Silly Season 2011/2012

[Tyler]

Karthikeyan to HRT
Oh no!!!
It's official - HRT have the worst driver line-up on the grid.
It seems such a shame that many up and coming young drivers can't get a seat while guys like Karthikeyan get too many chances in F1.
Talented guys like Alguersuari are without a race seat while this guy gets yet another go.

I'm fine with pay drivers like Petrov because he actually does have some talent and potential and something to offer F1 with a decent compromise between talent and money but this guy is in F1 100 percent because of money and 0 percent because of talent.
I wonder if I had a few million and somehow managed to get a super licence if they'd give me a seat.
This just shows how desperate HRT really are.

[Giblet]

At least DLR can develop a car and is a very quick and consistent tester. Mclaren are no dummies and they retained him forever. They are not winning any races, but Narain? I would say a waste of a seat, but the whole outfit to me is a waste of a grid slot at this point.

I typically don't say such things, but I want to see them leave and stop embarrassing themselves.

[raymondu999]

Giedo van der Garde is the Caterham test and reserve driver

[Trailer23]

How long (races) do U give Karthikeyan before HRT kick him on the kerb for a reserve driver?

No one expects him to be there in ALL the races.

[raymondu999]

If he can outbid all the other suitors, I don't see why he won't be at all the races to be honest. To be honest I don't see any reason in Narain's involvement in the team other than being a financier - they're basically selling the F1 experience.

[MIKEY_!]

Going back to the Sutil case, is there anything that actually stops him (legally) from racing or being a TD in F1. I mean, was he actually banned or anything or is it just that no team would want to hire him now?

[raymondu999]

I don't think there was any sort of injunction preventing him from being an F1 employee. However, I think the US visa would be rather difficult for him too given his current state of affairs.

[MIKEY_!]

So he wouldn't have trouble getting into other countries?

[raymondu999]

I don't think the others are as fickle as the US. If you've applied for a US Visa before you'd know what I mean.

[MIKEY_!]

thanks for that

[Spencifer_Murphy]

the r31 had a lot of good aspects to the design. The car got 2 podiums off the bat with mediocre drivers. When the ebd wasn't fully used by other teams the car could have been considered a top car. The Front exhausts were the problem.
The side pods are very good as well, same shape as last year and closest to the redbull's.
No reason this car cant challenge for wins. For all the launches so far i cant say which car is better. The lotus and FI are the only ones i see a few concerns with.

VERY good points Ringo. I didn't remember how well the car performed at Silverstone last year.

The mediocre driver comment is sort of what I was getting at about Kimi. Sure it might take him a while to find his grove in terms of performance, but he's a proven top-drawer driver (questions over his "hunger" might remain though), and he knows what he wants from a car. I believe Renault/Lotus were looking at Kubica as the logical successor to Alonso, but have now decided to go with Kimi as - when you are in the position they are in as a team "fallen from grace" (2005-2006) - you don't want to turn down the opportunity to have a former champion drive for you.

I guess when Kubica is fit again Renault are in the envious position of having two quality drivers in what, I'm sure they are hoping by then (2013 perhaps), will be a car capable of winning races.

Like I sid though, it will be great if Kimi can be battling it out with the likes of Vettel, Hamilton, Alonso & Button

[Lorenzo_Bandini]

Kubica had no contract with Renault. Kubica is free, and i think he will sign for Ferrari for next year.

[JohnsonsEvilTwin]

As it transpires, Alguesari had an offer from another team to drive in 2012.
This was rejected, in favour of a race seat with Torro Rosso. And by all accounts they were going to retain both drivers.
Alot of their PR for 2012 had them as drivers.

So to boot them out lastminute.com was poor form.

I have no affinity to alguesari, but I feel angry for him.

[stringy]

Any ideas who would have offered Alguesari a drive??
Initially I thought that for him to have turned it down then it must have been a team slower than TR, but with the RedBull connection Alguesari might have turned down a lot of teams if he thought he had a shot in the Redbull a few years down the line...

[mx_tifoso]

Since he's said that he wouldn't pay for a seat, that rules out plenty of teams.