76 replies to this topic

[ExFlagMan]

According to an article on the Autosport web site, Ferrari have signed Esteban Gutierrez as their test and reserve driver for next season.

I wonder if he is bringing cash to help pay Vettel's salary.

[HeadFirst]

According to an article on the Autosport web site, Ferrari have signed Esteban Gutierrez as their test and reserve driver for next season.

I wonder if he is bringing cash to help pay Vettel's salary.

 

Ferrari don't need help paying salaries, but perhaps they need a new espresso machine for the garage. A good one is expensive!

[Atreiu]

He is obviously paying Vettel's salary.

 

Or will he fund Newey's eventual hiring?

[kimster89]

If he brings sponsorship money for just standing in the garage i say why not?

[Ross Stonefeld]

Do we even know that he brings money?

[Richard T]

I guess it's logical to have a driver which knows the Ferrari PU to do the simulator work

[Vibe]

Fantastic deal to be honest.

 

He is talented,has F1 experience,worked with Ferrari engines and brings cash.

 

Ferrari could have hardly gotten a better test driver.

[Jackmancer]

Is the Mexican market big for Ferrari?

[wj_gibson]

They could have gone for Vergne, surely? Unless JEV is more keen to do racing than simulator work.

[Collective]

Do we even know that he brings money?

Of course not, but why should that derrail the circlejerk?

[FerrariV12]

To be fair, even if he owed his place on the grid to Carlos Slim cash, he's hardly rubbish is he? GP3 champion and GP2 race winner so not a bad record, even if not outstanding.

 

I have to say the standard of "pay drivers" is far higher than it was in the mid '90s.

[SealTheDiffuser]

To be fair, even if he owed his place on the grid to Carlos Slim cash, he's hardly rubbish is he? GP3 champion and GP2 race winner so not a bad record, even if not outstanding.

 

I have to say the standard of "pay drivers" is far higher than it was in the mid '90s.

 

definitely a high standard of paydrivers now in F1, one already won a GP against allmighty Mr. six tenth.

 

 

 

 

[redreni]

I don't think a driver of Vergne's quality would have accepted the job. Being the official reeerve driver involves, if I am not mistaken, attending every Grand Prix weekend and being ready to run at least on the Friday. If you can then travel elsewhere and manage to do some actual driving somewhere else on the Saturday and Sunday, all well and good, but you'd struggle to fit anything approaching a top class international racing programme in alongside the commitments of being a third driver for a major F1 team.

This seems like a perfectly reasonable signing. In the event Kimi or Seb were to be injured or taken ill on the Friday of a race weekend, Ferrari would have a pretty decent stand-in. If they had more notice than that, they would probably draft in the best available replacement as they did (eventually) in 2009 when they drafted in Fisichella and in 1999 with Salo, but you can't expect drivers of that calibre to make be at your disposal on a no-notice basis.

[AustinF1]

Do we even know that he brings money?

I was wondering that, too. Even the OP doesn't know, despite the title.

 

I guess he probably brings some Telmex money, but I wouldn't think it would be nearly as much for the test driver role.

Edited by AustinF1, 15 December 2014 - 21:12.

[Imateria]

Weren't there reports early in the year that Telmex were going to drop him?

 

Frankly I think the only reason he was signed was so that they have a sub ready to go if needed that already has experience of F1 under the current rules. For proper test and development work they already have De La Rosa who's going to be considerably better at the job.

[AustinF1]

Weren't there reports early in the year that Telmex were going to drop him?

 

Frankly I think the only reason he was signed was so that they have a sub ready to go if needed that already has experience of F1 under the current rules. For proper test and development work they already have De La Rosa who's going to be considerably better at the job.

Wasn't there a report that PDLR is headed to McLaren with Alonso? Or am I remembering that wrong. Don't think it's been confirmed either way though.

[Ross Stonefeld]

Well let's be honest about Ferrari test/reserve drivers. It's not a deep bench is it? "Well de la Rosa's alright". Yeah, compared to Gene, Badoer, etc...

[MikeV1987]

I guess it's logical to have a driver which knows the Ferrari PU to do the simulator work

This 

 

Ferrari doesn't need money.

Edited by MikeV1987, 15 December 2014 - 21:53.

[charly0418]

Some of you including the one that made this thread are taking it a bit too far

 

I agree he's nothing special and what he did in his 2 years in Sauber he wasn't impressive at all

 

but his junior career (GP3 champ and GP2 race winner) and 2 years of experience in a car with the Ferrari engine make him more than an acceptable test driver, money or not

[Lights]

So your thread title is written as a fact, yet in your opening post you refer to it as something you 'wonder'. 

[ExFlagMan]

The 'pay driver' quote was just reflecting what to me appears to be the opinion of a large no of posters on this forum regarding Gutierrez status in F1.

[AustinF1]

his junior career (GP3 champ and GP2 race winner) and 2 years of experience in a car with the Ferrari engine make him more than an acceptable test driver, money or not

Yep. I think it's a great hire for a 3rd driver.

Edited by AustinF1, 15 December 2014 - 22:12.

[chumma]

Weren't there reports early in the year that Telmex were going to drop him?

 

Frankly I think the only reason he was signed was so that they have a sub ready to go if needed that already has experience of F1 under the current rules. For proper test and development work they already have De La Rosa who's going to be considerably better at the job.

Thought De La Rosa was going to McLaren.

[Lennat]

He's not underqualified for the test driver job. Which (available) driver would be significantly better?

[ensign14]

He's not underqualified for the test driver job. Which (available) driver would be significantly better?

 

Paffet, Kobayashi, di Resta, Davidson, Heidfeld, Buemi, Senna, Kovalainen, Glock, Petrov...

[ATM]

Vergne, if he would accept it. Although I'm hoping he would get some IndyCar racing time. 

[charly0418]

Paffet, Kobayashi, di Resta, Davidson, Heidfeld, Buemi, Senna, Kovalainen, Glock, Petrov...

 

only one of them ran in an actual v6 car last year

[ATM]

Well, come to think of it, it could be worse. Some of the other F1 test drivers never actually drove a F1 car in a race (Susie Wolf, Olivier Turvey and I suppose a lot of other guys who never made it past the bench)...At least most of the drivers above have rubbed elbows with the big guys and know what they're aiming at. 

Edited by ATM, 15 December 2014 - 22:48.

[LORDBYRON]

Its more likely to be a re[placement for santander 

[AustinF1]

only one of them ran in an actual v6 car last year

And even if they all had, I don't see Paffet, Di Resta, Buemi, or Petrov as better qualified.

[Lennat]

Paffet, Kobayashi, di Resta, Davidson, Heidfeld, Buemi, Senna, Kovalainen, Glock, Petrov...

 

Some of them might be better, and some might be available. I'm not sure any of them are both.

[hittheapex]

In short, no. Ferrari have more than enough money to pay Vettel's salary, Gutierrez or not. I also think that seeing as Ferrari have taken him, we can stop calling him a pay driver now, too. Yes he brings money but that's not the same as being in a seat only, or predominantly because of money.

[Chubby_Deuce]

Some of them might be better, and some might be available. I'm not sure any of them are both.

 

Yep. Being a reserve driver severely limits your options of a full time drive in another series, you're not going to convince a competitive driver to do it.

[CrucialXtreme]

I think the title of this thread is a bit funny. As if Ferrari is having problems paying their bills and had to hire GUT to help out with money. Preposterous IMHO. But hey, everyone is entitled to their opinion.

[loki]

They just had one pay driver leave...

 

 

Fred brought money.  He's good, arguably the best on the grid and certainly one of the best.  So where do we draw the line between drivers that bring money from a Mexican billionarie or one that brings money from a Spanish bank?

[S3baman]

I think this is a very good deal for both sides. Ferrari gets a young driver that's motivated, knows the Ferrari engine, and is willing to do the hard work to possibly be in contention for a race seat when Kimi retires. Gutierrez gets to stay in F1, which is critical for him. Seldomly have we seen someone quit F1 and come back as a driver later in his career, there are always enough young, talented drivers that are available.

[RedOne]

They just had one pay driver leave...


Fred brought money. He's good, arguably the best on the grid and certainly one of the best. So where do we draw the line between drivers that bring money from a Mexican billionarie or one that brings money from a Spanish bank?

You can draw the line at Gutierrez not being paid 25 million to race for McLaren by yep you guessed it McLaren

Edited by RedOne, 16 December 2014 - 04:46.

[kosmos]

Bizarre deal, Gutierrez career F1 will go nowhere from here but I guess is better than stay in home. I guess this means De La Rosa is out.

Edited by kosmos, 16 December 2014 - 07:10.

[keshav]

Bizarre deal, Gutierrez career F1 will go nowhere from here but I guess is better that stay in home. I guess this means De La Rosa is out.

What next for De La Rosa now? Considering McLaren is set with Magnussen as their test driver.

[dreamer]

I think this is a very good deal for both sides. Ferrari gets a young driver that's motivated, knows the Ferrari engine, and is willing to do the hard work to possibly be in contention for a race seat when Kimi retires. 

 

I don't think that he'll replace Kimi when he retires but I agree with the rest of your post. 

[Richard T]

What next for De La Rosa now? Considering McLaren is set with Magnussen as their test driver.

Sports cars?

[lbennie]

Did you guys even pay attention to junior catagories?

The guy is no mug & won championships.

 

All drivers have sponsors these days.

 

circle jerk away

[loki]

You can draw the line at Gutierrez not being paid 25 million to race for McLaren by yep you guessed it McLaren

Alonso brought Santander to Ferrari and they paid him.  Just because his new deal doesn't bring them doesn't matter.  He still brought a lot of money to the team.  In his new deal I'd say it's more like Honda footing the bill, or at least part of it for a deal that good.  Dennis doesn't have unlimited resources.  He isn't able to fund the purchase of more shares without investor help and that's a pretty big chunk of cash for them to pony up given thier performance lately and the fact that are at best the fourth best funded team on the grid.  To add insult to injury they were handly beat by one team that doesn't have the resources they have.  I think it's a good investment to have Fred drive and keep Jenson around for another year to get the car up to speed before they give the ride to a young guy but to suggest McLaren in and of itself is awash with all this cash for Alonso I think is wide of the mark.  Just like with Santander, when someone wants you there they will pay to have you there regardless of it's the team, a team sponsor or partner or a driver's personal sponsor.  There is entirely too much drama focused on where the funding came rather than how any particular driver would do regardless of the funding source.

[aramos]

Yep. Being a reserve driver severely limits your options of a full time drive in another series, you're not going to convince a competitive driver to do it.

 

Still plenty of flexibility if he wants to run Formula E or maybe a GT Pro drive  in WEC. Both of which Ferrari would help with.

[Vibe]

[TheRacingElf]

Big surprise!....not

[charly0418]

The only thing missing is Perez now

[ConsiderAndGo]

Shrewd business. 

[Collective]

Well, there it is... Not a bad deal for Ferrari at all... You don't need a rockstar for the sim work, he will be head down and work hard, and Ferrari will get cash in the year where F1 goes back to Mexico.

 

Also, Esteban's hometown probably has the higher concentration of potential Ferrari customers in all of Mexico... I already see him entertaining some of them in GP weekends. A bit sad after his strong first few years in junior formulas... hopefully he'll get some other gig, like Kobayashi did for a while, even if he wasn't the "test and reserve driver".

[Maikel0230]

Not a bad deal at all for Ferrari, I guess Santander is leaving next year.