Sir Jackie Stewart Believes Di Resta Would Be Good For Ferrari

Former 3-time World Champion Sir Jackie Stewart has tipped Paul di Resta as a possible understudy to Fernando Alonso, with the former DTM driver making a competitive start to his F1 career last season. Paul di Resta finished in the points in his first two outings for Force India, alongside his then team-mate Adrian Sutil.

With Fernando Alonso’s future Ferrari team-mate currently being highly speculated, with the visible demise of Felipe Massa, many drivers’ including Sergio Perez, Paul di Resta and even Mark Webber have been linked to the Italian outfit. Lately, speculation of Mark Webber one day joining Ferrari have begun to gather momentum, however both Christian Horner and Dietrich Mateschitz have denied these allegations.

“Paul di Resta would be a very good target for Ferrari,” said Sir Jackie Stewart, “Alonso probably has the best toolkit of knowledge and physically is one of the best drivers in the world. Alonso is almost at his peak and to have a young driver such as Di Resta be an understudy to Alonso is something I’d consider if I was at Ferrari.”

Paul di Resta’s highest finishing position so far in 2012 was 6th at the Bahrain Grand Prix, and apart from China the Scot has finished in the points in every race this season. In a season which has been highly unpredictable and competitive, Paul di Resta and team-mate Nico Hulkenberg will have their work cut out to try and come out top of the midfield teams in 2012.

With Ferrari allegedly having made ‘enquiries’ with Force India regarding his current contract with the Silverstone-based team, it seems a potential move to Ferrari for di Resta is more than just speculation. If Paul di Resta does race for Ferrari next season, he’ll be the first British driver to do so since Eddie Irvine back in 1999, who nearly won the World Championship in the same year following a season-long battle with Mika Hakkinen and Heinz-Harald Frentzen.

Picture Copyright © Force India F1 Team