Formula 1: Vijay Mallya Follows Toro Rosso by Choosing Youth over Experience

Despite the decision being promised by Vijay Mallya over a month ago, Force India finally announced today that Paul Di Resta will be joined by former Williams rookie Nico Hulkenberg for the 2012 season.

In a move that leaves Adrian Sutil without a current drive, it echoes the recent revelations at Toro Rosso where experience has been overlooked in favour of "new" talent.

In many ways you can understand the decision. Hulkenberg progressed nicely in his season at Williams, gaining a shock pole position in the process and giving a better impression of himself than his own replacement Pastor Maldonado. 

Teams will always seek to move with the times and acquire the best young talent there is to offer. 
Yet at the same time in Adrian Sutil, Sebastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari you have three drivers each at a peak of their career, now without the competitive drive they deserve for the 2012 season.

Sutil ended 2011 with a superb run of form that saw him finally break into the Top 10 in the drivers championship. Buemi and Alguersuari drove their Toro Rosso cars beautifully to gain a record haul of points for the feeder team to Red Bull. 

For Sutil he may seek solace in a move to Hulkenberg's former team Williams. But is this a step back for a driver who many have proclaimed deserves a better car?

For Buemi and Alguersuari the future looks bleak. With only a second seat at HRT to fight it looks likely they will be relegated to a test driver role or a transfer to an alternative formula. 

Outcomes like this make you judge the decisions more harshly when other teams insist upon keeping the likes of Maldonado and an outgoing and floundering Jarno Trulli. 

Also brought into the mix you have the Renault fallout boys Nick Heidfeld, Vitaly Petrov and Bruno Senna, with especially the first two being stronger than certain drivers within the field. 

Obviously, at the end of the day Formula 1 is a cutthroat sport. To stay in it sometimes you literally need to be the best to survive. It is those drivers who are on the cusp and without massive financial backing who pay the price for their inability to break records.