Needless to say, an experienced driver knows how to make the car go faster and, following a close relationship with the team's mechanics, can improve the car's performances race after race. And, since 2010 will be the very first year of USF1 in the sport, having someone who really understands an F1 car in the cockpit may prove vital.
“In year one, certainly there is an argument for having an experienced F1 driver in the car. We're going to need to get all the information we can as quickly as possible, particularly in an era when they're cutting right back on the amount of testing you can do. There's definitely and argument for that, and then maybe having a young American in the other car,” said Windsor at the team's launch yesterday.
As confirmed by Windsor himself, Rubens Barrichello would probably be one of the few drivers to enter the experienced-driver category USF1 are interested in, as the rest of the pack are more interested in teams that can provide them with competitive cars from the very start.
“In Rubens Barrichello's case he would be good, because he's known two bad years at Honda and that would be a very useful baseline for our operation. But he's almost unique of the drivers out there who would potentially fill the role of the experienced driver,” argued Windsor.
“You can't imagine Jenson Button in a start-up team, driving at 100 per cent knowing that the best he's going to qualify is 14th - which would be good for us - and finishing maybe 10th on a good day. Jenson would want more than that and it would be very difficult working with somebody like that,” concluded Windsor.
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