016 - A Wild Stab at the 2011 F1 Driver Market

2010 F1 field at Bahrain GP. Just how different will the 2011 grid look?

OK, so about this time of year the inevitable silly season is fast rolling onwards, and predictions from half witted journalistic wanna-bes start appearing online with speculative considerations on the line up for next year that often turn out to be inherently wide of the mark. So with that in mind, here's mine, though it may be benefitting perhaps from the somewhat calm driver market given the frantic nature of recent years.

Red Bull
Unsurprisingly Red Bull racing have already announced an unchanged line up for 2011, in Sebastien Vettel and Mark Webber. Webber is signed on a one year contract until the end of 2011, whilst the team seem eager to hang on to German Vettel, being that he is by far the brightest seed sewn in the Red Bull Driver Development program thus far.

McLaren
Again McLaren are already set and contracted to retain the same driver pairing and all-British theme in 2011 as used this year, in the shape of 2009 world champion Jenson Button, and 2008 title winner Lewis Hamilton. Should the team manage their drivers as well as this year, given the frictions reported in rival camps this could turn out to become a formidable line-up.

Ferrari
The Scuderia are another team with drivers already under contract. Double world champion Fernando Alonso will again partner Felipe Massa, reaffiriming Ferrari's commitment last year despite his injury to hang on to the popular Brazilian. Massa will need to ensure however he can hang on to his illustrious team mate to ensure his seat remains secure.

Mercedes

Whilst both Nico Rosberg and Michael Schumacher remain under contract for 2011, rumours are still abound about whether or not Schumacher will continue into 2011 after a disappointing return campaign. Possible replacements include Nick Heidfeld who is rumoured to be announced imminently as Pirelli's tyre tester, which would provide the team with invaluable knowledge should the situation arise.

Renault
It comes as no surprise that the partnership with talented Robert Kubica will extend into 2011, though uncertainties remain over Vitaly Petrov's future. An impressive yet somewhat error strewn campaign may be attributed to the learning curve, and Boullier has hinted more Hungary-esque performances would cement his future at the team. A strong finance and sponsorship portfolio may also save his seat, though recent news has linked Adrian Sutil, Timo Glock, Nick Heidfeld, Bruno Senna or perhaps another Genii Investment backed driver to the drive.

Force India
Should a Renault drive either not materialise or seem less attractive, Adrian Sutil is a shoe-in for one of the Force India positions, though team mate Vitantonio Liuzzi has struggled to match pace and is in danger of losing out to test driver Paul di Resta. Karun Chandhok has been linked with the drive, though is less likely given di Resta's foot is already firmly in the door should a vacancy appear.

Williams
The Grove team will almost certainly hang on to 2009 GP2 champion Nico Hülkenberg who has had a progressive if quiet 2010. The relationship between the team and the well loved Rubens Barrichello also looks certain to continue into the Brazilian's 19th year in Formula 1, leaving no room at the inn here.

Sauber
Few would put money on Peter Sauber dropping the ever improving Kamui Kobayashi, though it would seem Pedro de la Rosa's return to F1 will come to a close at the end of the year. The Spaniard has already openly hinted he is available for employment in 2011, and rumours have strongly linked current test driver Esteban Gutierrez, Sergio Perez (who has backing from telecommunications company Telmex) or possibly Pastor Maldonado given the Venezuelan's current GP2 form.

Toro Rosso
The Red Bull 'B team' have already announced that they will continue to field Sebastien Buemi in 2011 with his aim being a Red Bull seat in 2012, alongside Jaime Alguersuari. Whilst this isn't likely to change team boss Franz Tost is known for being somewhat trigger happy with his drivers should he consider them to be underperforming at all, and with rapid Australian Daniel Ricciardo doing well in the lower ranks and 2010 F3 championship winner (claiming the title this afternoon no less) Jean-Eric Vergne waiting in the wings nothing is quite 100% certain here yet.

Lotus
Lotus played a shrewd and clever move hiring experienced head Jarno Trulli and Heikki Kovalainen for 2010. Kovalainen is experienced yet young and has settled well into the team, and is sure to stay on. Trulli may stay on next year, though has looked less impressed and motivated by his new surroundings, and should he retire Lotus have Malaysian Fairuz Fauzy waiting on the bench.

Hispania F1
Possibly the most difficult line-up to predict, Hispania F1's driver line up may rest on their ability to balance the books (see previous post). If possible Bruno Senna is likely to stay, considering there are few options available to him elsewhere. Pay drivers such as Sakon Yamamoto may fill the other seat, though an experienced head such as test driver Christian Klien may be what the team needs to advance through its troubles. That said, Karun Chandhok also performed well given the F110's poor quality, and is surely deserving of a vacancy.

Virgin Racing
Despite languishing behind Lotus for much of 2010, fellow newcomers Virgin Racing have made steady improvements over the season, though whether this will be enough to retain lead driver Timo Glock remains to be seen. Lucas di Grassi has the ability, but hasn't fared well against his more experienced team mate, and may fall foul in the driver market for 2011. As far as replacements go, F2 champion Andy Soucek quit Virgin this week, and other test driver Luiz Razia is far from ready for an F1 debut as yet.

As yet un-named 13th team

The line up here will depend largely on which team gets the nod for 2011 entry. Should Epsilon Euskadi get the go-ahead Dani Clos may be attractive given his nationality. The Villenueve / Durango tie up could give Jacques Villenueve a seat. Stefan GP may well field Kazuki Nakajima for F1 experience value and Toyota backing and support if nothing else. Sergio Perez may be in with a shout given his aforementioned Telmex backing, which would be attractive to a new starter. Pastor Maldonado is managed alike Ferrari tester Jules Bianchi by FIA president Jean Todt's son Nicolas, who it is rumoured is eager to get the Venezuelan GP2 championship leader his break in F1. This will as said hang on who gets the entry and their individual requirements.

Images courtesy of WorldCarFans.com copyright to Davenport and Autosport at http://www.autosport.com. All images property of their respective owners.

015 - The Future of Hispania F1

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.

014 - Immer Weiterkämpfen

- Drawing the line.. -

It's amazing how people deal with difficult situations. Resilience and determination are two characteristics I like to consider myself as having built over the years, and qualities I admire in others greatly. However there comes a point at which resilience and determination can become dangerous, and what I admire more in people is their ability to recognise when to back off. Michael Schumacher's statistical successes in Formula 1 are unrivalled in many instances (91 wins, 68 pole positions, 7 world championships..) though he has often been tarred with an apparent inability to know when to draw the line under pressure. Hungary 2010 unfortunately again bore witness to this side of the German's character.

Schumacher's 2010 F1 comeback year has been difficult to say the least. He has so far struggled to adapt to the changed regulations of the sport and has as a result despite his moments notched up just 38 points compared to team mate Nico Rosberg on 94, has struggled to make it into Q3 on occasions and has also had his driving called into question (particularly at the Canadian GP). Despite some of these difficulties being the result of a 3 year break from the sport and also the difficulties Mercedes have faced with the W01 not meeting expectations, many have speculated on the potential re-retirement of F1's most successful driver come the end of the season. Rubens Barrichello has also a large amount of history with Schumacher dating back to their years as team-mates as Ferrari, but Schumacher's defensive move on the Brazilian came incredibly close to causing a big accident. Schumacher may have received a 10 place grid penalty for Spa for his indisgressions but since Barrichello avoided the wall and no cars were exiting the pit lane he should probably thank himself lucky things weren't a whole lot worse.

Not a good weekend for Mercedes overall either. A botched pitstop resulted in Nico Rosberg's rear right wheel coming loose and narrowly missing several mechanics (already distracted by Kubica and Sutil colliding in the pitlane, which Renault and Force India mechanics were lucky to avoid), and ended with the German squad scoring 0 points for the first time this season. The two events must have left team officials wondering how they'd managed such a lucky escape twice in one weekend.

Continuing to ramble,
Sandlefish

* Pictures from http://www.autosport.com (2010 Hungarian GP and 2010 Malaysian GP Archives).
* Video taken from YouTube: Click on video while playing to access original source.

013 - Praha (and updates..)

Prague, or it's natively named 'Praha' as I have now come to know it, was simply amazing. I've been to places I've not wanted to leave before, and seen and done things that I never thought I would do; including flying a plane (albeit not solo), experiencing a 6.8 earthquake in Zakynthos in 2006, played some amazingly fun gigs, learnt languages, grauated twice.. but I'm not being overdramatic when I say Prague is up there with the best. I'd recommend it to anyone, and it's somewhere I'll be re-visiting in the hopefully not too distant future..

Also, the day before we flew to Prague I got the calls I'd been waiting for regarding where I'm going to be in September. I am now officially a Tutor in Psychology at a local college, and have passed my PGCE in Post Compulsory Education and Training with Masters Credits towards a Masters in Education. I don't plan to study for a Masters in Education, but that should go down a treat when I'm applying for my Masters in Psychology course as proof that I'm capable of achieving at that level. You can forgive me then, as I stood overlooking the river in Praha on the first night of our holiday, one step closer to my ultimate target of one day living abroad, for thinking I was on the verge of waking up from what seemed like a very good dream.

Next stop: Save some money, and when my girlfriend has a job, find a house.

Still dreaming?
Sandlefish

-- Weiterkämpfen durch alles --

012 - Prague

- Finally I have gotten around to booking a holiday for the first time since Düsseldorf in 2006, and will be visiting the Czech Republic capital Prague next month. If anyone has been before, lives there, knows anything about Prague please message me your experiences or suggestions on the sights and what we can do.. -

- Schließlich buchte ich mein ersten Urlaub als ich letztes mal in Düsseldorf in 2006 war, und werde ich die Hauptstadt des Tscheche Republik nächstes Monat besuchen. Wenn jemand da besucht hat, da wohnt, oder etwas über Prag wüsst bitte schickt mir Ihren Erfahrungen oder Anregungen über die Sehenswürdigkeiten und was los ist.. -


-Musím dostat instrukce poněkud Čech -


- Again I'm not too sure why the pictures are not very clear, but click on them and they look better -
- Wie letztes mal, ich bin mir nicht so sicher warum diese Bilder nicht so klar sind, aber wann man Sie klicht sehen Sie besser aus -

011 - Made by Loora

- A bilingual blend of talented photography capturing beautiful scenery and the impressive landscapes of her native Estonia and a diverse range of creative handicrafts -

http://madebyloora.blogspot.com/

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” ~Vincent van Gogh ~

'MadebyLoora' by Laura

Apologies for the quality of the pictures in this entry, for some reason they've decided to lower themselves somewhat drastically in pixel count whenever I post it here. Just click on to Laura's blog to get a better quality version (opens in same window).

010 - News Headlines F1

Buemi for Red Bull in 2012?

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's chief 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 post that 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.