Bruno Senna demonstrating the difficult handling of the Hispania F110 (Australian GP 2010)
Once again the rumour mill descends on the security of the future of one member of the F1 circus. In recent times the target of such speculation has centred around the immenent departure of one or more of the manufacturer teams (Renault, Honda and Toyota for example), though this year the focus has switched to the sustainability of the new teams, and notably perennial backmarkers Hispania who it is rumoured are struggling to finance the remainder of their 2010 campaign, let alone 2011 development.
Cast your minds back if you will to March and free practice of the opening round of the 2010 Formula 1 season at the Bahrain Grand Prix, and following a last minute rescue deal by Spanish buisnessman Jose Carabante after the failure of initial entry Campos GP, the frantic launch and assembly of the renamed Hispania F110 began. It seems impossible that in such an age in Formula 1 that a car may turn its' first wheel on the eve of a its' Grand Prix debut, but such was the dilemma for the late triple world champion Ayrton Senna's nephew. (Spare a thought for Senna's recently signed teammate Karun Chandhok though, who had to wait a further 24 hours until the qualifying session before he got his first chance to sample the car). The TV pictures bore witness to the car's difficult birth, as both rookie drivers fought to hold on to the car at every twist and turn of the track (see video from Round 2 - Australian GP above). Neither car finished the race, but the fact they even made the grid after a Winter of late payments to chassis maker Dallara and talk of collapse was a testament to the team's resilience. Gradual race finishes and outqualifying the more developed and better funded Virgin Racing team attracted a few small sponsor names, though these were dwarfed in comparison to the driver and team names filling up otherwise blank advertising space and the team continued to struggle eventually splitting with Dallara.
This perhaps if not already evident became more so on the eve of the British GP last month where Bruno Senna was sidelined to make way for Sakon Yamamoto, renowned widely for his wide back catalogue of wealthy sponsors rather than his driving ability. Yamamoto did this reputation no favours by starting the following event (now replacing Karun Chandhok) whilst his pit-lane speed limiter was engaged, before retiring after accidentally tripping the fire extinguisher. Inevitably suggestions began flowing that his seat was a means of keeping the outfit afloat. It must be remembered, that Hispania F1 (then Campos Meta GP) lodged their entry and signed the Concorde Agreement believing a budget cap would be implemented. The subsequent failure of this legislation must have hurt a team with low resources. Team manager Colin Kolles (of Midland and Spyker experience) along with owner Carabante has played down rumours of trouble reiterating that the team has a plan for 2011 and is of sound financial health, with the opportunity of a tie up with Toyota to use their unraced TF110 chassis, staff and data.
“Obviously you have to look in a Formula One team every day how you find more sponsorship and how you survive. [But] I think our situation is not better or worse than any of the smaller teams.” (Colin Kolles, European GP 2010).
Although the well funded Japanese Yamamoto is seeming a permanent replacement for Chandhok, Hispania are in need of funds to secure their future involvement in the sport. Chandhok and Senna have done well to achieve their recorded qualifying and race finish results in a car far behind in development terms than that of their peers, although Yamamoto has been less impressive thus far. Considering the difficult conception of the F110, lack of development and lack of experience of the drivers the team must be acknowledged for their ability to mix with the Virgin Racing team on occasion, though reliability issues have plagued their opportunity to prolong these fights. Whilst it would be a shame to see the loss of a face from the F1 circus, their future and drivers' 2011 employment prospects given the low availability of seats elsewhere on the grid, may rest with the Spanish team's ability to rake in the attention from sponsors, and satisfy their accountants.
* Pictures courtesy of www.f1.co.uk, http://1.bp.blogspot.com/ via Google Image Search and www.hispaniaf1team.com Gallery. All rights held by respective owners. * Video from YouTube under search heading 'Bruno Senna Hispania Onboard'. Click on video to be redirected to original source.
This story I have to admit took me completely by surprise. On the back of Mark Webber having re-signed to Red Bull to partner Sebastien Vettel for 2011, news or rathe rumour has suggested that Toro Rosso (Red Bull 'B' team) driver Sébastien Buemi is being lined up to partner Vettel in 2012. This story surprised me somewhat, as only recently Buemi was told to up his performances if he was to retain his current drive for next season. This coupled with the in my opinion more consistent and impressive drives by his Spanish stablemate Jaime Alguersuari (pictured) such as challenging Schumacher in Australia and his points finish in Malaysia (especially considering Buemi has driven these tracks before), I would not have considered the Swiss born Buemi as a potential candidate for a seat in what has become a championship challenging team. To give credit where credit is due Buemi's performance in Canada was solid, though my doubts about his consistency and future potential continue to linger. Furthermore Red Bull have recently been linked with attempting to offer 2007 champion Kimi Raïkkönen a return to the sport, despite their inevitable denials. Choosing solely between the two (although it is evident that both require more experience yet) I would rather have highlighted Alguersuari as the potential heir to Webber's Red Bull throne. Then again Red Bull's Helmut Marko has a habit of not making sense sometimes, and perhaps Toro Rosso's current line up should be grateful if nothing else that his usual trigger happy finger hasn't quite reared its ugly head just head, as Tonio Liuzzi, Scott Speed and 4 time ChampCar champion Sébastien Bourdais will attest to. Let's not forget that this story remains largely as rumour for now, but will be an interesting one to watch.
Mercedes against 4th team supply to Red Bull: This story frankly should come as no surprise at all given that two of Red Bull'schief rivals are currently using Mercedes power in the shape of McLaren and also the works Mercedes team themselves. It's understandable that Norbert Haug wouldn't want to be supplying another team with engines when ultimately they could result in defeating the works crew. Mercedes' works team has had a somewhat troubled start to the 2010 season, potentially suffering as a result of the investment issues under previous incarnation Brawn GP, and Brawn's heavy push for the 2009 championship. Much has also been said about the somewhat inconsistent performance of the returning 7 times champion Michael Schumacher, as although further time will tell if the German can adapt to the new regulations his performances thus far have mostly not been eye catching, with particular reference to what appeared to be an almost desperate drive in Canada last weekend during which he became involved in a multitude of collisions and near-misses. With talk already of Mercedes GP abandoning most of the developmental work on the 2010 car to focus on the 2011 design process, it comes as no surprise that the company will not put themselves under extra potential pressure by supplying frontrunners Red Bull.
Ferrari's Di Montzemolo criticises new teams (again).
Forgive me for a moment if I congratulate myself on almost predicting the latest outburst from Ferrari's head principal, for it was only in my previous postthat I mentioned the issues regarding the new teams and the maligned nature of their performance. di Montzemolo has been critical from the outset of the performance of Lotus, Hispania and Virgin Racing suggesting that their current pace should not warrant a grid position in the pinnacle of motor racing, and that instead top teams should be allowed to run 3rd cars. I won't for one moment deny that currently the new teams are lacking in performance somewhat, that they have had some embarassing troubles along the way with Virgin's fuel tank issue and the accident above easily recalled, and are racing in almost a league of their own (though Lotus' Heikki Kovalainen impressed in Canada). It seems though that Ferrari's chief should re-assess his focus, as the Italian team are in danger should their Valencia upgrades be unsuccessful of slipping out of championship contention. It cannot be denied that there were some serious negligances on behalf of the FIA and Max Moseley on awarding entries last year, though again to give credit where it is due Lotus' (and to a point Virgin's) performances continue to improve, and Hispania are making large advances especially given their almost non-start to the season. Whilst di Montezemolo has a point about the new teams' poor performances, a little support in the way of my suggestion in my previous post yesterday may go a long way to resolving both of their issues.
Cast your minds back if you will to March and free practice of the opening round of the 2010 Formula 1 season at the Bahrain Grand Prix, and following a last minute rescue deal by Spanish buisnessman Jose Carabante after the failure of initial entry Campos GP, the frantic launch and assembly of the renamed Hispania F110 began. It seems impossible that in such an age in Formula 1 that a car may turn its' first wheel on the eve of a its' Grand Prix debut, but such was the dilemma for the late triple world champion Ayrton Senna's nephew. (Spare a thought for Senna's recently signed teammate Karun Chandhok though, who had to wait a further 24 hours until the qualifying session before he got his first chance to sample the car). The TV pictures bore witness to the car's difficult birth, as both rookie drivers fought to hold on to the car at every twist and turn of the track (see video from Round 2 - Australian GP above). Neither car finished the race, but the fact they even made the grid after a Winter of late payments to chassis maker Dallara and talk of collapse was a testament to the team's resilience. Gradual race finishes and outqualifying the more developed and better funded Virgin Racing team attracted a few small sponsor names, though these were dwarfed in comparison to the driver and team names filling up otherwise blank advertising space and the team continued to struggle eventually splitting with Dallara.
This perhaps if not already evident became more so on the eve of the British GP last month where Bruno Senna was sidelined to make way for Sakon Yamamoto, renowned widely for his wide back catalogue of wealthy sponsors rather than his driving ability. Yamamoto did this reputation no favours by starting the following event (now replacing Karun Chandhok) whilst his pit-lane speed limiter was engaged, before retiring after accidentally tripping the fire extinguisher. Inevitably suggestions began flowing that his seat was a means of keeping the outfit afloat. It must be remembered, that Hispania F1 (then Campos Meta GP) lodged their entry and signed the Concorde Agreement believing a budget cap would be implemented. The subsequent failure of this legislation must have hurt a team with low resources. Team manager Colin Kolles (of Midland and Spyker experience) along with owner Carabante has played down rumours of trouble reiterating that the team has a plan for 2011 and is of sound financial health, with the opportunity of a tie up with Toyota to use their unraced TF110 chassis, staff and data.
Although the well funded Japanese Yamamoto is seeming a permanent replacement for Chandhok, Hispania are in need of funds to secure their future involvement in the sport. Chandhok and Senna have done well to achieve their recorded qualifying and race finish results in a car far behind in development terms than that of their peers, although Yamamoto has been less impressive thus far. Considering the difficult conception of the F110, lack of development and lack of experience of the drivers the team must be acknowledged for their ability to mix with the Virgin Racing team on occasion, though reliability issues have plagued their opportunity to prolong these fights. Whilst it would be a shame to see the loss of a face from the F1 circus, their future and drivers' 2011 employment prospects given the low availability of seats elsewhere on the grid, may rest with the Spanish team's ability to rake in the attention from sponsors, and satisfy their accountants.
