne…. I could go on.

        Enjoy a race with a glass of your favourite tipple!

        1. @andy-price currently I have Laphroaig Qtr cask, Talisker 10, Oban 14, Glenfid 15, Macallan fine oak 10 and my JW black :)

      3. Did you quit smoking when cig companies stopped from sponsoring f1

    2. The trouble is that a lot of teams need a pay driver just to fund their way through the season. It isn’t really short-sighted if taking a talent-only driver means they are doomed to financial ruin. Perhaps some teams do use pay drivers when the needs aren’t completely desperate, but but I wonder how many.

      1. @matt90 The issue is that you’ll never get a team saying “Okay, we have enough money now.” When the likes of Red Bull are not only spending huge quantities on their cars, but actively hampering efforts to prevent them from spending even more, you can see how the impulse to spend, spend, spend runs through everything that happens in F1. Teams that sign up pay drivers aren’t necessarily in dire financial straits (though some undoubtedly are), but just want to compete.

    3. @d3v0 – It’s because it takes a gargantuan effort and significant financial risk for a team to take a driver who is talented, but sponsorless. In order to get any benefit out of it, the team has to finish higher in the World Constructors’ Championship with that talented driver than they did the year before, or higher than they would have without him. Given that costs to compete run into the hundreds of millions of dollars these days, giving up on the immediate financial gain of a pay driver for the sake of a talented driver with no guarantee of success is an astronomical risk.

      It sounds nice in theory, but sponsors don’t always side with the most talented drivers. In fact, they rarely side with the most talented drivers. Take, for instance, Robin Firjns and Giedo van der Garde. Using your logic, Frijns would be set for life whilst van der Garde never would have gotten near Formula 1, much less into it. And yet, van der Garde is the one wasting a seat and Frijns is the one forced to sit on the sidelines.

      And unfortunately, the situation is not going to change so long as teams know that they can go faster if they spend more money. If Pastor Maldonado is signed by Lotus, you can bet that there will be significant backlash among the fandom as people attack the team for valuing Maldonado’s money over Hulkenberg’s talent. And you can also bet that the few who try to address the underlying issue – whereby a team is forced to take an underperforming pay driver instead of a driver who is as talented as he is broke because of the state of the sport – will be drowned out by the angry chorus.

      1. In order to get any benefit out of it, the team has to finish higher in the World Constructors’ Championship with that talented driver than they did the year before, or higher than they would have without him.

        @prisoner-monkeys I understand but the point I am trying to make is that this is not the end of the equation. There are non-tangible issues at risk in taking a pay driver – loss of reputation capital, loss of fan interest, loss of potential sponsorship.

        1. Furthermore, I am not talking about sponsors following drivers. I am talking about sponsors that will follow teams which take the best talent available because they are confident that they have a) managed the correct driver decision; b) have the resources to handle a high risk/high reward fast young driver; c) are confident that they can produce a car which will get this kid in the headlines.

    4. You should blame Bernie, not the teams. At the end of the day, short term approach is necessary to pay the staff who need to put food on the table.

      Until the teams get a fairer distribution of revenue from the commercial rights holder, you can expect this rubbish for a few years to come.

      1. @john-h Why blame Bernie? He’s not running a charity. His job is to make money, lots of it. It’s the team’s loss that they cannot reach an agreement among themselves and form a strong front when it comes to negotiating with Bernie.

  6. A few Round Up miscellaneous notes…

    JPM back in open wheel racing! So glad to see him at Penske too. I will be watching more IndyCar.

    Ferrari looks like they are making the right hiring decisions and things are getting done.

    Allison, who joined Ferrari in September, said: “F1 is not a quick-fix sport. It is an incredibly difficult organisation to get every single aspect right, and you need every aspect right to win a world championship.
    “The team has been one-by-one picking off its weak points. It’s a work we will need to continue and a work we will never stop doing even once we do finally get ourselves back to the front.”

    Makes sense to me and I think Allison is the right guy to get this done. Funny, while I have always appreciated Ferrari, the legend and history, some of my favorite drivers have raced there, I still have never really cheered for them as a team. This may change for next season with Kimi there and Allison doing his thing to refocus the whole team and solve problems. They are still the underdog to the Red Bull machine and it would be amazing to watch them move forward.

    Hulkenberg and Perez at FI would make an interesting match up.

    It looks like the teams losing the silly season are the ones being forced into taking Sutil and Maldonado as pay drivers. Obviously not their first choices in driver talent.

    1. @bullmello Though I do wonder if we should refer to IndyCar as ‘semi-open wheel racing’ these days. However I’m personally very pleased to see a spectacular driver like Montoya back in a series I actually watch. I don’t have time for NASCAR, not in a derogatory sense, in a ‘there’s 36 races a year and I literally don’t have time for that’ sense.

      1. Abdurahman (@)
        26th November 2013, 9:36

        I’m going to follow Indy next season for the first time since Mansell was there. I can’t stand the bumper car things, but the racing has been really looking good. By the way do they race at Sebring still? Or, wait, did they ever race there?

        1. They test at Sebring, but only on the short circuit, which isn’t big enough for a race, the big slabs of concrete on the back and front straight mean that IndyCars can’t race there as a series unfortunately.

      2. Good point @keithcollantine , the single seater reference is more apt nowadays. I thought this was the most telling part of the Montoya outing:

        “He was within a few tenths of Will in the first outing,” Cindric said. “It was pretty impressive, really. We put him out on old tires just to learn where the gear shifts were and then put him back on Will’s tire and he was within a couple tenths right out of the box. Right now it’s happening pretty fast, he’s probably a half a second off the guys who were here last week, but that’s not too bad. Finding the last half second without losing his confidence will be the challenge.”

        Within a couple of tenths right out of the box isn’t too bad. He will do just fine. I went from being a life long IndyCar fan to being casually interested after the Tony George greed that split the series apart and nearly killed it. I would still tune in when convenient, especially to watch some of my favorite road course races. Dario Franchitti has long been one of my favorite drivers in the series and was sorry to hear he is retiring, but it is understandable.

        Can’t wait to see onboard shots with JPM this coming season and I’ll be watching as many races as possible now that he is back. Penske has always been such a top notch class team and they will give him the car and support to win races. It would not be surprising to see JPM fighting for the championship.

    2. I’ve hated the look of the new IndyCars since they were introduced, but I think my hate has turned to neutrality. Maybe I’ll like the way they look in a season or two. Kind of like how my views changed with the tiny rear wing and weird noses in F1.

  7. I think the term “pay-driver” is way overrated. Take the example of Perez who comes with Telmex backing(which puts him in the pay driver group) and Lewis Hamilton(the man with no backing and humongous salary). Would it be right to think that Hamilton would have put this year’s Mclaren car on the podium multiple times? I mean surely if there is such a huge gap between a pay driver and a driver full of talent, the Mclaren would have been on the podium quite a few times. Quite unlikely! But, on the other hand, when Jenson and Hamilton was together, Jenson outscored Hamilton. So It is almost safe to say that Perez who is only 24 adrift of Jenson, performed quite close to how Hamilton would have performed in the same car.(Maybe Hamilton would have scored 5 or 6 more points).

    My point is that the difference in talent between the so called ‘pay-drivers” and the others is relative. It is not fair to assume that drivers who bring sponsorship have less talent than the world champions. Ofcourse, there are always some extreme cases, but for the most part it is not as bad as most of you might think.

    1. @rojov123 I think you are not seeing things as a whole. I think you can say that Hamilton was consistently quicker than Button and Perez in the meanwhile was neck and neck with Button, in my opinion Perez was a bit better but as you said Button did outscore Hamilton and that’s why we must analyse all factors. Also f1 superstars often return their wages in publicity because of the sponsoring that latches to their success similar to football stars, in the case of pay-drivers they enter F1 already with budgets like bad pop bands.

      1. My point is that the so called “pay drivers” are not as bad as most people think. With a few years of experience in their pockets and a top team’s car they too can be just as good as any other great driver.

        1. Yes, but not all turn out like that (Maldonado), and it stops the ones who have always been good from the start from getting in. These are the ones who turn out to be the best.

        2. @rojov123 I agree but its not rewarding the ones that fought for their notoriety in sport and conversely in society.

    2. i am really tired of people sayin button outscored hamilton … we all know its jus becoz of 2011… jus take 2013 alone …button would hav been around 200points less than hamilton if werent the inefficiency of mclaren …. i dont mind people sayin vettel or alonso is better that hamilton but this button thing completely irritates me …. button must be the luckiest driver on the gros who despite being too slow gets compared to the likes of hamilton … And yes i firmly believ if ham was der he wud hav taken that mclaren to a few podiums !

      1. +1 @shoes

        Hamilton had a mare in 2011 but rest of the time he was Mclarens main man. There was a brilliant article on James Allens website (www.jamesallenonf1.com) at end of last year where he compared every bit of date possible between the 2 from their 3 years together. When digging deeper it was quite clear that Hamilton had performed far superior. Some of the stuff Allen uncovered was the amount of times Hamilton had a problem (pitstop/mechanical) but was ahead of Button etc. I know luck affects every driver but it’s worth considerin g and shows that Hamilton out performed button during their time together.

      2. Yeah, the numbers are somewhat skewed by Hamilton having his worst ever season (perhaps second worst behind either 2008 or 2009) during that time, although 2012 was hardly one of Button’s best. He did undoubtedly have far worse luck than Button in 2010 and 2012 though, when he drove fantastically (which are up there with 2007). Overall they were a solid pairing or two very different drivers who could perform best under very different circumstances, but the points tally over a 3 year span is best ignored in favour of who finished ahead of who the most, both in the championship and races where both finished.

      3. +100. @aledinho put it perfectly too.

    3. Very great point!

      Another driver who technically falls under the pay-driver category is Fernando Alonso. Santander follows him around with their big bucks. Just like PDVSA follows Maldonado.

      However, the difference is that Santander started following Alonso after Alonso had made a mark. Maldonado is having money even without having done anything awesome.

      1. However, the difference is that Santander started following Alonso after Alonso had made a mark. Maldonado is having money even without having done anything awesome.

        That is what defines a pay driver. Alonso could get a seat any day with or without sponsors, so is not technically a pay driver.

      2. There was this BBC article from a while back which talks about pay drivers (e.g. Alonso and Fangio) in more detail. http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/formula1/21194933

        I think Alonso had the Telefonica backing for Renault before the Santander/Ferrari relationship – could be wrong though.

        In any case, while I agree with common sentiment that drivers who are only in F1 because of their financial backing weaken the quality of the racing, I also recognize that many great drivers got started in F1 because of their financial support. It’s not black and white – and I like seeing that other F1Fanatics also see it this way.

    4. @rojov123

      They are still the underdog to the Red Bull machine and it would be amazing to watch them move forward.

      I still feel that the Redbulls are the eternal underdogs when compared to the greats like Ferrari, McLaren, Williams etc. Don’t forget, Redbull have no racing pedigree when compared with these teams, and look at the amount of time they have been in F1 as a team. It is easy to suddenly consider Ferrari as underdog considering their current performance, but in that case you are not looking on Ferrari as a whole.

  8. McLaren must have let Perez go after securing Maldonado it would be reckless not do so, but for some reason nothing as been officiated. Button’s seat is on Maldonado’s hands, I think you can tell that Button knows he is in a bad spot.

    1. @peartree – Uh … what? That sentence makes sense if McLaren had indeed signed Pastor Maldonado. Except they havent; they’ve signed Kevin Magnussen. So that sentence makes no sense at all.

      Also, McLaren do tend to delay announcements of drivers departing until such time as they know that driver has secured a seat.

      1. @prisoner-monkeys I see nothing wrong with my sentences. As of today the only things confirmed in McLaren is that KM’s in and that Perez is out. I made assumptions and in the case they prove to be wrong you could correct me, in the end it’s not like McLaren didn’t try to poach no one in their illustrious 50 year history.

        1. @peartree
          I agree with @prisoner-monkeys. To be honest, your sentence or statement rather does not make any sense at all. McLaren have signed Kevin in place of Sergio and it is clear for all to see. Why would you think that Jenson’s seat for 2014 in at any threat at all from Pastor when the team already confirmed that he will be driving for them next year.
          Honestly, you an assumption, not a baseless one I would say but a wild one and heres why.

          1. *made an assumption

          2. @1abe Let’s hope that McLaren have indeed signed an extension with Jenson, to be honest apart from that piece I haven’t read anything about this and I certainly cannot understand what is taking Pastor so long to sign a deal.

  9. @rojov123 I get your point between pay drivers and talented dirvers. I don’t think Perez is a pay driver with less talent for instance he is miles ahead of maldonado. But I think the difference would kick in when they consider setup work and simulator work that they do.

    Jenson outscored Hamilton

    Only if you take the entire cumulative points and that too by a meagre 2 or 3 points . Overall season wise it is 2-1 in favour of Lewis . Despite Lewis’ car breaking down every odd race in 2012 and the pitstop horrors , he still outscored Button . I feel Button is past his prime . Beating Jenson would have been the target set for Perez when he arrived in Mclaren . But to be fair , considering how horrible their car has been , it was harsh to kick out Perez.
    I am personally thrilled to see HUlk-Perez combo at Force India If it happens . To hell with Maldonado .

    1. I feel Button’s peak was the 2011 season, and he should leave after this season(if he’s not kicked out for that matter)

    2. Button had more race ending car problems than Hamilton in their time together. It seemed the other way round because Hamilton crashed so much in 2011.

      1. +1

        Also of Lewis’ 2 victories — 1st was “bedding in” season for Jenson where Lewis was well-established (remember the Lion’s Den), their last season they had equal # of wins in same equipment.
        Lewis’ terrible 2011 was mostly his own fault, with a few puit goofs, but Button also suffered this (two times left the pits without wheel having been secured by the team). Also Jenson was taken out of a race by Vettel’s T-boning overtake.

        All-in-all, Lewis was quicker in Qualy by .3 a second usually but Jenson brought home more points (fewer self-inflicted DNF’s). This was the best pairing for many years in F1 — Massa and Webber couldn’t really hold a candle to their teammates (Webber was closer before Pirelli tyres, Felipe was closer before his wreck/”Fernando is faster than you”). Nico finished behind Lewis, but their season was very close.

      2. You’re forgetting the race-leading car failures and incidents Hamilton had in 2012, which weren’t his fault.

      3. Not many of Button’s happened when he was running in high points-scoring positions from what I recall, whereas virtually every race-ending problem Hamilton had in 2012 in particular cost him a likely win.

        1. @matt90 there were days when Button was just better than Hamilton but I dont ever recall Button having a massively superior performance to Lewis doing their 3 years it was sort of sometimes lewis wasn’t 100% on it Button would pick up the points.

          Canada 2012…just look what happened there. Hamilton wins, Button got lapped and finished 13th I believe.

    3. @hamilfan

      Jenson outscored Hamilton

      Only if you take the entire cumulative points and that too by a meagre 2 or 3 points . Overall season wise it is 2-1 in favour of Lewis .

      As per the current F1 rules, points determine the which driver is ahead, not wins. Wins are only considered when there is a tie on points. So it is correct that Jenson outscored Lewis.

      Going by your logic then Webber does not deserve the third place in this year’s WDC because he did not win any race, compared to Lewis.

      1. @noob I am talking about points per season . Look at 2010 , Lewis scored more points than Jenson . So Lewis finished ahead . 2011 , Jenson got more points , so he finished ahead . 2012 , It was Lewis again .

        So as per season-wise points . It is Lewis over Jenson . It is just that the margin in 2011 was too high in favour of Jenson . So that compensated .

        No, definitely Webber deserves third place in this year’s WDC as he finished higher on points this year.

      2. points determine the which driver is ahead

        Only for each season. Nothing determines who is ahead over a period of several seasons, although it makes more sense to see who bested who more often (over the course of each individual season) rather than total points.

  10. This is what BBC say about 2009 Belgian GPO quali.. Its hilarious…… they say ALsonso drove for Lotus

      1. So they made an error in how they set up the teams database. The linked to Renault and that same team is now called Lotus, retroactively changing the team name in the past as well.

        I would call it an oops at best and not nearly as hilarious as you think :)

    1. Yeah, that’s hilarious. LMAO! Jeez, what a wheeze!!

    2. Not as bad as the 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix Highlights on the BBC.

      The title says Raikkonen wins 2009 Malaysian Grand Prix.

      It then goes on to say Jenson Button wins the Malaysian Grand Prix.

  11. I can’t be doing with Whitmarsh’s insincerity. If they were that bothered about what happened to Perez they wouldn’t have dropped him. It was daft for the team to ditch Sergio just as he was starting to outperform Button, and harsh to do it so late in the season when there were fewer drives left. I’m sure Magnussen will be just fine but McLaren get no points from me for the way they have handled this.

    1. Dusty Studebaker
      26th November 2013, 10:06

      Whitmarsh thought he had secured a ride for Perez before anything about his departure became public. The other team principal involved reneged on the deal. It seems to me Whitmarsh did the best he could for Perez.

    2. I guess (how I read the this based on Perez being very complimentary of MW) they had a problem with placing Magnussen in another team (Marussia maybe?) and stood before the choice of losing the talented guy they had invested in for a couple of years, or the decent, if not fully developed Perez, who would likely be able to get some money behind himself to secure a place on the grid.
      I actually think its not unlikely MW/ McLaren helped Perez in getting that seat by being lenient with FI for open payments for simulator use as a kind of severance package for dropping their driver this late in the season @red-andy

      Not that I think they handled it in a good way. But we have seen worse (Re. Alguersuari+Buemi being dropped in december)

      1. But we have seen worse (Re. Alguersuari+Buemi being dropped in december)

        Oh gosh!! That was the most unfair thing I have ever seen from Red Bull. I was so annoyed as Alguersuari was one of my favourites.

    3. @red-andy It ironical, on one hand we F1fanatics complain about pay drivers, but when a talent like Kevin gets a top drive purely based on merit, we tend to find faults with it.

  12. Abdurahman (@)
    26th November 2013, 9:37

    When do we get to gloat over the pre season predictions? Hahaha, I, and I am sure I was not alone in calling that Checo would not even get a podium let alone the Championship!

  13. Loving the joke David Coulthard played on JB. It seems it genuinely uplifted JBs spirits as well, showing how hard this season has been on him and McLaren.

    Guess being a nice guy takes effort, but DC showed it doesn’t have to be a bad experience as well.

  14. Perez and the Hulk has the potential to be an outstanding midfield team. Feel a bit for PDR as it looks like hes going to be bumped out of F1. If he has offers from Indy then I hope he takes, It’d good to see him in open wheel racing. Dont blame Lotus for taking Maldonado they cant be sure of investment I suppose and time is running out.

    Thats a bullish statement from James Allison one he will live by or die by. Ferrari are fans are desperate for success especially with the Iceman coming in. I hope he’s right.

  15. Maybe I’m just used to looking at F1 circuits, but is anyone bothered by the lack of runoff “protection” at this Sebring circuit? It appears there is only some grass and a few rows of tires in front of a flimsy fence… Granted we cannot see what’s on the side of where the photographer is…

    Or is that a piece of an armco on the bottom left of the pic?

    1. Sebring’s not to bad when it comes to run off, all the big stops have quite a bit of run off, but the twisties and straights have a close wall, but it’s not a big deal, I haven’t seen any particularly big shunts there, even with 50+ sports cars going round.

      1. @deanmachine Wait, there is a circuit named after Seb already ;-) .

  16. Am I the only person massively disappointed with the Hulk going to Force India?

    Whitmarsh needs to get his head checked, and so does Boullier. Arguably, the strongest driver after the big 3 is spending another season in a mid field team.

    1. IDK, I think he would be good to either stay at Sauber or go back to FI if Lotus can’t get this investment done. If Hulk waits till Feb. to see if Lotus gets this done, he will likely not have a reasonable seat available/remaining. It’s been published that Boullier wants Hulk; Martin seemed to downplay Hulk in the most recent interview I saw/read, iirc though.

  17. Nice gesture from McLaren to help Perez find a team for 2014. After his unremarkable performance this season, I had expected them to just forget about him, as teams tend to do most of the times.

    1. **. Helping after dropping him that late, please!
      What can MW do to help, nobody is goint to take advice from an idiot.

  18. I know it’s many years, many gray hairs, and many pounds since the glory days but it makes my heart sing to see Juan Pablo Montoya back in a single-seater.

  19. I’d rather have seen Hulkenberg go to McLaren next year than some unknown rookie who has never even driven GP2 or GP3, let alone F1. Whitmarsh might as well have given the seat to his milkman.

  20. Very pleased with Perez and Hulk at Force India. Perez deserves to be on grid after a fairly stagnant season in an very unimpressive car, but I only fear that Hulk won’t get a shot at a top seat if he keeps bouncing around in the midfield. I just pray Maldonado doesn’t succeed in getting a seat, and in turn denying a worthy driver of one. I fear my prayers will be in vain

  21. Perez shouldn’t have gone to McLaren for this year anyways, it was a big step from Sauber to McLaren. And he didn’t fill Lewis’ shoes enough

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