The 2012 Driver transfer discussion/speculation thread

[Peter.]

He was talking about the Practice Sessions.^^

 

[The Outlaw]

I'm mistaken, thanks for clarifying. It's early here

 

[F1 fan]

some more fuel added to the fire

 

[Peter.]

Someone already predicted this on a different forum. Ricciardo to buy out Trulli's contract, and Trulli to retire. That opens up the 2nd HRT seat, which will, at the moment likely go to Dani Clos, being Spanish, and a pay driver. Experience is already with the team in the form of de la Rosa, along with a little pocket money, so unfortunately, Liuzzi looks like he will be out of the team.

 

[Prince.M5]

some more fuel added to the fire

And the presence of Oxygen gas has just made it worse... When he said ''I doubt they'll still be able to fight for points next year. They'll still be towards the further end.'' is kind of not really helping him to get the seat either

He just wants a drive, but no confidence. I'm not liking hearing that...

 

[Cowboys965]

some more fuel added to the fire

Yay, something good happens to Lotus!

 

[Peter.]

And the presence of Oxygen gas has just made it worse... When he said ''I doubt they'll still be able to fight for points next year. They'll still be towards the further end.'' is kind of not really helping him to get the seat either

He just wants a drive, but no confidence. I'm not liking hearing that...

He has a point though. Lotus, switching to the Renault engine put them in a good position to take full advantage of the Exhaust Blown Diffuser, something which none of the midfielders were able to do as well, due to not having the Renault powerplant, which is best with the engine mapping. With blown diffusers gone, that advantage that Caterham had is not theirs anymore, so now downforce will rely a lot more on aerodynamics than it did this season.

 

[Prince.M5]

He has a point though. Lotus, switching to the Renault engine put them in a good position to take full advantage of the Exhaust Blown Diffuser, something which none of the midfielders were able to do as well, due to not having the Renault powerplant, which is best with the engine mapping. With blown diffusers gone, that advantage that Caterham had is not theirs anymore, so now downforce will rely a lot more on aerodynamics than it did this season.

Yeah he has a point, but he needs to buy out the seat with confidence, good words and with spirit that he will take the team forward. Not by saying the team will not be able to fight for points and staying in the further end will not make Tony Fernandes a happy man signing a contract for him...

 

[SagarisGTB]

Yeah he has a point, but he needs to buy out the seat with confidence, good words and with spirit that he will take the team forward. Not by saying the team will not be able to fight for points and staying in the further end will not make Tony Fernandes a happy man signing a contract for him...

Yeah, I really don't think it's a good idea to talk about your potential employers like that. He's honest, for me that's great, but others in higher places might not take those words as kindly.

He should also show a little more respect for a Grand Prix winner like Trulli. As a public figure, saying things like "he smashed Trulli" aren't the best words to use.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

some more fuel added to the fire

If Ricciardo is talking up the prospect of replacing Jarno Trulli at Caterham because he does not like his chances at Toro Rosso, then that implies that he won't be racing at Hispania next year. And so the question becomes: who will be?

Personally, I reckon they will go in for Giedo van der Garde, Jan Charouz or Dani Clos. In that order.

 

[astrosdude91]

What happened to Liuzzi?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

What happened, indeed. Hispania need sponsors. I can't see them keeping Liuzzi alongside de la Rosa unless he brings money to the team.

 

[Ardius]

Yeah he has a point, but he needs to buy out the seat with confidence, good words and with spirit that he will take the team forward. Not by saying the team will not be able to fight for points and staying in the further end will not make Tony Fernandes a happy man signing a contract for him...

I don't see anything wrong with what he said, he said "they won't fight for points but they will make a step forward". Sounds like praise to me, whether they will score points is his opinion but I highly doubt it will annoy anyone.
Its not like he said "they are crap and will never score points, but if I must I will go there".

A shame that everyone still wants Trulli to retire and don't believe him or the team when he is officially contracted for next season. Supporting Trulli is almost exactly like supporting Button circa 2007/2008. Everyone sticks the boot in but if Trulli ever gets another chance to shine properly, people will be surprised again.

 

[Alex.]

If Ricciardo is talking up the prospect of replacing Jarno Trulli at Caterham because he does not like his chances at Toro Rosso, then that implies that he won't be racing at Hispania next year. And so the question becomes: who will be?

Personally, I reckon they will go in for Giedo van der Garde, Jan Charouz or Dani Clos. In that order.

Holding auctions before each race, highest bid from a driver gets the seat for that weekend.

 

[csmeteora9]

What happened, indeed. Hispania need sponsors. I can't see them keeping Liuzzi alongside de la Rosa unless he brings money to the team.

Liuzzi has had his chances though, surely? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that he has consistently failed to make the most of the opportunities handed to him.

 

[Ardius]

Liuzzi has had his chances though, surely? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that he has consistently failed to make the most of the opportunities handed to him.

Yup. Most consistently over-hyped driver who somehow keeps coming back to show he is still as mediocre as ever.
His stint in Hispania hasn't been bad but he has been matched and even out-paced by Ricciardo.

 

[tibiquera]

Liuzzi has had his chances though, surely? Correct me if I'm wrong, but it seems to me that he has consistently failed to make the most of the opportunities handed to him.

Liuzzi seems to be a love/hate kind of driver. He has some supporters who think he's championship material and others who think he's a waste of seat. I personally don't think he's that great, but I avoid saying that to avoid people getting mad at me.

 

[Hun200kmh]

I would get rid of half of the current F1 field.

Well, not really but I do feel that it's such a waste, so many talented young drivers without a seat to land on.

Anyway, I think the old guys should give way to the new ones. That or F1 should return to the pre-Ecclestone amateur era when guys like Villeneuve (Gilles) could show up from nowhere and field a one-year old McLaren into 7th on the grid. Or indeed when amazingly fun stories about rogue entries could be told, like this one:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Heyer

I seem to remember a story about a driver who failed to qualify for his home Grand Prix, but started anyway. Who was this? asked Derek Potter

I suspect the man you're thinking of is Hans Heyer, who started the German GP at Hockenheim in 1977 even though he had failed to qualify. Heyer was the reigning German touring-car champion, and was offered a drive in the second Penske at his home GP. There were 30 cars trying to qualify for only 24 places on the grid, and Heyer ended up 27th. But come race day he sat in his car in the pit-lane ... and when there was some confusion at the start, followed by a first-corner collision between Alan Jones and Clay Regazzoni, out went Heyer anyway, perhaps hoping that some generosity would be extended to a local boy. At first it looked as if it might work: the stewards seemed to ignore the illegal runner, but he managed only nine laps before his transmission failed (he at least lasted longer than his team-mate, Jean-Pierre Jarier, who had a similar problem after five laps). Heyer was officially disqualified after the race, and banned from the next one - and never chanced his arm in F1 again.

This guy's a legend!

 

[hawkeye122]

^ A good way to pick up interest in the sport I think. Let 34 Qualify, and the top 24 race. Sponsors could still get Practice and Qualifying airtime. This would open more seats up, and would allow teams to more accurately gauge the performance of their future potential drivers. Also, upper-level teams could put 2 and 3 year old cars (The idea being that they are the same regulation, but slower because of the dynamic nature of car development) with certain restrictions on moving front wings, F-ducts, extra rear diffusers, etc. in the lower 10 to allow drivers to gain a bit of testing, but in an environment which benefits good performance with a Start.

Expensive? Oh yes. Impractical? Probably. But it would get more of the young talent into the hunt.

Trulli is probably very motivated to do well, with Riccardo breathing down the back of his seat. Pretty miserable, seeing people perpetuate this even though he has a "Secure" seat.

 

[astrosdude91]

This guy's a legend!

That's the way to do it! "Maybe they won't notice if I drive out."

 

[tibiquera]

I think if the top teams could sell their chassis to other teams it would be really cool and not too expensive.

And if you wanna hear about cool stories about F1, read about the Hesketh team in the 70s.

 

[Pupik]

^ A good way to pick up interest in the sport I think. Let 34 Qualify, and the top 24 race. Sponsors could still get Practice and Qualifying airtime.

The problem is that sponsors will get tired soon enough, and pull the plug on funding, if they regularly never make it out of qualifying. And nobody's going to feel safe unless a pre-qualifying session is enforced to weed out the slower cars before Q3 would begin. Don't get me wrong, having 39 cars duke it out in Thursday practice back in 1989 must have been awesome, but amazing that no serious accidents took place.

By the end of 1990, several teams folded, and they were back to 30 cars. By the end of 1992, qualifying wasn't an issue anymore (save a few events in 1994)...today, nobody's going to spend fifty million a year to float a teams for two years that will barely scrape onto the grid. Twenty years ago, you might try with a tenth of that sum, but today you have steep entry fees to prevent the less-professional from attempting to join in.

Even the HRT or Virgin teams are much more professional outfits compared to the stragglers of years past, and their pace, while "slow" compared to the best, is much closer than the time differentials between top to bottom twenty years ago. Some of the "professional" attitude has changed the sport so that the weird can't thrive, although Red Bull apparently tries.

 

[F1 fan]

39 cars on track sounds great, but it never happened. Unless I'm mistaken, the pre qualifying session was always the first session of the weekend. Normally at some ridiculous hour in the morning to clear up the paddock before the bigger teams personnel arrived to start their days. Makes sense anyway. A lot of the big teams of the day used to request the garages next to the likely pre qualifying dropouts so they could take the extra garage space after they were knocked out.

 

[RTSolvalou]

Found this on a site I don't visit anymore, I went there because I am hungry for news and Autosport keep coming up short.

Apparently this is true - Raikkonen owns a 'slice' of Lotus.
http://www.motorsport.com/f1/news/f1-raikkonen-owns-slice-of-lotus-f1-team/?v=2&s=1&i=33

I wonder if this would give him even a slight inkling of 'influence' within the team, his word may matter in regards to keeping Petrov? If so I'd bet he'd love for Petrov to leave as this will eliminate the possibility of being shown up at all next year.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I doubt Raikkonen would consider Petrov a threat - just the guy who brings money so that he (Raikkonen) can have a better car.

 

[RTSolvalou]

Well I guess the fact that Renault have still not ruled him out means he has a chance, but on the other side of the coin, why hasn't Bruno been ruled out of the second seat I wonder.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Because Renault want to make a decision about Petrov first. If Petrov stays with the team, that settles it. If he leaves, then Renault have some decisions to make, and will want to keep their options open - though I do think that if Petrov leaves, Romain Grosjean will be Renault's preferred option.

 

[hawkeye122]

I think its going to be tough luck for Kubica. He'll be doomed to the same fate as Button (Pre-Brawn) Fisichella, Trulli, Liuzzi, Barrichelo (Again, minus his year at Brawn) and Sutil. All drivers with great capability, that was just never successfully tapped or had been screwed over to some degree.

 

[Pupik]

39 cars on track sounds great, but it never happened. Unless I'm mistaken, the pre qualifying session was always the first session of the weekend. Normally at some ridiculous hour in the morning to clear up the paddock before the bigger teams personnel arrived to start their days. Makes sense anyway. A lot of the big teams of the day used to request the garages next to the likely pre qualifying dropouts so they could take the extra garage space after they were knocked out.

Pre-qualifying occurred at 8:00-9:00am on Friday mornings, and consisted of up to 11 cars, based on their previous half-season results. Only the fastest four made it though to the first qualifying session (qualifying was held on two seperate afternoons until 1996).

Knowing the pace of the best teams during 1989-90, they probably never went out for more than a few laps, at most during Thursday afternoon practice. Some of the more-troubled teams probably rarely turned many laps in practice, either. So there probably weren't many opportunities for a McLaren and a Euro Brun on the track at the same time...

 

[prisonermonkeys]

^ A good way to pick up interest in the sport I think. Let 34 Qualify, and the top 24 race. Sponsors could still get Practice and Qualifying airtime.

They won't like it. They might get air time during practice and qualifying, but they would get considerably less exposure than if they were in the race. These days, title sponsorship costs roughly $15 millions. How can any company justify that kind of investment for all of one hour's exposure every other weekend?

Three-cars teams will never happen.