[SkHukV3N]

As the thread title asks, who should drive for those teams rather than who realistically will...

I have to say that regardless of whichever angle to look from, Force India is in a difficult situation. They do have three talented drivers on-board and it is really hard to just give up on one. It is also difficult to evaluate, which ones could be the best choice, because particularly di Resta and Hülkenberg are still in development phase and likely to improve. I know that Hulk didn't manage to impress much on his debut season, but it is worth recalling that the same Sutil wasn't particularly convincing in his initial F1 seasons either, having managed to improve only lately. And I'm sure Hülkenberg has potential to be much better than what he showed in 2010, especially based on his record in junior series. We can only believe that Force India knows, what they are doing, based on what they have seen in Hulk during free practices.

So we have a lot of good drivers fighting only for a few seats and this makes it difficult for teams. The same can be said about Toro Rosso and the whole Red Bull program. Again Alguersuari and Buemi are sort of solid drivers, but the junior records of Ricciardo and Vergne are really impressive. Red Bull can't afford to halt their development as drivers, even to the detriment of current STR drivers. I think one of STR drivers - Buemi - should definitely be let go. Alguersuari + Ricciardo at STR with Vergne doing free practices could perhaps be a conceivable solution unless Red Bull finds a way to fit one of their drivers into another team.

Regarding Williams I think Maldonado has been doing well enough in comparison to Barrichello to be retained for another season. Combined with the enormous amount of money he brings with him, it's almost a no-brainer. As Williams has made lots of changes to build up the team for the future, I think they would do well to find a younger replacement for Barrichello. I see that they are looking for money, so everyone - Räikkönen, Barrichello, Sutil - have been involved in looking for sponsors. I have to admit I'm surprised Bottas has been rumoured as a candidate for a race seat, because I am struggling to see, what he can bring. He has perhaps reasonable talent, but I'm not aware of any financial boost. In any case, I think Sutil would be a really good choice for Williams all around. Fast, reasonably experienced, but also still relatively young driver + some backing as well.

Renault. Yes, personally I'd like to see Grosjean getting a chance. Alongside whoever then. In a broader context - again, like many other midfield teams, money is an important issue for the Enstone team, so keeping Petrov is a lifeline for them. Perhaps more than in any other team, there has been a lot of talk about the underperformance of drivers in this team. First Heidfeld, now the whole line-up. It will be difficult to solve this matter efficiently. Grosjean, despite his talent, is not a sure bet either yet. Lotus Renault GP could also aim for another talented youngster, like Ricciardo or Vergne from Red Bull programme, but none of them is a sure bet for results either, so they might as well try with Grosjean. There have been suggestions that maybe they should aim for an experienced driver, but I don't think Barrichello at this stage of his career is a particularly appealing option any more. If they wanted an experienced driver, they should have kept Heidfeld and tried to help him as much as possible to support him. They didn't. Again, like in the case of Williams, Sutil would be a good choice, but due to the fall-out with Eric Lux they may have burnt the bridges already... Renault needs to take a gamble, so perhaps Grosjean and Petrov and hope that Romain turns out to be a raw diamond? If not, they can go and hunt for some other talented rookie driver, there seem to be a few of them around, who struggle to get a seat in that highly-contested racing world anyway.