Silly Season 2011 Thread

[ajdavison2]

Ahh right

[WhiteBlue]

It is unlikely that Liuzzi will drive for Force India this year as his seat apparently will be taken by Paul di Resta. Instead Merc will buy a seat for him at HRT (according to AMuS) and that will close the grid for regular drivers.

[747heavy]

Interesting
Why would Merc do that? What´s the Merc/Liuzzi connection?
Not saying, that this is not the case, just curious of the reasons.

[andrew]

Merc engines in the back of the Force India? That's the only connection I can see looking at his racing history.

He did race at the 2002 Macau F3 GP for Team Kolles Racing.

[marcush.]

is the logic perhaps-we want a seat for di resta -but as a Merc pilot he needs to drive at least a car propelled by a threepointed star engine? but with liuzzi holding a signed contract the options are :kick out Sutil or place liuzzi somewhere else...and HRT may find the connection useful as well...

[WhiteBlue]

is the logic perhaps-we want a seat for di resta -but as a Merc pilot he needs to drive at least a car propelled by a threepointed star engine? but with liuzzi holding a signed contract the options are :kick out Sutil or place liuzzi somewhere else...and HRT may find the connection useful as well...

Yep, that is the logic behind the reports at AMuS and Joe Saward's blog.

[ESPImperium]

Heres the grid as i see it for test drivers, i will use the old T-Car numbers for illustrative purposes:

31 = Red Bull-Renault: Jean Eric-Vergne
32 = McLaren Mercedes: Oliver Turvey*
33 = Ferarri: Giancarly Fisichella/Jules Bianchai
34 = Mercedes: TBA (Likley to be Sam Bird)
35 = Renault: TBA (Likley to be Roman Grosjean or Lucas Di Grassi)
36 = Williams-Cosworth: Vateleri Bottas
37 = Force India-Mercedes: TBA (Likley to be Nico Hulkenberg)
38 = Sauber-Ferarri: Estaban Guiterez
39 = Toro Rosso-Ferarri: Daniel Riccardo**
40 = Team Lotus-Renault: TBA (Likley to be a jobless driver like Chandhok/Senna)
41 = Hispania-Cosworth: TBA***
42 = Virgin-Cosworth: Luiz Razia

*Garry Paffett will concentrate on his DTM comitments from 2011 onward, but more importantly he will be testing the McLaren MP4/12-C GT3 car in 2011 for the introduction to GT3 in 2012.
** Confirmed for first 10 GPs he will be in a car for FP1, with a posible mid season race seat switch on satisfactory performance and poor performance of Buemi/Alguersauri.
*** Hispania will sell this seat to a GP2 griver(s) like Josef Kral or Davide Valsecchi who tested for them in Abu Dhabi. They will probably keep Christian Klien on as well.

I see theese drivers away from F1 now;

Nich Heidfeld = BMW DTM testing programme & BMW GT2 M3 programme
Pedro De La Rosa = His future in LMS now most probably
Lucas Di Grassi = Will probably do what Timo Glock did a few years back, drop back to GP2 and rise to F1 again at a later date.
Bruno Senna = Will probably start to look at LMS and more probably a seat racing in CART/IRL maybes even NASCARs lower formule
Sakon Yammamotto = Should probably go back home now, go do a Kazuki Nakajimma and go race in Formula Nippon and look to support Toyota in its LMS programme.

I see a few driver changes mid season at a couple of teams, more likley to be at the back of the grid, maybes at Virgin, Hispania and Toro Rosso, STR will put Riccardo in a race seat before the end of 2011 thats for sure. As for Hispania, i can see them replace Karthikayn for someone else i hate to say it. Virgin i feel could replace D'Ambrosio if he dosnt perform, i can see someone like Mikhail Aleshin get his place for the Russian Rubels that will flow into Virgin from him.

[747heavy]

both sources say, that Liuzzi holds a valid contract with FI and that he intends to drive,
none of the two sources say, that Merc is involved sorting out FI´s troubles, as in paying for a seat for Luizzi at HRT or elsewhere.

It may is mentioned in the print edition of Am&S, but surely the online article does not made any reference to the Liuzzi@HRT deal, paid for by Merc.

[marcush.]

or maybe it is they MUST provide a mercedes seat to di Resta in case he is DTM champ?

[ringo]

It's amazing that up to this point there is no word from force india about their drivers.

In the case of Williams, looking how upbeat the team are about the big venezualan oil company sponsorship, any one out there had a change of hear towards Maldonado?
He's under big pressure to deliver the performance now.

[Paul]

Is he? I think Frank will be more than happy to close one eye or look away even if he isn't performing, as long as better sponsorship is not on the horizon.

[marcush.]

I´d think the balance is drawn between points scored and resulting contribution to the championship standings of the team =TV money and sponsorship contribution of the driver
be it directly delivered by the driver or deals brokered through signing him.
Additionally the team will keep track of the crash repairs required during the season and when recources strapped every off really hurts.Remember when Williams could not bring the latest front wings to the next race after both drivers crashing in Monaco? Headcount going down and intricate complex structures the way to go this will limit your ability to react quickly.

[Giblet]

It's amazing that up to this point there is no word from force india about their drivers.

Not too surprising, this is how they did it last year as well IIRC. I think they announced the drivers when the car was rolled out.

[Morteza]

It's amazing that up to this point there is no word from force india about their drivers.

Not too surprising, this is how they did it last year as well IIRC. I think they announced the drivers when the car was rolled out.

So if I understand you correctly, we have to wait until the first test. Right?

[Giblet]

Whenever they present the car, I haven't been following the dates they will unveil. I am just speculating based on their previous history.