2011 Rumour Mill

[Port-A-Loo 0]

Surely you don't think Heidfeld or Chandhok are future champs, even if Sutil, too, is not? Sutil took Liuzzi 47-21 last season so I think he's earned his place at Force India. Heidfeld might do better, perhaps, and Hulkenberg might but I think Hulkenberg expects to be paid and Sutil's been buying his seat. Chandhok, to me, has never been really good all the way up the ladder and just isn't cut for F1. Besides, Mallya says Force India doesn't need Indians like Ferrari doesn't need Italians or your favourite football club doesn't need players from your city, so they won't be taking Chandhok unless he shows something which, to me, he just hasn't done once. And he said that after putting Chandhok and Narain in the simulator last week, so I don't think he thought too highly of how they performed . Senna had him 6-3 in quals this year, too.

[JHS 1]

Surely you don't think Heidfeld or Chandhok are future champs, even if Sutil, too, is not? Sutil took Liuzzi 47-21 last season so I think he's earned his place at Force India.

Didn't say they would be. I just think they'd be better. Sutil....he still makes way too many errors to be honest. Maybe I'm being too harsh, but his career has gone a bit stale really. I don't see why people rate him so highly.

Heidfeld might do better, perhaps, and Hulkenberg might but I think Hulkenberg expects to be paid and Sutil's been buying his seat.

As I've already mentioned on previous pages of this topic, I feel Heidfeld's really under rated as a driver. Hulkenberg's been improving all the time and deserves his spot on the grid IMO. I find it highly amusing though, for a driver who's been a protégé of Williams for the past couple of years has been dumped on the basis of not having that much cash compared to a certain Mr Maldonado...

Chandhok, to me, has never been really good all the way up the ladder and just isn't cut for F1.

I too was sceptical of the reasons for why he initially he got the seat, but in a dog of a car and in the races he competed in before Yamamoto waved a fat cheque in front of Kolles' nose, I feel as if he did a reasonable job considering what the situations were.

Besides, Mallya says Force India doesn't need Indians like Ferrari doesn't need Italians or your favourite football club doesn't need players from your city, so they won't be taking Chandhok unless he shows something which, to me, he just hasn't done once. And he said that after putting Chandhok and Narain in the simulator last week, so I don't think he thought too highly of how they performed . Senna had him 6-3 in quals this year, too.

I agree that nationality shouldn't be a determining factor, neither should funding, but in some cases (Renault) it evidently is. Call me cynical, but perhaps Bernie signing a deal for a Grand Prix in Russia has so far saved Petrov's bacon....

I just think it'd be good to see what Chandhok can really do in a better car. It'd help crowd numbers at the Indian Grand Prix too.

I'll let you off on the football reference this one time. I hate football, so don't have a "team" if you can call a bunch of.....never mind, I'll save that rant for another time.

I don't see why people talk up Senna too much either. I think he's mostly got where he has through a certain second name. Qualifying performances don't really mean anything, it's the race that counts in terms of points, and despite HRT not scoring any, up until the point Chandhok was dropped, he'd out performed Senna more times in race conditions than Senna had out performed him.

Anyway, to add to the rumours, it seems as if neither Force India seat is really confirmed:

Link 1

Link 2

[freaky2 1]

Yup, James is right about Chandhok, if the world was fair it would have been Senna thrown out of HRT.

[pabloh20 1]

I was impressed with Chandhok's calmness and general demeanour. More than one way to skin a cat and all that.

Maybe he should replace Legard in the commentary box if he is not racing

[JHS 1]

I was impressed with Chandhok's calmness and general demeanour. More than one way to skin a cat and all that.

Maybe he should replace Legard in the commentary box if he is not racing

Saying that, he was surprisingly good at commentary on the occasions he joined 5live.

[Port-A-Loo 0]

Really I'm biased so I suppose I saw what I wanted to see, which was Senna being more impressive than Chandhok. I'm not really going to be surprised if neither show up again, and I won't be disappointed if they both get another go. Most drivers don't light it up their first season (or else we wouldn't regard Jacques Villeneuve as the greatest of all time...wait, we don't, do we?) so I guess I'm just being too hard on (that's on, not for ) Chandhok.

[JHS 1]

He's yet to prove he's anything more than a name to me, to be honest. Great guy, comes across as likeable and it was a nice story, having a "Senna" (but not really) back on the grid. I'm just really suprised that he went to Campos though (as it was then), I doubt that they were the only team he could have gone to. I remember rumours at the time linking him to Renault.

It seems like deciding to go to Campos may have ended his F1 career. As a driver, anyway.

[Delta 0]

Sadly for Bruno, I feel the name is the only thing Senna like about him really. Granted, he had a poor mount but he did little that really impressed me during 2010.

[Fwon 0]

Ricciardo? Come on boys! He needs to stay in front Guerrieri and the russian in the last 2 races and failed! He lost in the track and won out of it! (Guerrieri´s tapegate, anyone?) He is good but a little bit too rookie by now.

(By the way Guerrieri gave him a lesson in Silverstone!)

Ricardo is now the 3rd driver in Torro Rosso. If they play musical chairs like HRT, then "see you later Buemi" Muahahahaha!

http://www.totalf1.com/full_story/view/360357/Ricciardo_appointed_as_3rd_driver_at_Toro_Rosso/

[Port-A-Loo 0]

History shows that in odd-numbered years, STR replace their under-performing driver for the Hungarian Grand Prix (2007 Speed for Vettel, 2009 Bourdais for Alguersuari), so surely we can expect Ricciardo in the racing role no sooner or later than at the Hungaroring.

[Max Mosley 2]

It seems like deciding to go to Campos may have ended his F1 career. As a driver, anyway.

That's interesting. I wonder if he'd waited would he have got a better offer? I'm not so sure. There are lots of talented young drivers and it would be a brave man to turn down any seat in F1 imho. HRT were awful, though, and they didn't seem to treat him equally either - so yes they might have ruined his career.

[JHS 1]

I seem to remember there were rumours (so I don't know how legitimate they were) that there were other options open for him, I believe one was at Renault.

I guess Campos wowed him with a lot of false promises and then never delivered, and maybe he snubbed Renault on the basis of how bad they were in '09.

[Port-A-Loo 0]

Actually, not going to Renault had more to do with funding than Senna thinking Campos were going to be real contenders. All offers he had other than Campos were conditional depending on funding. Of course, Campos eventually needed his funding, but he had enough to please them, which he wouldn't have done for the others. I still say Chandhok and Senna were even this season. It's hard to compare their races when both had many car-related failures so when one beat the other it was often because the other had retired. To compare...in qualifying, Senna 6, Chandhok 3. In races where both were classified, Chandhok 2, Senna 1. So there's very little to base a comparison on. In qualifying, Senna had more pace than Chandhok, which means he has more potential (don't say qualifying means nothing when qualifying essentially reversed opinion on Hulkenberg, and people compare the Abu Dhabi testing times to Abu Dhabi qualifying to evaluate young drivers ). Will either ever be much of a factor? I suppose not, but I do think people are more critical of Senna because they expected him to be Ayrton, and people are less critical of Chandhok because they expected him to be Karun. Really, both were equal, and if you want to call that equally poor, well, so be it.

Anyway, Chandhok's been testing GP2 again, so I assume none of the HRT boys have much on their plates for 2011. If the team makes it, they'll likely find a new pair. Of drivers, of course.

[JHS 1]

Actually, not going to Renault had more to do with funding than Senna thinking Campos were going to be real contenders. All offers he had other than Campos were conditional depending on funding. Of course, Campos eventually needed his funding, but he had enough to please them, which he wouldn't have done for the others. I still say Chandhok and Senna were even this season. It's hard to compare their races when both had many car-related failures so when one beat the other it was often because the other had retired. To compare...in qualifying, Senna 6, Chandhok 3. In races where both were classified, Chandhok 2, Senna 1. So there's very little to base a comparison on. In qualifying, Senna had more pace than Chandhok, which means he has more potential (don't say qualifying means nothing when qualifying essentially reversed opinion on Hulkenberg, and people compare the Abu Dhabi testing times to Abu Dhabi qualifying to evaluate young drivers ). Will either ever be much of a factor? I suppose not, but I do think people are more critical of Senna because they expected him to be Ayrton, and people are less critical of Chandhok because they expected him to be Karun. Really, both were equal, and if you want to call that equally poor, well, so be it.

Anyway, Chandhok's been testing GP2 again, so I assume none of the HRT boys have much on their plates for 2011. If the team makes it, they'll likely find a new pair. Of drivers, of course.

I think Renault would have been better this year to be honest, because I think he's had to put more funding in to HRT over the course of this year than he would have had to for Renault. Mind you, going to Renault he'd have been up against Kubica, and seeing as he hasn't really been consistently outperforming ANY of his team mates (remember, he was out qualified by Yamamoto at Korea), it would have been a very one sided fight at Renault in Kubica's favour.

Qualifying doesn't really mean anything. If you hear what all the top guys have been saying after qualifying in F1 this year, they all come out with the "the points are awarded on Sunday" line, which is true. If anything, Chandhok having better race performances than Senna despite maybe qualifying behind him shows to me he's a better driver.

To be honest, I think Senna has been built up so much in the press due to the name too much. Maybe I'm silly for getting involved in that, but I really did think that Senna would better than what he has been built up to be. Whatever, I think we can agree that the HRT was a donkey this year, and I don't really think it matters too much who was better than who, because currently I don't think it's likely that we'll see either of them back next season, at least not in a race seat anyway.

Chandhok's ruled out returning to GP2 I believe. His decision for testing has simply been that he wanted to help his old team, Ocean, improve for next season, as they had a dreadful year this year really. I think it would make sense for him to do it though, maybe he could do a Glock, step back into GP2 again, perhaps win the championship and maybe that'll ultimately lead him on to a better team.

[Port-A-Loo 0]

Well, he didn't just test for Ocean; he was with Coloni today. Both days he was well off the pace, so I don't think he'd really raise his stock much in GP2, as he'd likely be beaten by some of the younger, more promising talents. But you have to take what's offered, so if GP2's the best he has, well, GP2 it is. Also worth noting that Paul di Resta won the DTM title so that may help him along as Mercedes will want to give an even bigger push to getting him to F1 though really, I didn't see much from him in the Friday sessions he did to be that impressed. Sutil and Liuzzi were always quicker I believe, so I'd hope that if Force India are to replace anybody, they'd find somebody who is a step-up and not a step-down. Nothing against di Resta but DTM and F1 really just don't seem to translate to each other in either direction really, so I don't see it working for him if he goes this way. Another note here: Trulli is likely to retain his Lotus seat now, so the grid's really filling. Not sure I trulli believe in Jarno as the best choice, but, well, at least he's not some of the "talent" Lotus were testing in Abu Dhabi.

[JHS 1]

Hahah, true!

I believe the only seats that are left to confirm are:

- Second Renault seat (seems like Petrov will retain his drive)

- The two Force India seats

- The second Williams seat (Maldonado and his cash)

- The second Virgin seat (d'Ambrosio or Van de Garde)

- The two HRT seats (if they even make it to the grid)

[mikathegreat2 2]

Jérome d'Ambrosio gets Virgin seat. http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2010/12/11614.html

[Port-A-Loo 0]

Jérôme d'Ambrosio sucks.

[JHS 1]

Like the other 23 drivers on the grid too, hey?

I'm pretty happy with the news. Seemed to go okay in Friday practices sessions and looks like he'll be closer to Glock's pace than di Grassi was.

[riseofstars 0]

Petrov confirmed at Renault until 2012

[JHS 1]

You mean Lotus-Renault. Was it really so suprising?

[Insider 0]

You mean Lotus-Renault. Was it really so suprising?

I am a little surprised. With Murussia's recent acquisition of a controlling stake in Virgin F1, I would have thought Petrov was a 'must get' target for them. Of course, MVRF1 are advancing slowly, [if at all!] and Renault - oops!, sorry - Proton Renault, oops!, sorry again - I meant, Genii Capital/Proton/Lotus Group/Renault thingy are an established F1 team. For a ambitious driver, from a nation where there appears to be a billionaire on every street corner, it was clearly a no-brainer. Nevertheless, buy drives apart, there are other people I would have put in my car if I were Lopez; Kobiyashi and Chandok being two of them. Petrov looks like a leftover from a cold-war era, Soviet Universal Soldier program - and often drives like it too!

[monza gorilla 1]

Petrov looks like a leftover from a cold-war era, Soviet Universal Soldier program

Ha! I was thinking the same thing this very morning.

[HandyNZL 1]

But where for art thou Hulkenberg?

Best rookie of 2010. Best record in GP2 before that. Just got empty pockets.

Fingers crossed he takes Tonio's seat at Force India. He's head and shoulders above Tonio, and his retainer would be about the same....

[JHS 1]

I am a little surprised. With Murussia's recent acquisition of a controlling stake in Virgin F1, I would have thought Petrov was a 'must get' target for them. Of course, MVRF1 are advancing slowly, [if at all!] and Renault - oops!, sorry - Proton Renault, oops!, sorry again - I meant, Genii Capital/Proton/Lotus Group/Renault thingy are an established F1 team. For a ambitious driver, from a nation where there appears to be a billionaire on every street corner, it was clearly a no-brainer. Nevertheless, buy drives apart, there are other people I would have put in my car if I were Lopez; Kobiyashi and Chandok being two of them. Petrov looks like a leftover from a cold-war era, Soviet Universal Soldier program - and often drives like it too!

Based on the fact d'Ambrosio was confirmed at Virgin the day before this announcement and Glock had been confirmed for some time, I didn't find it suprising. Dany Bahar was known to be keen to retain Petrov, something to do with promoting Lotus/Proton/Whatever you want to call it in Russia.

I think it's important to have a Russian in F1. You only have to look at the massive increase in the sport from Russia in the last twelve months to realise what an impact it's made. Whether Petrov's the best Russian candidate, well, the jury's out till the end of '11. I'd say Aleshin's a better driver than Petrov, but whatever.

Best rookie of 2010.

Disagree on this point. Kobayashi was the best rookie for me. Sure, he did two races last year, but he was still very much a rookie and was hands-down the best on the bunch this year in my opinion.

I agree that Hulkenberg deserves a chance though; he had a very solid year. Hopefully cash won't influence the decision on who gets the Force India seats, but they aren't exactly flushed for cash right now. Sutil brings quite a lot sponsorship from Medion I believe, and I remember it being mentioned elsewhere that if Force India go with an all German line up, they'd get quite a chunk of money off the Mercedes engine deal. So it could be between Hulkenberg and Heidfeld, either of which I'd be glad to see back, but Liuzzi seems very confident he'll be back and di Resta's name has been linked to them for a while now too. Add into the equation he won DTM for.....Mercedes and I guess they may be pushing to get him a ride. Then there's the outsiders of Chandhok and Aleshin who like Petrovsky, brings quite a lot of money from Russia and won the World Series by Renault title.

I wonder if Hulkenberg will do a Massa and have a year as a reserve/test driver for Mercedes, like Felipe did for Ferrari after losing his Sauber drive.