your thoughts on this development personally biggest mistake ever by Lotus, Hulkenburg and Kovalainen are better i would also have considered Valsecchi before maldonado.
Let me put it this way, a team with good engineers but a history of terrible management decisions, which ruined careers of Trulli, Piket, Petrov, Senna, Heidfeld, pissed off Kimi, which takes enormous effort, and forced mr. crash dummy a.k.a. Grosean back into GP2, hired two renta-drivers. Do people really expect them to make right decisions?
Maldonado is actually the right decision, as his package - which includes sponsorship money ($60M) - ensures the team's survival.
Of course on merit, they would have chosen Hulkenberg. That would have been most fair, but in F1, it's worth asking 'what does fair have to do with anything?'
Lotus will have the 2011 and 2010 GP2 champions then (Maldonado/Grosjean), and the 2012 champion with Valschecci, although I'm not sure if he'll stay since the team opted for Kovalainen.
I suppose the question is can Grosjean carry on the with the good results at the end of the season? If he can then taking Maldonaldo's money might be a good thing. As you say, the team survives & they were clearly messed about by Quantum.
Would you have kept Grosjean over signing the Hulk? Perhaps two new drivers at once isn't a good thing, but given that the regulations change so much, did it matter?
It's slightly off topic...........
McLaren must think Magnussen is a super star, since they too could have chosen the Hulk.
Jaap Grolleman 5000 11 years 239 days ago (edited 11 years 239 days ago)
"Andrew
I suppose the question is can Grosjean carry on the with the good results at the end of the season? If he can then taking Maldonaldo's money might be a good thing. As you say, the team survives & they were clearly messed about by Quantum.
Would you have kept Grosjean over signing the Hulk? Perhaps two new drivers at once isn't a good thing, but given that the regulations change so much, did it matter?
It's slightly off topic...........
McLaren must think Magnussen is a super star, since they too could have chosen the Hulk.
Well, Lotus still has strong French connections with engine partner Renault and sponsor Total. Grosjean, as French driver, is part of that (at least with the Total sponsorship). Hulkenberg is unproven in a top team car, while Grosjean is.
And yes, Mclaren have taken a big risk. Their last rookie didn't do so bad (Hamilton), but he had the luxury of unlimited testing). I think it would have been better for Magnussen to start at Sauber, while Hulk takes the Mclaren seat. Then in 2015, Button might retire, making a seat available for Magnussen.
Although Hulkenburg would have been, hands down, the better choice, i think Maldonado deserves a break at least. After all, he hasn't exactly had a championship contending Williams during his career and the fact he managed to put it on pole and win in Spain last year deserves some props. If you remember, Grosjean had the same bad rap coming into this season, need i say more? :P
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