T.T.

What about the rumors of Rubens and Marco switching seats?

morkusyambo

No one has actually come out and said they would like to see Dramica in F1. Thanks for that.

After the debacle known as Scott "Slow", the last thing we need is Dramica further cementing the perception of American drivers as a side show in F1.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

Remember, Marco's father had a bad experience with his F1 career. That may weight heavy in any decision of his to make the move.
All though, Marco may be willing to make more of a commitment to F1 than his father did.

Calling Scott slow is an unfair statement. The team has a history of poor reliability. And, no driver has qualified or finished higher with an STR than Scott Speed.

morkusyambo

Calling him slow was just a way of expressing my frustration with his unerring ability to continually run into other drivers, or off the track.

nu2rx8

AJ Allmandinger was/ is probably the best choice in American drivers to make the F1 leap but unforunately I don't think we'll ever see that. IMO Marco and Danica are not ready and may never be.

Graham Rahal is very young, quick, and level headed but he'll have to do GP2 within the next few years to gain any interest. The two AGR names above would likely be crushed after a season of GP2.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

I think Jonathan Summerton (Who? http://www.formulajon.com/home.htm) will be the next American to be in F1. He has been making great gains in F1GP recently and just finished 2nd at the Brands Hatch Sprint Race.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

http://www.f1technical.net/news/9000

According to the German newspaper 'Bild', Renault and Ferrari have opened the hunt for Robert Kubica. At the moment, the Pole is third in the drivers' standings and his performances during the first four races of the season have been very promising.

Bernie Ecclestone said: "He gets better and better every race. If I was a team boss, I would get him." And this is exactly what Renault and Ferrari want. They both want to hire the rising star in F1.

Both outfits have inquired how long the Pole is still under contract with BMW and the answer will please the teams: Kubica has a contract until the end of 2009. Of course, Mario Theissen wants to extend this contract, but he will need to increase the salary of the youngster. At the moment, Kubica only earns one quarter of 10 Million-man Nick Heidfeld.

If we look at his forthcoming value, Renault is very unlikely to be able to sign the Pole, considering that the team is always trying to keep driver salaries down as much as possible. On top of that, Kubica is currently driving a car that is considerably faster than the offering of the French squad. Ferrari is a totally different story as it has two trumps in hand to bring in the BMW driver. First of all, Robert fluently speaks Italian and that he has lived in Italy for years. Secondly, the Scuderia is the fastest and best funded team in Formula One, and is not expected to fall down any time soon. It remains to be seen however whether Kubica will be eager to leave BMW and drive in service of Kimi Raikkonen?

The Pole is no longer driving in the shadow of his team mate Nick Heidfeld, he collected the first pole position for the team and looking at his results, it seems logical that, in time, he will bring home the first victory for BMW.

Things can currently go any way for Kubica and only the future will tell...

morkusyambo

I like the sound of that. The Pole and Ice Man driving for the red hot team from Maranello.

mike1324a

much better than the idea of alsono wearing red

T.T.

It's funny that Renault is already looking for a replacement for Piquet. Who is their back-up driver again? I have a feeling that Piquet has another season of test driving to look foward to....

On another note, do you think that Ferrari is looking more closely at Kubica because Vettel has not been able to finish a race?

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

, on the subject of Danica Patrick's fourth-place finish at the 2005 Indy 500.

http://www.mynameisirl.com/2008/05/f...end-stuff.html

Bootleg

Kubica will stay with BMW. if anyone leaves i have a feeling it will be Heidfeld. something tells me that BMW's driver lineup will be Kubica and Alonso next season. it makes perfect sense because i highly doubt we'll see a driver change at Ferrari until Kimi leaves. Kubica will most likely not want to be in the shadow of Kimi and Alonso and Kimi make a very bad team. Robert and Alonso however, are quite good friends.

morkusyambo

If Massa makes any more mistakes and costs Ferrari the constructors championship, they will be looking for another driver, if they aren't allready.

alfy28

I am not a ferrari fan, but Massa only made 2 mistakes which where the first 2 races. Others he placed podium. Last session Kimi crashed at least 3 times. so i tihnk massa will be fine. as long he keeps doing what he is doing now.

but yah next session will be pretty interesting , since kubica is doing well.

morkusyambo

Thanks for helping to illustrate my point. Massa is driving THE most competitive car on the grid right now. If he costs Ferrari the constructor's title, he does not deserve to drive that car.

alfy28

NP

makes me wonder What IF MErcedes team did not loose their points last session and won the Contructors (since they where in the lead) . I wonder what would of happen to Kimmi due to his 3 mistakes, and massa for his. the out come would of been very interesting. I guess nothign would of happend to Kimmi, but massa its hard to say, since he did learn from Schumacer (how ever you spell his last name)

T.T.

I might be mistaken, but I think they were only in the lead if you give them back the points they lost for Alonso blocking Hamilton in qualifying for that one race. Otherwise, I think they still fell short.

Ahriman4891

^ I think you are right, Ferrari was 1 point ahead at the very end IIRC.

alfy28

actually he was wrong. At the time mercedes had their points taken away , they was in the lead. That is why Dennis still gave his mechanics their bonus, even though they lost their points. He gave it to them , because if they didnt take the points away, mercedes would of won the Constructors (which means the mechanics get their bonus) this was a big deal during time they where awarded, and its not his mech's fault for the whole spy on ferrari mess.

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

Super Aguri withdraw from Formula One
http://www.f1technical.net/news/9013

Australian GP will disappear: Jones
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au...rom=public_rss

Dennis denies Mosley scandal link
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/moto...ne/7377743.stm

Toro Rosso delays new car debut
http://www.pitpass.com/fes_php/pitpa...s_art_id=34711

morkusyambo

Let's say Mclaren never got in trouble last year. Then we could have said Hamilton not only gave away the world championship, but also lost the constructiors' title for them as well

morkusyambo

Wow. Forcing another team off the grid. Contemplating a test drive for Dramica;
Honda sure is on a roll these days.

T.T.

So you're basically saying after they had their points taken away, they didn't work as hard as they did before? I'll agree with this, but you cant just assume that just because they were in the lead when they were disqualified that they were going to win in the end (and they didn't).

Edit: If you exclude McLaren's Hungary constructor's points, the season results are: Ferrari-204 McLaren-203
Dennis probably gave them the bonuses because they would've won if that little qualifying incident had not occured.

LionZoo

Super Aguri is gone, so basically "my team" is no longer a team. This is a sad day indeed.

And alfy, how can you be commentating on F1 without knowing how to spell Schumacher? Maybe Zsolt Baumgartner, but Schumacher?

alnielsen

iTrader: (4)

Vettel sure his luck must change
http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/67190

By Jonathan Noble Wednesday, May 7th 2008, 09:54 GMT

Sebastian Vettel, Scuderia Toro Rosso, 2008Sebastian Vettel is sure his luck in Formula One will change soon, after incredibly being caught up in three first-lap accidents so far this year.

The Scuderia Toro Rosso driver was forced out of the Australian, Bahrain and Spanish Grands Prix following first lap collisions - with his late race retirement in Malaysia meaning he has not yet finished a race in 2008.

But despite the remarkable run of misfortune, Vettel is adamant there is nothing he can do other than keep plugging away.

"Usually I don't believe in luck, I only believe in hard work," Vettel told autosport.com. "We worked hard the last four races, and all winter, and it did not yet pay off. So we have to keep waiting I guess."

Vettel admitted to an element of disbelief in Spain when, having already being taken out of two of the first three races, he slid into a spinning Adrian Sutil at Turn Four.

"I shouted a big swearword into the radio," he explained. "Of course I was pissed off. Not disappointed - pissed off! But what can you do?"

Looking back on the accident in Spain, Vettel is clear that Sutil was entirely to blame for the crash.

"It was quite brainless I think to attack David, there was no way. He cut the grass completely and then he spun.

"He was battling with Sebastien (Bourdais), who was running around the outside and lucky he didn't get hit because obviously Adrian was spinning to the outside.

"I decided to go to the inside, I was braking and turning right as much as I could, but then unfortunately Takuma (Sato) hit me in the back and gave me another acceleration – and I was unable to get past. You don't have to blame Sato because there was no way he could read the situation from another row behind."

But Vettel's hopes that the introduction of Toro Rosso's new cars would help lift him further up the grid and away from trouble on first laps have been dashed, with the debut of the STR3 put back because of a lack of spare parts.

The German admits that things will likely remain tough for him until the new car comes on tap.

"It is going to be tough (in Turkey) without the new car, but we have to do the best we can.

"I like the Istanbul track, but you see it (the situation) is becoming more and more difficult. It brings us into positions on the grid where it is very difficult to get the race started. Partly you have to blame us as well, but when you are in that position it becomes more difficult to survive the first lap."
.................................
My Opinion:
His luck won't change as long as he is driving for STR and starting from the back of the pack.