Wallio wrote:Klon wrote:Wallio wrote:Look at Marussias celebrations at Brazil this year, they had to dump CFD-only build a car the "proper way" and develop it for most of the year. And the result was wonderful. HRT never did any of that. They were just happy to be here.
That's asinine. HRT continuously developed their car and, especially in late early (great description, eh?) 2012,
looked much more professional than Marussia, perhaps even Caterham for that matter - with a significantly worse budget and a team base move. To deny that HRT are what this site is made of is ... well, wrong.
Uh, no, just no, not at all. Faster at times? Sure. But by changing drivers constantly (and not having the decency to at least say the real reasons why), lame-o excuses about "customs issues", running the "This Could Be You!" livery, and admitting to running the same front/rear wings at Monaco and Monza, changing bases EVERY YEAR, and changing owners how many times? (at Marussia is still esstenially Manor) they were never professional at all. They just weren't.
Marussia and Catheram were the pluckily "spend all our bread money to go fast" teams we love. HRT was just.....sad really. IMO of course.
Mind you, Alonso unintentionally leaked the news that, in 2012, Ferrari ran the same entire rear bodywork package from the Spanish GP to the Brazilian GP - so even more professional and well funded outfits sometimes carry aero pieces for much longer than you think. Moreover, I recall that most teams have pointed out that they put relatively little effort into a Monza specific front wing these days - most of them simply remove the upper cascades at most to maintain the aero balance.
Faustus wrote:So Telmex is transferring its money from Sauber to Force India, so Gutiérrez is out of Sauber. Sutil and Pic have a bit of money, so maybe one of them alongside Sirotkin?
Sutil's name has been mentioned in connection with Sauber in the past, and I could see him being picked as a possible mentor to Sirotkin (assuming that deal is still secure - there have been a few suggestions that Sirotkin's place may not be entirely secure just yet).
Overall, I agree with the sentiment that, on balance, Force India's line up for 2014 looks much more promising now - Hulkenberg should hopefully be back up to speed more quickly this time around now he is working with a familiar team that is keen to work with him and Perez's form, whilst a little weak at the start of the season, did pick up in the closing races. It's certainly fair to say that it's probably the best line up in the midfield, since those two drivers have a reasonable blend of speed and experience, and better than a few front running teams too - what Force India might lack in resources, they could make up for in terms of driver potential.
