Patronise F1

Is it really possible to have too much of a good thing? I mean really? Certainly not many people would be quick to complain if they were suddenly handed a random lottery win, or a year's supply of Kinder Surprises, or a lorryload of cheap gin. Or at least, nobody would complain about that until the inevitable nouveau riche blowout left them buried in credit card debt, or the constant supply of cheap Italian chocolate led to early-onset diabetes, or until their liver exploded.

And that's the issue with having too much of a good thing. At the time, it seems like nothing can go wrong, and it is only at a later date, when the faecal matter hits the rotating cooling device that the folly of your greedy stockpiling becomes apparent. And that is why you can have too much of a good thing, because there will come a point when your largesse comes back to bite you badly.

So consider then, the current situation that Force India and Toro Rosso find themselves in. As things stand they both appear to be in possession of a considerable quantity of driver talent, which is all well and good at the moment. But at some point before the start of the 2012 season, both will have to accept the uncomfortable mathematical axiom that 'three into two doesn't go' and dump an ostensibly vaguely-talented driver by the wayside, the big loser in their personal games of driver-hoarding.

Granted, neither of the teams are quite suffering any sort of issue comparable with trying to resolve some sort of impossible equation involving a Fangio/Senna/Schumacher trio of drivers, wondering which of the multiple champions they can try and placate with a FP1 test role or a loan drive with HRT, but nevertheless there remains the chance that some strong F1 midfield names are facing a year in the wilderness for next season.

The Toro Rosso issue is less of a problem for the team management, given that they will, as they always inevitably do, tow the party line of Caffeine HQ. Whomever from Sebastien Buemi, Jaime Alguersuari and Daniel Ricciardo the Red Bull company wants in their sister team in 2012, they will get, with their latest up-and-coming superstar Jean-Eric Vergne likely to be placated with a Ricciardo-esque FP1 role to keep the race drivers on their toes. But then, just because the uncomfortable decision has been passed on to their owners doesn't make the decision itself any more difficult.

Assuming that the 'boy wonder' Ricciardo comes good at HRT throughout the final eight races, following his first few slightly circumspect races, the Australian will be a shoe-in for one of the seats. Even renowned Aussie-baiter Helmut Marko has said as much during his increasingly surreal babbling to the slightly less-mainstream European F1 press, as the caffeinated squad looks to fast-track their latest prodigy into a position to be ready to step up to the daddy team as and when Mark Webber finally calls it a day.

So, that would leave one seat for either Buemi or Algie. And here the bare statistics seem to be firmly on the side of the Swiss driver. Buemi is 8-3 ahead on qualifying performances for the season so far, 5-3 ahead on finishing positions for the eight races the two drivers have finished, and 12-10 ahead on points in the championship, with Buemi having secured five top ten finishes to Algie's four.

But then dig a little deeper and Algie could at least attempt to put together a case to be the one to stay on with the team. His retirement in China came after he qualified in seventh place, a best for the Italian team on Saturday all season-long, and his eventual DNF came as a result of a wheel nut issue during his first pit stop. And even though Buemi secured some serious plaudits for his drive from 23rd to 8th in the last race in Hungary, Algie himself drove from 18th to 8th in two consecutive races in Canada and Britain.

Indeed, the two are also almost neck and neck on any statistic you care to consult, apart from maybe 'number of times they've said amusing things over the pit radio' or 'number of demented tweets'. Comparing the pair on their total number of positions gained or lost from grid to chequered flag sees Buemi eke out the slenderest victory by 39 positions gained to 36.

Still, the stats do favour Buemi pretty solidly, and so the only residual issue would be Red Bull's own gut feeling on the issue. Does Algie have more potential to grow as a driver, as many observers believe is the case? The Spaniard did at least enter F1 on the back of feeder series titles, something Buemi can't boast, and there is an argument that Buemi has pretty much maxed out his potential already, while with the right conditions, Algie could still achieve something more. To further concern Buemi and his legions of neutral fans, STR team boss Franz Tost has recently said that three years is the optimum timescale to judge whether a driver really is cut out for life in F1, and this is Buemi's third year with the team.

If the Toro Rosso conundrum is baffling enough, then there is an equally perplexing one over on the other side of F1's midfield arena, with Force India also juggling the needs, desires and salaries of three drivers ostensibly good enough for a full 2012 race drive. Adrian Sutil and Paul di Resta are currently the happy race driver duo, but in the background lurks Nico Hulkenberg, a man who this weekend proclaimed that he was "very confident" about securing a race seat with the team next year.

The team's management has been happy to fan the competitive flames between their three metaphorical gin-soaked, money-filled Kinder Surprises, eagerly suggesting that their 2012 driver plans were currently an open book turned to a blank page with 'Um, dunno really' scrawled across it in pencil. Any two of their three contracted drivers can apparently aim for a place in their pair of race seats for 2012. "Shall we toss a coin?" team COO Otmar Szafneuer recently quipped when asked about the team's preferred two for next year.

As far as Hulkenberg goes, it is hard to see how he can not be a tempting race driver. The German already has a pole position to his name after his exploits with Williams in Brazil last year, and although comparing FP1 times as a benchmark for ultimate performance is like comparing reality TV shows as a benchmark for the state of modern music, Hulk has nevertheless shown good form in those sessions, beating di Resta's time on three out of five occasions, and Sutil's on two out of five. Only his unfortunate crash in FP1 in Valencia, which went on to offer an excuse for hamstring di Resta's whole weekend, blots his copybook.

But if the team was thinking of promoting Hulkenberg, then the question then becomes which of their current drivers they cast off into the ether of reserve driver roles, begging to HRT and Superleague Formula. And given that the team has said that they will not be making their final decision until mid-December, those options would likely be the only alternatives for anyone told that they were surplus to requirements.

At Force India, the purely stat-based situation is an intriguing one. Although di Resta has held the upper hand on his more experienced team mate in qualifying, with the head-to-head score currently 7-4 to the Scotsman, Sutil seems to have passed his crown of 'driver most likely to be involved in an incident' over to his team mate in the races, and Sutil has 5-4 advantage over Sutil in races where they have both finished.

But while neither driver has been error-free in races so far this season, di Resta's wing-bending moments of contact can be written off as typical rookie season errors, certainly more so than Sutil's, which are the sort of moments of contact that can never be blamed entirely on him, but have also dogged his career since the very beginning.

So again, pretty much as with STR, the decision for the team to make is one of experience and dogged points accumulation versus the potential of a fast but currently inconsistant younger driver. Their minds may be swung more in favour of the youth of di Resta given that their third option has more experience in the sport compared to STR's Ricciardo option, but the fundamental issue is the same. While Sutil increasingly appears to be a driver that has found his level, nobody is quite sure where di Resta's level is at just yet.

Another thing that might sway the team's decision is the apparent interest in di Resta from Mercedes, who are rumoured to have him earmarked as a possible post-2012 replacement for Schumie. Will Findia be happy to put in the time and effort developing the Scotsman next year only for their engine suppliers to greedily gobble up their fruits of their labours? Maybe they will see a Sutil/Hulkenberg pairing, sending di Resta off to a year playing reserve at Merc, as the better option for longer-term stability.

Essentially then, both teams have some fascinating decisions to make. They might not quite be the sport's most compelling embarrassment of riches story in the history of the sport, but as the increasingly-predictable 2012 silly season winds it's way to a conclusion, it certainly offers enough to keep fans speculating on the complete make-up of next year's grid.

Still though, now that both teams have more than enough of a good thing, it remains for them to work out how they can prevent themselves from having too much of it.

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