2011 Random F1 Discussion

StefMeister · PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:25 pm

I think Rubens should walk away from F1 at the end of the year as while the car isn't great Rubens himself also seems to have taken a step backwards from 2010.

I think Maldonado has been doing better than most people expected & Sam Michael said on the BBC during FP2 that he expects him to be even better next year.

In 2010 Rubens was more often than not faster or at least able to be pretty close to Hulkenberg when Nico was faster, This year he seems to have been falling behind Pastor as the season has gone on, Part of it is Pastor improving as he gains experience but something also seems to be missing from Rubens.

Its reminding me a bit of Damon Hill in 1999.

RtN · PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:30 pm

I wouldn't go that far yet.

Damon in 1999 was atrocious. Rubens may have lost his edge, but he is not at that point yet.

The problem with Williams going for Pastor and Bottas is that they'll have lost the experience and the car development skills from Rubens, which by all accounts kept them in the top half for all of last season.

Frankly, with the useless Michael now seeking employment elsewhere and the equally-useless Cosworths binned, it might be worth keeping Rubens for one more season (on a massively reduced pay packet; back to 2009 levels) to just build that solid base with Coughlan and with Renault before handing over to Bottas. He might even be persuaded to do it mid-season.

kals · PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:40 pm

Agreed, after a poor start to the season Damon became demotivated and just gave up caring in 1999, his driving reflected that. Rubens cares, maybe a little too much, but he also overvalues his own contribution.

cookie · PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:58 pm

The Williams is really a bad car this year, only sometimes it can get in a top 10 position. Rubens is still fast given a good car, he showed that in 2009. I hope he stays in F1 and at least gets a car that is good for podiums. Get some good results and then retire. I found it sad to watch Hill in 1999 driving around with no motivation and then retiring, he even parked the car in his last race because he didn't care anymore.

I want to see race winners retiring when they are still competitive, not when they find out they just can't do it anymore or go from 1 bad car to another (like Trulli)

phil1993 · PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:04 pm

Another 'oldie' on the way out looks like Heidfeld - James Allen suggests that as soon as Grosjean wins the GP2 title (assuming he does, it looks likely) then he will race for Renault.

And Oops

Jon Noble wrote:

However, the best Nordschleife story of the weekend came from Kamui Kobayashi, who always makes the trek out onto the track whenever he is racing there.

This time, however, for a special treat for his girlfriend Yu he wanted to give her a high-speed lap of the Nordschleife – and it was going to be the first time she had ever been a passenger alongside him out on a race circuit. Kamui duly paid for four laps – but it didn't go quite to plan.

"We got out on to the track and after one corner she started crying," said Kobayashi. "I had to slow down and finish the lap very slow – about 60km/h. Very safe – but it was a very long lap. It took me nearly 20 minutes.

"I think I will have to sell my tickets at a discount price now. I paid 89 Euros for four laps – and only went around once!"

kals · PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:23 pm

The news about Grosjean replacing Heidfeld has been doing the rounds for a while now. This would be a stupid move though, it would be a case of history repeating. No in season testing, Grosjean has zero experience of this car. What is the point?

De Cesaris fan · PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:13 pm

And Petrov is hardly beating Heidfeld. Why does he deserve to be kicked out?

ryan86 · PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 9:20 pm

I said that Renault should put Heidfeld in the seat because of the short notice at the start of the season. However, he's not exactly proving to be great and now that Renault's season is effectively dwindling off into an almost certain 5th place, I do think that it's probably worth giving Senna a few races to see how he compares and then possibly Grosjean at the end of the season as well. Not a brilliant situation, but I've seen enough IMO this year to say that Heidfeld is probably on the dwindle and will go into this history books alongside those other heroic runners-up and nearly men.

kals · PostPosted: Mon Jul 25, 2011 10:02 pm

It is a terrible plan unless either or both Senna and Grosjean get some seat time. Neither have spent anytime in the car since January (did Grosjean even test then, I don't recall) and a couple of Friday practise drives will hardly give them enough seat time to make any impact in comparative terms against Heidfeld / Petrov or the championship points table.

NVirkkula · PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 7:07 am

I think the only reason why the Renault would ditch Heidfeld is that they're soon going to need a scapegoat for the drop of performance. And to be honest, Heidfeld is probably the only one who can be blamed in public for the lack of development and podium finishes.

I hope they let Senna race in Brazil, no matter what. Grosjean, meh, surely he can't be that much slower than Heidfeld, right?

Omega · PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 7:44 am

Why should he do any better than 2009? When you don't know the car you're done.
Look at Fisichella 2009. Experienced driver switching to a top team half season, delivering nothing at all.

phil1993 · PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:40 am

Omega wrote:

Why should he do any better than 2009? When you don't know the car you're done.
Look at Fisichella 2009. Experienced driver switching to a top team half season, delivering nothing at all.

I think they get a day of testing the car don't they? Or is that only if the replacement is enforced?

Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if Grosjean said no anyway, after his own experiences of 2009. He should have been in F1 for the past 2 seasons (he is bloody good) and he knows his 2009 problems cost him dearly and he had to go back through the ladder again.

Quote:

Speculation that Nick Heidfeld might lose his Renault race seat is heating up.

Already this week, the German sources Bild and Auto Motor und Sport have wondered whether Heidfeld having to give up his Friday practice seat in Hungary is a sign he has lost the support of team boss Eric Boullier.

On Monday we quoted Boullier as having told France's Eurosport at the Nurburgring that he has been "clearly disappointed" with the performance of the German veteran so far in 2011.

"We rely more on Vitaly (Petrov) for performance, with Nick more suitable for the development of the car," said the Frenchman.

More of that interview has now emerged at the sports.fr website, with Boullier saying of Heidfeld: "He has not provided the leadership we wanted. He hasn't taken hold of the team."

Speculation is now sure to fire up about Heidfeld being replaced in the near future by either Brazilian Senna or the Boullier-managed Romain Grosjean.

According to broadcaster James Allen's blog, the latter Frenchman could resume his abortive F1 career as soon as he wraps up the GP2 championship.

"He wasn't ready in 2009 and those seven races alongside Alonso did him a lot of harm," Boullier said at the Nurburgring. "He's proved in GP2 this year that he's a very good driver and he deserves a chance."

phil1993 · PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:07 pm

New kerbs at Spa

http://yfrog.com/h3p7nkxj

Looks wrong

Brooney · PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:08 pm

phil1993 wrote:

New kerbs at Spa

http://yfrog.com/h3p7nkxj

Looks wrong

And you see a DHL sign on the top, surprisingly with the same colours. Obviously marketing.

amq55 · PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:09 pm

If you're gonna steal kerbs from another track, steal Sachsenring's.

phil1993 · PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:59 pm

A couple of interesting graphs about the season

(Not made by me!)

Championship points

Vettel's points margin in terms of wins

In comparison, here's how it was in 2010

And in 2009

Direct points comparison after 10 rounds:

2010:
1 Lewis Hamilton 145
2 Jenson Button 133
3 Mark Webber 128
4 Sebastian Vettel 121
5 Fernando Alonso 98
6 Nico Rosberg 90

2011:
1 Sebastian Vettel 216
2 Mark Webber 139
3 Lewis Hamilton 134
4 Fernando Alonso 130
5 Jenson Button 109
6 Felipe Massa 62

micha · PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 4:18 pm

Most of you are mainly focusing on the performance of Heidfeld and Petrov.
We all know that Petrov brings quite some cash while I'm fairly sure that Heidfeld brings a lot less, if not nothing.

A while back there where rumors that they where looking for sponsors for Senna.
There have been multiple reports about Renault GP and Genii being short on money. Either fact, fiction or somewhere in between.

So wouldn't it just simply be a financial reason that they might ditch Heidfeld?
If I ran the team and I really really needed the money now, I'd ditch heidfeld as well in favor of some millions from Senna or Grosjean.

Omega · PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 4:32 pm

Brooney wrote:

phil1993 wrote:

New kerbs at Spa

http://yfrog.com/h3p7nkxj

Looks wrong

And you see a DHL sign on the top, surprisingly with the same colours. Obviously marketing.

Main sponsor for the GP is Shell, in the same colours.
But first it's the 24h. Couldn't they wait for 1 more week to paint that?

StanV · PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 4:42 pm

It's done because of the DHL-sign, so it's permanent. (tirewall was like that for a couple of months already)

Tamburello94 · PostPosted: Tue Jul 26, 2011 4:55 pm

phil1993 wrote:

New kerbs at Spa

http://yfrog.com/h3p7nkxj

Looks wrong

Reminds me of Fruit Salad sweets. Nom nom nom.

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2011 Random F1 Discussion

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