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Paul di Resta has bumped up the British numbers racing in Formula 1 this year by finally signing for Force India.
But unlike his compatriots, McLaren drivers and world champions Lewis Hamilton and Jenson Button, Di Resta is out to prove he deserves his place on the grid.
The likeable 24-year-old Scot, whose promotion has been expected for some time, has plenty of reasons to feel confident about his first season in F1.
Over the course of 12 months as Force India reserve in 2010, Di Resta has already managed to galvanise the team's support.
His manager Anthony Hamilton, father of Lewis, revealed: "There hasn't been anything negative from the team. Paul has done a great job and they love him."
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The team were so smitten by Di Resta that his seat does not depend on sponsorship - in stark contrast to 2011's other rookies, Pastor Maldonado of Williams, Virgin's Jerome D'Ambrosio and Sauber's Sergio Perez.
In fact, to partner Di Resta with German Adrian Sutil, Force India will have to pay a financial settlement to Sutil's 2010 team-mate Vitantonio Liuzzi for breaking the firm contract the Italian had for this season.
Force India must be certain Di Resta has something worth paying for.
The son of racer-turned-businessman Louis di Resta and cousin of three-time IndyCar champion Dario Franchitti, Di Resta has described having racing "in his blood".
After winning the 2010 German touring car championship (DTM) for Mercedes on his weekends off from F1 duties, Di Resta arrives as a proven champion.
In his junior career, the Scot raced against future F1 world champions Hamilton and Sebastian Vettel, notably beating the German to the Formula Three Euroseries crown.
Di Resta recalled in a 2008 interview: "Sebastian was my team-mate in 2006. I definitely beat him on far more occasions than he ever beat me.
"I'm not saying that I'm a faster or better driver than him but you'd have to say there's at least parity between us.
"As for Lewis, when we had the same machinery we were equally good."
In terms of raw talent Di Resta may well be a match for two of F1's fastest men but it will be difficult for him to prove it when he rejoins them on track.
The laidback Scot's first task will be to adapt his racing mindset from DTM's slower 'tin-top' cars to F1's open, single-seater speed machines.
The difference between driving a touring car with 500bhp and an F1 car charged with 750bhp and tonnes of downforce can be compared to handling a family estate car and a supercar.
"It requires a different style to drive both [cars] on the limit; it's not easy," explains McLaren reserve and driver Gary Paffett, who was one of Di Resta's Mercedes team-mates in the DTM last year.
"But if you can win in DTM it puts you in a good position to do a good job in F1. Paul will do a good job - but how good?
"If you're used to winning you might have to get over the fact that you're not going to be beating the McLarens and Ferraris week in, week out or beating your team-mate 100% of the time. That's something you have to learn."
In eight first practice sessions over grand prix weekends for Force India last season, Di Resta was only able to out-pace either Sutil or Liuzzi, who alternated in the other car, once.
Improving that niggling statistic will be a target for the Scot when the season begins with free practice in Bahrain on 11 March.
Beyond that, barring a major surprise Di Resta will not have the machinery capable of reigniting his teenage rivalry with Hamilton and Vettel, Red Bull's reigning champion.
Force India finished seventh in the constructors' championship last season with Sutil collecting best-place finishes of fifth in Malaysia and Spa. In terms of pace, both drivers failed to qualify inside the top 10 in the final six races of 2010.
The development of Force India's 2011 car has had to absorb some unsettling changes at the team's Silverstone factory, with two technical directors, James Key and Mark Smith, as well as chief designer Lewis Butler leaving for rival teams in the space of a year.
Force India intend to fine-tune the new VJM04 car in the wind tunnel before introducing it at the second pre-season test in Jerez - a policy also adopted by McLaren, but not by Red Bull, Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault and Williams, who will all have new cars ready for the first test in Valencia next week.
After the flashbulbs and fanfare of being unveiled as an F1 driver have died down, Di Resta will start the process of making his opportunity count in Valencia driving a modified 2010 car.
Di Resta may still have everything to prove in F1 but like the rest of 2011's rookies he also has nothing to lose.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sarahholt/2011/01/paul_di_resta_has_bumped.html
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Valencia
On a cold January morning in Valencia it was hard for Red Bull to bask in their glories of last season's double championship success as they unveiled their 2011 challenger.
World champion Sebastian Vettel wisely wore a woolly hat and a blond beard as he and team-mate Mark Webber shiveringly unsheathed the RB7.
There was even an early attempt to burst Red Bull's bubble when a plucky journalist asked in the team's first media conference of the new season, "Have you thought that this car could be complete junk?"
Webber stared into the middle distance, designer Adrian Newey fashioned a face of indifference and it was left to Vettel to answer in shock, "No!"
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By the end of the first day, Vettel had emphatically answered the question on the track by holding sway at the top of the timesheets.
The world champion was more than 0.7 seconds ahead of the next 2011 car, which happened to belong to the man he beat to the 2010 crown, Ferrari's Fernando Alonso.
Times don't count for much on the first day of winter testing as the teams are furiously tinkering with the cars, running with unknown amounts of fuel on board and learning how to adapt to the Pirelli tyres, which will be used instead of Bridgestone this season.
But Vettel's marker was undeniably a statement of intent - Red Bull are out to defend both titles.
"It's a good sign," Vettel commented after his first day back in the cockpit. "Generally it's better to be on top of the ranking than being at the other end.
"What we achieved [in 2010] made us all very proud and no-one can take it away from us.
"But we have to develop on how good we were last year or the others will pass us. We have to stay focused, keep learning and keep trying to get better. If we just have the same approach as last year then we won't move forward."
Red Bull were cagey about the specific design changes and upgrades to the 2011 car.
Perhaps you cannot blame them when some of the other teams were hovering amid the media throng at the Red Bull launch trying to get a glimpse of Newey's latest creation. One rival team representative was even spotted unsubtly snapping away with a long-range zoom lens.
Red Bull simply say that the car is an evolution of its 2010 championship-winning vehicle and that a lot of the changes are "beneath the skin".
The principal tasks for all teams is in incorporating 2011's regulation changes which include the addition of a movable rear wing to aid overtaking, the return of 2009's Kers energy recovery and power boost system and the removal of the double diffuser, as well as gaining an understanding of the new Pirelli tyres.
Unlike last season, when they skipped the first test to spend more time honing the car at their Milton Keynes factory, Red Bull arrived at the opening test determined to take full advantage of the 15 days of testing before the first race of the season next month.
"We felt that the car was ready to be released," explained Newey. "It's always a balance of research time versus development time in terms of performance and reliability. I was keen to get the car out for the first test.
"It's difficult to design the car for the Pirelli tyres. Packaging for Kers is a challenge and no doubt McLaren, Ferrari and Mercedes will have Kers and will be competitive and so for no other reason we need to get it to work for performance off the line.
"In terms of performance we are all struggling to recover the downforce we lost through the double diffuser.
"It is a period of nervousness for us but also a period of excitement."
While Newey grapples with the nuances of designing another peerless car, team boss Christian Horner is tasked with avoiding a repeat of the tensions within his team that threatened to derail last season's championships.
Friction between Vettel and Webber memorably spilled over onto the track at the Turkish Grand Prix when Vettel crashed out in an attempt to pass his team-mate for the lead.
"They'll push each other hard but I don't think they'll push each other too hard as they did in Istanbul," Horner commented.
"They have number one and number two on their cars but that is in many ways irrelevant. We give both drivers equal priority and that's the way we will treat them in 2011."
In their first appearance ahead of the new season, Red Bull presented a united front as a team hungry for more success. With the world champion leading the field, the fastest car on the track and the largest motorhome in the paddock, they already look every inch like being the team to beat when racing resumes next month in Bahrain.
Source: http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/sarahholt/2011/02/champions_red_bull_the_centre.html
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