Would Di Resta be as good as Vettel ?

[karimbo]

Would Paul Di Resta be as good as Sebastian Vettel if he would be test driving for BMW ? Judging by his performances in Formula 3, I think so.

But here is another great driver who will never get to Formula 1 simply because it is saturated by (talented) British drivers already.

How many great drivers are there out there who will never get to F1 simply because there are "established" drivers who are supposed to become champions years after years but never do ?

[Knowlesy]

Would it not be prudent to wait? di Resta has a long career ahead and will surely get a chance somewhere.

Anyways, there will always be great drivers out there who won't get to F1. The same as there are great drivers out there who will never drive a racing car! It happens.

Certainly though, I'd love to see di Resta get a test soon. I wonder if we will see him in GP2 next season? That will be a great start, that series is the place to learn the game.

[kipper]

With regard to whether di Resta could match the performances of Vettel, then I see no reason as to why potentially it couldn't happen. That said, despite Vettel's performances so far, he is still yet to comprehensively demonstrate his ability in a Formula 1 car.

Whilst it is true that there could potentially be a number of Brits in F1 by the time that di Resta is contemplating making his F1 debut (probably Button, Hamilton and Davidson), I'd like to think that if he was good enough such nationality issues won't matter. Afterall, if Hamilton doesn't race next year it probably won't be because of his nationality and the type of passport probably isn't the reason why Davidson hasn't had a regular F1 seat.

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by karimbo

But here is another great driver who will never get to Formula 1 simply because it is saturated by (talented) British drivers already.

If he has what it takes then he's gonna get to F1, no matter what.

People can claim that it's a hard game, but where is not ? If you are a true talent and keep trying, you'll get there.

[Frank_White]

Since Vettel started being BMW's third driver and getting rave reviews for being quick on fridays i went to the euroseries website to see how he performed there. To be honest, i was not impressed. People were speaking of him like the next TGF but his results simply do not reflect any staggering ability. TGF won F3 easily on his second try. Its Vettel's second year in the series and it doesn't appear that he ever led the series and he wont be champion. Speed is one thing but racecraft is another. A year or two in GP2 would do him good.

[FPV GTHO]

Originally Posted by karimbo

How many great drivers are there out there who will never get to F1 simply because there are "established" drivers who are supposed to become champions years after years but never do ?

Maybe once they get rid of traction control it'll sort everyone out. Perhaps the low cost formula will also get rid of a need for pay drivers.

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Frank_White

Since Vettel started being BMW's third driver and getting rave reviews for being quick on fridays i went to the euroseries website to see how he performed there. To be honest, i was not impressed. People were speaking of him like the next TGF but his results simply do not reflect any staggering ability. TGF won F3 easily on his second try.

But F3 is much more of a lottery nowadays with twin races and a few teams capable of glory so it's possibly more difficult to stamp authority on a series. Vettel's head's been turned by FR3.5 and the BMW testing, not to mention a rather nasty shunt mid season, so he's done well considering?

In the 80's and 90's one or two teams tended to dominate like WSR then PSR in Britain and WTS or Schubel in Germany.

I think Schu's 1990 title was well within him because the general competition for him that year was arguably less than he faced in '89; a classic F3 year for talent all round Europe...

[bella]

chunty, asm still had a small performance advantage this year. they picked the wrong gearbox for the season which seems to have lost them a lot of pace.

however. i think vettel is... will be considerably better than di resta. i rate di resta as having more natural talent, but i think vettel will in the end be a more successful f1 driver. both made silly mistakes this year, something which someone like hamilton didn't do in 2005.