Spyker drop Albers - Winkelhock to fill in

[Blake]

Although Albers has been putting in poor performances all season when compared to his rookie team-mate, Sutil, he actually hasn’t been dropped because of his lack of performance.

His contract was terminated with immediate effect, as one of his main sponsors failed to pay their bills to the Spyker team. Thus, it appears his drive was entirely dependant on funding. Surprised? Me neither.

His replacement for the European GP and beyond has not yet been announced.

 

[Bram Turismo]

Somewhere, I hoped he got replaced. After all his mistakes, especially after the French GP, you'd start to think that Albers is a danger to F1. Seeing YouTube clips from the incident, what was he thinking?! The lollypop man didn't give him a sign to go, all the mechanics were shouting "No! wait you moron!"

Now, a new driver...Klien maybe?

 

[Omnis]

I'd say Mr. Replacement, Jacques Villeneuve.

 

[Pupik]

I'd say Mr. Replacement, Jacques Villeneuve.

Nah, I doubt he'd jump into the seat of a truly uncompetitive car. I think we'd sooner see Jean Alesi drive it.

Who's the other test/practice drivers for Spyker?

 

[daan]

I presume they've just terminated his contract rather than terminating him? Termination is a bit harsh.

 

[Pupik]

Termination is a bit harsh.

He's been ordered-to-stop-driving-for-them-with-extreme-prejudice.

 

[Blake]

I presume they've just terminated his contract rather than terminating him? Termination is a bit harsh.

I knew someone would say that. I actually figured it would be Chris, to be honest.

 

[daan]

I knew someone would say that. I actually figured it would be Chris, to be honest.

Sorry.

I'm at work. I'm bored. Couldn't resist.

 

[Blake]

It’s okay. I understand.

 

[Alex.]

owned

 

[Sureboss]

I'd say Mr. Replacement, Jacques Villeneuve.

Considering how much he'd want in dosh there is no hope in that at Spyker.

 

[ExigeEvan]

Jos Verstappen! Jos Verstappen! Jos Verstappen!

 

[Venari]

*pop* As if by magic, Jos Verstappen appeared...

Just messin' with ya.

 

[Danny]

Albers has been dropped?

My world has fallen apart (and Appie will cry for days).

 

[Dougboy]

"Do I still have a future in Formula 1? Of course, there is always a future and I would never give up. It won't be easy to fight and get to the top but I will do all I can. There is more than Spyker in Formula 1."

I found that to be quite funny

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I found that to be quite funny

Espescially since if Spyker don't want you, you're pretty much screwed.



I remember someone said that this year either Ralf or Albers would get fired first. It was just a question of who it would be.



EDIT: Heheheheh

 

[Dougboy]

After re-watching that incident, why did the lollipop man lift? I would have smacked him in the head even if he was going to leave, sort of like how the Honda lollipop man whacked Jenson in the head last year

 

[daddy-o]

I'd say Mr. Replacement, Jacques Villeneuve.

If Roberto Moreno is healthy they should woo him into the seat. He has a great record when stepping into unknown (to him) cars. Of course those cars are usually pretty well sorted instead of the Spyker which is pretty well sotted.

I thought SPYKER itself was going tits up. Weren't they putting the fat lady on stand-by a couple of weeks ago?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

After re-watching that incident, why did the lollipop man lift? I would have smacked him in the head even if he was going to leave, sort of like how the Honda lollipop man whacked Jenson in the head last year

The lollipop man probably lifted so that he didn't hit Albers. JB's lollipop man only hit him because he was too slow when Button pulled away; Albers' lollipop man probably pulled back on instinct.

 

[Muzaffar]

I don't know who to blame for that?Either the lollipop man was nervous or that Albers was just pissed of that Adrian Sutil had just did a faster lap time than he did at that time....but whatever the reason,Albers has no drivers seat.A move to CART would be nice. (and if this was a crazy claim,trade seats with Sébastien Bourdais and get him to drive for Spyker)But anyways its almost impossible to find a driver at the moment so they may have to do with one of their test drivers.

Spain - Adrián Vallés
Malaysia - Fairuz Fauzy
Netherlands - Giedo van der Garde
Germany - Markus Winkelhock

I do hope to get to see Fauzy driving in F1 (another F1 driver from Malaysia since Alex Yoong.) but i don't really know how good he is.But i think they could swap each test driver for each race just like how Red Bull did with Christian Klien and Vitantonio Liuzzi.

 

[Casio]

You're all wrong.

MS will come back and rebuild Spyker from the ground into a super power.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Winkelhock is probably the most experienced of the four, but as Spyker is a Dutch consortium and Giedo van der Garde is Dutch himself, he'll probably get the drive.

 

[ExigeEvan]

You're all wrong.

MS will come back and rebuild Spyker from the ground into a super power.

Like Hill did when he went to Arrows, right?

 

[nitro_2005]

Maybe by looking at all 4 of their test drivers' past experience might be a factor of who gets the drive.

Markus Winkelhock:

2000: German F3 frontrunner
2004: DTM in a Mercedes CLK
2005: World Series by Renault
2006: Midland test driver

Adrian Vallés:

Strong karting career
Spanish F3
2004: World Series by Nissan
2005: Formula Renault 3.5 World Series - 2nd with 2 wins
2006: GP2 with Campos Racing; Midland test driver

Giedo Van de Garde:

2003: Formula Renault 2000 - 6th
2004 - 2006: Formula 3 Euroseries - 1 win and 3 poles
Part of the McLaren Young Driver's Programme
2007: World Series by Renault with Victory Engineering; Spyker test driver

Fairuz Fauzy:

1994: Starts karting
1999: British Formula Ford
2000: British Formula Renault
2002: British F3 - B-Class
2003: British F3 - Main class with SYR and Promatecme
2004: British F3 - Main class with Menu and P1
2005: GP2 with DAMS - 24th
2006: GP2 with Super Nova Racing - 25th; A1GP with Team Malaysia
2007: Spyker test driver; World Series by Renault with Cram Competition

 

[Touring Mars]

Looks like Klien is in the driver's seat, for a test anyway.

I'm sure that if Spyker had a Lewis Hamilton on their hands, they might not have been so hasty to drop their driver so quickly.

 

[TheCracker]

Maybe by looking at all 4 of their test drivers' past experience might be a factor of who gets the drive.

Due to the nature of why Albers was dropped - i would have thought it was more reliant on how much money they can bring with them.

 

[nitro_2005]

That article does also mention that Winkelhock, Narain Karthikeyan and Roldan Rodriguez, GP2 driver with Minardi Piquet Sports are also in the frame as well.

 

[Muzaffar]

Speaking of GP2,why doesn't anyone want to sign Bruno Senna as a test driver?He is got to be the most awesome driver in GP2 (in my opinion anyways...) He could be as good as (or even greater than) Lewis Hamilton or even Nelson Piquet Jr.I think this should be a great chance for him to get into F1 if he was able to get a test drive......

 

[Danny]

Looks like Klien is in the driver's seat, for a test anyway.

But...can Klien get it done?

 

[Blake]

Klien is the best option IMO. Honda seem willing to let him do work for other teams, and he has a lot of F1 experience. He’s also a proven quantity, so it would be beneficial to see how Sutil performs in relation to him.

Speaking of GP2,why doesn't anyone want to sign Bruno Senna as a test driver?He is got to be the most awesome driver in GP2 (in my opinion anyways...) He could be as good as (or even greater than) Lewis Hamilton or even Nelson Piquet Jr.I think this should be a great chance for him to get into F1 if he was able to get a test drive......

Senna hasn’t really impressed me a heap in GP2. The GP2 field seems to be lacking depth this year, and Senna only has two podiums. I don’t think he’s ready for F1. Some more time in GP2 will do him good.