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I don't think it's Alex who is pushing the "rusty" excuse button, Frank. I'm sure he thinks that he could get up to speed fairly quickly, and be quicker than Robbie - that's how drivers think. But those bare facts (i.e. being rusty) would suggest, however, that it would be unlikely to happen straight away. Not a confidence-sapper, just in all probablility true. How long has Robbie had in the car now? He was rusty too, to start with.
But anyway, it isn't Alex's decision. He's desperate to get a few races, obviously, but you have to think what you'd do if you were the team owners, and were looking to go forward. It would be logical to stick with Robbie and keep trying to get him on the pace, for a certain length of time at least. For how long? That I don't know. You have to think Bryan Herta should be up to speed generally, but in two one-hour test sessions, he's not up there either. My point is simply that it takes time, and we're already a quarter of the way through the championship. That's nothing to do with Alex and his abilities or otherwise. My own particular rule of thumb (based on no hard evidence really) is that it takes a rusty driver 3 races to get on the ultimate pace.
I do agree with you about the Senna thing though. It wouldn't have taken him too long, rusty or not, to get up to a very rapid speed, I'm sure, and to develop the car the way it should be. But he was the very best. And we'll never be able to put it to the test.
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