I hope Massa will have form like he had at the end of last season. He finaly started racing like he did before Barichelo's spring
Race in Brazil was just best race I ever seen.
Battle for best Rookie i see between three riders. (note best does not mean most successful)
Gutierrez, Botas and Chilton.
While all three are in essence Pay-Drivers, they have all show considerable talent at other levels.
And both Gutierrez and Botas look to have decent cars underneath them in Sauber and Williams. Ok they are very unlikely to win any races, but they should be looking at stealing some Top5's and maybe even a Podium.
Chilton (who is from the nearest Town to me) even though he is in a Marussia can still take that honor. He should be regularly battling with the Caterhams (from the nearest village to me). If anyone from those two teams is to break higher i think it will be Chilton. I hvn't seen much of the Marussia's yet but i solidly beleive that this season they will be level with the Caterhams, and both not too far off the mid-field.
TheManxMissile wrote:
Trying to move off Dutch "drivers"
Battle for best Rookie i see between three riders. (note best does not mean most successful)
Gutierrez, Botas and Chilton.
While all three are in essence Pay-Drivers, they have all show considerable talent at other levels.
And both Gutierrez and Botas look to have decent cars underneath them in Sauber and Williams. Ok they are very unlikely to win any races, but they should be looking at stealing some Top5's and maybe even a Podium.
Chilton (who is from the nearest Town to me) even though he is in a Marussia can still take that honor. He should be regularly battling with the Caterhams (from the nearest village to me). If anyone from those two teams is to break higher i think it will be Chilton. I hvn't seen much of the Marussia's yet but i solidly beleive that this season they will be level with the Caterhams, and both not too far off the mid-field.
I had the impression that Bottas is not a pay driver?
Plus Bianchi is also a rookie, and Id be surprised if he does not do better than Chilton - even with coming in to Marussia at such a late stage
The question continues as to whether Caterham and Marussia will ever catch the midfield. But I believe Marussia have Kers this year, that will help them
Edited by SportingNonsense on 02-03-2013 20:47
Bottas isn't a proper pay driver no, but he does bring money to the team.
I fancy Chilton over Bianchi, but thats probably a bias as hes a local lad.
If Caterham and Marussia don't catch them this season, then it won't happen for a long time.
Bottas won the Masters of Formula 3 twice, so he sure is a good driver. Also, he was champion in the GP3 Series, Formula Renault Eurocup and Formula Renault 2.0 NEC.
And for those not interested in the above, his girlfriend looks quite okay (Google Emilia Pikkarainen )
Edited by fcancellara on 02-03-2013 21:09
MrUfo87 wrote:
Finally a Dutch Formula 1-rider. First one in years! I hope to see a great season, just like in 2010. I think Alonso will be very good this season.
but vd garde is at a shit team lol
And yet it's still a team that's too good for him.
But hey, at least he's breaking records....he's now the holder of the most-money-paid-for-a-drive record, having paid a staggering 23€ Million, double the previous maximum.
Then again when you're as average as he is you have to pay a lot of money to get a drive
ruben wrote:
it will be waiting until Frijns gets the chance at a decent team
Now that guy is very good. Shame he's a gigantic asshole, but it's rare anyone makes it to F1 without being somewhat of an ass. He'll be driving GP2 this year. And he's made it so far without much money!
SportingNonsense wrote:
[quote]TheManxMissile wrote:
I had the impression that Bottas is not a pay driver?
Indeed he is not. While a bit overhyped, he's quite good.
SportingNonsense wrote:
Plus Bianchi is also a rookie, and Id be surprised if he does not do better than Chilton - even with coming in to Marussia at such a late stage
Indeed, considering Bianchi has massive more experience than Chilton, and that Chilton is only at Marussia due to a combination of massive cash and his father being part owner of the team.
Bianchi has to step it up, he was considered a likely superstar and Ferrari's golden boy, but once ever since his first GP2 Asia series he's been very underwhelming.
SportingNonsense wrote:
The question continues as to whether Caterham and Marussia will ever catch the midfield. But I believe Marussia have Kers this year, that will help them
Looking unlikely, they were very bad in testing. It's just testing, but still.
TheManxMissile wrote:
Bottas isn't a proper pay driver no, but he does bring money to the team.
Not exactly. He helped set up a sponsor connection. Looking at it that way, Alonso is a pay driver
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
MrUfo87 wrote:
Finally a Dutch Formula 1-rider. First one in years! I hope to see a great season, just like in 2010. I think Alonso will be very good this season.
but vd garde is at a shit team lol
And yet it's still a team that's too good for him.
But hey, at least he's breaking records....he's now the holder of the most-money-paid-for-a-drive record, having paid a staggering 23€ Million, double the previous maximum.
Then again when you're as average as he is you have to pay a lot of money to get a drive
ruben wrote:
it will be waiting until Frijns gets the chance at a decent team
Now that guy is very good. Shame he's a gigantic asshole, but it's rare anyone makes it to F1 without being somewhat of an ass. He'll be driving GP2 this year. And he's made it so far without much money!
Exactly my point why I have faith in Frijns and none at all in Vd Garde
Verstappen wasn't bad but was unlucky at Benetton with not the same parts Schumi had and afterwards well was at midfield-dead end teams..
Starting with the awful Simtek who went bankrupt during the season.
But his outings with Footwork/Arrows 1996 and Arrows 2000-2002 weren't that bad.
Afterwards he got that "I am too good for backmarkers" mindset and so had to look out for other series even though I think wasn't he had got a bit too.. wide for F1 cars like Mansell 1995?
Actually if you want so even Alonso is a pay driver (Santander).
But nowadays you need to bring in some sponsors as the sport has got that expensive even with that cost reduction stuff..
Only Ferrari/Mercedes/Red Bull/McLaren don't really need pay drivers as they have enough of it.
I mean look at Marussia (yes they are backmarkers but still an example)
Glock was pushed out because he doesn't bring in sponsors and Razia his replacement was fired recently because his sponsors haven't payed for him so Bianchi got the seat instead.
Team Bianchi - 2012 Man-Game ProContinental Tour Champions
Frijns was testing with Trident last week, one of the worst GP2 teams. It's an understatement to say he wowed them
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
Verstappen was btw a good driver in my eyes, especially when it rained. He had some fantastic races at Arrows in 2000/2001 in between.
He also took a lot of risk in his riding which indeed caused a lot of crashes, but he deserved a better career in F1 than he had in the end. One other problem Id like to point out that Verstappen was pretty tall for an F1 driver, which brings a problem in designing the car
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