Caterham joins the Paydriver bandwagon, Petrov in for Trulli

[timbo]

Senna outquallified Petrov in Brazil, India, Singapore and Spa. Petrov beat Senna in Abu Dahbi and India. That's 4-2. In Japan neither went out, so neither out-qualified the other.

Sorry, but who outqualified who in India?))
I checked and if you exclude Japan it is 4-3 IN FAVOR of Petrov. He was ahead in Indian but only promoted behind due to penalty.

[Mr.S]

How did Senna's performance magically dissapear in the race???

Leads me to believe he was running a Qualifying set-up. Especially with Heidfield's average performances Renault were pushing for a young driver & were eager to show that Senna got the seat on merit & was a VERY GOOD qualifier which was the reason Heidfield got booted out anyway.

[Pierce89]

bottom line. Trulli got screwd

[Tyler]

Am I the only one who thinks Petrov is not as bad? He must have done something to get 2nd in GP2, behind Hulkenberg.

I don't think he's bad, and he has a lot of money. Being in a position like caterham their's more time to be gain with money than with a driver. They got a combo with vitaly petrov.

I agree with you Caito.
Really Petrov's a decent enough driver - last year he made a huge improvement from the previous year, proving he can finish races and bring home points.
Caterham most likely won't have a car that's able to fight at the front - for their position in the field, a driver like Petrov is fine.
Plus Petrov has the added benefit of bringing in a lot of sponsorship money for the team.
If Caterham were letting someone clearly below standard in one of their seats just for the money (i.e. Karthikeyan), I'd be disappointed, however Petrov cannot be considered below par.
In fact I don't consider him a pay driver, I consider him a decent, reliable and still improving driver who happens to bring a lot of sponsorship money with him.

I've always liked Jarno Trulli.
He used to really impress me with some superb qualifying performances and I always used to hope he'd have a good car so that he could prove his worth.
Sadly that never happened - Jarno never seemed to be able to translate those performances to the race and his career was marred by terrible luck and unrealised potential.
I expected him to do better at Caterham and to take the lead of the team but the last 2 years for me are probably right up there with his most disappointing.
His form seems to be in decline and he seems past his best.
I don't know 100 percent what's behind the power steering problems but I can't understand why only he seemed to have a problem with it.
I just wonder if he wasn't stalling the team a bit with silly problems instead of helping to push development ahead.
It just felt in the end he was making excuses and he didn't seem to fit in with the team.
I think he's had his time, he's not going to get any better, the team needs money to get ahead and Petrov will most likely perform as well or better than Jarno in his current form.

This is a really good thing for the team IMO.

[Pierce89]

It is a logical decision. It is a win win for Caterham and a big win for Bernie.
I think the term paydriver doesn't fit here. Maybe HRT will hire real paydrivers like my avatar, Diniz , Gene, Young etc. were.
For me even Maldonado and Senna are not paydrivers, they are maybe half a second slower than Alonso but not much more. They are from high quality.
I think Petrov and Heikki will be on the same level. So bye bye Trulli!

I like Raymundo "specs" for a pay driver. Maldonado is purely a pay driver. His GP2 championship loses a little shine when you realize it was his fourth season, he only got four bites at the apple because of money. Nobody gets to do GP2 four years running(actually Pantano did 4 also but he was champ and got no F1 ride). All the other GP2 graduates in F1 impressed in 1st season of GP2. I hate to pick on Maldonado as he's just a rich kid accepting what rich kid things comes his way, but I feel F1 one be better with a REAL Williams team.

[ringo]

bottom line. Trulli got screwd

truli was pushing his luck over the years. 1997 to now is a long career for a driver like him. He's somehow fell through the cracks and stuck around longer than he deserved.
I would only be angry at the petrov move if Petrov wasn't a drastic improvement over truli.
Petrov is the way forward. truli is a dinosaur that escaped the extintion asteroid.
He's an ok driver but he doesn't really have a purpose in f1.

[Pierce89]

bottom line. Trulli got screwd

truli was pushing his luck over the years. 1997 to now is a long career for a driver like him. He's somehow fell through the cracks and stuck around longer than he deserved.
I would only be angry at the petrov move if Petrov wasn't a drastic improvement over truli.
Petrov is the way forward. truli is a dinosaur that escaped the extintion asteroid.
He's an ok driver but he doesn't really have a purpose in f1.

all true but I'm referring to the way he was treated in the past 2 weeks

[Mr.S]

My issue is not about Truli. Frankly I doubt if Trulli deserve a Formula1 seat. The issue is such that where would talened drivers with no sponsorship go now??

Buemi & Jamie are more than competent to get a seat,same with Sutil who probably has a criminal case to settle now. I want the best 24 drivers on the Grid. Okay if not Best 24,atleast Best 20-22.

[FrukostScones]

My issue is not about Truli. Frankly I doubt if Trulli deserve a Formula1 seat. The issue is such that where would talened drivers with no sponsorship go now??

Buemi & Jamie are more than competent to get a seat,same with Sutil who probably has a criminal case to settle now. I want the best 24 drivers on the Grid. Okay if not Best 24,atleast Best 20-22.

If you are talented and successfull (in lower series) than you have a bigger ability to attract sponsors. So the possibility to get sponsors is higher when you have talent. Sponsors and talent then take you to F1.
Buemi & Jamie had one big sponsor and were dropped (I rate Buemi much higher than ALG, so Buemi should have a seat while ALG should be DeeJaying). Sutil (who got many sponsors pokered too much in my opinion maybe he will be in the HRT at some point of the season).
We have pretty decent line up this year and I think Vergne, Ricciardo and Grosjean will impress us (maybe Hulkenberg too).

[Mr.S]

My issue is not about Truli. Frankly I doubt if Trulli deserve a Formula1 seat. The issue is such that where would talened drivers with no sponsorship go now??

Buemi & Jamie are more than competent to get a seat,same with Sutil who probably has a criminal case to settle now. I want the best 24 drivers on the Grid. Okay if not Best 24,atleast Best 20-22.

If you are talented and successfull (in lower series) than you have a bigger ability to attract sponsors. So the possibility to get sponsors is higher when you have talent. Sponsors and talent then take you to F1.
Buemi & Jamie had one big sponsor and were dropped (I rate Buemi much higher than ALG, so Buemi should have a seat while ALG should be DeeJaying). Sutil (who got many sponsors pokered too much in my opinion maybe he will be in the HRT at some point of the season).

We have pretty decent line up this year and I think Vergne, Ricciardo and Grosjean will impress us (maybe Hulkenberg too).

Dude you have no idea about the ground realities. Tomorrow if a driver comes from an African country of a very poor country for that matters where there is not much corporate of financial backing what happens??

I refuse to buy the fact that all GP2 drivers have huge financial backing. Most must have because Motorsport is very costly anyway. But there must be the odd Super Talented Driver who comes without much sponsorship. Hell hulkenberg's sponsorship,if he has one is pretty meagre & not good enough to buy a seat. His talent is definitely Formula1 Standard though.

This is setting a bad precedent. In the future this will cause many problems & limit Formula1 as an elitist sport when it IDEALLY should be looking to spread its wings,its popularty to make it more accessible to all people.

[FrukostScones]

My issue is not about Truli. Frankly I doubt if Trulli deserve a Formula1 seat. The issue is such that where would talened drivers with no sponsorship go now??

Buemi & Jamie are more than competent to get a seat,same with Sutil who probably has a criminal case to settle now. I want the best 24 drivers on the Grid. Okay if not Best 24,atleast Best 20-22.

If you are talented and successfull (in lower series) than you have a bigger ability to attract sponsors. So the possibility to get sponsors is higher when you have talent. Sponsors and talent then take you to F1.
Buemi & Jamie had one big sponsor and were dropped (I rate Buemi much higher than ALG, so Buemi should have a seat while ALG should be DeeJaying). Sutil (who got many sponsors pokered too much in my opinion maybe he will be in the HRT at some point of the season).

We have pretty decent line up this year and I think Vergne, Ricciardo and Grosjean will impress us (maybe Hulkenberg too).

Dude you have no idea about the ground realities. Tomorrow if a driver comes from an African country of a very poor country for that matters where there is not much corporate of financial backing what happens??

I refuse to buy the fact that all GP2 drivers have huge financial backing. Most must have because Motorsport is very costly anyway. But there must be the odd Super Talented Driver who comes without much sponsorship. Hell hulkenberg's sponsorship,if he has one is pretty meagre & not good enough to buy a seat. His talent is definitely Formula1 Standard though.

This is setting a bad precedent. In the future this will cause many problems & limit Formula1 as an elitist sport when it IDEALLY should be looking to spread its wings,its popularty to make it more accessible to all people.

Schumacher and Vettel had rather poor or normal financial background but they showed talent and attracted sponsors, some are rich kids like Hulkenberg and Massa but they showed talent they also attracted sponsors, of course you have to go carting to show talent, carting is maybe costly but if you are able to show talent you will attract sponsors. Whatever, remember what Justin Wilson did? That was great.
The level of the drivers is elitist like the F1 is elitist in motorracing, and the times you fear are already over! Before starting a rant a calling me dude go inform yourself about junior series. If your S. stands for stressy trolling and/or if you are an underage clown then leave me alone.

[raymondu999]

I like Raymundo "specs" for a pay driver.

Why thank you for your vindication

I just find it annoying how people say the definition for a pay driver is blurred, because many talented drivers such as Alonso etc bring sponsorships. But the key clincher for me is that Fernando would still be driving for Ferrari even if he didn't bring Santander bucks, most probably. I don't think I could say the same for Maldonado.

[Mr.S]

If you are talented and successfull (in lower series) than you have a bigger ability to attract sponsors. So the possibility to get sponsors is higher when you have talent. Sponsors and talent then take you to F1.
Buemi & Jamie had one big sponsor and were dropped (I rate Buemi much higher than ALG, so Buemi should have a seat while ALG should be DeeJaying). Sutil (who got many sponsors pokered too much in my opinion maybe he will be in the HRT at some point of the season).

We have pretty decent line up this year and I think Vergne, Ricciardo and Grosjean will impress us (maybe Hulkenberg too).

Dude you have no idea about the ground realities. Tomorrow if a driver comes from an African country of a very poor country for that matters where there is not much corporate of financial backing what happens??

I refuse to buy the fact that all GP2 drivers have huge financial backing. Most must have because Motorsport is very costly anyway. But there must be the odd Super Talented Driver who comes without much sponsorship. Hell hulkenberg's sponsorship,if he has one is pretty meagre & not good enough to buy a seat. His talent is definitely Formula1 Standard though.

This is setting a bad precedent. In the future this will cause many problems & limit Formula1 as an elitist sport when it IDEALLY should be looking to spread its wings,its popularty to make it more accessible to all people.

Schumacher and Vettel had rather poor or normal financial background but they showed talent and attracted sponsors, some are rich kids like Hulkenberg and Massa but they showed talent they also attracted sponsors, of course you have to go carting to show talent, carting is maybe costly but if you are able to show talent you will attract sponsors. Whatever, remember what Justin Wilson did? That was great.
The level of the drivers is elitist like the F1 is elitist in motorracing, and the times you fear are already over! Before starting a rant a calling me dude go inform yourself about junior series. If your S. stands for stressy trolling and/or if you are an underage clown then leave me alone.

I do know about how the junior series works & I dont believe this BS that every talented driver will get sponsorship. Vettel did not really have huge sponsors in the begining,he was lucky that RBR backed him. However rich Nico Hulkenberg is he could secure the sponsorship & money to even land a seat in HRT or Marussia.

So what does that family wealth of ridiculous MEAGRE sponsorship mean if it cant get them a Drive?? I am curious to know what kind of sponsorship a Nico Rosberg or a Mark Webber or a Kovalainen brings??? Enough to secure a drive. Again if that sponsorship is not enough to get a drive IT MEANS ---.

The other issue is since you are an English Speaker I expect you to know the meaning of the word Troll or the word Rant. Just randomly using it against some other person does not mean give your opinion any major credibility or does not make the other person's irrelevant.

Your last paragraph was a cheap response which was completely uncalled for & idiotic. I see no justification of you calling someone me a Clown. If you dont want to respond to the topic or what I post,feel free to. No-one is forcing you to type. Typing a couple of words in your keyboard does not make you some hero.

[Pierce89]

I heard Hulkenberg had no sponsors?? Di Resta & HULK have the talent to walk into most teams. They are the future of Formula1. I dont get the Maldonado hype though. Do you really think he would have got the seat without the money??? No chance in hell.


Maldonado has been the biggest flop this season. I doubt if he can beat Katikeyan. Apart from Monaco he was completely outclassed all season by a 40 year old Rubens. People expect him to improve as the season goes on. Nico pushed Rubens very hard during the part of the season. Pastor was getting out-qualified by 4-5 tenths even during the last few races. Crashing his car here & there. This is Bruno's 3rd season & he has still not SHOWN great talent.

Right, because out qualifying his team mate by 4 out of 6 times, at times by 0.7 seconds isn't showing tallent.

Di Resta & Hulk showed great talent in the rookie season. Even Senna was reasonably good out-qualifying Kamui regularly.

Senna? Kamui? Are you thinking of Perez?

No he didn't mean that they were teammates only that Senna outqualified the Shogun Warrior a few times

[PlatinumZealot]

My issue is not about Truli. Frankly I doubt if Trulli deserve a Formula1 seat. The issue is such that where would talened drivers with no sponsorship go now??

Buemi & Jamie are more than competent to get a seat,same with Sutil who probably has a criminal case to settle now. I want the best 24 drivers on the Grid. Okay if not Best 24,atleast Best 20-22.

If you are talented and successfull (in lower series) than you have a bigger ability to attract sponsors. So the possibility to get sponsors is higher when you have talent. Sponsors and talent then take you to F1.
Buemi & Jamie had one big sponsor and were dropped (I rate Buemi much higher than ALG, so Buemi should have a seat while ALG should be DeeJaying). Sutil (who got many sponsors pokered too much in my opinion maybe he will be in the HRT at some point of the season).

We have pretty decent line up this year and I think Vergne, Ricciardo and Grosjean will impress us (maybe Hulkenberg too).

Dude you have no idea about the ground realities. Tomorrow if a driver comes from an African country of a very poor country for that matters where there is not much corporate of financial backing what happens??

I refuse to buy the fact that all GP2 drivers have huge financial backing. Most must have because Motorsport is very costly anyway. But there must be the odd Super Talented Driver who comes without much sponsorship. Hell hulkenberg's sponsorship,if he has one is pretty meagre & not good enough to buy a seat. His talent is definitely Formula1 Standard though.

This is setting a bad precedent. In the future this will cause many problems & limit Formula1 as an elitist sport when it IDEALLY should be looking to spread its wings,its popularty to make it more accessible to all people.

Hulkengberg is on a big caprisun calender at my workplace.. He has sponsors!