2011 Driver Transfer Market

He didn't have Barrichello's race pace, but he wasn't too far off (like Petrov to Kubica), which is not bad seeing how Rubens is one of the best drivers out there. It's a shame he couldn't stay, he seems to have a lot of potential. Hoping for the rumour that he's going to Force India to be true, as I don't think Liuzzi is a better driver than him. If not, then a place at STR wouldn't be too bad, but I don't know how STR deals with their driver choices.
 
There was talk of Buemi falling out with Toro Rosso management (yes, again!) so there is potential space there. However, they will always try to promote their own before hiring anyone else. They aren't stupid though, they have taken onboard Bourdais and Sato in the past, so they know not to pass off a good driver. But Red Bull have Daniel Ricciardo, Jean-Eric Vergne, etc waiting in the wings....
I think Hulk is fighting Heidfeld for a seat at Force India. It would be stupid to wait in a test driver role. He would be better off racing sportscars like Grosjean and Senna did than wait around for Schumacher to retire at Mercedes or whatever.
 
GM
The only upgrade from Williams I can think of is as Mercedes reserve driver, replacing Schumacer when he eventually retires.
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Reserve driver is not an upgrade, as Heidfeld has learnt. What if Schumacher stays through the whole of 2011? Other teams will forget about Hulk and he will have nothing to show for 2011.
Like I said, he's better off racing sportscars than being a reserve driver (or doing both). He certainly shouldn't return to junior formulae, although he can't return to GP2 anyway now.

His only option is a race seat, even with Hispania is better than anything else.
 
I seriously doubt Ferrari, but I could see him replacing Liuzzi, hardly moves him any further up the grid though.
 
Hopefully this doesn't mean Di Resta loses his chance at Force India though...thats the only thing that makes me skeptical about that.
 
So it appears that Sebastian Buemi may be getting the boot from Torro Rosso in favor of Daniel Ricciardo.

Story on SpeedTV.com.

After the impressive performance at the young driver tests, the Red Bull bosses might take the young Swiss driver's STR seat and give it to the even younger Aussie. I'm really indifferent about Buemi. He hasn't done much to stand out among the younger drivers. I do like Alguesuari however. It seems like he has more talent and promise in the sport. We all saw him hold off Massa in Abu Dhabi, and let's not forget the battle between him and Schumacher in Australia. I think a Ricciardo-Alguesuari lineup in 2011 could be productive. Hopefully, if STR can get a wrothwhile car on the track, we might see a 2008-esque year, or better!
 
I don't actually think it would be logical at all. Ricciardo set that lap time in a car he was already familiar with, on a circuit that had been seriously rubbered in, against a field of drivers who were mostly new to Formula 1 (except Paffet and Bianchi) and without an ounce of the pressure a Formula 1 driver regularly experiences.

It's more likely that if Ricciardo is to race in 2011, then Toro Rosso will let Buemi and Alguersuari fight it out for the first ten races and then swap Riccairdo in for whoever is worse off after Silverstone, the mid-point of the season.
 
interludes
I don't actually think it would be logical at all. Ricciardo set that lap time in a car he was already familiar with, on a circuit that had been seriously rubbered in, against a field of drivers who were mostly new to Formula 1 (except Paffet and Bianchi) and without an ounce of the pressure a Formula 1 driver regularly experiences.

It's more likely that if Ricciardo is to race in 2011, then Toro Rosso will let Buemi and Alguersuari fight it out for the first ten races and then swap Riccairdo in for whoever is worse off after Silverstone, the mid-point of the season.
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Its illogical in the sense of driver management, but perfectly logical for Toro Rosso management....I wouldn't be surprised if Buemi is kicked out at some point next season as apparently there has already been shouting matches and complaints about number 1 status' and such. So this is the 3rd driver in a row that STR have utterly failed to manage properly and will probably screw over...again.
 
It's a smarter move to put Ricciardo in a test role than in a full-time race seat. He might have set fast lap times at the young driver days, but he wasn't exactly setting lap times in comparison to the regulars. Letting him run in Friday practice will give a much better indication of where he is at relative to everyone else. The problem is that he won't be able to race in GP2 in 2011, because I'm pretty sure there are rules in place to prevent drivers competing in GP2 and taking part in a Grand Prix in some form on the same weekend. After all, Jerome d'Ambrosio was supposed to drive for Virgin in FP1 for the last few races, but didn't do it in Abu Dhabi.

Unfortunately now, though, the Australian commentators are going to be putting a hell of a lot of emphasis on FP1 times when it's generally accepted that FP1 times are about as relevant to the sport as flamingoes.
 
Which is why I said its an illogical driver management move to put Ricciardo in the race seat and not let Buemi and Alguesuari develop a little longer.
But this is Toro Rosso, they are terrible driver managers, constantly having arguments with drivers and having little problem with booting drivers after a season or two.
 
Ardius
they are terrible driver managers, constantly having arguments with drivers and having little problem with booting drivers after a season or two.
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Come on, if a driver performs like Bruno Senna in his first full year, which team in their right mind is going to keep him around? Sure, some drivers like Vitaly Petrov have had horrible moments (the less I think about Japan and Korea, the better), but even Petrov has had flashes of brilliance show through (Turkey, Hungary, Abu Dhabi) that would be enough to justify keeping him arund. Buemi has had two full seasons in Formula 1 now, and if he's not performing - which he clearly isn't; Alguersuari has been doing a better job - then I won't fault Toro Rosso for issuing him with his P45s. Especially if there is someone out there who could be a better match for the team. A driver's second year is widely regarded to be his most important, because you cannot blame mistakes on his being a rookie. With a season under his belt, a driver needs to really show what he is made of in his second year, or else risk floundering as Buemi clearly is. Anyone in the Red Bull Young Driver Program faces more pressure than drivers in other teams, simply because there are so many drivers in the program and so few seats to go around, even when Red Bull have two teams to their name. Unless Buemi pulls a rabbit out of his helmet next season, I can't see any reason why he should stay around. He's admitted to having his eye on Webber's Red Bull seat when Webber retires or leaves the team, but when he's making mistakes like the one he did in Korea, it's becoming fairly obvious that he's been so distracted by the possibility of a vacant Red Bull seat that he's forgotten to concentrate on the job at hand.
 
You can't really have the same expectations on the drivers when the team doesn't deliver a top car in the first place. The fact Buemi and Alguesuari have been fairly equal and anonymous all year suggests there is no problem with the driver line up. They haven't had any Suzuka 2009 moments anyway.
Put it this way, Ricciardo or Heidfeld...or pretty much anyone wouldn't have done much better in Toro Rosso this year.

And whats wrong with Bruno Senna? How is he an example of a bad rookie? Did you even follow his progress this year? I think Bruno has done enough to earn a 2nd chance, he has finished races and gotten quite close to the Virgins on several occasions in a clearly inferior car. Theres really not much else he can do in a car that had no updates and was seconds off the pace of everyone else.
He at least deserves a 2nd year at Hispania if not another backmarker team.
 
Yeah, it's hard to blame Bruno Senna when the car he was in was so terrible. I doubt even Ayrton Senna could have done any good in that HRT car.
 
astrosdude91
Yeah, it's hard to blame Bruno Senna when the car he was in was so terrible. I doubt even Ayrton Senna could have done any good in that HRT car.
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And what would Petrov done? For me it is quite clear that Bruno Senna's performance in 2010 was better than what the car he was given should allow.

And that's how I rate drivers. A, B and C

Driver A - Better than the car he is driving (2010 examples: Alonso, Hamilton, Kubica, Rosberg, Barrichelo, Kobayashi, Kovalainen, Senna)

Driver B - As good as the car given to him (2010 examples: Vettel and Webber, Button for most of the year, many more and Karun Chandok)

Driver C - Worse than the car allows (2010 examples: Massa, Petrov, Schumacher, de la Rosa)

on second thought maybe Schumacher deserves a B- and Button a A-


Now, looking at 2010, to compare what Petrov achived and what Senna achieved is simple. Just read what interludes wrote and replace the names. Where's Petrov put Senna, and vice-versa. It was Senna that has shown signs of brilliance. Only problem is he was not between the midfield and the front, he was doing it far, far back in the field.
 
I disagree with De La Rosa, he matched Kobayashi all season long really and he got booted from the team just before they started sorting themselves out. De La Rosa at least performed at the car's performance level.
The driver's I'd say were underperforming their machinery were Petrov, Massa and Liuzzi (though he was good at the start of the year).

Surprisingly, Yamamoto was pretty good really. I and others gave him a lot of stick and Hispania for replacing Chandhok with him. But he really didn't do that badly, especially at Suzuka. Its hard to judge though because that car is so bad and the problems for each driver varied. Sometimes Senna got no running in practice or Klien had gearbox problems or Chandhok had no practice before qualifying....
The only indicator I really saw all season was when Senna was battling Di Grassi at Turkey for position and beat him. I think he did this at another race too, I can't remember off the top of my head.
 
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Hun200kmh
And what would Petrov done? For me it is quite clear that Bruno Senna's performance in 2010 was better than what the car he was given should allow.

And that's how I rate drivers. A, B and C

Driver A - Better than the car he is driving (2010 examples: Alonso, Hamilton, Kubica, Rosberg, Barrichelo, Kobayashi, Kovalainen, Senna)

Driver B - As good as the car given to him (2010 examples: Vettel and Webber, Button for most of the year, many more and Karun Chandok)

Driver C - Worse than the car allows (2010 examples: Massa, Petrov, Schumacher, de la Rosa)

on second thought maybe Schumacher deserves a B- and Button a A-


Now, looking at 2010, to compare what Petrov achived and what Senna achieved is simple. Just read what interludes wrote and replace the names. Where's Petrov put Senna, and vice-versa. It was Senna that has shown signs of brilliance. Only problem is he was not between the midfield and the front, he was doing it far, far back in the field.
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Though I agree with you in the most part, I don't think it's as simple as that with Vettel and Webber. People still underestimate Vettel mainly because people have always underrated Webber. They see that Vettel averages only about a tenth faster than his team mate and assume, wrongly, that this isn't anything impressive. Webber has shown on numerous occasions throughout his career, particularly in qualifying that he is a rapid driver, Monaco '06, Brazil '07, Silverstone '08 spring to mind - fantastic qualifying performances where he decimated his team mate and put his car amongst much faster ones. I think that should always be borne in mind when people assess just how fast Vettel really is.
 
it has been confirmed that team lotus are using drivers heikki kovaleinen and jarno trulli

trulli will nt be retiring for another 3 seasons
 
lw
It has been confirmed that team lotus are using drivers Heikki Kovaleinen and Jarno Trulli.

Trulli will not be retiring for another 3 seasons.
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Please use correct grammer. Foreign people will have trouble understanding this.
 
FIA has published the OFFICIAL 2011 entry list:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88534


So, we have:

Red Bull Racing
1. Sebastian Vettel
2. Mark Webber


Vodafone McLaren Mercedes
3. Jenson Button
4. Lewis Hamilton


Scuderia Ferrari Marlboro
5. Fernando Alonso
6. Felipe Massa


Mercedes GP Petronas F1 Team
7. Michael Schumacher
8. Nico Rosberg


Renault F1 Team
9. Robert Kubica
10. TBA


AT&T Williams
11. Rubens Barrichello
12. TBA


Force India F1 Team
14. TBA
15. TBA


Sauber F1 Team
16. Kamui Kobayashi
17. Sergio Perez


Scuderia Toro Rosso
18. TBA
19. TBA


Team Lotus
20. Jarno Trulli
21. Heikki Kovalainen


HRT F1 Team

22. TBA
23. TBA


Marussia Virgin Racing
24. TBA
25. TBA


Interesting that Fernandes' team shows up as TEAM LOTUS.


And so we have still in TBA status the drivers of the following TEN cars:

Renault #10

Williams #12

Force India #14

Force India #15

Toro Rosso #18

Toro Rosso #19

HRT F1 Team #22

HRT F1 Team #23

Marussia Virgin Racing #24

Marussia Virgin Racing #25
 

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