2011 Brazilian Grand Prix

[prisonermonkeys]

An arrest warrant has been issued for Vladimir Antonov, the WRC's commercial chief:

http://www.autosport.com/news/report.php/id/96413

I'm pretty sure Antonov and SNORAS are the ones who floated Genii's acquisition of Renault.

 

[Alex.]

C'mon Felipe. It's your 100th race for Ferrari, home grand prix, put in a good performance.

 

[toyotsupra]

Go the Renaults!

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Ah is it that time of the year again!? The smell of gunmen...

 

[astrosdude91]

Apparently every driver has a police escort.

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Well no worries then

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Please. Everyone knows that last year's episode was not an attempted robbery of Jenson Button, but a group of Colombian assassins sent after Lewis Hamilton by Fernando Alonso, but Alonso forgot to tell them the ifference between Button and Hamilton.

[/conspiracytheorytinfoilhat]

 

[Alex.]

 

[LMSCorvetteGT2]

Please. Everyone knows that last year's episode was not an attempted robbery of Jenson Button, but a group of Colombian assassins sent after Lewis Hamilton by Fernando Alonso, but Alonso forgot to tell them the ifference between Button and Hamilton.

[/conspiracytheorytinfoilhat]

^ Truth

[/tinfoilhatworn]

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Thank you.

[/bananabananaflamingo]

 

[niky]

Don't you mean bananaflamingoflamingo?

It's going to be exciting. Methinks given how people here feel about Lewis Hamilton, he'll need to be driven around in an armoured money van.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

No, I mean bananabananaflamingo.

Jan Charouz will take Liuzzi's place in free practice on Friday morning. He's just earned his Superlicence after completeing 300km of testing in Abu Dhabi. His fastest time was, however, a second and a half slower than Liuzzi's qualifying time (yes, Ardius, I know we can't read too much into test times without knowing his test program). He might be a pay-driver through his father's Charouz Racing System team in Le Mans, but he's had quite a bit of success there.

 

[Ardius]

Jan Charouz is average at best ludes, the results (not testing) speak for themselves. Still, he might land a pay-seat. Maldonado has better credentials though...
Le Mans success is surely helped by having teammates of the calibre of Mucke and Enge...

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Le Mans success is surely helped by having teammates of the calibre of Mucke and Enge...

The phrase "you're only as good as your weakest team member" springs to mind. And they did, after all, win the 2009 Le Mans Series. He also won the second season of the International Formula Master, which might not be the greatest endorsement of his abilities, but Charouz does have some results to his name.

But I do agree - he is a little weak. His Formula Renault and AutoGP results weren't exactly sterling. He mght be an ideal choice based on his connections to an established racing team in CHRS. The signing of Pedro de la Rosa suggest Hispania is more interested in drivers who can develop the car rather than get instant results, probably because they know that instant results are out of the question. If Charouz brings money and connections to infrastructure, he can bankroll de la Rosa's development of the car.

 

[Blaze_409]

heres to hoping Massa has a great home race. Pole perhaps? but unlikely. He's been magical here in years past.

 

[Ardius]

The phrase "you're only as good as your weakest team member" springs to mind. And they did, after all, win the 2009 Le Mans Series. He also won the second season of the International Formula Master, which might not be the greatest endorsement of his abilities, but Charouz does have some results to his name.

I watched the 2008 and 2009 LMS and the 24 hours and I was supporting Charouz/Aston, they were pretty damn good but there were a fair few factors in their favour. The LMS win in 2009 for example was due to them being the only factory team. Their main rivals were the under-funded Pescarolo.
In 2008 they took part in more races than the other privateer teams. When you've got such advantages as well as two of the best GT/Le Mans drivers as teammates, its pretty difficult to look rubbish.

I don't think Charouz is terrible, but he's no Kobayashi in waiting either. He's at least as good as Bruno Senna, Karun Chandhok, etc.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

He's at least as good as Bruno Senna, Karun Chandhok, etc.

Well, I'm willing to trust to your judgement. And on the basis of that judgement, I'd say Charouz would certainly be worthy of a drive with Hispania - Senna and Chandhok have not set the world on fire by any means, but they're certainly no slouches.

 

[Ardius]

Both of them have unimpressive speed though but they do bring the cars home. This is what I refer to by comparing them with Charouz. He's probably not going to be anywhere near De La Rosa's pace but he will at least bring the car home in one piece. Or at least one would assume he could do that as he hasn't crashed the Lola-Astons.
To be honest, I'd prefer to see pay drivers of the Ricciardo or the Maldonado flavour. Even Karthikeyan is pretty reasonable. But it doesn't really matter as long someone is putting money into HRT to keep them on the grid.

I try to take the same attitude as I do with BTCC - without the pay drivers we wouldn't have some of the decent drivers on the grid. So lets let them have their glory so they can pay to keep those we do like on the grid.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

He's probably not going to be anywhere near De La Rosa's pace but he will at least bring the car home in one piece.

Well, he is by no means confirmed at Hispania for next year. The terms of the deal give him a run in FP1 in Brazil, and that's it (for now).

 

[Peter.]

Just got the very first glimpse of the new helmet camera on Vettel. Brilliant.

 

[Sureboss]

I thought it was awful, way too high, pretty much no different to the cams we have/had on the air intake.

 

[RTSolvalou]

Looks like Grosjean is driving Petrov's car this morning.

 

[prisonermonkeys]

Grosjean is driving for Petrov.

Vergne is driving for Buemi.

Razia is driving for Trulli.

Charouz is driving for Liuzzi.

With Charouz and Razia driving, there are currently no Italian drivers in the field. When was the last time this happened?

 

[Famine]

USA 2005?

 

[prisonermonkeys]

I meant the last time a race weekend proceeded under normal circumstances.

 

[Famine]

The most recent I've found so far is the 1973 German Grand Prix.

Edit: A-ha, no. 1996. There were four Italian drivers for that season - Fisichella, Badoer, Montermini and Lavaggi. From Germany onwards, Fisichella, Badoer and Montermini didn't drive - Badoer and Montermini drove for Forti who went bankrupt and Fisichella was replaced by Lavaggi at Minardi. Lavaggi failed to qualify for the German, Belgian and Japanese Grands Prix, so there were no Italian drivers on the grid for these three races - Japan being the most recent.

 

[Dotini]

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns23786.html

Is this Vettel's secret trick for leading the first laps in such dominant fashion - exhaust gas heating of the tire rim?? Ooooh, how tricky is that!

Respectfully submitted,
Steve

 

[Greisen]

Is hamiltons helmet a tribute to ayrton senna? Its green with a brazilian flag.

 

[Seaca07]

Yes.

“…Hamilton will be wearing a special helmet this weekend, a blend of his colours and Ayrton Senna’s colours with the famous Senna S logo on the back. The helmet will be auctioned off for charity after the race…”

— James Allen

 

[Beeblebrox237]

http://www.grandprix.com/ns/ns23786.html

Is this Vettel's secret trick for leading the first laps in such dominant fashion - exhaust gas heating of the tire rim?? Ooooh, how tricky is that!

Respectfully submitted,
Steve

Very interesting. It would certainly explain a lot.