De la Rosa set to be 2nd Sauber driver, Heidfeld discarded
By The Offsider
January 3 2010
Spanish driver Pedro Martinez de la Rosa, to the date test and third driver of Mclaren-Mercedes, is about to be confirmed as the partner of Kamui Kobayashi in the Sauber team.
As we announced in this article the 2nd driver of the Hinwil-based squad is on the verge to be signed.
Now, going into further in-depth, we can inform that Peter Sauber has dropped Nick Heidfeld out of the list, with the "experienced man" believed to be the Spaniard Pedro Martinez de la Rosa.
According to Peter Sauber this driver will spring a surprise -well, not to us!- and is a man who will bring new ideas and new knowledge to the team; and if that wasn't clear enough, Peter discards again Nick Heidfeld when asked specifically about him.
From what we have been told De la Rosa is being backed by a Spanish financial entity, believed to be the giant Santander, although another source has told it could rather be a Catalan entity -La Caixa-; in either way, the backing figure is expected to be of around 4 millions Euros, which would be very welcome at Hinwil. Nevertheless, we hear that this was not the main deciding factor for Peter Sauber.
I hope Nick will find seat, he deserves it. Hell, it may be even REnault, though I'd like to see Kubica against someone else. I like Pedro but I dont think he is on Heidfeld's level, probably money issue decided.
oh dear, De La Rosa/Kobayashi is not a great line up. This is surely to do with money as both drivers come with it, and Sauber have just lost Petronas.
Although I like Kobayashi, I don't like DLR. I was hoping for either Nick or Fisi. I think both drivers were signed due to money reasons and sponsorship, which is understandable considering the way Peter had to rescue the team, losing the F1 money, then losing Petronas. But I was prepaired for 2010 to be very much a transition year for the team, and I don't have very high expectations for results. Frankly, I'm just happy the team has survived, although hopefully we can be better than at least the new teams.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 2010:01:03:21:54:42 by SauberF1-Canada.
I'm beginning to get very concerned about Heidfeld's future. What if Renault can't afford him, or Kubica tries to keep him out? Could it be that the return of Schumacher a veteran who has nothing to prove, and who has already been there and done that many times over, has prevented Heidfeld from achieving his potential, and which may result in the ending of his career? I doubt Heidfeld comes with enough sponsorship for Campos-Meta or USF1, so he could be in a very sticky situation.
Im not sure why Peter Sauber would want to choose DLR over him either. Sauber dropped Heidfeld in 2003, and only had him back in 2006 due to Thiessen, so perhaps Peter doesn't rate Nick very highly. But considering the team will need results this year to win new sponsors, Heidfeld is surely the best man for the job, so I can only presume it will be a decision based on an urgent need for cash, or based upon the idea that DLR offers better value for money due to his sponsorship. (but then again, so did Nakajima, and we all know how much value it turned out he offered Williams!)
Im no fan of DLR. He comes with plenty of "Knowledge" but I do not forgive him for how he managed to come by that knowledge. He seemed more than willing to use that ferrari data when reading those leaked emails from 2007, he was totally aware of where it came from, and yet he got off scott-free. For me, he will forever be tarnished by that incident, and to my mind he also risks being another "Luca ?Badoer when you consider the length of time he has spent away from f1 competition.
It's again money period. Peter is back to robbing Peter to pay Paul and Nick can get more out of Renault. Mercedes has given PDLR a little bag of money to sweeten the pot.
(I have a theory why ?)
Two poor choices and its back to mid-field.
I guess unless you are a true Sauber fan we'll linking up @ Renault and again battling between who's better Nick or Robert. Posters can replay all the same old dialogue.
Ground Hog Day
I think you are not up to date on F1 issues or your F1 vision has no criteria at all. PDLR has been doing F1 tests on a regular basis until last year. Results: Always on top. I mean first in all of them. Also you must remember when he had to replace Montoya. He scored a 2nd in Hungaria and had same points results than Kimi. So please, do not compare him with Luca Badoer. I could understand that he is not glamorous enough or "known" enough for the mass, but he IS well known inside F1.
crusty_bread I'm beginning to get very concerned about Heidfeld's future. What if Renault can't afford him, or Kubica tries to keep him out? Could it be that the return of Schumacher a veteran who has nothing to prove, and who has already been there and done that many times over, has prevented Heidfeld from achieving his potential, and which may result in the ending of his career? I doubt Heidfeld comes with enough sponsorship for Campos-Meta or USF1, so he could be in a very sticky situation.
Im not sure why Peter Sauber would want to choose DLR over him either. Sauber dropped Heidfeld in 2003, and only had him back in 2006 due to Thiessen, so perhaps Peter doesn't rate Nick very highly. But considering the team will need results this year to win new sponsors, Heidfeld is surely the best man for the job, so I can only presume it will be a decision based on an urgent need for cash, or based upon the idea that DLR offers better value for money due to his sponsorship. (but then again, so did Nakajima, and we all know how much value it turned out he offered Williams!)
Im no fan of DLR. He comes with plenty of "Knowledge" but I do not forgive him for how he managed to come by that knowledge. He seemed more than willing to use that ferrari data when reading those leaked emails from 2007, he was totally aware of where it came from, and yet he got off scott-free. For me, he will forever be tarnished by that incident, and to my mind he also risks being another "Luca ?Badoer when you consider the length of time he has spent away from f1 competition.
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