Paul Di Resta to become Williams Reserve Driver for 2016

UnlikeUday · Post by **UnlikeUday** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 10:40 am

Paul Di Resta has been appointed the reserve driver for Williams for the 2016 season:
http://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/35795864

Good for the Scot!

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 12:45 pm

I wonder if Mercedes have anything to do with this?

Vyse · Post by **Vyse** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 12:55 pm

Oh great.

Lt. Drebin · Post by **Lt. Drebin** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 1:22 pm

Very good, I hope we didn't see the last lap from him yet.

Amon · Post by **Amon** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 2:12 pm

After Adrian Sutil this is the second ex Force India driver they employ. This might offer hope for Perez and Hulk should they fail to find a seat in the future.
Di Resta was solid in his short time in F1 unspectacular but overall better than Sutil IMO.

TakumaSatoforthewin · Post by **TakumaSatoforthewin** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:01 pm

Exciting personality to liven up the paddock.

nixxxon · Post by **nixxxon** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:26 pm

I dont know why he left F1. He didnt do that bad, did he?

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:30 pm

nixxxon wrote:I dont know why he left F1. He didnt do that bad, did he?

No he didn't do bad he just was extremely average that's all.

j man · Post by **j man** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:36 pm

nixxxon wrote:I dont know why he left F1. He didnt do that bad, did he?

Nor did he do that well. I'd say Force India are much better off with the two drivers they have now.

Ultimately Paul didn't bring any serious sponsorship with him and didn't really show himself to be any better than many of the drivers who do.

nixxxon · Post by **nixxxon** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:38 pm

j man wrote:
nixxxon wrote:I dont know why he left F1. He didnt do that bad, did he?
Nor did he do that well. I'd say Force India are much better off with the two drivers they have now.

Ultimately Paul didn't bring any serious sponsorship with him and didn't really show himself to be any better than many of the drivers who do.

Ah, true... I always forget that besides doing good on-track performances, F1drivers have also to do good "sponsorship attracting performances"
That's pathetic

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 3:47 pm

nixxxon wrote:
j man wrote:
nixxxon wrote:I dont know why he left F1. He didnt do that bad, did he?
Nor did he do that well. I'd say Force India are much better off with the two drivers they have now.

Ultimately Paul didn't bring any serious sponsorship with him and didn't really show himself to be any better than many of the drivers who do.
Ah, true... I always forget that besides doing good on-track performances, F1drivers have also to do good "sponsorship attracting performances"
That's pathetic

Well there wasn't much to choose between Sutil and di Resta and even though Sutil did bring some sponsorship with him he couldn't keep his seat in F1, to stay in F1 purely on merit you have to be a bit special which di Resta wasn't.

scotlandforever · Post by **scotlandforever** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 4:02 pm

Great to see my fellow countryman back in a F1 role.

No doubt we get the anti Paul Di Resta posts on here again, looks like they have started up already.

mikeyg123 · Post by **mikeyg123** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 4:18 pm

pokerman wrote:
nixxxon wrote:
j man wrote:
nixxxon wrote:I dont know why he left F1. He didnt do that bad, did he?
Nor did he do that well. I'd say Force India are much better off with the two drivers they have now.

Ultimately Paul didn't bring any serious sponsorship with him and didn't really show himself to be any better than many of the drivers who do.
Ah, true... I always forget that besides doing good on-track performances, F1drivers have also to do good "sponsorship attracting performances"
That's pathetic
Well there wasn't much to choose between Sutil and di Resta and even though Sutil did bring some sponsorship with him he couldn't keep his seat in F1, to stay in F1 purely on merit you have to be a bit special which di Resta wasn't.

I think he was at a pretty similar level to Hulkenberg. Maybe very slightly bellow but not much. Very unfortunate not to be on the grid IMO.

Mercedes-Benz · Post by **Mercedes-Benz** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 5:51 pm

His first year was promising in FI. He has beat Vettel too in junior formula and said anyone could do well in RBR in some interview. But after saying all that he could not separate him from Sutil, who is also a solid and very underrated driver meant that di resta got ignored. Another driver who was ignored in F1 was Heikki

red_baron · Post by **red_baron** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 5:55 pm

TakumaSatoforthewin wrote:Exciting personality to liven up the paddock.

Exediron · Post by **Exediron** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 8:47 pm

mikeyg123 wrote:I think he was at a pretty similar level to Hulkenberg. Maybe very slightly bellow but not much. Very unfortunate not to be on the grid IMO.

My understanding was that it wasn't a lack of driving ability that put him off the grid, but a lack of proper attitude. If anything went wrong it was never his fault, always the team's fault... he was extremely open about trying to move up the grid to a better team...

Some (myself included) perceived his attitude as an arrogance he hadn't earned yet.

red_baron wrote:
TakumaSatoforthewin wrote:Exciting personality to liven up the paddock.

Hey, if Max Verstappen can win personality of the year, anything's possible. Maybe Di Resta will challenge him for it this time.

Lt. Drebin · Post by **Lt. Drebin** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 9:22 pm

TakumaSatoforthewin wrote:Exciting personality to liven up the paddock.

Biggest neck in F1.

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Sun Mar 13, 2016 11:52 pm

Exediron wrote:
mikeyg123 wrote:I think he was at a pretty similar level to Hulkenberg. Maybe very slightly bellow but not much. Very unfortunate not to be on the grid IMO.
My understanding was that it wasn't a lack of driving ability that put him off the grid, but a lack of proper attitude. If anything went wrong it was never his fault, always the team's fault... he was extremely open about trying to move up the grid to a better team...

Some (myself included) perceived his attitude as an arrogance he hadn't earned yet.

red_baron wrote:
TakumaSatoforthewin wrote:Exciting personality to liven up the paddock.

Hey, if Max Verstappen can win personality of the year, anything's possible. Maybe Di Resta will challenge him for it this time.

Yes I was going to put that forward as well but was afraid it would just sound like pure bashing, but it was noticeable that when he had a good result he was keen to attribute his success purely to himself, when he had a poor result he felt the need to point out how much he was let down by either his team or his car.

scotlandforever · Post by **scotlandforever** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 10:08 am

Like I say I'm looking forward to the anti Paul Di Resta rants, also I read that Paul is going be a pundit on SKYF1 Que more personal attacks on the Scotsman about is personality etc.

Di Resta did nothing wrong in his time at F.India it was the lack of money that got him the boot.

mds · Post by **mds** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 10:15 am

pokerman wrote:
Exediron wrote:
mikeyg123 wrote:I think he was at a pretty similar level to Hulkenberg. Maybe very slightly bellow but not much. Very unfortunate not to be on the grid IMO.
My understanding was that it wasn't a lack of driving ability that put him off the grid, but a lack of proper attitude. If anything went wrong it was never his fault, always the team's fault... he was extremely open about trying to move up the grid to a better team...

Some (myself included) perceived his attitude as an arrogance he hadn't earned yet.

red_baron wrote:
TakumaSatoforthewin wrote:Exciting personality to liven up the paddock.

Hey, if Max Verstappen can win personality of the year, anything's possible. Maybe Di Resta will challenge him for it this time.
Yes I was going to put that forward as well but was afraid it would just sound like pure bashing, but it was noticeable that when he had a good result he was keen to attribute his success purely to himself, when he had a poor result he felt the need to point out how much he was let down by either his team or his car.

Yes, purely to himself.

Max Verstappen (STR10-02, Car 33) - Race: 4th

“I really enjoyed today’s race! A fourth position is a great result, definitely the best we could do today, and I’m just really, really happy! There were some very good battles out on track and I’d say this was the most complete ace of the season so far, everything worked out as it should have: I made no mistakes and the team did a perfect job with the strategy, making all the right calls. It was difficult to know when to make the move on to slick tyres, because you never want to go too early and lose time, so you just try and wait and see if someone else does it… When I heard over the radio that another car was on slicks and not doing too bad, I said okay, now we go. Once on the Softs, I didn’t risk much as I knew I had to look after the tyres and we managed to get to the end in a strong way. I’m delighted with today and I’d like to thank the team for all the efforts this weekend.”

Sure he said he made no mistakes, but he credits the team and thanks them. I don't really see this attitude you're implying he has.

Saz · Post by **Saz** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 11:34 am

scotlandforever wrote:Like I say I'm looking forward to the anti Paul Di Resta rants, also I read that Paul is going be a pundit on SKYF1 Que more personal attacks on the Scotsman about is personality etc.

Di Resta did nothing wrong in his time at F.India it was the lack of money that got him the boot.

Um, not sure what you mean by that first bit. He was very stotic, which can come across as boring for some people,but not a single comment about that was based on his nationality.Projecting much?

I think he will be a good pundit for sky,and he seems to have mellowed a bit over the years. Last interview I saw he was much more personable than he was in F1.

I agree partially with the second point. He never stood out as a special talent, which is why he got the boot because of money. He wasn't a huge up on Sutil who had money. Sad but thats F1.

Glad hes back in some way though. Its also good for Williams to have a proper reserve driver unlike last year.

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 1:06 pm

mds wrote:
pokerman wrote:
Exediron wrote:
mikeyg123 wrote:I think he was at a pretty similar level to Hulkenberg. Maybe very slightly bellow but not much. Very unfortunate not to be on the grid IMO.
My understanding was that it wasn't a lack of driving ability that put him off the grid, but a lack of proper attitude. If anything went wrong it was never his fault, always the team's fault... he was extremely open about trying to move up the grid to a better team...

Some (myself included) perceived his attitude as an arrogance he hadn't earned yet.

red_baron wrote:
TakumaSatoforthewin wrote:Exciting personality to liven up the paddock.

Hey, if Max Verstappen can win personality of the year, anything's possible. Maybe Di Resta will challenge him for it this time.
Yes I was going to put that forward as well but was afraid it would just sound like pure bashing, but it was noticeable that when he had a good result he was keen to attribute his success purely to himself, when he had a poor result he felt the need to point out how much he was let down by either his team or his car.
Yes, purely to himself.

Max Verstappen (STR10-02, Car 33) - Race: 4th

“I really enjoyed today’s race! A fourth position is a great result, definitely the best we could do today, and I’m just really, really happy! There were some very good battles out on track and I’d say this was the most complete ace of the season so far, everything worked out as it should have: I made no mistakes and the team did a perfect job with the strategy, making all the right calls. It was difficult to know when to make the move on to slick tyres, because you never want to go too early and lose time, so you just try and wait and see if someone else does it… When I heard over the radio that another car was on slicks and not doing too bad, I said okay, now we go. Once on the Softs, I didn’t risk much as I knew I had to look after the tyres and we managed to get to the end in a strong way. I’m delighted with today and I’d like to thank the team for all the efforts this weekend.”
Sure he said he made no mistakes, but he credits the team and thanks them. I don't really see this attitude you're implying he has.

Damn that's twice recently that I've been misunderstood, I was referring to di Resta.

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 1:09 pm

Saz wrote:
scotlandforever wrote:Like I say I'm looking forward to the anti Paul Di Resta rants, also I read that Paul is going be a pundit on SKYF1 Que more personal attacks on the Scotsman about is personality etc.

Di Resta did nothing wrong in his time at F.India it was the lack of money that got him the boot.
Um, not sure what you mean by that first bit. He was very stotic, which can come across as boring for some people,but not a single comment about that was based on his nationality.Projecting much?

I think he will be a good pundit for sky,and he seems to have mellowed a bit over the years. Last interview I saw he was much more personable than he was in F1.

I agree partially with the second point. He never stood out as a special talent, which is why he got the boot because of money. He wasn't a huge up on Sutil who had money. Sad but thats F1.

Glad hes back in some way though. Its also good for Williams to have a proper reserve driver unlike last year.

Yes I'm sure DC never got such criticism about his personality, maybe a bit of over sensitivity here?

mds · Post by **mds** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 1:21 pm

pokerman wrote: Damn that's twice recently that I've been misunderstood, I was referring to di Resta.

My apologies, didn't quite get that.

stevey · Post by **stevey** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 1:35 pm

from what I remember of diresta, he had a great 1st year and then disappeared. I think at one point he had 5 races back to back where he failed to finish. Not much to make him stand out which is a disappointment as I expected a fiery Scottish personality.

He was also sued by Anthony Hamilton and ended up settling.

F1 MERCENARY · Post by **F1 MERCENARY** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 1:59 pm

Mercedes-Benz wrote:His first year was promising in FI. He has beat Vettel too in junior formula and said anyone could do well in RBR in some interview. But after saying all that he could not separate him from Sutil, who is also a solid and very underrated driver meant that di resta got ignored. Another driver who was ignored in F1 was Heikki

Say what now?

Sutil and underrated DO NOT go together.

Sutil was given as much of a chance as Heidfeld and though both were solid, neither was spectacular, Sutil less so. If anything he was overrated for some time. He even had a shot afterwards with Sauber and again failed to impress. At the end of the 2014 campaign he barely edged out Gutierrez whom I don't believe rates highly in any circles. We shall see this season if his last benchmark in F1 (Gutierrez) has improved.

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 1:59 pm

mds wrote:
pokerman wrote: Damn that's twice recently that I've been misunderstood, I was referring to di Resta.
My apologies, didn't quite get that.

It's ok I probably wasn't being precise enough.

scotlandforever · Post by **scotlandforever** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 2:46 pm

Grosjean got a second chance in F1 after he was crashing all over place and taking out drivers if I remember rightly? but don't remember Di Resta doing much of that at F.India?

Anyway Di Resta just the reserve driver for Williams that's all.

Black_Flag_11 · Post by **Black_Flag_11** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 3:04 pm

Well when you consider he is replacing Susie Wolff it's a good thing IMO.

A development/Reserve role or a race seat at a team down the order is about right for him IMO, he is more talented that some of the guys in F1 atm but hasn't done anything particularly special.

Banana Man · Post by **Banana Man** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 3:04 pm

scotlandforever wrote:Grosjean got a second chance in F1 after he was crashing all over place and taking out drivers if I remember rightly? but don't remember Di Resta doing much of that at F.India?

Anyway Di Resta just the reserve driver for Williams that's all.

I do.

ainscowpaul · Post by **ainscowpaul** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 3:10 pm

Hopefully any opportunity he gets, he wont blame everyone fort anything that goes wrong. I found his last season in F1 to be very negative in his interviews, extremely negative in fact

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 3:12 pm

Black_Flag_11 wrote:Well when you consider he is replacing Susie Wolff it's a good thing IMO.

A development/Reserve role or a race seat at a team down the order is about right for him IMO, he is more talented that some of the guys in F1 atm but hasn't done anything particularly special.

He's actually replacing Adrian Sutil.

Black_Flag_11 · Post by **Black_Flag_11** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 3:17 pm

pokerman wrote:
Black_Flag_11 wrote:Well when you consider he is replacing Susie Wolff it's a good thing IMO.

A development/Reserve role or a race seat at a team down the order is about right for him IMO, he is more talented that some of the guys in F1 atm but hasn't done anything particularly special.
He's actually replacing Adrian Sutil.

My apologies you're right. I have no idea why but I thought that Wolff was the reserve driver, not test!

Still he was also better than Sutil IMO so it's still a good thing

scotlandforever · Post by **scotlandforever** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 4:08 pm

Banana Man wrote:
scotlandforever wrote:Grosjean got a second chance in F1 after he was crashing all over place and taking out drivers if I remember rightly? but don't remember Di Resta doing much of that at F.India?

Anyway Di Resta just the reserve driver for Williams that's all.
I do.

Funny that I never heard any driver criticize Di Resta about crashing, but I heard plenty of plenty driver's and pundits criticizing Grosjean for crashing nearly every race weekend at the time, thanks goodness for French Oil money.

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Mon Mar 14, 2016 4:11 pm

scotlandforever wrote:
Banana Man wrote:
scotlandforever wrote:Grosjean got a second chance in F1 after he was crashing all over place and taking out drivers if I remember rightly? but don't remember Di Resta doing much of that at F.India?

Anyway Di Resta just the reserve driver for Williams that's all.
I do.
Funny that I never heard any driver criticize Di Resta about crashing, but I heard plenty of plenty driver's and pundits criticizing Grosjean for crashing nearly every race weekend at the time, thanks goodness for French Oil money.

Without doubt with better backing di Resta would not have lost his F1 drive but also if he was a special talent he wouldn't have lost his F1 drive either.

Amon · Post by **Amon** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:52 am

Yeah I agree he might not have been anything special but neither were Sutil or Heikki.

And Gutierrez surely ain't better than him.

mcdo · Post by **mcdo** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:58 am

Exediron wrote:
mikeyg123 wrote:I think he was at a pretty similar level to Hulkenberg. Maybe very slightly bellow but not much. Very unfortunate not to be on the grid IMO.
My understanding was that it wasn't a lack of driving ability that put him off the grid, but a lack of proper attitude. If anything went wrong it was never his fault, always the team's fault... he was extremely open about trying to move up the grid to a better team...

This is what I recall. Apparently he was really hard to work with

Sevenfest · Post by **Sevenfest** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 12:02 pm

Good to see him back in F1 after his stint acting in Marvel's "Agents of SHIELD"

pokerman · Post by **pokerman** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 4:36 pm

Amon wrote:Yeah I agree he might not have been anything special but neither were Sutil or Heikki.

And Gutierrez surely ain't better than him.

Well Sutil and Heikki are no longer in F1 while Gutierrez has some serious backing.

HawaiiF1Fan · Post by **HawaiiF1Fan** » Tue Mar 15, 2016 11:15 pm

I wonder how much of this is on Di Resta and how much is it because he's affiliated with Mercedes.