Gutierrez has “great satisfaction” after first points

2013 Japanese Grand Prix

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Esteban Gutierrez said scoring the first points of his F1 career will give him a platform to build on in the future.

“Finally I can feel great satisfaction after the race,” said Gutierrez. “It has been a lot of work to get up to this point and, while it has not been an easy path, I think it has been a very solid one.”

“Over the past few races we have been improving a lot and, as I said yesterday, we have to keep optimistic and this is the result of that. Knowing we can achieve something like this, you really go forward and do your best and push.”

“Even though the last few laps were very difficult with Nico Rosberg behind me, it was overall a great race.

“I want to thank the team as is has done a great job today,” he added. “Also many happy returns to Peter Sauber on his 70th birthday.”

Team principal Monisha Kaltenborn told the BBC: “He’s had really a tough start to the season and he made, of course, a lot of mistakes which are normal, in a way, if you start the first time in Formula One.

“And we all were just waiting for this moment to come because we know he’s talented, he’s shown such great performance in other series and it’s just such a relief when it finally works you just feel how he’s reaching that point the last few races and it’s great to see him now there.”

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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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45 comments on “Gutierrez has “great satisfaction” after first points”

  1. Indeed why wouldn’t he, he’s satisfied @andae23 – this is the moment you’ve been waiting for all season! ;)

    1. Hehe, no more “Still no points for a rookie”

      I’m glad he proved himself today and or a few races now, that was a solid race trim by Gutierrez today as Sauber levels up.

    2. still a bit helped by the misfortunes of others but he was there to grab it … Congratulation to him

    3. @vettel1 Indeed, especially nice because he loses a number of records…

      1. @andae23 Is this the highest points finish for a rookie driving first time in Suzuka?

        1. @noob Nope (for instance Montoya finished 2nd on his first attempt), has to do with what he did in Spain…

          1. No longer the only pointless driver with a fastest lap to his name?

  2. Good for him! He did a great race.

    I’m feeling a bit bad for Sauber lately, they’ve worked so hard and have managed to bring a fairly competitive package, only for it to be non-stop talks of Hulkenberg leaving to Lotus.

    I assume that’s the destiny (and in a sense, purpose) of all midfield teams.

    1. @silence I think the has been good only lately, ever since Hulk started getting more eyeballs :p

    2. This is a bit of a ridiculous argument – talk of Hulkenberg leaving Sauber only started when they said that they would take on Sirotkin,

    3. They already went ahead Torro Rosso and if they finish on top of Force India then i think the extra prize money will heal any pain about their great work not being talked about.

  3. the russian kid probably gonna score some points next year.

  4. Can’t say I’m impressed by the GP2-style overtake attempt on Massa. Stop trying to shove people off the track like that.

    1. So you couldn’t even find a positive?

    2. I don’t think Gutierrez is to blame here. It’s Massa who absolutely don’t wanna give the place up. Fair racing from both of them.

    3. Thats called racing! Massa should’ve given the posistion when Gut had his “more than a half car” ahead of him. The kid did good today, if you dont like him because he is not british, thats another story. Sad people in here…

    4. Do you want to ban overtaking then? Gutierrez and Massa were both fair.

    5. I thought it was ok, they both went deep into the hairpin and they can only turn so hard. It was pretty rough for Massa, but he didn’t have the racing line.

  5. Thanks, Esteban. Now I can no longer go around telling people that I have as much points in this year’s Drivers’ Championship as you…

    1. You may have been equal on points @magnificent-geoffrey but as you know he was still higher up the charts because of his best finishing position. You were only the Marussia to his Caterham – but not even that now :'(

  6. Still a lot less talented than Kamui, from which he took his drive from. A midfield Mexican driver with lots of cash. He’s no Perez, and sincerely we all can see that Perez, at best is equal to Jenson, a bit more race pace here and there, but poorer qualifier. Sorry to sound so harsh, but as Formula 1 should be the pinnacle of motorsport, I think guys like Gutierrez are taking seats away from great talents. If I am to see a guy like Gutierrez I’d ratter have Bruno Senna, at least I had some nostalgia to root for. If not, bring in Magnussen, Vantoorne, Da Costa.

    1. in todays F1 no matter how wealthy your sponsors are, without talent, you’re not getting a seat. sponsor money obviously helps, but Gutierrez achieved a lot in the past in lower series. he needed 15 grand prix to score his first points? not bad considering that Sauber wasn’t really capable of fighting for points until the tyre modifications in the summer kicked in, and especially that he had to work and learn much harder than most of the grid: they put thousands of test kilometers in their car before they even entered their first grand prix, while Gutierrez has to do the studying, the experimenting, finding the limits on the grand prix events themselves. it’s pretty much like you have to play soccer against Wayne Rooney, who used to be training hourlong a day, meanwhile you only touch the ball on matchday.
      i certainly miss the guys like Kobayashi, Kovalainen, Alguersuari, Glock, Heidfeld, and a couple of other guys that were forced to the sidelines just because they don’t have that financial background the midfield teams today need. however, i beleive that the newcomers of this year also need a chance to prove themselves. Gutierrez did a small step today, which was already in the air during the last couple of races.
      with the sure arrival of the young Sirotkin next year, the improvement of Gutierrez might make the Sauber team think about retaining Gutierrez as someone that possesses talent and money. they would be a risky combination together, but Sauber already had similary inexperienced lineups in the past.

      1. I think a Sirotkin-Gutierrez line-up is too dangerous. If they can get Massa, they’ll hire him. It’s not everyday that you can hire a vice-champion for a mid-field team.

        But gutierrez did a great job today, congratulations :)

        1. agreed. they even hired a world champion not so long ago, so they might know what it takes to sign Massa, for the third time after 2002 and 2004. but then what would happen to Gutierrez? i don’t think he wants to sit out a season or two, that is not a life insurance today, many drivers thought, that’s the way back to F1. should he wait for Sirotkin making mistakes or underperforming consistently or for Massa to retire? how will Telmex react if the team sidelines Gutierrez, even if he stays inside the team? will only the rubels be enough for the next season, or pesos are also counted in? it will be a hard decision.
          and now that the car is basically the best in the midfield, that seat looks attractive. for Massa, for Sutil, maybe even for Hülkenberg. and with the not impossible exit of Perez from the McLaren, he might also be an option again.

    2. IMHO he’s tidier and times the breaking better than other rookies and a couple of other midfielders. These points were somewhat overdue – and Mme Monisha sounds harsh on his first half season where she could have given the kids a better drive.
      He raced RAI and ROS nicely and I really hope we see much more of him.

    3. I think Gutierrez is now getting about as fast as Kamui. Kamui was on the pace straight away (and I love Kamui don’t get me wrong), but now Esteban’s getting really quite fast I think. His junior records are very good, way better than Kamui’s, who got his ass kicked by Jerome D’ambrosio two years running. (I think D’ambrosio was much better than people gave him credit for also…)

      1. Kamui had a terrible car in GP2. The same happened to another great talent, called Edo Mortara. Both these guys were pretty amazing in formula 3. I think thats why people are giving more credit to formula renault 3.5 than gp2. Guys like Bottas skipped gP2 entirely. I wouldnt take gp2 results as serious as both f3 and f renault 3.5 for checking the best talent.

      2. Kobayashi was on the pace quickly, but he never really improved it much, and in my opinion deservedly got dropped.
        I agree, Gutierrez is now finding good pace and I’ve been impressed with some of his overtakes. He’s been driving quite maturely of late.

      3. I think D’ambrosio was much better than people gave him credit for also…

        Absolutely!

  7. Gutiérrez is one of only a handful of drivers who is guaranteed to make places at the start and today was no different but, had he qualified behind his team mate he would’ve been 3rd at the end of the first lap!

    Still congratulations to the team and we’ll see if they can take the fight to Force India.

    1. right.. sure..

      1. Lol ok maybe not 3rd but definitely ahead of Hulk.

  8. I was so happy to see Hulkenberg and Gutierrez scoring solid points today – I have always had a soft spot for Sauber, and today it was really encouraging to see them supporting a young rookie to the point where he can score his first points. I hope we can see more performances like that for the rest of the year.

  9. VIVA MEXICO CABRONES !

    1. Nothing against Mexico. But skeptical about Gutierrez as a top of the ladder driver.

  10. It was great to see him score today. I was highly critical of him at the start of the season when he was making a lot of mistakes and was usually way off Hulkenberg. However since the summer break there’s been a marked improvement from him, coinciding with the Sauber improving as well. Now I’m interested to see him stay in F1 next year and to see how much he can grow as a driver.

  11. Nick Jarvis (@)
    13th October 2013, 17:57

    I really want to see this guy with Massa at Sauber next year. Screw Sirotkin, lets see how an experienced driver, and a rookie with lots of potential can drag Sauber up.

  12. Only a few days ago, I was saying that I wouldn’t be surprised if Gutierrez failed to score a single point this season.
    Clearly I was wrong. Excellent drive from the rookie, and I’ll be having my words for supper tonight.

  13. I’m really glad he scored points. Already to see him as “best rookie” (although Bottas might have been more impressive, remember his Canada qualifying) was a treat in the last two races but he’s recently improved very much. Be it down to the car (which has improved, without doubt), but he’s been only a couple of tenths off Hulkenberg on circuits he’s never raced at, and we all know (=think) Hulkenberg is predestined to be a great of Formula 1, so Gutierrez’s results, coming from a supposedly poor pay-driver, are very positive. Keep the momentum up Nico and Esteban!

    1. @fixy Yeah the problem with rating Bottas is he pretty much has a car similar to the early season Sauber. I rate Maldonado pretty highly in terms of pace and Bottas is keeping up with him, so I think he’s doing a good job.

      Gutierrez has definitely taken a step up in pace recently, and he’s been keeping his nose clean all season. A few more results like this might save his seat for next year.

    2. Something is wrong here !
      How is possible this 21 yr old pay driver has scored points, outqualify the next champion Hulkenberg already and is at pair with Perez, Hamilton and Raikonnen on the fastest DHL Award standings !

      You mean that with the RB9 a bunch of the rookies could have arguably done as good as Ham on rookie yr, well allowing Alonso setting the car ?

  14. Well done boy!! I was bit surprised by his points finish and although he benefited from the misfortune of others but that has always been the way in motorsports and he totally deserved his bit. He has presumably learnt from his mistakes from earlier this season and is now at home in F1 . now about all this discussion on pay drivers… I don’t know why people treat them like they are some dumbass eating away the seats meant for “better” driver ?? In all sensibility I can not think of 1 good reason as to why a big corporation would pay huge sums of money to support a useless racer… Of course these guys are talented and deserve to be where they are. It’s not like they earn their superlicense by money. They have the skills and it’s because of that they get the backing of their domestic corporations. Pay drivers are just the lucky skilled drivers who get identified and promoted to higher motorsports circles (well mostly) and it is always easier to pay for a seat at an underperforming team as they are in need of the cash. You send Sebastian vettel to marussia or caterham and he would spin off trying to find the grip. So kudos to the pay drivers… It is not like they all are here just coz they have a rich daddy.

    1. I could´t agree more!

      1. I agree, I would just add that all drivers are pay drivers to some extent, wiht the only difference that some have less sponsorship than others.

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