Well, it's happened. Kevin's in.

[Aysedasi]

Originally Posted by Salamus

I was referring to 2012.

Winning the Monaco GP in a Williams was a mighty performance and a massive accomplishment!

Quite true, my apologies. Trouble is, I'm already thinking about this year being last year. Wishful thinking, I guess - I can't wait to see the back of it........

[Marbot]

Poor old Perez still had his hopes set very high on staying at McLaren, it would seem.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/3...mportant-race/

Not really what you want when you're signing autographs for your Mexican fans at the US GP.

That's tough, real tough!

[Bononi]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Poor old Perez still had his hopes set very high on staying at McLaren, it would seem.

http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/3...mportant-race/

Not really what you want when you're signing autographs for your Mexican fans at the US GP.

That's tough, real tough!

Yes, that breaks any concentration... It's sad, I would give him one more chance, but who knows what's going on behind the scenes...

[Salamus]

It's the nature of F1 as a sport. There are only 6-8 competitive seats and those teams demand success right away. Perez hasn't been great this season but neither has McLaren who have been absolutely abysmal. It's a shame and I do feel for the guy, I hope he gets a second chance!

[Marbot]

Never thought I'd hear the name 'Kevin' being associated with a top F1 drive. But he's not the only 'Kevin' to have driven in F1. This one failed to qualify during his time in F1 and he wasn't much liked in Indy cars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Cogan

Ouch!

Hopefully this new Kevin will have much better luck.

[Razzzor]

Originally Posted by Dragger

2014 is going to be a very interesting season for several different reasons. New turbo era, new star drivers, going to be a good year.

Yeah but 2013 was going to be an interesting year, but it hasn't stopped everyone from whining about how boring it is.

ie Perez vs Button, Hamilton vs Rosberg, and 5 rookies.

Next year will be even more exciting though Vettel vs Dan, Alonso vs Kimi, Magnussen vs Button, Kyvat vs Verge. The new engines and i'm looking forward to seeing how Grosjean stacks up against Nico or Pastor. Even another year of Rosberg vs Louis will be interesting if Nico can still keep him honest.

[Aysedasi]

I really hope next season is even more exciting........

[Bononi]

We can only hope.

[Paradise City]

Originally Posted by Marbot

Never thought I'd hear the name 'Kevin' being associated with a top F1 drive. But he's not the only 'Kevin' to have driven in F1. This one failed to qualify during his time in F1 and he wasn't much liked in Indy cars.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Cogan

Ouch!

Hopefully this new Kevin will have much better luck.

With pundits like you about who needs enemies?

Cogan actually had a good turn in speed in Indycars.

[Marbot]

Originally Posted by Aysedasi

I really hope next season is even more exciting........

Originally Posted by Bononi

We can only hope.

Perhaps a really boring season with someone other than Vettel winning the races?

If we re-run the 2013 season, but with only Webber in a Red Bull, how bad would the season have been then?

EDIT: Perez takes a swipe at McLaren (article title is slightly misleading). http://www.gpupdate.net/en/f1-news/3...ion-this-year/

[BSchneiderFan]

Not the words of someone still hoping to stay at McLaren.

[Aysedasi]

I think the Vettel fans are clearly more boring these days than the supposed Vettel haters.......

[JeremySmith]

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

Not the words of someone still hoping to stay at McLaren.

I don't blame him though, poor car = poor results...

[BSchneiderFan]

It certainly didn't work out as he might have hoped. It'd be a shame if he can't get another ride, but the spectre of Kovalainen must hang over him (and HK won a race!).

[Born Racer]

I actually think Pérez has done a decent job this year. The thing is, I didn't rate him as highly as many others (seemingly including McLaren) did last year. So to often match Button has been decent enough. Button has usually finished stronger though. I suppose McLaren weren't looking for "decent enough", though.

[bella]

i think everyone hopes that a new driver to the top teams will be some kind of revelation or hero just to shake things up a bit, then when it turns out he's just doing a very decent job in a bad situation they kind of get disappointed.

but who was the last driver to produce really good results in a barge? alonso? well, it's *very* rare to find one of those, and perez never was going to be.

[BSchneiderFan]

I think performance against a teammate is the key. Yes, the McLaren isn't a good car, but Pérez has still been comprehensively outscored by Button. That suggests he's not as quick as his 2012 Sauber performances suggested he might be.

[chunterer]

But is 30 points off your team leader over 18 races a massive margin? In a race winning car, possibly, but not in that thing surely?

[BertMk2]

Originally Posted by chunterer

But is 30 points off your team leader over 18 races a massive margin? In a race winning car, possibly, but not in that thing surely?

I think the poor car means that the gap is harder to justify surely? In a top car you can score big points and pull out a big gap - a win vs a dnf for a teammate and you've got yourself a 25 point difference straight away, whereas if the car is a bit of a bus and you're scrabbling around for the odd point here and there then a 30 point gap is more significant.

[Peter Mallett]

It is on the basis of the current scoring system. Otherwise you would have to say that 90 points in a season is a good thing, which again, isn't.

Originally Posted by BSchneiderFan

....(and HK won a race!).

So did Maldonado! I rest my case.

[Knowlesy]

Originally Posted by chunterer

But is 30 points off your team leader over 18 races a massive margin? In a race winning car, possibly, but not in that thing surely?

At McLaren's rate this year, thirty points would take half a season to make up.

[Salamus]

Button hasn't been a whole lot better than Perez imo. If you look back at Monaco and Silverstone, Perez was a couple positions ahead of Button in both instances but suffered a late retirement in both races (Accident at Monaco and the Tire debacle at Silverstone).

Even if Perez finished both those GPs, Button would still be ahead in the points but not by much. Both drivers have had similar results this year (best result of 5th for both, 5 no-scores for Button to Perez's 6 if you disregard Monaco and Silverstone. And 4 of Perez's no-scores saw him finish 11th.)

[Aysedasi]

I tend to agree, but Perez has still disappointed me this season, poor car or no poor car. That said, I wouldn't have dumped him.

[CTD]

Sergio Perez confirms he will leave McLaren Formula 1 team
The statement can be seen here:

Source (not reliable):
Unofficial Jenson Button Fan page

[chunterer]

Originally Posted by Knowlesy

At McLaren's rate this year, thirty points would take half a season to make up.

I think I was coming at this more from the expectation side of things maybe... in that the management may have failed to properly accept that neither driver was going to win with it until quite a way into the season and that any points scored should just be seen as a bonus.

On the other hand I also think that getting the maximum out of any situation is extremely important.