Mark Hughes Q&A

Legendary F1 journalist Mark Hughes on why 2012 is so crucial for a number of the sport's big-name drivers.

The Grand Prix editor of Autosport magazine and Technical Editor for Autocourse, Mark Hughes is rightly considered to be one of the most authoritative voices in F1. The good news, then, is that he has joined Sky Sports F1 HD to be the channel's Commentary Expert. And the even better news is that, on the eve of the 2012 season, we sat down with Mark to discuss just a few of the burning driver issues to be resolved in the critical year ahead. Here's part one of that chat... So are we right to consider 2012 a crunch year for any number of the leading drivers?
MH: You look at the top four teams and there will be at least three changes in the very near future with vacancies then becoming available for what are all potentially race-winning cars. It's the question for 2012: just what happens next at Red Bull, Ferrari and Mercedes? And there's a question mark at McLaren too... The changing of the guard is coming, where the thrusting young guns stake their claim to maybe as many as three of those top seats - and this season will see that beginning to play out in a very obvious way, I think. Let's start with Mercedes then. Nico Rosberg is one of the few drivers on the grid with a long-term contract safely deposited in the bank. Just how good is he?
MH: It's only a subjective feeling but I consider Nico to be good but not great. I think he is a 'par player', if you like. Deliver a winning car and he will deliver wins, but I don't see him transcending a car in the way that, for instance, Robert [Kubica] did for Renault - put Robert on a drivers' track like Monaco and suddenly he is on the front row with a mid-grid car. Nico could never do something like that. If a car's rightful place is seventh on the grid, he will put it seventh on the grid. Mercedes have hailed him as a future World Champion though...
MH:Give him a winning car and he will win races and if they give him the fastest car he will have no problem winning a world title. There have been plenty to have won world titles in the past that way. But that's not the same thing as being a great driver because great drivers win races they have no right winning. Fernando [Alonso] can do that, Lewis [Hamilton] can do that, Jenson [Button] can do it in certain circumstances, Michael [Schumacher] used to do it regularly first time around, and [Sebastian] Vettel is good enough, I'm sure, to do that - as he showed at Monza 2008 - but he hasn't needed to subsequently. But with Nico, I've never seen any sign that he is capable of making that sort of difference to a car. Even though he impressed in 2010?
MH: I think that being compared against a struggling Michael flattered the perception he received. Will this be Michael's final year in F1 then?
You would think so. Consider it from this perspective: if Mercedes can provide a car that is, say, as competitive as the McLaren was last season then having a guy who is consistently three or fourth tenths off the mark in qualifying is going to be a major problem - and very problematic for both parties. Whereas it usually made no difference last season that Michael qualified so far away, in terms of lap time, behind Nico because Mercedes were in a midfield void all of their own?
MH: Exactly. Last season Mercedes existed in a vacuum where it didn't really matter how their drivers' qualifying lap times compared. They were 'always' seventh or eighth whereas if they were at the front then those three or fourth tenths would have been very costly every time. What have you made of Michael on his return?
MH:I've seen no sign that he has been able to find what he had before. I used to marvel at how he would come out on track 'cold', long after everybody else had been going round for lap after lap, and be on the mark immediately - and not just on the pace but with the car sitting, straight away, on a knife-edge, where just one more input would have put it in the barriers. All you could say was 'Wow'. But since he has come back, I've just not seen that; he just looks like any other driver. Although he hasn't lost any of his competitive spirit...
MH: He's still ballsy, he will still brake as late as he always did. The difference, though, is that now he has to deal with the consequences whereas before it was almost as if he could feel where the car was going to be. But you have to admire his evident love of the sport and love of racing?
MH: I think he now has an appreciation of how finite a driver's career is and he is out to enjoy these bonus years. But if and when the pressure comes because Mercedes are delivering a potentially-race-winning car and he's not doing the job then it's not going to be so nice for him. Do you share the opinion that Paul di Resta is the likeliest replacement?
MH: He's the obvious candidate because he's in prime position to be the next man in. How good is Paul?
MH: Oh, he's very, very good. Don't forget he beat Sebastian when they were team-mates and he beat Lewis to a karting title. He has a very impressive CV. He's like Jenson in that he has an under-the-radar way of extracting pace from his car. It's a very subtle talent but it's a very deep one as well. But he was beaten by Adrian Sutil last season, wasn't he?
MH: In terms of points, yes. In terms of performance, Paul had the upper hand in the first half of the season and Adrian had the edge in the second. But that's about right; I don't think anything more could have been expected from Paul in his first season. Adrian is just too good a driver to have been totally eclipsed; in terms of speed, Adrian is as quick as anyone out there. I was amazed Williams didn't go for him, though I suspect that his court case was a factor in their decision.