The HRT thread

Shizuka · Post by **Shizuka** » 30 Jun 2011, 18:07

Klon wrote:Why do you replace Karthikeyan and not Mr. Bland himself Vitantonio Liuzzi? Life is just not fun anymore.

Yeah, what IS it with HRT replacing his Indian drivers? :lol:

Faustus · Post by **Faustus** » 30 Jun 2011, 18:20

Sauber010 wrote:Australian Daniel Ricciardo will make his Formula One debut in the next round of the world championship at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.
The West Australian will drive for HRT F1 Team, replacing Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan.

How the hell is Karthikeyan letting this happen? He's paying a crapload of money for the drive so how is he allowing this to happen? Does he have a performance clause in his contract or something?

patrick · Post by **patrick** » 30 Jun 2011, 18:46

Faustus wrote:
Sauber010 wrote:Australian Daniel Ricciardo will make his Formula One debut in the next round of the world championship at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.
The West Australian will drive for HRT F1 Team, replacing Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan.

How the hell is Karthikeyan letting this happen? He's paying a crapload of money for the drive so how is he allowing this to happen? Does he have a performance clause in his contract or something?

more precisely, how is Tata letting this happen! maybe with kolles' stepping down they have gone too and willis or the carabantes have other sponsorships in line. or red bull money. interesting times

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 30 Jun 2011, 19:04

patrick wrote:
Faustus wrote:
Sauber010 wrote:Australian Daniel Ricciardo will make his Formula One debut in the next round of the world championship at Silverstone for the British Grand Prix.
The West Australian will drive for HRT F1 Team, replacing Indian driver Narain Karthikeyan.

How the hell is Karthikeyan letting this happen? He's paying a crapload of money for the drive so how is he allowing this to happen? Does he have a performance clause in his contract or something?

more precisely, how is Tata letting this happen! maybe with kolles' stepping down they have gone too and willis or the carabantes have other sponsorships in line. or red bull money. interesting times

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92738

So Kolles is going home for a while, with rumours saying that he is going to take over Williams team principal job in 2012. Can't decide if it is Kolles moving up or Williams moving down...

The positive is that the Carabantes family is going to take over the reigns at HRT in a move that reminiscent of "now that you had all the work of taking our enterprise from certain oblivion we take control, thank you". This gets better though, since it seems that it is the son of Jose Ramon Carabantes who will assume the role as team principal. It is well documented how rejectful the sons of tycoons can be! :mrgreen:

GwilymJJames · Post by **GwilymJJames** » 30 Jun 2011, 19:45

Khausen Effect wrote:
Peter wrote:Red Bull is just paying HRT to put Daniel in the car to see how he can do.

It seems that Red Bull don't have enough cars for all their drivers. Maybe they should buy HRT to run Ricciardo and maybe Vergne.

Equipo Toro Rojo

cbbcisace · Post by **cbbcisace** » 30 Jun 2011, 19:49

I have to admit i'm a little confused.

Are we going to see some Ricciardo sponsorship or more Red Bull sponsorship on a 3rd car?

Peter · Post by **Peter** » 30 Jun 2011, 20:14

Klon wrote:Why do you replace Karthikeyan and not Mr. Bland himself Vitantonio Liuzzi? Life is just not fun anymore.

Because Liuzzi is HRT's best asset right now in terms of long term success. Narain has experience as well, as well as the big cash from TATA, but he's not leaving the team, he's probably taking up the reserve role, so the TATA sponsorship deal isn't voided. Red Bull is obviously paying HRT an unknown amount to put Daniel in the car. That amount is most likely in the millions, it'd have to be enough to make HRT say that it's worth more than Narain's big checque from TATA, so $5 million< perhaps.

As for sponsorships, no, we won't have Red Bull sponsorship on the HRT. If anything, it's Daniel's sponsors.

Aerospeed · Post by **Aerospeed** » 30 Jun 2011, 20:51

Well, there goes Ricciardo's chances of doing anything notable in F1.

Faustus wrote:How the hell is Karthikeyan letting this happen? He's paying a crapload of money for the drive so how is he allowing this to happen? Does he have a performance clause in his contract or something?

Maybe he wants out of HRT. I'd be stunned if any of the HRT drivers had a performance clause in their contract. HRT is basically "dump your money here" location.

Colin Kolles is sure having a nice collection of money to be put into the fireplace.
That's all I need

The Passenger · Post by **The Passenger** » 30 Jun 2011, 21:24

Klon wrote:Why do you replace Karthikeyan and not Mr. Bland himself Vitantonio Liuzzi? Life is just not fun anymore.

Vitantonio Liuzzi is bland? Whaaat? But he has such funky music on his website and all! And he kinda looks like Dick Valentine of Electric Six in some pictures!

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 30 Jun 2011, 21:26

JeremyMcClean wrote:That's all I need

You people do realise that after a certain point, a small font in this forum software becomes unreadable, no matter how much you zoom it?

Post by **Londoner** » 30 Jun 2011, 21:27

Note that Chandhok was dropped roughly around this time last year. And that both him and Chandhok was performing much better than expected.

Maybe they're trying to play the Indian crowds, somewhat like the 'dastardly young Australian' steals the local hero's seat, making it look unlikely he will get a chance to drive under his home crowd and supporters. He (Karthikeyan) suddenly fights back (possibly by finding yet more money in his sofas) and herorically takes the seat away from Riccardo just in time for him to dazzle the Indian crowds. After that, nothing more is heard.

(Note: I'm tired...)

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 30 Jun 2011, 21:28

East Londoner wrote:Note that Chandhok was dropped roughly around this time last year. And that both him and Chandhok was performing much better than expected.

Maybe they're trying to play the Indian crowds, somewhat like the 'dastardly young Australian' steals the local hero's seat, making it look unlikely he will get a chance to drive under his home crowd and supporters. He (Karthikeyan) suddenly fights back (possibly by finding yet more money in his sofas) and herorically takes the seat away from Riccardo just in time for him to dazzle the Indian crowds. After that, nothing more is heard.

Is it wrong that I think this to be surprisingly reasonable?

tristan1117 · Post by **tristan1117** » 30 Jun 2011, 21:34

Klon wrote:
East Londoner wrote:Note that Chandhok was dropped roughly around this time last year. And that both him and Chandhok was performing much better than expected.

Maybe they're trying to play the Indian crowds, somewhat like the 'dastardly young Australian' steals the local hero's seat, making it look unlikely he will get a chance to drive under his home crowd and supporters. He (Karthikeyan) suddenly fights back (possibly by finding yet more money in his sofas) and herorically takes the seat away from Riccardo just in time for him to dazzle the Indian crowds. After that, nothing more is heard.

Is it wrong that I think this to be surprisingly reasonable?

Either that or they're just trying to get F1 Rejects hacked again. (Indian Hackers 2: Electric Boogaloo?)

S951 · Post by **S951** » 30 Jun 2011, 21:42

East Londoner wrote:Note that Chandhok was dropped roughly around this time last year. And that both him and Chandhok was performing much better than expected.

Maybe they're trying to play the Indian crowds, somewhat like the 'dastardly young Australian' steals the local hero's seat, making it look unlikely he will get a chance to drive under his home crowd and supporters. He (Karthikeyan) suddenly fights back (possibly by finding yet more money in his sofas) and herorically takes the seat away from Riccardo just in time for him to dazzle the Indian crowds. After that, nothing more is heard.

(Note: I'm tired...)

I think thats the case from the reports anyway? but you got to say hrt never a dull moment

fjackdaw · Post by **fjackdaw** » 30 Jun 2011, 22:24

JeremyMcClean wrote:Well, there goes Ricciardo's chances of doing anything notable in F1.

Faustus wrote:How the hell is Karthikeyan letting this happen? He's paying a crapload of money for the drive so how is he allowing this to happen? Does he have a performance clause in his contract or something?

Maybe he wants out of HRT. I'd be stunned if any of the HRT drivers had a performance clause in their contract. HRT is basically "dump your money here" location.

Colin Kolles is sure having a nice collection of money to be put into the fireplace.
That's all I need

Colin Kolles has gone home, though, hasn't he?

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/92738

Rocks with Salt · Post by **Rocks with Salt** » 30 Jun 2011, 22:49

Sooooooo... what now? NOW who do we collectively tell to stuff it?

AdrianSutil · Post by **AdrianSutil** » 30 Jun 2011, 23:00

I'm not surprised HRT are swapping their drivers again but I'm very surprised to see Ricciardo get it. Surely he was going to be racing for Toro Rosso? Looks like Alguersuari's recent performances have kept him
in F1.

It'll be interesting to see how he does. My guess is on a par with Liuzzi. Nothing special. Another typical HRT driver, consistent but at the back.

TomWazzleshaw · Post by **TomWazzleshaw** » 30 Jun 2011, 23:13

Rocks with Salt wrote:Sooooooo... what now? NOW who do we collectively tell to stuff it?

Rupert Murdoch :mrgreen:

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 30 Jun 2011, 23:29

Klon wrote:
JeremyMcClean wrote:That's all I need

You people do realise that after a certain point, a small font in this forum software becomes unreadable, no matter how much you zoom it?

The thing is that you should copy and paste, not zoom, if you want to read it.

GroupLotusRenault · Post by **GroupLotusRenault** » 01 Jul 2011, 01:21

HRT seem to have an issue with hiring and then firing indian drivers. But I think no offence to NK, but I think Daniel is a young and talented Australian who in the 2010 after season testing for Red Bull was the fastest in all the tests. Maybe HRT did the right thing for a change.

Peter · Post by **Peter** » 01 Jul 2011, 03:32

GroupLotusRenault wrote:HRT seem to have an issue with hiring and then firing indian drivers. But I think no offence to NK, but I think Daniel is a young and talented Australian who in the 2010 after season testing for Red Bull was the fastest in all the tests. Maybe HRT did the right thing for a change.

Well, he was in a Red Bull.

Perhaps HRT are loosening themselves up and now trying to get themselves a more explosive lineup, and they don't think they need the experience Narain provides, as much as before. It's a shame for Narain, but maybe he will still run in FP sessions, or come back in the car sometime later in the year apart from India. Or better yet, remain as a reserve driver for the coming years.

In regards to firing Indian drivers, the reason behind Karun was I believe because his sponsors weren't paying up what they were supposed to, and since Yamamoto was sitting and waiting, with a big wad of cash, HRT in desperate trouble, practically had no choice.

Rocks with Salt · Post by **Rocks with Salt** » 01 Jul 2011, 05:32

Wizzie wrote:
Rocks with Salt wrote:Sooooooo... what now? NOW who do we collectively tell to stuff it?

Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch go home!

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 01 Jul 2011, 07:04

Klon wrote:Why do you replace Karthikeyan and not Mr. Bland himself Vitantonio Liuzzi? Life is just not fun anymore.

Because Liuzzi was in the Red Bull driver development scheme hismelf. It's no conincidence that he is Ricciardo's new team-mate.

And also because Liuzzi very nearly lapped Karthikeyan in Valencia.

GroupLotusRenault · Post by **GroupLotusRenault** » 01 Jul 2011, 08:52

Peter wrote:
GroupLotusRenault wrote:HRT seem to have an issue with hiring and then firing indian drivers. But I think no offence to NK, but I think Daniel is a young and talented Australian who in the 2010 after season testing for Red Bull was the fastest in all the tests. Maybe HRT did the right thing for a change.

Well, he was in a Red Bull.

Perhaps HRT are loosening themselves up and now trying to get themselves a more explosive lineup, and they don't think they need the experience Narain provides, as much as before. It's a shame for Narain, but maybe he will still run in FP sessions, or come back in the car sometime later in the year apart from India. Or better yet, remain as a reserve driver for the coming years.

In regards to firing Indian drivers, the reason behind Karun was I believe because his sponsors weren't paying up what they were supposed to, and since Yamamoto was sitting and waiting, with a big wad of cash, HRT in desperate trouble, practically had no choice.

But Webber is in a Red Bull so why isnt we winning? I personally think its a good think as look at Alonso 10 years ago in 2001 Minardi just 20 years old. Small underfunded team beating the Arrows Prost and the odd times the Benetton.

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 01 Jul 2011, 09:51

Rocks with Salt wrote:
Wizzie wrote:
Rocks with Salt wrote:Sooooooo... what now? NOW who do we collectively tell to stuff it?

Rupert Murdoch

Rupert Murdoch go home!

Can we tell Bernie to go home too, please?

DanielPT · Post by **DanielPT** » 01 Jul 2011, 10:32

dr-baker wrote:Can we tell Bernie to go home too, please?

I agree. Bernie, go home... NOW!

eytl · Post by **eytl** » 01 Jul 2011, 10:59

Fact: it is Daniel Ricciardo's birthday today. "Happy birthday, here, have an HRT drive."

Fact: Silverstone will be the first GP since the 1977 Dutch GP that two Australians have attempted to qualify. (Vern Schuppan DNQed in that event.)

Fact: The last GP that saw two Aussies start was the 1977 Austrian GP.

Fact: Alan Jones won the 1977 Austrian GP. It was his first ever Grand Prix victory.

Fact: on that basis, Mark Webber is destined to win the British GP (he said, dreaming).

Captain Hammer · Post by **Captain Hammer** » 01 Jul 2011, 12:23

eytl wrote:Fact: it is Daniel Ricciardo's birthday today. "Happy birthday, here, have an HRT drive."

Fact: Silverstone will be the first GP since the 1977 Dutch GP that two Australians have attempted to qualify. (Vern Schuppan DNQed in that event.)

Fact: The last GP that saw two Aussies start was the 1977 Austrian GP.

Fact: Alan Jones won the 1977 Austrian GP. It was his first ever Grand Prix victory.

Fact: on that basis, Mark Webber is destined to win the British GP (he said, dreaming).

Shhh, don't say that! You know that if you say things like that, Greg Rust will find it and report it in the commentary!

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 01 Jul 2011, 12:32

Wasn't there some element of a 'happy birthday' with last year's HRT driver-swapping?

the Masked Lapwing · Post by **the Masked Lapwing** » 01 Jul 2011, 12:41

Didn't they have to play "Happy Birthday" at Austria '77 because they didn't have the Aussie anthem?

Klon · Post by **Klon** » 01 Jul 2011, 12:44

Captain Hammer wrote:Because Liuzzi was in the Red Bull driver development scheme hismelf. It's no conincidence that he is Ricciardo's new team-mate.

And also because Liuzzi very nearly lapped Karthikeyan in Valencia.

Blah, blah, facts. Do I look like I care about facts? :mrgreen:

Post by **mario** » 01 Jul 2011, 13:40

Captain Hammer wrote:
Klon wrote:Why do you replace Karthikeyan and not Mr. Bland himself Vitantonio Liuzzi? Life is just not fun anymore.

Because Liuzzi was in the Red Bull driver development scheme hismelf. It's no conincidence that he is Ricciardo's new team-mate.

And also because Liuzzi very nearly lapped Karthikeyan in Valencia.

It's odd that Karthikeyan's pace has dropped off, though - earlier on in the season, he was at least reasonably close to Liuzzi (and in Turkey actually finished ahead of him), but in the past few races, he has slowly drifted away from Liuzzi and left him progressively further back from him.

Still, I am a little surprised, given that neither Kolles or Carabantes had made any comments prior to this suggesting that they were unhappy about the performance of Karthikeyan: yes, his performance wasn't great, although I doubt that anybody would do well coming back to the sport five years later, as Schumacher is demonstrating aptly. Still, it fits in with the attitude of the team owners (when included with the news that Kolles will be dealing with fewer day to day activities).

Salamander · Post by **Salamander** » 01 Jul 2011, 15:03

mario wrote:
Captain Hammer wrote:
Klon wrote:Why do you replace Karthikeyan and not Mr. Bland himself Vitantonio Liuzzi? Life is just not fun anymore.

Because Liuzzi was in the Red Bull driver development scheme hismelf. It's no conincidence that he is Ricciardo's new team-mate.

And also because Liuzzi very nearly lapped Karthikeyan in Valencia.

It's odd that Karthikeyan's pace has dropped off, though - earlier on in the season, he was at least reasonably close to Liuzzi (and in Turkey actually finished ahead of him), but in the past few races, he has slowly drifted away from Liuzzi and left him progressively further back from him.

It could also be that Liuzzi is improving in the no-pressure environment, and the car and upgrades could also be suiting him more than Karthikeyan. He is undoubtedly HRT's best hope for results, after all.

Post by **tommykl** » 01 Jul 2011, 15:51

the Masked Lapwing wrote:Didn't they have to play "Happy Birthday" at Austria '77 because they didn't have the Aussie anthem?

Yes, yes they did!

baddriving50 · Post by **baddriving50** » 01 Jul 2011, 18:20

tommykl wrote:
the Masked Lapwing wrote:Didn't they have to play "Happy Birthday" at Austria '77 because they didn't have the Aussie anthem?

Yes, yes they did!

But this doesn't sound like "Happy Birthday" to me...
http://youtu.be/6cLRVzMFnnw?t=12m40s

shinji · Post by **shinji** » 01 Jul 2011, 18:31

baddriving50 wrote:
tommykl wrote:
the Masked Lapwing wrote:Didn't they have to play "Happy Birthday" at Austria '77 because they didn't have the Aussie anthem?

Yes, yes they did!

But this doesn't sound like "Happy Birthday" to me...
http://youtu.be/6cLRVzMFnnw?t=12m40s

Myth: Busted.

Barbazza · Post by **Barbazza** » 01 Jul 2011, 19:32

eytl wrote:Fact: Alan Jones won the 1977 Austrian GP. It was his first ever Grand Prix victory.

He'd never finished higher than 5th in that season up to that race. So on that basis next weekend's winner will be Felipe Massa, Nico Rosberg or Kamui Kobayashi. I guess any of those would be as surprising as Jonesy's first win!!

WeirdKerr · Post by **WeirdKerr** » 01 Jul 2011, 20:07

when was the last time 2 austrailians raced in F1 ?

dr-baker · Post by **dr-baker** » 01 Jul 2011, 20:26

WeirdKerr wrote:when was the last time 2 austrailians raced in F1 ?

eytl wrote:Fact: it is Daniel Ricciardo's birthday today. "Happy birthday, here, have an HRT drive."

Fact: Silverstone will be the first GP since the 1977 Dutch GP that two Australians have attempted to qualify. (Vern Schuppan DNQed in that event.)

Fact: The last GP that saw two Aussies start was the 1977 Austrian GP.

Fact: Alan Jones won the 1977 Austrian GP. It was his first ever Grand Prix victory.

Fact: on that basis, Mark Webber is destined to win the British GP (he said, dreaming).

Ferrim · Post by **Ferrim** » 01 Jul 2011, 22:35

eytl wrote:Fact: it is Daniel Ricciardo's birthday today. "Happy birthday, here, have an HRT drive."

Fact: Silverstone will be the first GP since the 1977 Dutch GP that two Australians have attempted to qualify. (Vern Schuppan DNQed in that event.)

Fact: The last GP that saw two Aussies start was the 1977 Austrian GP.

Fact: Alan Jones won the 1977 Austrian GP. It was his first ever Grand Prix victory.

Fact: on that basis, Mark Webber is destined to win the British GP (he said, dreaming).

Fact: Daniel Ricciardo is destined to not qualify for the British GP.