Mercedes would consider Di Resta if Schumacher left

F1 Fanatic round-up

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In the round-up: Mercedes’ Nick Fry says the team would look into running Paul di Resta if Michael Schumacher chose not to continue in F1.

Links

Top F1 links from the past 24 hours:

Mercs: Di Resta on our radar (Sky)

Nick Fry: “Of course Paul’s on our radar. He’s done a fantastic job, he’s a nice guy, he’s great team player and he would be one of the drivers undoubtedly that, if Michael were to decide he didn’t want to continue, we would look at. But we haven’t reached that time yet in our thinking but we have all got a lot of admiration for Paul.”

Formula One to start pre-marketing $3 billion Singapore IPO – source (Reuters)

“Motor racing business Formula One will start pre-marketing for its up to $3 billion Singapore initial public offering on May 22 after receiving approval from the city’s stock exchange for the deal, sources with direct knowledge of the plans said on Monday.”

Ecclestone aide offered Conservatives a ‘serious donation’ to make Max Mosley an MP (Daily Mail)

“The Conservative Party was offered a ‘serious’ donation from an envoy of billionaire Formula One boss Bernie Ecclestone in return for Max Mosley becoming an MP, it emerged yesterday.”

Jaime Alguersuari column: Monaco Grand Prix preview (BBC)

“All the corners are difficult in their different ways, but the most challenging has to be the first chicane around the Swimming Pool. It is the fastest corner on the track, flat out in fifth gear in qualifying at about 150mph. It is enormously impressive to drive through there. You cannot afford to get it even slightly wrong, because if you do you have a big, big shunt.”

Penske vs Andretti at Indianapolis (MotorSport)

Michael Andretti on the Dallara DW12: “It definitely pokes a bigger hole. It’s funny, you can pick up a draft from further back but the real effect comes from the last five or six car lengths. All of a sudden the car just accelerates. It’s very similar to what the Handford device did in 2000 or 2001. I think it’s going to make for some exciting racing because I don’t think anybody’s going to be able to stay out front. I think there’s going to be a lot of back and forth.”

Caterham F1 Aero Test (Amitmandalia)

Caterham were using a lot of flow viz at various points on the car over the course of the day, starting with the front wing endplates, on each run flow viz was used on other sections of the car including the front wing flaps, turning vanes, sidepods, exhaust exits & the rear wing & diffuser with the car doing one run up and down the runway each time.”

Massa’s slump has created ‘difficult situation’ at Ferrari, says Alesi (Daily Mail)

“It was so great to see him come back after his terrible accident in Hungary a couple of years ago, but at the moment it’s a difficult situation for everyone.”

Taki Inoue via Twitter

“Will be walking around F1 paddock and garages during GP this year. But never go close to the safety car. See you there, mates!”

F1 Fanatic via Twitter

“Red Bull’s Adrian Newey will race in the Lamborghini Blancpain Super Trofeo at Silverstone on June 2nd-3rd.”

Damon Hill enjoys comeback – but no plans for more (Adam Cooper)

Damon Hill says he has no thoughts of a proper racing comeback – or perhaps doing a 24 hour race with son Josh – despite showing well in the VW Scirocco-R Cup at Brands Hatch last weekend.”

Is This Lewis Hamilton’s New Zonda? (Jalopnik)

“Even though Pagani is building the Huayra now, they’ll still make you a Zonda if you ask for one. That’s what F1 star Lewis Hamilton did, comissioning a one-off version with 760 HP and manual gearbox.”

Comment of the day

AdrianMorse anticipates this weekend’s race:

I think Monaco is the most interesting race on the calendar when it comes to strategy, especially since one stop may not be enough. Last year Vettel looked set to make it work (by accident, if I recall correctly, because the plan was to go super soft for the second stint as well), but several others failed to make it work, resulting in the huge pile-up that caused the much-lamented red flag. Moreover, with the soft compound softer than last year, a one-stopper could prove even more challenging this year.

What might make this year’s Monaco even more interesting is that the gaps between the teams are so small. Last year, the front runners could pull out a big gap in the first 15 laps, and pit safely without having to worry about rejoining behind, say, Felipe Massa who is doing a long first stint on the soft tyres. On every other track, the combination of fresher tyres, KERS and DRS give the attacking driver at least a good chance of getting by. At Monaco, however, an ill-timed or slow stop (oh dear McLaren…) could completely ruin a race.
AdrianMorse

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On this day in F1

Jody Scheckter scored a dream win for new team Wolf in the Monaco Grand Prix 35 years ago today.

The two Ferraris of Niki Lauda and Carlos Reutemann claimed second and third.

Here’s footage from the race including an unusual angle on Tyrrell’s radical six-wheeled car:

Image © Sahara Force India F1 Team

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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62 comments on “Mercedes would consider Di Resta if Schumacher left”

  1. CarnivorousPope (@)
    22nd May 2012, 0:10

    Brilliant news. I think Di Resta would thoroughly deserves to move up the field. He performed very well last year and has being out performing Nico so far (though Nico was out for a year) I personally would love to see him Higher up the grid and why not Mercedes if Schumi leaves? I would be sad to see Schumacher go but hey it is Formula 1.

    1. xeroxpt (@)
      22nd May 2012, 3:57

      Yes, but, wouldnt it be so nice if Ferrari was able to catch Di Resta first, its unlikely cause mark my words Ferrari and Santander is probably thinking in Hamilton, and thats probably why Mclaren is so desperate cause if they lose Hamilton they will lose the quickest driver and a major sponsor.

      1. As a fan of the sport I would love to see these two drivers as teammates once again.. but in reality it’s highly unlikely that Hamilton and Alonso will ever race again for the same team.

        1. Agreed. The closest that will ever come to happening is if F1 becomes (God forbid) a spec series.

          @xeroxpt I don’t think Ferrari are looking up Di Resta to be honest. Mercedes is a much more likely bet.

  2. How did they get that camera angle???

    1. CarnivorousPope (@)
      22nd May 2012, 0:19

      A pole on the back of the car maybe? Just to hazard a guess. Can’t think of another way.

  3. Straight shooter who could really shine post MS

  4. Hats off to Taki Inoue. Made me ROFL.

    1. Haha me too!

      1. Go to his profile and scroll back. There was a hilarious tweet about being at some party and needing more weed! But he insists the real parties begin this weekend.

        1. It’s a fair way back, so I’ll post it here instead. But he is hilarious. I can only imagine what Kamui would be like when he retires and doesn’t have to watch what he says!

    2. How long until the Taki/Ferrari rumours begin?

      Watch out Felipe, that’s all I can say.

      1. He did tweet about how he would have scored a podium had he have been driving for Minardi in the 1996 Monaco Grand Prix.

        He’s an absolute gem to follow on twitter, plus he replies to tweets too. We (Myself and some fellow F1 Fanatics) did a full season of F1 95 on the PlayStation driving as Inoue, and tweeted him update photos of our progress. He loved it.

        One of my favourite drivers of all time.

  5. Props on finding the Hamilton article on Jalopnik. I wondered if that would come up.

  6. I think di resta is a great driver but he is not the best in the entire group of new drivers we all know perez is linked with Ferrari and di resta in Mercedes but I personally would like to see kobayashi in that seat.But Di resta isn’t a bad choice.It just my opinion if any di resta fans are reading this He is a great driver.

    1. I wouldn’t call him a great driver. He was convincingly outperformed by Sutil in the 2nd half of the season last year.

      I would call him ‘solid’ or ‘good’ but it’s way too early to call him a great driver.

      1. I think di Resta probably has more scope to become a greater driver than Sutil. Also, although Sutil is solid in the mid-field, I’ve always had a suspicion (I don’t know why as he’s never had a chance) that he would be a driver who shines in the middle of the grid but is nothing special at the front.

        1. @matt90 I remember at least two times, when Sutil had a shot at the podium, and Kimi just put him out of the race, and of course there was the Trulli accident, you know with the phtographes:D
          I think if he has a good car, he can deliver at least he wouldnt be worse than Massa.

          1. That ain’t much of an argument. At this point no one will be worse than Massa. Wel ok maybe Badoer.

  7. i’d like to see Di Resta have succes, but I’d like to see Schumacher staying even more!

    1. Yes, I want MSC for another year! Good for F1

      1. Why do you say that?

        Surely rising talent is better for F1, whomever it maybe.

  8. Bad for Force India if Di Resta moves to Mercedes. Maybe get Bianchi in his place but then he may move to Ferrari. Force India really need to get a stable driving partnership along the lines of Vettel/Webber.

    1. Maybe Sutil-Hulkenberg? :P

      1. @raymondu999 I don’t think they’d pick Sutil again. Higher chance of picking Barichello. Id like to see Kubica (if he makes a comeback) in FI.

  9. Why such an obsession with Resta? He’s done nothing worth noting (nothing besides his nationality) and other rookies show way more promise.

    1. Silverstone qualifiyng last year, Singapore last year and Bahrain this year all stand out as very good performances by Di Resta in my view.

      Yes, there are other good drivers in their first and second seasons at the moment (Perez, Hulkenberg, Maldonado) but I think Di Resta compares well among them.

      If you want to persuade anyone otherwise I’d suggest debating on the facts rather than whingeing about “nationality”.

      1. He has had good performances but was well beaten by Sutil in the second part of the season and unless Sutil is the next Fangio in disguise I don’t think that bodes well for the future against a really good team-mate .

        The problem about Di Resta is when he has a good performance the media really goes to town about it but when he has a bad performance you never hear about it.

        The average fan who doesn’t watch much F1 must think he’s the next Mansell.

        1. @snowman

          when he has a bad performance you never hear about it

          Such as?

          I think one of Di Resta’s qualities is that his lows haven’t been that low.

          He finished more racing laps than anyone else last year which is downright impressive for a rookie. I remember him losing a wing once or twice but even then he brought the car home. There wasn’t any multiple penalties in one race (Perez) or dodgy qualifying collisions (Maldonado).

          As for the media – really, who cares? Make your own mind up about which drivers you like and don’t hold it against them if, in your view, some websites/newspapers/TV channels have a flavour of the month. Be the bigger person.

          1. @Keith Collantine

            Not overly concerned about the media’s twisted things to sell a story but would just stating the way things are.

            Bad performance as in just well beaten by his team-mate not as in mistakes. Take a weekend, Paul has a good performance – The BBC are all bigging him up and giving him a lot of on-air time and then the papers all go on about how impressive he was and that he beat Vettel in Formula 2 and Mercedes are interisted and whatever else.

            Take a weekend he is soundly trounced by his team-mate and all you hear is his team put him on the wrong strategy or you don’t hear anything at all. I think his greatest quality is he’s like Button, he will 99% of the time stay out of trouble and bring the car home.

            I will admit I am probably a bit harsh on Di Resta because of over exposure to him on the BBC!

        2. You’d never be able to extrapolate Mansell’s later success from his first couple of seasons, and trying to calculate Di Resta’s prospects from half a season is absurd. And I think Sutil at his best could certainly be placed alongside the likes of Rosberg or Massa in 08 form, so to come in and at match him at first is not so disgraceful. Whether he lives up to his promise or not, time will tell, but you could equally ask why are so many so keen to dismiss him? (There were plenty on here predicting at the start of the season that Hulkenberg would blow him away) It’s not this website nor his nationality that is creating the stir, it’s the teams themselves who clearly admire a calm personality who, as Keith highlighted, makes very few mistakes.

          1. @daffid – People aren’t dismissing him, they’re just waiting to see if he does live up to his potential. He isn’t as good as the world champions for instance- he just could become as good as them in the future.

    2. Yes, as Keith said, there are some notable performances from Di Resta, and I’m pretty sure Mercedes have been keeping an eye on Paul since he came to F1, because he was in the Mercedes team in DTM, so they know that he has potential.

    3. matthewf1 (@)
      22nd May 2012, 9:55

      Agreed, if you compare Perez’s 2nd place, Hulkenberg’s pole position, and Maldonando’s win, Di Resta has done nothing on a par with any of these things – nowhere even near

      1. @matthewf1 – While that’s true, Perez and Maldonado haven’t done much aside from those. Perez’s podium accounts for half of his career points. Maldonado’s win accounts for 83% of his career points (his other best result being a solitary 8th and 10th place).

        It’s far too early to consider any of these three as elite. They have to look both spectacular and consistent, like Alonso in 2003 and Vettel in 2008, then properly use the opportunities later in their careers to challenge for championships.

    4. From a pragmatic point of view – don’t diss Di Resta – he has 449 followers on F1F.

      Finger boy has only 392.

      Having said that I’ve seen people quoting Jackie Stewart as the authority on DR quality. I’m not so sure JS is the most objective opinion to seek on a fellow Scott – this together with his embarrasing comments re: Bahrain diminishes my once held regard for the man and his views. Was still a great driver but…..

      1. @aj13 – So what if he has a lot of followers? That says nothing about driver quality.

  10. Based on current performance, Damon Hill would be better at Mercedes than MSC. Did anyone notice Schumacher on the podium at Le Mans on the weekend for the MotoGp… Just trying to feel for it again.

    1. @Funkyf1

      Senna, Clark and Fangio rolled into one would not have had much more points than Schumacher if they were in his shoes this season, but that doesn’t make as good a story for the British papers as a fallen great does it?
      1st race OUT-Qualifies Rosberg and AHEAD of him when gearbox forces retirement
      2nd race OUT-Qualifies Rosberg again but gets spun in the 1st corner and demoted to last by rookie Grosjean but still finishes AHEAD of Rosberg
      3rd race qualifies 2nd behind Rosberg on his worst track and pitstop blunder retires him.
      4th race DRS failure in qualifying and gearbox change so starts 22nd but still finishes 10th, 5 places behind Rosberg who started 5th.
      5th race Doesn’t do lap in Q3 to save tyres and lines up 2 places behinds Rosberg.
      Makes the first mistake(debatable, Vettel behind him thought should have been a racing incident and Coulthard even said it would probably be ruled that)

      1. @snowman

        I can only hope MSC gets a good result soon, we have been waiting 2 1/2 years to see if he’s still got it. Yes he’s had some bad luck this season, but between the moaning and poor sportsmanship I don’t believe I’d miss his absence if he were to retire. Car troubles aside, I’m yet to see an impressive drive from him since he returned.

      2. I don’t think anyone is unaware that MS has had some technical issues that have harmed the start to his season.

        At the same time, if you are going to run down each race and find excuses for MS in each one, I feel compelled to point out a few things about NR’s season. examples…China…NR was the class of the field and prior to MS’s pit stop blunder was running away from MS on the track. And in the last race MS clearly made a mistake…call it a racing incident if you will, because it was an incident in the race, but beyond that it was a misjudgement on MS’s part and the penalty he received has reflected that. Which will cost him again in Monaco, so I’m sure the MS defenders will be extending the argument, post-Monaco that…’if only MS hadn’t been penalized in an allegedly debatable way in Spain he woulda coulda shoulda done the following in Monaco.’

        And playing the what-if game only goes so far because one could just as easily speculate that had technical issues not ended MS’s day in some of the races, perhaps his unhappiness with the tires may have seen him fall back and do less well than NR. That is just as easy a reach to make as to assume that he would have gotten the better of NR just because he may have been ahead a little when he went off.

        MS has had some bad luck, but he has also shown to be outqualified and outpaced by NR, and he has also complained the most loudly about the tires, so one gets the feeling that at this point, and given the recent footage from free practice in Spain with his shenanigans vs. LH, he is frustrated and may be prone to more mental mistakes and overdriving the car in order to make up the points gap to NR, let alone the rest of the field.

        Let’s see how well this 7-time WDC can keep it together mentally as he deals with the cards he has been dealt, some of which were of his own doing. And against a very strong NR.

  11. To be honest I find di Resta to be a bit of a Button. This isn’t to say he’s good, nor does it say he’s bad. I’m saying he’s in the same category as Button. His strength has generally been his consistency IMO, and his highest high is never too far from his lowest low.

    Most of his better drives, for example, have come from tyre saving and just choosing his fights, and being smart about his race management. I don’t think we’ve seen a race from him that has become amazing thanks to prodigious pace. This isn’t to say he doesn’t have it – I’m just saying he hasn’t shown it.

    1. It would be interesting to know what people that watched him in DTM think.

  12. So glad that PDR is being considered for a seat at Merc :) He is one of the big nine along with Vettel, Webber, Button, Hamilton, Alonso, Schumacher, Rosberg and Raikkonen already (According to Sir Jackie Stewart anyway).

    If I am honest, I saw this coming, but not Ferrari’s consideration of him, I thought they were all or nothing for Checo presonally.

    1. I read PDR as Pedro de la Rosa for some reason, and I found myself thoroughly confused.

      1. Me too :D but have to admit Pedro is a decent driver too, nota top notch, but not a Karthikeyan

        1. @bag0 @matt90 I always referred Paul to as PDR, Pedro is always DLR to me :) DLR has passed his best to be brutally honest, but I’ve always liked him though. I am glad he is still around, but after 2013, he’ll go back to McLaren as a tester.

  13. I’m reserving judgement on De Resta. A lot of influential people seem to rate him very highly and this shouldn’t be sniffed at. But i’ve yet to see a moment of genius from him that’s made me think wow this guy is the real deal. He’s more mature than most newcomers the sport which is why we’re seeing him being consistent, choosing his battles and racing sensibly. But i’ve yet to see a glimpse of something remarkable. Until I see this i’m holding off on judgung him.

  14. In other news, I’m glad to see F1 finally going green properly.

  15. I think this will happen. Michael isn’t enjoying F1 with the current tyre situation and unless he gets win 92 this year i don’t think he’ll stick around.

  16. Just thought of this as a scenario. probably wont happen but what if schumacher retires (goes and buys the nurburgring or something because he can) and they sign di resta for 2013+14. I think vettel’s contract runs out after 2014, so if red bull and merc become more or less equal it would be very interesting to see him there with rosberg. I do remember finger boy saying that he wanted to drive for merc at some point

  17. Sounds about right to be honest regarding Di Resta. He has that connection with Mercedes via his DTM roots and FI’s engine supplier. I thought it was pretty much the plan anyway. I don’t see who else Mercedes would go with either.

  18. The Silly Season started quite early this year…

  19. Re: the draft at Indy. If they’re smart, they’ll let it carry them instead of playing back-and-forth. Save fuel in the draft during the final stint and wait until everyone else is struggling. Then pounce. Most years it’s a game of who times it right on fuel, so I bet you right now hanging out in the draft will be crucial.

  20. I asked Paul Hembury on Twitter recently, ‘Should quali tyres be reintroduced, what colour would you make them?’ and he replied ‘Purple’.

    Now that these ‘Q3-only tyres’ are being rumoured to being introduced, maybe Purple tyres???

  21. Also Grojean and Kobayashi are doing better than Paul, if Paul doesn’t make a podium this year will stay in FI and no much more than Sutil career.

  22. If a driver takes 4 years to win the GP2 Championship (Maldonado which is the f1 feeder series) he is deemed a failure. If a driver takes 4 years to win the DTM Championship he is deemed to be a superstar and get’s volted straight into F1.

    Don’t get me wrong I believe Di Resta is a very competent F1 driver but I believe we need to see a bit more from him before he get’s a Mercedes drive. I also believe there are a number of young drivers who are just as good as him (Hulkenberg, Grosjean, Vergne, Ricciardo, Perez and Kobayashi) to name a few.

  23. Di Resta is British I believe? That should suit Mr. Fry nicely, not so? Perhaps Mr. Fry should step up the messing with Michael’s races, not to mention with his car, and perhaps our good Mr. Fry will achieve his OBJECTIVE a lot sooner … that is, getting rid of Michael Schumacher !

    1. Quite a stretch there…you figure Fry is sabotaging MS’s season? How do you figure he is doing that with MS’s great friend Brawn at the helm? Upon what are you basing this accusation toward Fry ie. what has MS done to him? Are you suggesting it is just a nationality thing? You figure he wants a British driver on a German based team? Or is there some other motivation for such a conspiracy as you suggest?

  24. I have to agree! Michael Schumacher’s return to F1 has been disappointing, almost as bad as Nigel Mansell’s in the mid 1990’s. Recent negative comments about the tyres have highlighted that Michael is not at all happy with life in the sport he once dominated. In that I believe is Schumacher’s problem, ‘once dominated’, every thing is in the past tense. Yes he has his records, records that may never be broken, but its Schumacher’s future that is the concern. He hasn’t enjoyed the return to F1 that say, Kimi Raikkonen has, recently. In saying that, he is a decade older than Raikkonen.
    We have to be realistic, Michael Schumacher whether he likes it or not has to quit sometime. He started his career racing against Senna and Prost, an era that is two decades old now. The drivers he raced against in the early nineties are either dead or long since retired, leaving F1 for younger talents to express themselves. Schumacher has not disgraced himself by coming back, he is a legend whether one likes or loathes him, but the writing is as they say on the wall.

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