Spyker drop Albers - Winkelhock to fill in

[prisonermonkeys]

Also, as we all know, he's Senna's nephew (... right?). If Bruno makes the transition to Formula One, I think he'd be very careful of when he does it. The name Senna is one of the most famous names in motorsport, even moreso than the likes of Andretti or Schumacher. If Bruno comes to F1, there would be a lot of media pressure and public scrutiny if only because of his family name, which is something a youg racer doesn't need. To stick him in the underperforming, perennial tail-ender that is the Spyker F8-VII would but professional suicide.

 

[Solid Lifters]

I never saw it coming.

 

[Gabkicks]

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.

damn I'm actually a bit supried he was dropped. i thought they woulda waited untill the end of the season to drop him

 

[prisonermonkeys]

They wouldn't be able to do that since Albers was a pay driver. It's all well and good to be honourable about it, but Spyker wouldn't be getting any money. They might have considered it if Albers had actually been sensible; his little incident at Magny-Cours wouldn't have helped his chances much.

 

[livemusic]

Looks like I need a new Fantasy F1 second driver. He was only stealing my points anyway...

 

[13thmonkey]

They should have taken Robert Doornbos instead of Albers, too late now though
Look at how he,s performing in IRL or was it CART....dunno.
but he,s a lot better driver then Albers imho.

 

[Kylehnat]

An empty grid spot is better than Albers, because the empty grid spot does not put other drivers or crew members in danger. It also produces farts that don't stink.

 

[Omnis]

Are the teams allowed to only field one car?

 

[Blake]

No more than 24 cars will be admitted to the Championship, two being entered by each competitor.

No.

 

[Only_in_f1]

I think they can. They can withdraw drivers. But im not exactly sure what the rules for running cars is.


Guess not

 

[Touring Mars]

The Official F1 site confirmed that Markus Winkelhock will drive for Spyker at the Nurburgring this weekend...

 

[mipuumal]

Sakon Yamamoto signed as replacement driver for Christian Albers for the remaining 7 races.

Sakon Yamamoto will race for the Spyker F1 team in the remaining seven Grands Prix of the season, autosport.com understands.

The Japanese driver, who raced for Super Aguri last year in 11 rounds, will replace Christijan Albers, who was let go by Spyker before last weekend's European Grand Prix.

The 25-year-old is currently racing in the GP2 Series with BCN while he continues acting as Super Aguri's test driver.

Yamamoto is set to sign the contract with Spyker today and the deal is expected to be officially confirmed by Spyker in an announcement tomorrow.

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/61134

 

[Blake]

Awesome, he can’t even score a point in GP2. Great to see more quality drivers in the field.

 

[Only_in_f1]

Didn't the FIA throw Yamamoto out of the championship last year because he was dangerous? Or did Super Aguri just sack him?

 

[Kylehnat]

That was Ide. Yamamoto didn't cause any problems like that.

 

[Only_in_f1]

Ah, thanks for that, i knew someone at Super Aguri had thier licence revoked.

 

[darkfinal]

Why?? Bring Winkelhock back!

Even if neither him nor Yamamoto are going to go past the 20th position, I think Winkelhock deserves to enjoy more F1 races just for what he did at Nürburgring.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Awesome, he can’t even score a point in GP2. Great to see more quality drivers in the field.

Or more rear-end antics.

 

[Lee]

Awesome, he can’t even score a point in GP2. Great to see more quality drivers in the field.

Exactley what I thought when I saw the story, he didn't seem all that impressive at Silverstone this year. If they really want a Japanese, atleast go for Nakajima..

 

[MustangSVT]

Yamamoto is an awful driver. These people need to start getting decent drivers.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Exactley what I thought when I saw the story, he didn't seem all that impressive at Silverstone this year. If they really want a Japanese, atleast go for Nakajima..

Nakajima's backed by Toyota, which is probably how he ended up at Williams.

Yamamoto is an awful driver. These people need to start getting decent drivers.

Albers was a pay driver and that income was probably amajor source of finance for Spyker; it's likely Yamamoto could offer more money than Winkelhock, so he was therefore more attractive (plus, he has more experience, even if it is limited.).

 

[Blake]

Exactley what I thought when I saw the story, he didn't seem all that impressive at Silverstone this year. If they really want a Japanese, atleast go for Nakajima..

Why would a Dutch team want a Japanese driver?

 

[Muzaffar]

Why would anyone want Yamamoto?He's a reckless driver in F1 (oops,thats Ide ) But anyways,i thought he was in GP2 or something.And why didn't they go with Jos Verstappen or even any of their test driver.If it was money that they are looking for,they could at least hire someone with more money....