Hulkenberg Out Of Williams

[yurp 0]

Barrichello retains seat, Hulkenberg dropped.

Thoughts?

[monza gorilla 1]

The piggy bank is empty. And Nico is not Venezuelan.

[Delta 0]

Shame for Nico, as I feel his talent was worthy of a drive. Shame to see F1 teams reduced to chasing talentless pay drivers.

[Quiet One 15]

You have a guy that has been hailed as the new panacea because of his performances on lesser categories with a discreet F1 first season. You have another guy, same praise for his performace in lesser categories, plus a decent bag of money. It will be enough if he can have a discreet first season to be a good return on investment.

Petrov is a good proof of this. Lesser categories never meant much. No testing means that even if a driver could develop something in the lesser categories, he will still probably underperform in F1. Money means a lot, always. Nico still has a shot at FI, so not as sad as other similar stories.

[monza gorilla 1]

F1 history is littered with Jan Magnussen.

[Kopite Girl 0]

Indeed. This is why we see Pedro Diniz-alikes whilst there are extremely talented young exciting drivers fall to the wayside because they just dont have the money.

More or less 70% of civilized developed countries have at least one football academy. Why not do the same with motorsport?

[Medilloni 6]

F1 history is littered with Jan Magnussen.

Woah Russ, as a driver he totally smoked

F1. The more things change, the more they stay the same.............

[yurp 0]

F1 history is littered with Jan Magnussen.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/suffolk/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8715000/8715778.stm

[monza gorilla 1]

Woah Russ, as a driver he totally smoked

F1. The more things change, the more they stay the same.............

That's sort of what I meant. 20 a day. Precocious talents falling by the wayside. Brilliant until they climbed into their first F1 car.

Circumstances.

[monza gorilla 1]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/suffolk/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8715000/8715778.stm

By crikey she's scary.

[Delta 0]

http://news.bbc.co.u...000/8715778.stm

never noticed that before

[Medilloni 6]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/suffolk/hi/people_and_places/nature/newsid_8715000/8715778.stm

Who's she trying to kid, she's a two bagger, or I'm a Dutchman Jan Magnussen.

[mikathegreat2 2]

Jan Magnussen is a big hit in ALMS for Corvette! One of many F1 failures that race there! Anyhoo, shame for Hulk, I'd say Force India should sign him & get rid of Liuzzi, he's been poor!

[HandyNZL 1]

Unfortunately Team Willy is losing the majority of their sponsors...they have to take a pay driver, and considering Nico doesn't have the experience, they have held onto Rubens, otherwise I think Rubes may have been put out to pasture. Hulk pasted Maldonado in GP2, so I can't see him doing any much better than the high teens all season long. He is most likely to go down as the first driver in an established team to not out qualify HRT/Virginussia/Lotus or finish a race ahead of them.

I think it's poor form that these new guys are only getting one season where they are expected to win the whole damn shooting match of face the exit door. The smaller teams are important and must stay (regardless of speed/times) as they are where these rookies really need to be, filling the role that Minardi once played (how many ex-Minardi guys went on to win the WDC or finish in the top three?). It'll be guys like Bruno that will get to stick around - no pressure on them to perform, other than to bring the car back in one piece. Expect Bruno to be in a middle of the pack car by 2013 is my bet.

As for Nico...go see those crazy Indian fellows and tell them you really really really really like cricket, and you might just get a drive!

[Rainmaster 7]

Last time I saw Maldonado was a few years back, he was good on street circuits but not so impressive on other tracks. Anyway, better to see how Maldonado does before I say it's a big loss, it's not out of the question that he'll be as good as the Hulk.

I think Nico will find a drive anyway, he is good enough.

[maure 1]

Yeah, yeah, btching about pay drivers when they come from certain countries...

[Max Mosley 2]

And this is all because we have _teams_ in F1. Why should money count rather than talent?

Edit: As Maure says, teams=racism. I say, "down with racism, down with teams".

[yurp 0]

And this is all because we have _teams_ in F1. Why should money count rather than talent?

Edit: As Maure says, teams=racism. I say, "down with racism, down with teams".

just imagine if ferrari get their 3rd car!

[JHS 1]

Shame money and not talent will most likely get the seat.

Shame on you Williams. I've lost respect.

[dribbler 6]

I think Rubemns is giving Team Willy a sense of direction they haven't had for a long while. When your car is improving bit by bit (and I don't underestimate Rubens' input in that respect) you can't let Rubens go. Hulk is pretty good, but he only got better when the car got better. Keep Rubens for one year. It's a safe bet.

[Senna's Ghost 0]

This is a real shame. Hulkenberg is only going to improve in his 2nd season as he gains more experience. Williams will now find themselves in the same position at the start of 2011 as they did in 2010, with Barrichello and a rookie driver. I'm sure Williams have done the mathematics on this decision and have concluded that it is better to have the sponsorship and cash that Maldonado will bring now, rather than race for the year with Hulkenberg and hope that the final championship position of the team at the end of 2011 is sufficient to match or better the money that Maldonado can guarantee at the beginning of the year.

I feel sure that Williams and Head would have preferred to keep Hulkenberg if the circumstances allowed because they the real racers of the pitlane. Money must be tight.

I mentioned in a previous post that I don't see any young driver in a lower category of racing that catches the eye. Hulkenberg is as good as any out there, if not the best. Buemi and Algersauri don't do anything for me. Di Resta is the only other one I can think of.

[monza gorilla 1]

Williams claim to have replaced all of their departing sponsors, but I can only speculate that this is not enough. I have no idea how good Maldonado is but that money must look awfully attractive. Also, what of the agreement with HRT? Another dent in the budget if Hispania can't pay.

[HandyNZL 1]

A T and T was hardly paying much to be the title sponsor. I can only but imagine that anyone looking for sponsors cap in hand at this point in history will hardly be signing up $100million sponsors. Only McLaren and Ferrari have sponsors in that area, thanks to longevity in the sport. And Red Bull have the opposite dilemma....the team name is the sponsor, so how are they to attract anything other than mirror or barge board sponsors? MateSh#tz money does have a limit.

I agree with Steve in that Rubens has brought his 300+ races to the fore at Willies...he is pushing it forward, much like Trulli at Lotus/any-name-here. Neither may be the best "driver" out there, but they bring alot of grey matter from various teams with them. Alonso brings his 6/10ths in his driving, and thats it. Drivers like Rubens and Trulli will bring more over a season as they have been there long enough to understand the team game, as that is what they have been as drivers...team players, not the-team-revolves-around-me-and-then-i'll-win-the-WDC type.

However, you need both in a team to make a good driver pairing...

Unfortunately Willy is only going to find themselves repeating this seasons performance with only having reliable information coming from one side of the garage. Hulk will have been better next year, without doubt, and that information from both sides of the garage would have pushed the team forward. He's had the year to learn the engineering needed to make an F1 car work. He would have only added to that next year. But now they'll only have the one driver with the info again.

But to go racing, first you need the budget, and in the current circumstance for Willy, is that they don't have it without a pay driver, and they need to take these steps to survive.

However I see someone like Peter Sauber tapping Nico on the shoulder.

[HandyNZL 1]

Woo-hoo..after 2401 posts, I finally manage a double post. Now Steph just has to be my friend! We do so many things alike!

Double post that is...not play with my boobies....I mean, I don't even have boobies so that wouldn't even make sense....unless Steph wanted to loan me her boobies for a half hour or so....

[mikathegreat2 2]

Williams claim to have replaced all of their departing sponsors, but I can only speculate that this is not enough. I have no idea how good Maldonado is but that money must look awfully attractive. Also, what of the agreement with HRT? Another dent in the budget if Hispania can't pay.

Pastor Maldonado is the current GP2 champ & set to become only the 2nd ever F1 driver from Venezuela after Jonny Ceccotto! The power of Wikipedia !