Myrvold wrote:No no! Boullier and the team must wonder what the bathplug they have done when getting GL as sponsors.
However, I see this as a desperate way from Bahar to justify for the Malaysian people and the Malaysian gov. that it is worth all the money he is going to drag out of the company now.
I have to agree; no offence to Fauzy, but I am not entirely sure that he does have what it takes to make it in Formula 1. OK, he did well in A1GP, and even won a race there, but the opposition hasn't been at its strongest recently as A1GP went into decline. His European GP2 results, back in 2005 and 2006, were pretty uninspiring though - two 7th places in two years were his best efforts, and he didn't score any points in GP2 (those 7th places came in the feature races, where points only went down to 6th place, and he did not manage to get the fastest lap in either race).
To be fair, he came second in the 2009 Formula Renault 3.5 series - but he was beaten pretty comfortably by Bertrand Baguette in the end (he scored 98 points to Baguette's 155), but, on the other hand, the times that he set in the test sessions he drove in for Lotus Racing did not exactly stand out compared to the times that Trulli and Heikki were setting.
Either way, though, you suspect that regardless of his capabilities, Proton are probably using their sponsorship deal as a way of putting pressure on Boullier to let Fauzy have a go, or even a race, during the 2011 season. I don't think that he will end up replacing Petrov, but I can see Petrov potentially being sidelined for a few of the practise sessions, and there is an outside chance that he may "fall ill" before the Malaysian GP (in the same way that Yamamoto "had food poisoning" for the Singapore GP), so Fauzy gets his seat for that race.
Onto other drivers - although Di Grassi has left the Virgin Racing team, it seems that he is now looking to become a test driver for 2011. He is hoping that he can cut a deal with a team for 2011 that allows him to test the car during the practise sessions, and if he performs well enough, hopes that he can either be promoted into a race seat for 2012, or find a race seat for another team on the back of his practise performances.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88986On another note, we may see a little bit more of De La Rosa after all, albeit in his role as a Pirelli test driver. Pirelli have confirmed that they will continue testing during the season, with tests in Istanbul and Barcelona in April and May respectively. Although there are no definite dates, Abu Dhabi and Bahrain will probably be other test venues (towards the end of the season), with possible test sessions at Monza and Spa Francorchamps over the summer months.
It seems that, as they are slightly uncertain about the best tyre compounds for each track, that if the teams notice any major problems with the tyres at a particular venue, they are prepared to arrange for emergency test sessions on Friday in case they need to change the tyre allocation.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88985Also, in addition to this, Pirelli have confirmed that they have already made some small structural changes to the front tyre for improved feedback and better behaviour when turning into the corner. Of course, that has slightly changed the balance of the car, so they are now modifying the rear tyres to cope.
Lastly, this is slightly out of place here, but I couldn't think where else to put it; Mclaren have announced their testing schedule. At Valencia, Paffett will drive for the first day, with Hamilton getting the second day and Button the third day to test the new tyres. At Jerez, where Mclaren will bring the new car for the first time, Hamilton will get the first chance to try the car out, although he will run alternately with Button during that test and the remaining tests at Barcelona and Bahrain.
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/88998
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