The fired thread - Bourdais taking legal action, Piquet in danger

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http://www.f1network.net/main/s169/st146242.htm

realBrawnGP.com
Deputy Technical Director Jorg Zander leaves Brawn GP
By Phil Huff
June 24 2009
Brawn GP’s deputy technical director, Jorg Zander, has left the championship leading team with immediate effect, we can exclusively reveal. This is the second time Zander has left the team, following a three year period up to 2005, where he worked at the then BAR Honda as the chief engineer, responsible for transmission and mechanical systems.

The German designer then worked at Williams for just six months as their chief designer, before moving to BMW Sauber, taking on the same role.
Brawn GP Range

He joined Honda Racing F1 from BMW in 2007 as deputy technical director, and had significant input in to the Honda RA109, the car that transformed in to the dominant Brawn GP BGP001.

“Jorg contributed significantly to our success so far this season for which we thank him and wish him all the best for the future,” commented a Brawn GP spokesperson to RealBrawnGP.com today.

Jorg's last day at work was Friday, two days before the British Grand Prix. It is currently unknown where Zander will be going, but rumours that Ferrari’s Luca Baldisserri will be replacing him are believed to be somewhat wide of the truth.
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The guy gets around doesn't he? Wonder who has pinched him? McLaren? USGPE? Likely a promise of higher pay has enticed him no doubt, as we all know Brawn took severe pay cuts even to its drivers.
 
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Maybe he sees a job well done at Brawn, and wants to go get another team to the top. So, will Brawn suck now that their TD has left?
 
PJ-FFL
Maybe he sees a job well done at Brawn, and wants to go get another team to the top. So, will Brawn suck now that their TD has left?
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Yes, like McLaren sucked after Newey left eh? :rolleyes: There isn't much to be redesigned next year and we don't know how much of an influence Zander was, though clearly he's held in high regard if he's been nabbed by another team.
 
Sorry for the double post, but this is related (think I'll alter the thread title now):
http://www.jamesallenonf1.com/


James Allen
Geoff Willis, the technical director of Red Bull Racing has left the team, with barely half of the season gone.

Picture 47
The exact reasons for his departure are not known as yet but Sebastian Vettel confirmed it in an interview with BBC Radio 5 Live’s Holly Samos this afternoon. Vettel added that the team would not be destabilised by the departure.

“Geoff did a lot of work and thanks to him we are where we are now. It’s always very difficult if someone leaves but we have a very good harmony in the team and it shouldn’t affect our performance at all. We know what we have to do and where we want to go.”

After being sacked by Honda a few years ago, Willis was reunited at Red Bull with Adrian Newey, with whom he had formed a strong relationship at Williams in the winning years of the 1990s. Willis was hired to make the car reliable and he has certainly achieved that, but there are suggestions that he and Newey may not have seen eye to eye over the technical direction of the team this time.

Whether he jumped or was pushed, the speculation this evening was that he may be on his way to Ferrari. Willis is a fluent Italian speaker and his wife is Italian. He apparently offered his services to Ferrari but the word I’m hearing tonight is that he is not going there.

Meanwhile my Italian colleagues are telling me that Sunday will be the last Grand Prix for Sebastien Bourdais at Toro Rosso. There have been persistent rumours that the Frenchman is on thin ice, but Bourdais denied them today,

“What can I say? I haven’t received any notice from the team that this is my last race so as far as I am concerned it is still a rumour,” he said.

Apparently it is not a rumour, it is a fact and he will be replaced by the recently installed reserve driver Jaime Alguersuari.
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Yeah, I know, its James Allen, but he's as credible as any other F1 reporter these days.

So we now have Zander and Willis in the market and possibly a seat up for grabs at Toro Rosso soon, though I disagree with it - what's the sense in making a driver change mid-season when there is no testing allowed to bring new drivers up to speed? Who is going do a better job than Seb right now with that car?
 
Interesting indeed. I reckon Bourdais is a star when it comes to sports car racing, but I think his seat in F1 could be filled better. It will be a shame if he goes, but it will also be good to see his replacement at the wheel.
 
Sebastian Loeb has put his hand up for Bourdais' seat at Toro Rosso if the Formula One and WRC calendars don't collide. Back when Citroen ran Xsaras as kit cars - we're thinking circa 1999 here - Loeb was a tarmac specialist, and he would be in keeping with Toro Rosso's policy of hiring people named Sebastian. He'd certainly be an interesting choice, though James Allen is reporting that Bourdais will be repalced by Jamie Alguersuari very soon.
 
On that, I remember a while ago a bunch of drivers went and drove in the Red Bull RB4 or RB5, and Loeb was only slightly off an F1 pace. With a bit of specialist F1 training he could very well be competitive.
 
Yeah I was at the track when Loeb tested. He seemed not bad.
 
Nice. I wouldn't mind having him in F1, he seems a likeable enough chap. Of course that could change if he gets an F1 seat! Here's to it not happening!
 
Nah, Vettel, Webber, Glock and so on are all still nice guys. And he already has a lot of glory, no reason for it to get to him just for being in F1.
Bourdais isn't helping himself if this rumour is true...qualifying last again today.
 
Here's a video of him in action:



Wow, he's not bad at all, in fact, he's amazing. He just needs a few touch-ups in some places and then, he's in the torro rosso for next year.
 
Autosport
Alguersuari gets nod for Hungary debut

By Jonathan Noble Monday, July 13th 2009, 09:54 GMT

Jaime Alguersuari will become the youngest Formula 1 driver in history when he makes his debut for the Scuderia Toro Rosso team as replacement for Sebastien Bourdais at the Hungarian Grand Prix, AUTOSPORT has learned.

Following a weekend of speculation about Bourdais' future, on the back of a disappointing first half to the campaign, Toro Rosso is expected to confirm within the next 48 hours that it has decided to part company with the Frenchman.

And although the team has decided that reigning British F3 champion Alguersuari will be slotted into the seat alongside Sebastien Buemi, an announcement confirming the plan is not expected until after the Spaniard has finished competing in this weekend's World Series by Renault race at Le Mans.

Toro Rosso has decided to give the youngster the race opportunity in spite of his lack of experience as it is the only way for him to gain experience in preparation for a full season in 2010, due to the in-season testing ban. The team has so far declined to comment on the situation.

There are also suggestions that Alguersuari's step up is being eased by Spanish oil company Repsol, who are personal backers of the youngster and are poised to tie-up a deal with Toro Rosso.

Alguersuari's step-up means he will make his debut at the age of 19 years and 125 days. It beats the previous record of 19 years and 182 days held by Mike Thackwell, who drove for Tyrrell in Canada 1980 - although was officially a non-starter after a first-lap red flag.

The next youngest driver was Ricardo Rodriguez, who raced for Ferrari at the 1961 Italian Grand Prix aged 19 years and 208 days.

Despite Alguersuari's promotion to the race seat, Sebastien Loeb remains linked with a switch to F1 with Toro Rosso once his commitments in the world rally championship are finished this season.
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As expected. As yet unofficial, but expect confirmation by Monday. Alguersuari hasn't set the world alight in the World Series by Renault, but then Buemi hadn't really done that either in GP2, and he's done OK so far this season.
 
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Alguersuari'll have to change his name to Sebastien now.

All joking aside, this'll hopefully be a good move for STR. We'll have to see if he's better than Bourdais.
 
So Bourdais will pop up in LMS next season, eh?
F1 was never really for him I suppose. It will be good to see how Alguersuari handles the sport.
 
Not so sure this is a good decision by STR seeing as their car is pants anyway - but then maybe thats why its a good decision, so Alguersuari gets some experience while they aren't too bothered about fighting for points.

This is all a bit premature though considering STR finally get the double diffuser upgrade in Hungary - wouldn't it make more sense to make a judgement on Bourdais then?
 
Ardius
This is all a bit premature though considering STR finally get the double diffuser upgrade in Hungary - wouldn't it make more sense to make a judgement on Bourdais then?
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Normally, I'd say yes, but when you're routinely being out-performed by a rookie team mate in both the race and qualifying? Not as much as you might think. The objective seems to be to get Algeursuari into a race seat as soon as possible and get him as much experience as he can before the end of the season.
 
The car should be pretty good though? - Isn't it the same general car as Red Bull?

Or do not all the upgrades filter down to them?

C.
 
Yes and no. The car is slightly different as it incorporates a Ferrari engine instead of Renault, and they do get some help with the design of the car but not much. They are currently building their own design facility in Faenza so they can actually be a real "constructor" for next year.
Their rate of progress with design work is a lot slower than all the other teams it seems which is why they've dropped to backenders with all the teams going 100% full pace developing their cars at every race, they can't keep up the pace. (this is why Ferrari, Renault and Toyota are seemingly not going anywhere - its not because they aren't developing the car, its because their improvements are 1 or 2 tenths whereas other teams like McLaren are bringing upgrades worth a whopping 8 or something tenths).

The double diffuser at Hungary should help a lot though, but then they want the new Red Bull nose cone now too don't they? ;)
 
Engine differences aside (which I think probably doesn't make much difference) it's really the aero that counts this year...

Looks like they're a few races behind the RedBulls to get the new parts basically...

And the first Double Diffuser for RB wasn't that great either so they obviously ignored that one!!

C.
 
The engine does make a difference, its dimensions and its design towards the gearbox have a massive effect on how the aerodynamics are shaped around the rear of the car. If its big in certain areas, you have to take this into account and design around it, so you can't just copy and paste parts from the RBR onto the STR.

The double diffuser clearly has made a difference after they had incorporated more of the body work into the car to make better use of it - the newer nose was designed to help increase the potential of their double diffuser.
Remember what I just said about making relative gains? Just because the RBR didn't jump up in the grid relative to Brawn when they added the DD diffuser, doesn't mean it didn't add performance - remember that Brawn were also adding bits to their car too and adding performance. Its just that now Brawn have fallen a little behind perhaps in the development race and also the conditions may not have suited their car.
 
Also, so just you know, his name is pronounced in a very simple way: Taking the a from arm, the e from met, the i from see , the u from put and the schwa (ə) from away, his name sounds something like:

SHAU-mə al-ger-SUA-ri

With the capital syllabes intoned, being both a's the most intoned ones, so to speak.


PS: :D :D :D :D <3
 
Who else thinks this the correct pronunciation is going to be beyond Jonathan Legard, who will instead refer to him as "Jamie Algaesaurus" (JAY-mee Alg-ee-SAW-us)?
 

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