2011 Driver Transfer Market

Vitaly Petrov's future will reportedly be announced on December 22nd at a press conference in Moscow. I'd say that means he's staying with Lotus Renault - you don't have a press conference to announce you're not driving for them. My only source is Petrov's official website and it's written in Russian (the English translation takes a whole to be added).
 
Say whaaatt??? That guy doesn't even deserve a drive in anything F1. Put Chandhok, or just leave Di Grassi in the car.


About the KERS thing, well, it is a very expensive technology to develop ,which Cosworth will have to do. I don't blame them.
 
Peter
Say whaaatt??? That guy doesn't even deserve a drive in anything F1. Put Chandhok, or just leave Di Grassi in the car.
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Are you basing this on his GP2 results? In that case, I shouldn't have to remind you that Kamui Kobayashi never set the GP2 world alight.

Peter
About the KERS thing, well, it is a very expensive technology to develop ,which Cosworth will have to do. I don't blame them.
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Except that Williams are running it next year and they've still got Cosworth engines.
 
I find it funny how the first 2 posters say that he does not deserve a seat, yet D'Ambrosio outperformed Di Grassi in practice sessions. Also, see interludes' comment.
 
interludes
Are you basing this on his GP2 results? In that case, I shouldn't have to remind you that Kamui Kobayashi never set the GP2 world alight.
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But he at least won GP2 Asia. And Jean wasn't anything special in his FP sessions.

interludes
Except that Williams are running it next year and they've still got Cosworth engines.
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Williams have the resources to develop and run a KERS. HRT and Virgin don't. They'll have to try and make their own, or buy Williams own. Expensive, expensive, expensive either way.
 
Peter
But he at least won GP2 Asia. And Jean wasn't anything special in his FP sessions.
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As Bram pointed out, d'Ambrosio was faster than di Grassi in practice sessions. And while he might not have any GP2 titles to his name, he has won a race as recently as Monaco this year, and picked up a dozen podiums in the past three years. He also won the 2007 International Formula Master title. He's not completely incompetent, like, say, Plamen Kralev.

Also, who is this "Jean" that you speak of? It's Jérôme, the Belgian form of "Jeremy". Like Clarkson. If he were British, I'd say his name would be Jeremy Ambrose.

Peter
Williams have the resources to develop and run a KERS. HRT and Virgin don't. They'll have to try and make their own, or buy Williams own. Expensive, expensive, expensive either way.
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Williams are using a Cosworth-designed KERS. Their flywheel system isn't being used next year.
 
Di Grassi didn't really impress me this year anyway, so not really shocking news. Besides, its purely a pay driver swap, really not an indication of the team's views on their respective talents. That said, I doubt we will se Di Grassi in F1 again anytime soon without some cash.
I'm just glad its not Soucek.
 
Ardius
I'm just glad its not Soucek.
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Same, but I don't think he would have signed for Virgin if they offered him the drive for free. I've never liked his attitude - he's always struck me as demanding a competitive drive simply because he is Spanish, and therefore will some day be World Champion. Of the remaining seats available, I don't think he'd settle for anything but the second Lotus Renault.

Speaking of the remaining seats, this is how I see them playing out:

Renault - Vitaly Petrov
Toro Rosso - Jaime Alguersuari and Sebastien Buemi, with the lower-placed driver dropped after ten races
Force India - Paul di Resta and Nico Hulkenberg, with Liuzzi dropped and Sutil off to test for Mercedes
Hispania - Davide Vasecchi (impressed at young driver test) and Giedo van der Garde (brings money)

But even as it currently stands, the 2011 grid is possibly the most international we've ever seen - between the driver alone, roughly twelve different nationalities are represented, with more to come should Buemi and Petrov be retained (and van der Garde signed).
 
Force India and Sutil are not going to part services just yet, even though we are all kind of tired of that partnership, its still working so I see no reason why it will end now. Sutil obviously wants to prove himself in a new team, but I don't see him gambling with a test drive unless he is mad.
I don't see Hulkenburg pipping Di Resta or Liuzzi either, as solid as he was, FI are too tied up with either honouring Liuzzi's contract or rewarding Di Resta's Mercedes connection.

I would be surprised to see Hulkenburg there anyway, much as I would love to see it.

Didn't we have 13 nationalities this year? And I seem to remember there being 13 in 2001 too, probably were quite a lot in other years.

Edit: Just checked, I count 15 nationalities for 1989.

Oh, and Soucek would drive for Virgin....he signed up originally because he thought he would drive eventually. So I don't see him refusing a race seat even from HRT. Its more that no team is going to offer him a seat without money and that he isn't really considered a super-talent. I'm glad no one has decided to come and give him some backing. D'Ambrosio is no better or worse than Di Grassi, so not really much of a change for Virgin.
 
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Ardius
Edit: Just checked, I count 15 nationalities for 1989.
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Based on speculative driver moves (ie van der Garde to Hispania) and teams representing nations that doe not have a driver (ie Renault is French, Lotus is Malaysian), it may be as high as eighteen or nineteen nations.

Ardius
Its more that no team is going to offer him a seat without money and that he isn't really considered a super-talent.
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He considers himself a super-talent. Does that help? When he was campaigning for a seat at the beginning of the season, his Formula 2 results kept coming up - and everyone could see that he was more experienced than the rest of the grid combined. It was little wonder that he won everything. Besides, Formula 2 is about the same as Formula 3 these days. Perhaps worse, because Formula 2 drivers need to go into GP3 to get into GP2. There are a few drivers who could probably cut it in GP2 - Kazim Vasiliauskas springs to mind - but by and large, Formula 2 has failed. It was only ever created for political reasons, anyway.

Ardius
I'm glad no one has decided to come and give him some backing.
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I feel the same, thugh largely because of the way he had the Coloni cars impounded. A contract was broken, but it was with Fisichella Motorsport International. By the time the Coloni cars were impounded, FMI and Coloni had gone their separate ways. It was mostly done out of spite. And then Soucek wondered why nobody else on the GP2 grid want him to drive for them. He's the poor-man's Nelson Piquet Jnr.
 
Thats not really saying much, all race drivers think they are a super talent, and will say so in public as this is how you gather sponsorship. You will rarely find a modest driver who accepts he is terrible :lol:.
I don't dislike Soucek because he is arrogant, all race drivers have an arrogant public face, for all we know he might be a nice guy if wasn't for the Coloni mess. I just think Soucek got a little hyped just before 2010 for no reason really other than winning F2. Now, I think F2 is a great series, and I disagree that it ranks below GP3, though its clearly not as competitive as GP2. Technically though, its on a level with GP2 because you do earn a F1 test drive from it. The problem F2 has is simply that its a new series and not a continuation like GP2 is kind of, of F3000. F2 doesn't yet have a level of skill attached to it as the drivers promoted to and from it have yet to make an impact. If an F2 driver gets an F1 drive and impresses, it would help. I kind of hope Jolyon Palmer lands a GP2 seat and does some good with it. Shame though that Dean Stoneman currently has the short straw.
I don't really see much in Kazim, I've personally met him and he's a nice guy and fast but he wasn't fastest in FPA or F2. He's decent but not amazing, and he's been beaten by drivers I don't really rate.

Sakon Yamamoto will no doubt tell his sponsors and prospective employers how amazing he really is, doesn't make him arrogant. Thats simply selling yourself.
 
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Ardius
Thats not really saying much, all race drivers think they are a super talent, and will say so in public as this is how you gather sponsorship. You will rarely find a modest driver who accepts he is terrible :lol:.
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Well, yes, that's true - but to me, Soucek's argument for a drive has always come across as being "I'm super-talented because I'm Spanish. The last Spanish guy to race was a double World Champion, so therefore, I must be super-talented".

Ardius
I don't dislike Soucek because he is arrogant, all race drivers have an arrogant public face, for all we know he might be a nice guy if wasn't for the Coloni mess.
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It's not really bragging if you have actually done what you say. People dislike Sebastian Vettel for his upraised finger, as if he's just dubbed himself number one. But when I see him get out of his car after taking pole position, I have to agree with him on a certain level. After all, pole position is position number one.

Ardius
I just think Soucek got a little hyped just before 2010 for no reason really other than winning F2.
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Like I said, even that was over-rated. He had more experience tha the rest of the field combined.

Ardius
Sakon Yamamoto will no doubt tell his sponsors and prospective employers how amazing he really is, doesn't make him arrogant. Thats simply selling yourself.
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There's a difference between confidence and arrogance, and the difference is that Soucek seems to think he'll just show up and someone will give him a Ferrari or a McLaren drive for no particular reason other than that he's there. He seems to think that he's got some right to be World Champion without really working for it. Like he's already got one hand on the trophy and he'll win the World Championship if someone just gives him the right car. The problem is that there's nothing in his results that is particularly convincing. When Lewis Hamilton came up through the junior ranks, he won just about everything. You could see he was one of the most naturally-talented drivers since the days of Senna, even if you didn't like him. But Soucek has just meandered all over the place. He was wildly inconsistent with both DPR and Super Nova in GP2. He had a good run in the middle of his Superleague Formula season and then just fell off. He won Formula 2, but he might as well have been racing me. And then he pretty much just shows up and says "I'm here, guys - where's my contract?". I can't respect that. I didn't really respect Lewis Hamilton to begin with (as is well-documented), but then he had a really tough season last year and I saw the way he led McLaren off the track just as much as on. And I warmed to him. That's something I respect, and it's not something I can see in Soucek. If he had a tough season, I think he'd be the first one to jump ship.
 
Well I don't think I've ever read any such arrogant words by Soucek, so I can't say I agree with you.
Also, to some extent, Soucek has achieved results to back his "confidence". He was Spanish F3 champion and did almost win WSR. He has won F2 and he was decent in GP2, considering he drove for average/backmarker teams. Whether he deserves an F1 drive is debatable, but he does have decent results to his name, enough to credibly say he is a good driver.
I'd also like to point out that F2 is the one series that doesn't have teams, where everyone has the same team of mechanics. Unlike GP2 where the difference in teams is just as large as F1.

He's achieved more than Yamamoto, does that make Yamamoto arrogant because he tells people he is awesome and has few results to prove it? Not at all, how on earth do you think the non-Vettels and the non-Hamiltons progress up the ladder? Not everyone achieves dominant results and they must all convince their sponsors that they are still the real thing.
 
Peter
-_- Why? 👎
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Money, the Renault team aren't loaded, even with Lotus sponsorship. I'd like to think they are also finally giving a rookie a second chance for a change, but its hard to escape the money Petrov is bringing to the team and the obvious short term benefit sigining someone like Glock or Heidfeld instead of him would be.
It will be interesting what happens now, if Renault continue their 2010 form and fight for the championship, Petrov is really under pressure to perform. But if Renault drop in form, Petrov's money might keep him in. Either way, Petrov really has to improve for 2011 or at least show some signs of improving otherwise Renault are going to have to make the call of going for results rather than relying on money from a pay driver.
This is all made even worse if he continues to be outperformed by drivers like Kobayashi in inferior machinery.
 
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Giedo van der Garde claims that he'll be making a "big" announcement today. However, I can't imagine that he's landed a race seat. There are, offcially, six seats up for grade: two Force Indias, two Toro Rossos and two Hispanias, though I think we can rule the Toro Rossos out. And he was a part of the Spyker fiasco, which Colin Kolles apparently has bitter memories of. Force India, therefore, is the only real option (it's also the only one he's known to have been talking to). Van der Garde was concentrating on getting that second Marussia/Virgin drive before the team went with Jerome d'Ambrosio. It's know that he was talking with Force India for a race seat, but why would he concentrate on Marussia/Virgin if he could join Force India? I suppose you could make the case that he figured he had a better shot with Marussia/Virgin because he wasn't competing with Sutil, Liuzzi, di Resta and Hulkenberg. The problem is that Marussia/Virgin only signed Jerome d'Ambrosio a day or two ago, so there's very little chance that van der Garde has been able to negotiate a contract in just two days. Especially with four other drivers in contention for the two seats. The only way I could see it happening is if van der Garde was offered a contract, but elected to wait and see what Marussia/Virgin were doing. That, however, does not make sense, because who in their right mind would join Marussia/Virgin before Force India? Therefore, I suspect that Giedo van der Garde has signed a contract to be test and reserve driver for a team, probably Force India. The direct implication of this is that Paul di Resta is no longer Force India's test and reserve driver. Alternatively, Mercedes have a vacant test driver role since Nick Heidfeld left the team, first to test for Pirelli and then to race for Sauber. But I can't see Ross Brawn being too interested in him, and there has been nothing to connect van der Garde to Brackley. If Mercedes take anyone as test driver, it will probably be Paul di Resta or Nico Hulkenberg.

Unless van der Garde has somehow convinced Colin Kolles to take him on for 2011 with Hispania. I admit that my source on Kolles having bitter memories of his time with Spyker is something that I have only heard in passing, though given Kolles' behaviour - particularly his comments about Bruno Senna - it wouldn't surprise me if that were true. Giedo van der Garde was tied up in a contractual dispute between Spyker and Super Aguri, and ultimately went to Spyker, probably because of the Dutch connection. I don't think Kolles would have anything against him personally, but that might not stop him from discriminating against van der Garde.

So I suspect that van der Garde will be announced as a test driver tonight (assuming it happens), and he'll campaign in GP2 next season to try and win the title and improve his chances of getting a drive.
 
Petrov needs to cut out the poor performances next year and make his "glimpses" more frequent. There's no point finishing 4th one race and chrashing out the next 3 races.
 
Money speaks louder than actions. Just look at Williams. Hulkenberg is clealy better than Maldonado, I have direct proof of that, they were teammates in 2009, Hulk's 1st year, Pastor's 3rd, Hulk scored 100 points and championship, Maldonado scored 36. And for God sake, he took a pole position. I don't care, a pole is a pole.


Formula 1 is all business. a 50 year old guy could go in with 50 million bucks and he could probably get a seat over the 20 year old who just took a pole position in an inferior car.
 
Peter
Hulkenberg is clealy better than Maldonado, I have direct proof of that, they were teammates in 2009, Hulk's 1st year, Pastor's 3rd, Hulk scored 100 points and championship, Maldonado scored 36.
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I refer you to the case of Grosjean and Kobayashi. One was very competitive in GP2; the other had the occasional good result, but was not a title contender. Both were promoted to Formula 1. One scored points on his debut and is one of the most popular drivers on the grid; the other kept spinning around and was dropped. It stands to reason that Grosjean, the competitive GP2 driver would go on to become the populat Formula 1 driver who scored points on his debut, whilst Kobayashi would fade into obscurity. But that's not the way it goes. GP2 results might be the truest indicator of a driver's performance, but they are by no means infallible. Both Lewis Hamilton and Nico Hulkenberg won the GP2 title on their first attempt and both have been groomed by their teams for years, but they are light years apart on the circuit. A lot of Formula 1 boils down to how a driver handles the pressure. So while Hulkenberg might have blitzed Maldonado in GP2, that does not mean that Maldonado is out of his depth.
 
Grosjean was in the Renault, Kamuy in the Toyota. The Toyota was definitely a much better car than the Renault. Both took a pole, but The Reanult's pole was with barely any fuel on board. The Renault was probably the worst car of 2009. The Toyota was, perhaps one of the better cars. And Kamuy didn't score on his debut. He scored in Abu Dhabi.
 
Okay, this is a bit tricky: there are two Lotuses.

The first Lotus is Team Lotus. They were known as Lotus Racing in 2010, and they're run by Tony Fernandes. They ran green cars this year, and they will continue to run green cars in 2011. They have an unchanged driver line-up for next season: Jarno Trulli in car #20, and Heikki Kovalainen in car #21.

The second Lotus is Lotus Renault GP. They were known as Renault F1 in 2010, and they're run by Eric Boullier and Gerard Lopez. They ran yellow and black cars this year, but next year they wil run black and gold cars in tribute to the old Lotus racing cars from the 1980s. They have no connection to Tony Fernandes: the Lotus in the title is Lotus Cars, run by Dany Bahar. Lotus Cars is title sponsor of Renault F1, rebranded as Lotus Renault GP. They are also running an unchanged line-up: Robert Kubica in car #9 and Vitaly Petrov in car #10.
 
Neither of them do actually. But The first one is an attempt to revive the name. The second is a manufacturer who is only in to get some money and will be out in a few years.
 

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