Adrian Sutil has secured a deal with Sauber to ensure himself a race seat for 2014. He will effectively make the inverse move of Nico Hulkenberg who joined Force India following his departure at Sauber.
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Sadly, I see a difficult year ahead for Sauber, as I'm not convinved Sutil nor Esteban will be able to drag the car as much into points as Hulkenberg has been able to this year. Money is important for sure, but just looking at the difference between Nico and Esteban this year, even if the car performs better (or the same relative to this year), you still need a respectable driver to extract that performance. If Sutil prevails (which I expect him to) and Esteban is closer to his team-mate, I'm not sure I would attribute it to a stronger Esteban or simply that Sutil perhaps isn't as strong as Nico was this year. I hope I'm wrong.
Not for nothing, Rosberg's Championship is the only thing that lends credibility to Hamilton's recent success. Otherwise, he'd just be the guy who's had the best car. — bhall II #Team44 supporter
I wouldn't sleep on Esteban, he's made great progress throughout the year, he had a decent race in Suzuka, and has had some unfortunate circumstances. His pace is starting to show as he becomes more comfortable in the environment. It's going to look really bad for Sutil if he doesn't outperform Gutierrez regularly.
godlameroso wrote:I wouldn't sleep on Esteban, he's made great progress throughout the year, he had a decent race in Suzuka, and has had some unfortunate circumstances. His pace is starting to show as he becomes more comfortable in the environment. It's going to look really bad for Sutil if he doesn't outperform Gutierrez regularly.
I heard Esteban has been resigned by Sauber if this its true its not a bad move since keeping the sponsorship he brings is good and Adrian is a solid driver. not a bad line up for Sauber doesn't beat Force Indias or Williams I think both Williams and Force India have better line up.
I want to see how
Massa, Sergio, Adrian, Hulk, and the Torro Rosso Boys. who knows maybe Bottas and Gutierrez surprise and give those boys a fight for the exiting midfield battles I think we will enjoy next season. Let alone what the teams come up with in secrete and who knows maybe Sauber Nails it next season and we see Adrian fighting up top. Or Williams back in form.
If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.
Reasonable move by the team with the sponsorship he brings in + stability with the same team for Esteban himself will help going into a new era with lots to learn. It eliminates the need to get to know your new surroundings, etc and can go straight into concentrating on maximising your potential and achieving great results throughout the year.
We also get to see more of his beautiful girlfriend too haha which whom they've been showing a lot along with Sutil's!
So those Sirotkin rumours that've been going on all year seem to have just disappeared now? Or is he in place at Marussia or Caterham so long as his superlicense is confirmed?
SweetApex wrote:
So those Sirotkin rumours that've been going on all year seem to have just disappeared now? Or is he in place at Marussia or Caterham so long as his superlicense is confirmed?
www.autosport.com wrote:Sergey Sirotkin has been appointed Sauber's test driver for the 2014 Formula 1 season.
Sauber announced in July that it planned to prepare the 18-year-old for a race seat, subject to him gaining a Superlicence.
But even though there would be time for Sirotkin to complete the required mileage during pre-season testing, the team has instead signed Adrian Sutil and Esteban Gutierrez and will continue to prepare Sirotkin for a race seat in the long-term.
So Sauber is the big loser in the midfield, they will struggle horribly to score some points, they have the worst driver line-up of the midfield teams.
Williams got Massa, STR Kyvat big talent rate him higher as Daniel and JEV, FI Hulk and Perez. Sauber three targets were Hulk, Perez and Maldonado, now they have Sutil and Esteban not a strong line-up. Think not a lot of press is going to attend their driver interview meetings two of the most boring guys in the paddock.
3 seats left ( but Chilton is almost signed), so two seats left at Caterham. Van de Garde, Ericsson, Pic, Kobayashi ( Nasr?) Think that Giedo will definitely stay has the financial backing and showed his potential. Seat number two is up for grabs for the highest bidder I think, don't think we will see Heikki after is shocking performance for Lotus.
Irvine:"If you don't have a good car you can't win it, unless you are Michael or Senna. Lots of guys won in Adrian Newey's cars, big deal. Adrian is the real genius out there, there is Senna, there is Michael and there is Newey.They were the three great talents."
kooleracer wrote:So Sauber is the big loser in the midfield, they will struggle horribly to score some points, they have the worst driver line-up of the midfield teams.
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Well let's wait and see, just like how we had written off Grosjean in 2012 and wanted him to be suspended for his dangerous driving / unable to string consecutive results he managed to turn himself around this season. Now I'm not suggesting Sutil and Gut will get podiums like Grosjean has in 2013, but let's give them and the team a fair chance before we write them off
If someone said to me that you can have three wishes, my first would have been to get into racing, my second to be in Formula 1, my third to drive for Ferrari.