Silly Season 2011 Thread

[andrew]

I think that's a fair assessment. I'm a big fan of M Schu, but I think it's time to go.

Oh ye of little faith!

[marcush.]

you should not count him off.
Believe it or not ,Schumacher had issues when partnering Brundle at Benetton especially in Race pace.....
he was also considered weaker than Frentzen in Group C in terms of raw speed...
And he was never ever a brilliant qualifier ....never even within sight of Senna ....
in fact his first pole came only after Sennas death so the Qpace is not really a surprise to me.

Is Rosberg really racing better than Schumacher? Schu inevitably is starting better and does not loose positions in the first lap .And I got the impression that the two are at the moment just separated by Rosberg better in Q3 and Schumacher somehow struggling with tire conservation.
It´s not like Rosberg is driving magnificiently and Schumacher mediocre isn´t it?
In my view with Pirelli next year the situation could easily be reversed ,but true his uphill struggle is something I had not thought was going to happen.

[marcush.]

"I really hope together we will find a place, I still don't know where the car would be built, but the team's base will definitely be ours, in the Veneto (region of Italy)

This would suggest that a UK base with the connected speculation about ex Aguri and ex Arrows people would be contradicted.

Formtech is a production and engineering facility open and build for that sort of project....so why not?
It is the same sitaution with Virgin ,using Wirth expertise and production facilities but the cars are campaigned by Booth...

[WhiteBlue]

You may be right. He said it did not mean the cars would be assembled there.

[marcush.]

Formtech UK still retains Mark Preston as tech director...

maybe a look on their website convinces feasibility...

http://www.formtech-composites.co.uk

[Pup]

There won't be any new team next year. There aren't enough sponsors around at the moment to support even the existing teams, and no serious new team is going to risk their business without having solid sponsorship in hand first. And with Bernie bringing back the entry bond and dropping his new team freebies, we'll fortunately be spared the pie in the sky entries as well.

My hope is that we'll keep Sauber and Lotus next season. HRT is toast, and I couldn't care less about Virgin. F1 needs to concentrate on rebuilding its brand anyway, and most of these new teams are working against that.

[godlameroso]

If one of the new teams do go under HRT I'm looking at you...Then if one of those drivers ends up in a decent car I could see them doing very well. Think about it, the new cars are so bad that it makes the driver work extra hard to do anything remotely reasonable with them. Imagine if they get, by comparison, a relatively fast and drivable car, the difference will be like night and day. It's the same as jogging with weights on for a while, once you take them off you realize you have a lot more stamina than you gave yourself credit for.

[WhiteBlue]

There won't be any new team next year. There aren't enough sponsors around at the moment to support even the existing teams, and no serious new team is going to risk their business without having solid sponsorship in hand first. And with Bernie bringing back the entry bond and dropping his new team freebies, we'll fortunately be spared the pie in the sky entries as well.

My hope is that we'll keep Sauber and Lotus next season. HRT is toast, and I couldn't care less about Virgin. F1 needs to concentrate on rebuilding its brand anyway, and most of these new teams are working against that.

Your scenario is probably going to happen if Bernie gets it his way. He would love to see FOTA blown apart and as many of the new teams as possible to fail. He also wants the teams to spend all they have and abolish the RRA.

viewtopic.php?p=185771&f=1#p185771

I hope he will not get it all his way and that the FiA and FOTA will find a way to keep as many teams as possible in business.

13 teams is good for the driver market. Good for the fans who get to see more drivers from more countries and will have more teams from different countries to cheer for.

I hope that we will either get the Cypher group or Epsilon Euskadi coming through the selection process and provide more seats to drivers. I do not mind to have pay drivers on track as long as they are good enough for a super license.

[marcush.]

surviving is tougher than the startup season ...this is what we have seen in all those years...discounting toyota ..they had finance in place for years as hey started .

I´d say the Villeneuve entourage should know pretty well about a startup ...they did the same with BAR already ...so they should remember a thing or two not to pursue or where to push.

[raymondu999]

Talking of silly season, actually. Does anyone think Webber might buy himself out of the RBR contract for 2011? Or maybe RBR might do that? Relations seem to be just in the dumps now. The last race smacked entirely of Monza 2007 with Alonso dominating the race, and you could feel that this was his last (in his case it was his only) season with McLaren

[ESPImperium]

I think, and hope that we will see Epsilon on the grid, simply because they have the facilities and resources avalable to be compeditive, at least to where Lotus are at present from the start. All it depends on is what engine and drivers they can get.

Lotus is in good shape, Fernandes is in talks to get the Team Lotus naming rights, the take over of Classic Lotus (Including the land that the land where the old Lotus factory is), also he is inearly stage talks with Proton to buy out the Lotus Cars sector from them. He has a plan, paitience and the team behind him, he has money so will probably succeed. The rumor is that they are in advanced talks with Renault for 2010 engine supply, and will buy out their 2 years with Cosworth so they can use Renault.

Virgin, have a plan, but it is wether they can keep Glock is their key, if they cant they will probably be delayed by about a year or so. They are here for the long run, but will the long run be there for them??? I think this team is one that is still to decide how to fully do some things, they need to invest in a wind tunnel, even if its only a 60% one, but is that an expence that they can afford? Not totally convinced, but time will tell.

As for HRT, i have a feeling they will make the grid for 2011, but its gonna be a simmilar route to this season, just about enough parts and resources to get the cars assembled on the grid for the start of the season. I have a feeling that they will pull out mid season in 2011. Personally, i think the HRT team may be a good strategic buy in for one new team, buy Hispania over, get the entry and go racing as long as they have a car avalable.

Sauber will stay, they have the resources and facilities, but dont have the money, but i have a funny fealing they have got something on the way. I have said that if both parties are willing, id like to see a "Strategic-Partnership" or "50/50" ownership of the team with ART. ART bring £30 million in sponsorshop, Nicholas Todt gets his driver (Bianchi) with Ferarri power and a good car, Sauber get sponsorship and get the option of one driver. The only thing is how the cars are branded, that i think is the only thing that could be contentious.

Toro Rosso are a team that i think will stay under the Red Bull umberella for a while as they simply dont have the facilities in Italy yet, they are running their design team from Milton Keynes using the old Red Bull supercomputer that Red Bull stopped using mid way thru 2008 (Probably better than what a couple of other mid feild teams currently have) and also using the Red Bull wind tunnel when Red Bull arnt using it, so value for money there. Toro Rosso need investment, but do have a good strong base to work from.

The other midfeild teams are doing fine, Force India are making progress, but now lack a Technichal team due to a host of defections to Lotus; Williams are starting to make inroads again, but need manufacturer investment again, could happen in 2013 with VW.

All the other "big 5 teams" are all working out, some working well currently, others working to a 3-5 year plan. The only one lost a bit in that group i could say is Ferarri, simply down to the lack of testing, they used Testing as their prime measure of a parts worth, with the other teams interpreting the CFD and Wind Tunnel data better at current, they are lost. The thing is that once Ferarri get a handle on this, they will start to make in-roads quickly, but the question is how quick???

[andrew]

Monaco GP could be scraped. Here's hoping! [-o<

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_ ... t_id=41461

Bit of news on the return of the South African GP:

http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpass_ ... t_id=41443

[Belatti]

Here, a local webpage linking Guerrieri with Virgin.

http://www.carburando.com/GUERRIERI-BUS ... C3888C.htm

After reading that the project has ACA and Argentine Government support... and that Uncle Bernie said 1 or 2 F1 teams wont survive next year, a chill travelled thru my spine... err gave me the creeps... Lopez-USF1 anyone? Virgin wants 7 millon euros

Esteban raced in 2006 in the F3 euroseries with Manor, hence John Booth knows him. He ended 4th behind Vettel and DiResta.

Chronical lack of sponsorship seems to be the evil for this kid since 2004 in F3000 he raced in F3, Superleague, Renault World Series and did F1, Indylights and GP2 tests.

I wish him good luck!

[zmiles2]

I think Raikkonen needs a seat.
Red Bull is fine, if they lose Vettel or Webber then they are crazy.
Liuzzi needs out at Force India. FI would be a good place for Nick Hiedfeld in my opinion.
I'd love to see Kubica start winning some races at Renault, and I think that will come in the very near future, and I also like that Petrov had a good showing at Hungary.
I wouldnt be suprised if Brendan Hartley is offered a sport at one of the lower level teams, but stays at Red Bull as a test/third driver. I would do the exact same!

Wouldn't mind seeing an american team/driver crack the field to gain some american interest. I'm an american and I'm absolutely in love with F1, so it wouldnt change me any, but for some of my countrymen it might!

[mx_tifoso]

...
I wouldnt be suprised if Brendan Hartley is offered a sport at one of the lower level teams, but stays at Red Bull as a test/third driver. I would do the exact same!

...

RBR just fired Hartley about a week ago. He also lost his seat in whatever series he was in.