2011 Silly Season

Waris · Post by **Waris** » 16 Dec 2010, 10:18

Wizzie wrote:
Jeroen Krautmeir wrote:Tonio says his seat is safe

The rest of the world says he's on something very strong

"Should the team take decisions that exclude me, then those decisions wouldn't be down to a problem with my on-track speed. The team has never complained to me about it."? Sure, I can cover my back when I'm fired like that, too!

Peter · Post by **Peter** » 16 Dec 2010, 12:29

Liuzzi isn't "slow". Sutil has outpaced him most of the year ,and Liuzzi has crashed a few times, but he's not slow, to the point that i'd kick him out. I'd give him another go and ell him to ease off the crashing and be a bit more consistent or else.

dhruvkaicker90 · Post by **dhruvkaicker90** » 16 Dec 2010, 12:56

I reallly hope Force India dont keep the same line up for 2011

http://crash.net/f1/news/165554/1/force ... r_all.html

i want Chandhok in FIF1 (ps i am indian :lol:

)

patrick · Post by **patrick** » 16 Dec 2010, 13:53

dhruvkaicker90 wrote:I reallly hope Force India dont keep the same line up for 2011

http://crash.net/f1/news/165554/1/force ... r_all.html

i want Chandhok in FIF1 (ps i am indian )

It's possible he may get a test/reserve seat but I think a race seat is unlikely at this stage, especially when there are proven better drivers on offer.

dhruvkaicker90 · Post by **dhruvkaicker90** » 16 Dec 2010, 15:54

Ya i know it wont happen..... i hope atleast he gets a reserve seat and somehow ends up in the seat for the Indian GP..... The track is just a few kilometres away from my house so i will go and watch the race

Post by **tommykl** » 16 Dec 2010, 15:56

dhruvkaicker90 wrote:Ya i know it wont happen..... i hope atleast he gets a reserve seat and somehow ends up in the seat for the Indian GP..... The track is just a few kilometres away from my house so i will go and watch the race

Take photos.

Ed24 · Post by **Ed24** » 16 Dec 2010, 16:15

I would be very surprised if Chandhok doesn't start the Indian GP, whether it be with Force India, HRT, Virgin or someone else.

Post by **tommykl** » 16 Dec 2010, 16:24

Ed24 wrote:I would be very surprised if Chandhok doesn't start the Indian GP, whether it be with Force India, HRT, Virgin or someone else.

I have a feeling Bernie will be putting pressure on the teams to offer a one race contract. After all, he does manage Chandhok's assets...

Peter · Post by **Peter** » 16 Dec 2010, 17:08

I'd love to see Chandhok in the FI ,but that'll only be possible if Sutil replaces Petrov at Renault, leaving that seat open.

Go home, Vitaly Petrov!!!

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 16 Dec 2010, 17:33

Captain Hammer wrote:
Peter wrote:Go home, Vitaly Petrov!!!

Hey, I've already banned you from GT Planet. Don't make me ban you from these forums. I might not be a moderator here, but I can kill your account with my brain.

Captain, please don't bring feuds from other forums over to here please. We are civil here and don't want it to go downhill. He may not like Vitaly Petrov, but you don't like Kobayashi. Thank goodness we are not droids, zombies, clones or sheep with identikit opinions.

By the way, I would love to see Chandhok compete in India. But I don't see any decent/leading/established teams offering a one-race deal. So either Chandhok will be on a multi-race deal or as third driver so he can gain experience of the car before the Indian race or else he will have a one-race deal with HRT. Which would we rather see? I know what I think...

Peter · Post by **Peter** » 16 Dec 2010, 17:57

Meh, I was kidding around, I knew Hammer would show up soon the moment I made fun of Petrov. I'd be more upset if my GTP ban was permanent, then i'd go on about how Petrov has been outpaced by Kubica almost all year, while crashing on a number of occasions, and his safe seat is aided a lot by his money, and the fact that he's a door to the Russian market, otherwise he'd be out the door. But i'm not like that

I'd talk to you about my ban, but I can't communicate with the moderators at all at the moment, and I don't wanna bring any feuds over to another forum.

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 16 Dec 2010, 18:21

dr-baker wrote:He may not like Vitaly Petrov, but you don't like Kobayashi.

Neither does he like Alonso, for that matter.

Peter · Post by **Peter** » 16 Dec 2010, 18:30

Ferrim wrote:
dr-baker wrote:He may not like Vitaly Petrov, but you don't like Kobayashi.

Neither does he like Alonso, for that matter.

Or Hulkenberg... -_-

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 16 Dec 2010, 20:42

Peter wrote:
Ferrim wrote:
dr-baker wrote:He may not like Vitaly Petrov, but you don't like Kobayashi.

Neither does he like Alonso, for that matter.

Or Hulkenberg... -_-

If Hulk didn't drive for Williams, nobody would like him because he's as interesting as Nick Heidfeld. Petrov and Kobayashi are the kinds of drivers that keep me interested.

Go home Liuzzi!! Put Paul di Resta in that car!

thehemogoblin · Post by **thehemogoblin** » 16 Dec 2010, 21:54

Captain Hammer wrote:
Peter wrote:Go home, Vitaly Petrov!!!

Hey, I've already banned you from GT Planet. Don't make me ban you from these forums. I might not be a moderator here, but I can kill your account with my brain.

Not your job. Knock it off.

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 16 Dec 2010, 22:37

dr-baker wrote:Captain, please don't bring feuds from other forums over to here please.

Dude, it's a joke.

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 17 Dec 2010, 00:15

Excuse the double-post, but while we're on the subject, Vitaly Petrov's official website has a story stating that his future will be officially announced on December 22 - Wednesday - in Moscow. Sound like he'll be racing for Lotus Renault in 2011.

Myrvold · Post by **Myrvold** » 17 Dec 2010, 01:05

Or Marussia Virgin.

P_Friesacher · Post by **P_Friesacher** » 17 Dec 2010, 01:16

This is somewhat OT (not that anyone really cares on this forum) - but has anyone else noticed that "Marussia Virgin" sounds somewhat like spam mail? Maybe they should start getting creative with the design, too. "M4®uss1@ V1rg|n" perhaps?
Hope this forum's spam filter desn't ban me now...

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 17 Dec 2010, 01:57

Myrvold wrote:Or Marussia Virgin.

Actually, Nikolai Fomenko has said that he won't take Petrov until he can guarantee Petrov a competitive car. And Fomenko's business partner Andrei Cheglakov has said that it would be better to have a Russian driver in a team that is not Russian for the purposes of getting more exposure. They might take him on if there was a danger that he might not get to race otherwise, but Petrov has been Renault's preferred - and only - option for some time now. They won't start talks with other drivers until they know Petrov will not race for them. Besides, Petrov hasn't been linked to Marussia Virgin in the press; it's beieved Marussia Virgin are looking at d'Ambrosio, di Grassi and van der Garde. The only teams Petrov has been linked to are Renault and Lotus.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 17 Dec 2010, 02:06

Man I swear if I read 'Marussia Virgin' again in this thread I'll go nuts! They're just sponsoring the team, they aren't the bloody team! I suppose we're all rooting for Kobayashi in his Telmex Sauber aren't we? See what I mean? It's Virgin, just like it's McLaren, forget the corporate bollocks. Marussia have bought Lloyds' old stake yet we weren't calling them Lloyds Virgin last year were we?

Gah! :roll:

P_Friesacher · Post by **P_Friesacher** » 17 Dec 2010, 02:39

I also thought that if Marussia Virgin were going to hire a Russian driver - and being a Russian team

now, they might - they were going to take Aleshin. Who also sounded pretty upbeat about his future a few weeks ago in an interview with, er, someone - sorry, I forgot.
Also, aren't we talking about Lotus Renault? Quite a lot, in fact?

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 17 Dec 2010, 03:06

Actually, the exact details of the Marussia-Virgin deal aren't know. Some reports claim they have purchased a controlling stake in the team, which would make Marussia the constructor and Virgin title sponsor.

Myrvold · Post by **Myrvold** » 17 Dec 2010, 04:04

A Virgin Marussia? Even better!

And I use Marussia because I love the sound of it!

JohnMLTX · Post by **JohnMLTX** » 17 Dec 2010, 05:37

Captain Hammer wrote:Actually, the exact details of the Marussia-Virgin deal aren't know. Some reports claim they have purchased a controlling stake in the team, which would make Marussia the constructor and Virgin title sponsor.

a pr dude from virgin said that they did indeed purchase a controlling stake, and they are applying for a russian license for 2012.

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 17 Dec 2010, 06:11

Don't see why they can't apply for one in 2011, but whatever.

DonTirri · Post by **DonTirri** » 17 Dec 2010, 08:41

AndreaModa wrote:Man I swear if I read 'Marussia Virgin' again in this thread I'll go nuts! They're just sponsoring the team, they aren't the bloody team! I suppose we're all rooting for Kobayashi in his Telmex Sauber aren't we? See what I mean? It's Virgin, just like it's McLaren, forget the corporate bollocks. Marussia have bought Lloyds' old stake yet we weren't calling them Lloyds Virgin last year were we?

Gah!

Well, to be fair, adding the sponsor name to the front of the teams name is (or was?) the official naming scheme in F1. It can be heard in the post-race press conferences for instance when the drivers are introduced, and back in the day, the great Murray himself used to add the sponsors to the teamnames (Malboro McLaren, JPS Lotus spring to mind) So yeah, Marussia Virgin, Telmex Sauber, Vodafone McLaren, Lotus Renault etc are all correct, OFFICIALLY

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 17 Dec 2010, 08:43

Anyone else think Renault is trying to convince Petrov to resign as a contractual number 2 driver?

... or perhaps even one of the Force India pair?

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 17 Dec 2010, 09:21

P_Friesacher wrote:I also thought that if Marussia Virgin were going to hire a Russian driver - and being a Russian team

*cough*Shnaider*Midland*cough*fail*cough*

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 17 Dec 2010, 12:21

Cynon wrote:Anyone else think Renault is trying to convince Petrov to resign as a contractual number 2 driver?

Why? They've said he's their first choice for the seat and he was only one a one-year contract in 2010. They've no need to convince him to resign because they can simply not renew his contract - but everything from the team says they want to keep him. It's a bit odd that Petrov has been the one to call the press conference in Moscow, but I think he's trying to promote Formula 1 in Russia through it.

Post by **mario** » 17 Dec 2010, 13:21

Captain Hammer wrote:Don't see why they can't apply for one in 2011, but whatever.

Perhaps Virgin Racing had already lodged their entry with the FIA, with a UK licence (I think that they are registered as a UK entrant), before the deal with Marussia had been completed? Therefore, it would probably cost the team more money than it is worth to change the licence, so they've pushed it back to 2012 when they can switch to a Russian licence more easily.

As for Petrov, I would expect that he will be retained for 2011 - asides from a relatively strong final race in Abu Dhabi (where out qualifying Kubica will have helped his reputation a bit), his commercial value to the team is quite high, and probably enough to seal the deal. The current management have indicated that he is their favourite choice, and Petrov himself is unlikely to get better offers from elsewhere, so I would be quite surprised if he did not stay put for 2011.

AndreaModa · Post by **AndreaModa** » 17 Dec 2010, 17:04

Well the way I understood it was that Lloyds (the banking/investment company) bought a stake in the team (not controlling) upon it's formation before the 2010 season. Now they've decided to sell that stake and sportscar manufacturer Marussia have decided to come on board and purchase said stake. Officially last year the Cosworth engines were meant to be rebranded Marussia units but for some reason it was never shown like that in FIA material, on screen graphics etc. The way I see it is that maybe Marussia will take over after Branson's had enough after three years. That's the known time that he'll be in the sport for, whether he chooses to extend that or not remains to be seen, but I can't see the team completely changing to a Russian licence, under a Russian sportscar manufacturer when the whole point of the buyout by Virgin initially was to go the one step further that they didn't do with Brawn in 2009, i.e. have a team directly associated with the Virgin brand. By completely changing the team's identity to Russian, it doesn't make sense for Virgin to be involved with the team, hence why I suspect if it is happening, it'll be after the confirmed three year period that Branson has already committed for the team.

Btw sorry about the previous post, I came across a bit too strong there for my liking.

watka · Post by **watka** » 19 Dec 2010, 18:13

I hate this current trend for registering the team in a certain country just because of the sponsors or the owners. If the workforce and facilities are in Britain, the team is British as far as I'm concerned. It's a bathplugging disgrace that Red Bull get the Austrian national anthem when they win the race. Most of the mechanics who work for them are British, so I would have thought that it must be pretty disappointing for them to put in all that effort only for Mateschitz's anthem to be ringing out. Maybe I'm more patriotic than your average person, but it seriously gets on my wick.

F1000X · Post by **F1000X** » 19 Dec 2010, 18:16

Almost every team is british, what do you want them to do. I agree registering a team else where because of sponsor obligations is bullshit, but doing it at least creates the illusion of national diversity among the teams.

Ducktanian · Post by **Ducktanian** » 19 Dec 2010, 18:31

To solve this, every team could have their own anthem. Then you'd get your patriotism and the bonus of hiding the fact the half the teams on the grid are at least half-British.

But you'd have the downside of never hearing the anthems of the teams lower down the grid ;_;

Post by **mario** » 19 Dec 2010, 18:49

watka wrote:I hate this current trend for registering the team in a certain country just because of the sponsors or the owners. If the workforce and facilities are in Britain, the team is British as far as I'm concerned. It's a bathplugging disgrace that Red Bull get the Austrian national anthem when they win the race. Most of the mechanics who work for them are British, so I would have thought that it must be pretty disappointing for them to put in all that effort only for Mateschitz's anthem to be ringing out. Maybe I'm more patriotic than your average person, but it seriously gets on my wick.

The trend of changing the official licence of the team for PR reasons is pretty endemic within the sport - for example, this is how the licences for each team officially stack up:
Red Bull - Austrian
Mclaren - British
Ferrari - Italian
Mercedes - German
Renault - French
Williams - British
Force India - Indian
Sauber - Swiss
Toro Rosso - Italian
Lotus Racing - Malaysian
HRT - Spanish
Virgin Racing - British

So, on paper, it looks as if the British contingent of Formula 1 is not that dominant, with only three teams registered as having a British licence. Of course, in reality, most of those teams have almost no connection with the country that they are supposed to represent - after all, Red Bull is based near that famously Austrian town, Milton Keynes, whilst Force India is next door to Silverstone and Lotus Racing are mostly based in Norfolk. As for Renault, that is a little more mixed - the team itself is based in Enstone, but the engine/drivetrain division is based in Viry. And, again, Mercedes is hardly that teutonic, with the team based in Brackley and the engine division (formed by a buy out of Ilmor) in Brixworth. Once you actually take that into account, you have eight UK based teams, predominantly staffed by UK nationals - and that doesn't include the offshoots of some teams, like Toro Rosso's design team within Red Bull Technology (also UK based).

But, I suppose that it is the inevitable consequence of what happens when previously unsuccessful privateer UK based teams have been bought out solely for their entry rights and facilities. And, of course, because historically there have been a lot of privateer teams from the UK, most of the current suppliers are already based in the UK, or at least have UK divisions - so why move when everything is almost literally at your doorstep?

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 19 Dec 2010, 23:07

You said in the "One-word-only word association game II" that there were 664 non-british drivers.

Does that figure count for the new drivers coming in 2011?

Post by **mario** » 19 Dec 2010, 23:29

JeremyMcClean wrote:You said in the "One-word-only word association game II" that there were 664 non-british drivers.

Does that figure count for the new drivers coming in 2011?

It does include those who have been confirmed as having a contract for 2011, so that figure includes Maldonado and Perez.

Nessafox · Post by **Nessafox** » 19 Dec 2010, 23:54

virgin actually uses the licence of british virgin islands at least it is mentioned like this on some websites but then again it's british overseas territory so that's why it's usually just listed as british

Cynon · Post by **Cynon** » 20 Dec 2010, 00:19

Dartanian wrote:But you'd have the downside of never hearing the anthems of the teams lower down the grid ;_;

You don't hear them anyway.

Sadly.

watka wrote:I hate this current trend for registering the team in a certain country just because of the sponsors or the owners. If the workforce and facilities are in Britain, the team is British as far as I'm concerned. It's a bathplugging disgrace that Red Bull get the Austrian national anthem when they win the race. Most of the mechanics who work for them are British, so I would have thought that it must be pretty disappointing for them to put in all that effort only for Mateschitz's anthem to be ringing out. Maybe I'm more patriotic than your average person, but it seriously gets on my wick.

You'd love NASCAR then... if you were American, that is. :mrgreen: