2009 lineup - Rumours, Speculation and (a few) facts
- Thread starter Hun200kmh
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- Corsham
- lipming
A new Minardi is what we need!
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We lost two Minardis this year. Aguri went bust, Toro Rosso went up.
Force India is not a Minardi - it's a smaller-scale Toyota. Same results at a quarter the expenses. Top teams spent 400m$ this season (Renault, Toyota, Ferrari, McLaren, BMW are all around that figure, with STR+RBR combined at the same sum), but while Aguri spent 40m$ (or at least, planned to spend those), Force India went with 120m$ - just a tad below Williams and STR's budgets! Lots of money, no results - sounds familiar?
Force India is not a Minardi - it's a smaller-scale Toyota. Same results at a quarter the expenses. Top teams spent 400m$ this season (Renault, Toyota, Ferrari, McLaren, BMW are all around that figure, with STR+RBR combined at the same sum), but while Aguri spent 40m$ (or at least, planned to spend those), Force India went with 120m$ - just a tad below Williams and STR's budgets! Lots of money, no results - sounds familiar?
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- Hammerhead Garage
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- Ardius_
Actually, it does...to the afforementioned Jaguar and TWR Arrows failures.
I'm going to watch this team thinking of it as Arrows mk2 rather than Toyota mk2. At least Toyota made some progress and have always stayed in the middle of the field - the key again, consistencey, Toyota have had the general same staff almost always.
Mallya has just sacked two quite decent team members and stuck himself in charge and also changed their engine deal. That smells more of TWR Arrows than anything to me.
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No, but they still moved from also-rans to regular top-10 drivers, with Vettel scoring quite consistently. 6th in the championship would've been a tie with Red Bull for 7th had he not finished at Monza at all (though, he probably would've scored something), which is distinctly not-backmarkerish.
The Jaguar and TWR Arrows are also fine examples, but Toyota were the previous ones to replace Gascoyne. After their decent '05 season.
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- Ardius_
Sorry for double-post, but this worth mentioning:
Pedro De La Rosa testing for Force India this week:
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/11/8719.html
Pedro De La Rosa testing for Force India this week:
http://www.formula1.com/news/headlines/2008/11/8719.html
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- GTP_L_Hamilton
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This might be a bit of self promotion but ill link you to this as its posted by an inside source:
Bourdais to LMS
Bourdais to LMS
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Hes now 'our' 
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- coming soon
- Tezuka18
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- AlexGibbo27
perhaps because he is
Anyway stop your phony advertising
absolutley fantastic site. Best forum ever made ever better than GTP and all. its that link in my sig.
but yes mike stop advertising.
Apparently Buemi has a seat already.
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The domestic media is excited about the imminent return to the Formula One grid of a Swiss driver.
Red Bull magnate Dietrich Mateschitz told Autosport on Monday that Sebastien Buemi is 'very likely' to make his Formula One debut with the Toro Rosso team in 2009, with an announcement to be made before Christmas.
The news triggered headlines in the major Le Matin and Tribune de Geneve newspapers, as well as titles including the regional Journal du Jura and Le Nouvelliste.
20-year-old Buemi's uncle and manager Humbert said recently the youngster is close to securing the seat.
"We are hoping for an official announcement to be made soon," he revealed.
In September, Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost said Buemi would be hired for 2009 "as long as we manage to find a suitable experienced driver" to be his team-mate.
Red Bull magnate Dietrich Mateschitz told Autosport on Monday that Sebastien Buemi is 'very likely' to make his Formula One debut with the Toro Rosso team in 2009, with an announcement to be made before Christmas.
The news triggered headlines in the major Le Matin and Tribune de Geneve newspapers, as well as titles including the regional Journal du Jura and Le Nouvelliste.
20-year-old Buemi's uncle and manager Humbert said recently the youngster is close to securing the seat.
"We are hoping for an official announcement to be made soon," he revealed.
In September, Toro Rosso boss Franz Tost said Buemi would be hired for 2009 "as long as we manage to find a suitable experienced driver" to be his team-mate.
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"Almost" certain.
Also, Ferrari gets Santander sponsorship starting 2010 - and wants Alonso, as well.
Also, Ferrari gets Santander sponsorship starting 2010 - and wants Alonso, as well.
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- Ardius_
Although I would have preferred to see Bourdais/Sato as the line-up, I'm guessing that Sato is the one that didn't get a seat, probably his age and lack of front running experience didn't make him good enough.
I hope Bourdais is getting another chance anyway, and isn't getting kicked out because of lack of funds.
I hope Bourdais is getting another chance anyway, and isn't getting kicked out because of lack of funds.
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...which would be exactly the reason why Sato is a favourite. He has half of Japan behind him (they raised a whole TEAM to keep him in the sport!), and ran for a couple of years. Bourdais has one year of experience and no sponsors - while he is a good driver (no great revelation like his teammate, though), his chances of keeping the seat are slim. If they want an experienced driver to pair with Buemi, then Bourdais isn't the right one.
I still think Bourdais-Sato would be a great pairing.
I still think Bourdais-Sato would be a great pairing.
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- Ardius_
Gotta remind you he drove the 2nd best car back in 2004.
and finished it 8th in the championship....whereas his teammate finished 3rd. I don't rate Button very highly, so the car was indeed very good that year..so why did Sato not do anything with it?
But it doesn't really matter in the end, because its who has the money for the race seat, not who is the better driver.
