If it seems like only yesterday that Giancarlo Fisichella was being reported as favourite for the vacant Sauber drive, that’s because it really, genuinely was.
Sometimes these things make too much sense. Fisi spent much of 2009 showing well for Force India, before forging late-season links with Ferrari that saw him given a testing and development role with the Scuderia. He still has a desire to race, Sauber have Ferrari engines for 2010, Giancarlo used to drive for Sauber…the pieces came together like a pre-school jigsaw.
Somewhere between yesterday’s news reports and this morning’s driver announcement, Peter Sauber’s dog must have opened the box and ate the piece with Giancarlo’s face on it, for I’m sure that the Roman’s name isn’t spelt ‘Pedro de la Rosa’. The Swiss team have opted to sign the 38-year-old from Barcelona, whose last full season of Formula One came with Jaguar in 2002.
Pedro’s appointment might seem a strange one on the face of it. 8 seasons on from his last full-time drive, de la Rosa has been a fixture at McLaren since being cast aside by Jaguar. Contracted as test driver throughout, the Spaniard nevertheless had a couple of opportunities to race for the Woking outfit. His cameo in Bahrain 5 years ago, after Juan Pablo Montoya hurt himself falling off a tennis racket, was brilliantly entertaining and ended with Pedro claiming fastest lap. His half-season in 2006 when the Colombian quit for NASCAR in mid-season was less startling, Hungarian podium finish notwithstanding. His reputation is that of a solid, reliable pair of hands, lacking in ultimate pace but a very capable development driver. That, of course – well, that and a few Euros in sponsorship money – is why Sauber have signed him.
A month or so ago, Sauber confirmed Kamui Kobayashi as the first of their 2010 race drivers. Kobayashi’s pair of races for Toyota suggest that the Japanese driver has plenty of raw pace but the kind of rough edges that would occupy a sandpaper factory for a week. His racecraft is questionable, his defensive driving on the dangerous side of robust, and he has very little prior experience of setting up a Grand Prix car, though he can hardly be blamed for that. He will show well given a decent car, but can’t be relied on to bring the car home every time, or to lead a development programme through the course of a season.
For that, the team need an experienced old hand, and they don’t come much more experienced than de la Rosa. His technical knowledge, allied to his knowledge of McLaren’s successful working practices (in-depth knowledge, as you’d expect from a trusted member of the team – until today, PdlR was scheduled to give McLaren’s 2010 car its first run next month), will be invaluable. His temperament inside the car tends to be even, as does his performance, an excellent baseline for judging the performance of new parts. A well-respected and approachable man, Pedro is also the ideal mentor for a young, wild hotshoe like his 2010 teammate.
With the right tutelage, Kamui Kobayashi will be the long-term solution, the man charged with making Sauber’s future bright. Surprise choice or not, Pedro de la Rosa is the right man to provide it.
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The filling of Sauber’s vacant seat must have brought great joy to the folks at Renault. Nick Heidfeld is out of a drive. Christian Klien wants one. So does Anthony Davidson, along with his F3 and Super Aguri sparring partner Takuma Sato. If an up-and-coming driver is what they want, and last year’s experience of Romain Grosjean ought be enough to show that it isn’t, Ho-Pin Tung and the delightfully-named Bertrand Baguette are available. If an old hand desperate for one last go fits the Renault profile, Jacques Villeneuve is their man.
The seats at Campos and USF1 will go to drivers bringing sponsorship, and it’s difficult to imagine any of the above-named fancying a drive with either team anyway. With every other competitive seat filled, Renault is their last sensible choice, and that’s a cracking bargaining position for the French squad.
