Friday 12 October 2012

The Promise of Paul Di Resta

When Paul Di Resta broke into F1 as a driver for Force India at the beginning of the 2011 season,  he came with a sack full of hype about being the next great British driver.  He was constantly being cited as a potential driver for top teams, in particular Michael Schumacher's seat at Mercedes.  However, the hype surrounding him has always seemed somewhat embellished, with F1 pundits ridiculously fawning over his yet to be proven talents. 


Paul Di Resta.  About as much talent as personality?

In 2011, partnered with Adrian Sutil at Force India, Paul Di Resta finished the year fifteen points, and four places, behind his team mate in the World Championship.  Despite outperforming Di Resta, Sutil lost his seat at the team and Paul was joined by Nico Hulkenberg.    In 2012, he is seven points ahead of Nico Hulkenberg, but it is the German who is being linked with every available drive in the paddock.  


Paul Di Resta with Adrian Sutil, and his current team mate, Nico Hulkenberg.

In a recent  interview Paul di Resta seemed sure he would be driving for Mercedes or McLaren next season and seemed utterly deflated at the news about Lewis' move to McLaren and the subsequent hiring of Perez to replace him.  He has links with Mercedes through his experience in DTM and this, together with all the talk surrounding him probably resulted in him believing in his own hype.  What must be even more galling for the Scotsman is that it was not him, but his team mate, Hulkenberg, who was considered for the McLaren drive alongside Perez. 


Paul Di Resta drove for Mercedes in the DTM championship.

Speculation is still rife about who will be driving for which team next year. The top seats for 2013 are all confirmed, with the exception of number two driver status at Ferrari, but the middle and lower teams still have undecided driver line ups for 2013.   Again, it is Hulkenberg, and not Di Resta, who is being linked with a drive at Sauber, and with Massa's seat at Ferrari. 

So what happened to the promise of Paul Di Resta?  For the next season at least, it is certainly yet to be fulfilled. 

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